RadioNation with Laura Flanders is a radio program, airing Saturdays and Sundays, worth listening to and we always do while we work on these editions. Laura Flanders is a strong interviewer committed to going beyond the obvious. Which is why she could make the interview with Chris Willman listenable.
But ay-yi-yi. Is there a more uninformed writer than Willman? Sure there are and many of them write beside him at Entertainment Weekly.
Willman felt the need to weigh in on the Dixie Chicks. It's a shame he didn't possess as many facts as he did words. (Has anyone ever so loved the sound of their own voice?) For instance, the CD Home didn't fall off the charts. It did drop from its number one perch. It didn't fall off the charts. It remained in the top ten even in the face of the right-wing attacks. "Travelin' Soldier" did do a nose dive. Why did the single do a nose dive while the album remained in the top ten (week after week)? Willman's not able to tell. Either he's willfully useless or he just can't help it.
The singles chart is based on both sales and airplay. The Dixie Chicks were targeted and radio boycott them. That included Clear Channel whom Willman wanted to carry water for. Suprising? No, not at all. No more surprising than an employee of the AOL Time Warner Disney CNN ABC et al corporation being unable to speak to the issue of media consolidation in any intelligent manner when Flanders asked him to do so. But to imply that sales were down based on a singles chart (which combines airplay with sales) was one of the more jaw dropping statements coming from the mouth of Little Willy.
His pass to Clear Channel was so broad that he didn't note Clear Channel's heavily promoted "talent" Glenn Beck attacked the Dixie Chicks every chance he had and that went far beyond his radio show. It included his rallies across the country and don't kid yourself that Beck paid for those.
A caller suggested that the Dixie Chicks had it coming (a male caller) and Willman was happy to explore that but not willing to explore Laura Flanders' question as to whether the Chicks being women played into the attacks.
"Some" think so, Willman offered. Do some, Little Willy, do they?
But, Willman, who was on to discuss country music, immediately offered that Jennifer Aniston trashed Bully Boy to Rolling Stone and that didn't hurt her. WTF?
Michael Moore's not been hurt either and we'd argue that comparing him to a country music star makes as much sense as comparing Aniston, an actress, to one. But Willman's talking, yet again, about something he knows very little about.
Jennifer Aniston's remarks appeared in Rolling Stone. In an issue that was rushed off display. Why? It went on sale immediately before 9/11. Rolling Stone rushed like crazy to get a new issue out quickly. (Motivated largely by their desire to weigh in on 9/11.) With the exception of the Melissa Etheridge and David Crosby (among others) cover story (that the press was onto and about to break RS's scoop that Crosby was the biological father of Etheridge and Julie Cypher's child), Rolling Stone's rarely hustled so.
Most Americans aren't aware of that issue of Rolling Stone or what Aniston said. It should also be noted that Brad Pitt makes jokes, in the same article, about one of Bully Boy's then under-drinking-age twins (who was trying -- and failing -- to get a toe hold in the industry) and beer.
(No, this isn't the Ashton Kutchner cover story that everyone knows about. Again, Rolling Stone rushed to get the Aniston issue out of the stores.)
So Dixie Chicks, a country music act, and Aniston are seen as equivalent in Little Willy's eyes?
Not surprising since he had little time for women in his discussion. He managed to weigh in and get most facts wrong on the Dixie Chicks. He also managed to trash Jewel. But his focus was males. He had kind words (many, many kind words) for Rodney Crowell (who'll be on RadioNation with Laura Flanders next weekend), Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Tim McGraw . . . It was a parade of his (male) heroes. Nancy Griffith got her name mentioned once. With a minute left in the show, Little Willy felt the need to say that when CNN broadcast that Faith Hill was a Republican "her people" contacted CNN to ask what gave them that idea. But then he was back to his-heroes-have-always-been-cowboys push and talking 'bout Toby Keith.
He infuriated us (and Ava and C.I. loathe him from way back -- the rest of us now understand why). While asking for a greater understanding of country music (something we wish he possessed), Little Willy sneered at "30 year-old soccer moms." (And no, Little Willy, they are not desired demographic of programmers of country music radio stations but it did allow you to get another slam in against women, didn't it? Will you and Ken Tucker head-butt on Monday?)
At one point, while name checking Steve Earl, Little Willy noted that his program aired on Air America. We'd suggest that Little Willy try listening to it. Earl offers up deeper observations on the state of music (including country music) than anything Little Willy had to offer. We'd also suggest that Little Willy listen, period. Not only might he have been able to answer Flanders' questions if he had listened, he might also have heard "We've got to go to break."
Maybe he did hear it? But prior to three different breaks, Little Willy followed that announcement by attempting to make a long winded response (that never aired fully). Maybe Little Willy had as little respect for Laura Flanders as he does for other women?
We love Flanders. We credit her broadcast talent with keeping us listening to that interview. But Little Willy is uninformed.
Need more facts? Little Willy does. From Media Matters' "Stand by your band: O'Reilly falsely claimed Dixie Chicks "have not recovered" from controversial 2003 remarks:"
During the January 9 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Bill O'Reilly falsely claimed that country music trio the Dixie Chicks "have not recovered to this day" from a controversy surrounding remarks critical of President Bush during one of the group's concerts. In fact, in the months following the controversy, the band embarked on the top-grossing country tour of the year and has continued to enjoy strong commercial success.
In March 2003, group member Natalie Maines incited controversy after telling a London audience, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas." Initial anger over the statements and a limited radio boycott did reportedly have an impact on the group's album sales. However, the Dixie Chicks' 2003 North American tour proved that any backlash was short-lived. In May, a mere two months after the controversy first erupted, the tour opened in Greenville, South Carolina, to a sold-out crowd. The tour then spent the summer crisscrossing North America and grossed $61 million, making the Dixie Chicks tour the top-grossing country tour of 2003. By the end of the year, their album, Home, ranked fourth on 2003's Billboard Top 200 Album chart, with the group itself finishing the year as the top-selling country group/duo and the third-highest-selling pop group/duo.
We'll also note this from "Victims of a Republican Plot" (Rock & Rap Confidential via CounterPunch):
According to a story from americannewsreel.com sent to RRC by former Reprise president Howie Klein, "Phone calls originating from Republican Party headquarters in Washington went out to country stations, urging them to remove the Chicks from their playlists.
The 'alternative concert' [to the Dixie Chicks' tour opener] is actually the work of the South Carolina Republican Party and party officials are helping promote the concert.
We received a call from 'Gallagher's Army,' urging us to support the alternative concert. Caller ID backtraced the call to South Carolina GOP headquarters."
In all his sympathetic words for Toby Keith, by the way, Little Willy failed to note that Keith has been a very vocal enemy of the Dixie Chicks for some time. Hey, Little Willy, what instrument isn't featured on the Dixie Chicks' Home? No, we didn't think you knew. We'd suggest you take your thimble full of knowledge and collaborate with another lazy mind who feels the world is just like a soccer game.
In one of his most insulting moments, Little Willy felt the need to say that Natalie Maines wasn't very politically informed. Compared to whom, Little Willy, you? For someone supposedly wanting to broaden the public's understanding of country music, Little Willy came off like a very patronizing anthropologist.