Ronstadt's Vegas Comeback?

07/22/2004 12:00 PM, E! Online
Charlie Amter

Forget Cirque du Soleil, Celine Dion or Wayne Newton , Linda Ronstadt --and her new duet partner, Michael Moore--could soon be the biggest thing on the Vegas strip.

Just days after getting booted from the Aladdin Hotel Casino for praising Moore as "patriot" and dedicating her encore song, "Desperado," to him, Ronstadt is already entertaining offers of a comeback.

On Wednesday, one of the prospective new owners of the Aladdin, Robert Earl, issued a statement of support for Ronstadt.

"We respect artists' creativity and support their rights to express themselves," Earl said. "We were very sorry to hear about the unfortunate circumstances of this past Saturday night and want to make it clear that Planet Hollywood has never, in our 13 year history, restricted any artists' right to free speech and we will continue with that policy once we take ownership.

"Upon the assumption of ownership, and with a new management team in place, we would like to offer the use of the Theatre of Performing Arts to Linda Ronstadt for a second concert and further to take Michael Moore up on his offer to join her on stage to introduce her and sing a song," Earl continued. The group Earl represents (a division of Planet Hollywood) expects to take control of the hotel as early as September.

Neither Ronstadt nor Moore immediately responded to the presumptive invite.

And Ronstadt's not the only artist to find a sympathetic ear for her political commentary.

On Tuesday, Bonnie Raitt dedicated the Isaac Hayes-penned classic "Your Good Thing (Is About to End)" to President Bush on stage at the Stockholm Jazz Festival in Sweden.

According to published reports, Raitt swooned, "We're gonna sing this for George Bush because he's out of here, people!" to raucous applause from the audience.

While conservative commentators have attacked Ronstadt, and now Raitt, for speaking out, the reaction has been nothing like what happened to the Dixie Chicks when lead singer Natalie Maines made comments critical of President Bush at a London concert last year. The country group was roundly criticized over Maines' quip that the trio was "ashamed to be from Texas."

Although the remarks certainly hurt the Dixie Chicks in the short-term (several Clear Channel stations took the Chicks off their playlists, while one station in Kansas City held a Dixie "chicken toss" party, where protesters trashed the group's CDs), the trio eventually emerged a bigger, stronger band. Their subsequent U.S tour sold out in almost 60 markets and their most recent album, 2002's Home, went on to sell more than 2 million copies.

It's not just older white singers jumping on the Bush-bashing bandwagon, either. Rapper Jadakiss' record, Kiss of Death, recently skyrocketed to number one on Billboard's Hot 100 due in part to controversy surrounding the single "Why," which asks the question: "Why did Bush knock down the towers?"