Hello, welcome to The Third Estate Sunday Review. We're Ava and C.I.
We hope that's clear.
It seems to be confusing for some.
Like mswhs@[. . .] who e-mailed another website to gripe about our "
She sang so much, she wrote so little (Ava and C.I.)" which we wrote back in 2013.
Which we wrote for this site.
But mswhs -- dubbed "MS" for the rest of this piece -- got confused and e-mailed another website to slam them for writing the piece and publishing it.
When the e-mail was forwarded to us, we had to laugh at the stupidity.
We wrote a critical appraisal of Linda Ronstadt's book.
If you're not grown up enough to handle that, too damn bad.
Reality: It didn't and couldn't hurt the sales of her book.
Our turning a critical eye on Linda actually meant that her more
immature fans -- like MS -- would feel the need to defend her and that,
pay attention, actually spurs sales -- of books, of albums, you name it.
We've covered this before noting the attacks on
Stevie Nicks passed off as 'critiques' ("space cadet" -- among the many terms appearing in
Rolling Stone as they trashed Stevie repeatedly -- being only one example) actually increased the bond her fans felt with her.
We're not bothered that MS had a tantrum in an e-mail.
He or she is clearly obsessed with Linda so we're not surprised by the e-mail (we also saw the e-mails he or she continued to write to the site after they explained he had the wrong site).
We're just shocked by the ignorance.
For those who don't know, balding creep and bad singer James Taylor is the ex-husband of
Carly Simon and he's imposed -- or tried to -- various rules. He will not talk about Carly in interviews. His friends and peers are not to mention Carly. If you're doing an approved of biography of James, such as the awful one Timothy White wrote, you do not speak to Carly. Carly is not allowed to speak of him.
Carly, rightly, eventually said screw you on the nonsense that she was not allowed to talk about James.
It's a shame others do not do the same.
Here's where MS needs to pay attention.
MS writes:
If you're upset about Carly not getting the respect she is owed ( and
deserves) for her rightful place in rock history, blame Rolling Stone
and the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. Female acts not inducted into the
RRHOF include singer-songer writers Stevie Nicks (solo career), Joan
Baez, Bette Midler, Carole King, Joan Armatrading, Annie Lennox, Sheryl
Crow and just plain old singers like Tina Turner (solo career), Pat
Benatar, and Cher. I'm sure these artists and their fans don't hold
Linda Ronstadt responsible for their omissions.
46
years after her first Top Ten hit, Linda Ronstadt was finally inducted
last year. But the RRHOF took so long that she couldn't even sing
anymore. It's no wonder she didn't attend.
We're sorry but we covered that years ago -- the omissions in the Rock in Roll Hall of Fame.
Why don't we now?
One of us (C.I.) knows Jann Wenner very well, too well, and if we continue to cover this topic, men will be outed. So-so 'rockers' who got covers and write ups even though no one liked them simply because they were 'friendly' with Jann. Jann wasn't out then but he did get some 'favors' from some desperate male recording artists.
He abused his power from
Rolling Stone and, we'd argue, he still abuses that power with regards to the Hall of Fame. In fact, we think he should be stripped of his post with regards to the Hall.
But we're trying not to go there so we're currently ignoring the Hall and Jann.
(There are five who really benefited from being 'friendly' with Jann. We're trying not to go there because 3 men we'd name are straight but wanted press coverage and 2 are in the closet about their many same-sex relationships.)
Linda's not required to mention Carly, MS insists.
Uh, yeah, she is. They're peers from the same period. They knew each other. They were friends.
She's noting Cher in the book.
Cher doesn't like Linda.
Cher's never liked Linda.
Cher's always thought Linda was a "f**king joke."
That was when Linda was 'first lady of California,' that was when Linda was doing musical theater.
Cher's thoughts on Linda are not classified.
But Linda can note Cher, in passing, but can't mention Carly?
Linda -- like Carole King -- was an idiot to follow the rules laid down by James Taylor -- a forgettable singer, a bad songwriter and ugly spirit and an ugly man.
MS whines, "46 years after her first Top Ten hit, Linda Ronstadt was finally inducted last year. But the RRHOF took so long that she couldn't even sing anymore. It's no wonder she didn't attend."
You know what's no wonder?
That it took 46 years.
Why did it -- why does it -- take so long for women?
Because so many of them prefer to be little bitches then to support their female peers.
Reality, if you tie yourself into your peer group and who you followed, you have a history and it's impossible for you to be ripped out of it.
So it's in your interest, as a female rocker, to be aware of and to connect yourself, your work, within the context of other women.
By doing so, you're part of a movement as opposed to an exception or a token.
Nothing is easier to vanish in history than a token.
If all female artists would be women -- and not little bitches who stab other women in the back on behalf of a man or men -- then it would be damn hard to render female musicians invisible and impossible to continue to keep them out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Women writing their own books is important. They need to tell their own stories.
But the crap Carole King offered [see our "
Carole King's Conditioned Role and Desire (Ava and C.I."], where she couldn't give one woman credit for any career accomplishment while waxing over John Lennon, Bono, James Taylor and countless other men, that sort of bitchery serves no one -- except male artists.
Carole King used a book to praise the men and ignore the women.
That's bitchery and it's hurtful to women.
Linda's was only slightly better.
MS insists, "Instead of attacking Carly's female peers, this author should be
attacking the real culprits behind Carly Simon and her female peers (
yes, Linda Ronstadt is her peer even if Linda never wrote a hit song,
nor did Aretha Franklin for that matter), not getting their due in rock
history."
Stupidity runneth over.
Aretha Franklin never wrote a hit song?
Uh, MS, you better think -- think think.
Aretha wrote "Think" and "Sweet, Sweet Baby (Since You Been Gone)." (Both have Teddy White listed as co-writer. He was not a co-writer. He was her abusive first husband who tried to control her career.)
And she wrote her hit "Rock Steady." And she wrote her hit "Call Me." And she wrote her hit "Day Dreaming." And she wrote her hit "All The King's Horses." And, with Preston Glass and Narada Michael Walden, she wrote her hit "Who's Zoomin' Who."
How sad that you rush to e-mail us in order to 'correct' us but you don't even know the basic facts.
As for "the real culprits" who deny women their due?
That includes many critics -- male and female -- and also many book writers.
What did Linda do?
Oh, right, she wrote a book.
Where she was Snow White surrounded by male dwarfs.
We've read that story in far too many incarnations and we've never mistaken it for a feminist tale.
Linda got into the Hall. So her story has a happy ending. It's a damn shame it can't be said that she did anything with her autobiography to help other women.
