Dixie Chicks documentary film: cheers and tears

Audiences watching "Shut Up and Sing" are in for an up-close and personal look at the drama that unfolded for three young singers who hardly expected a maelstrom to follow the simple observation that one of them made.

Just for comparison, I recall having a similar sentiment on November 23, 1963, the day President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. I knew that anyone from Texas was likely to be feeling badly if not guilty. A family friend at the time certainly showed that on her face.

Fast forward to 2003 and a young woman reveals that she is embarrassed that President Bush is from her home state. Why? Because of his decision to roll into Iraq at that very time. The remark is picked up by the print press and cable television, and the career of the Dixie Chicks spirals downward.

Even though the remark was made in Shepherds Bush, England, it reverberated around the world, most tellingly through the world of country music.

A triumphant return engagement in Shepherds Bush in 2006 brings the documentary to a rousing close. The years between are fraught with family issues and career plans: just what can the trio, their manager, their family members and all their employees do to cope with the reality that their old familiar audience is never going to be the same for them.

As a social commentary, "Shut Up and Sing" is excellent. It has a speeded up quality that seems to reflect the lives of the extended group. Most of all, media impact and the ill effects of media consolidation permeate this film. Rent it and just see how much your own heart strings will be twanged.

Suggested reading: Eric Klinenberg's Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America's Media, Metropolitan Books, 2007.

Waiting for Barack...

After shifting from leg to leg and tapping my toes to LOUD music for over an hour, Sen Obama was still a no-show. Heard he was smoozing with the higher-powered devotees gathered at Union Station. I suppose he's often late to rallies, but I thought a "reception" might be a little different. Sigh...that's my donation for this quarter, and maybe for the calendar year!

There isn't a lot of choice for train connections in the late evening, and I'd decided that the 10:35 pm was preferable to the 12:25 am, so I ducked out without even seeing him. And I was close to the stage, too! So now I'll never know how it went. It gave me some consolation that Channel 2's reporter, Jay Levine, had to report for the late news (at 10) that Obama hadn't arrived yet. I'll just have to make do with having read his June 5 speech to the ministers at Hampton. It is an excellent speech. He makes the most of an incident, turning the tag line into a theme that I hope inspired his audience.

Here it is at Truthout.