Word now in today's Los Angeles Times that the Dixie Chicks really may have ticked off enough fans to impact their popularity. Early sales of tickets have been so slow in several cities on the group's imminent Accidents & Accusations tour that the tour is being significantly revamped, resulting in the cancellation of some shows and the addition of others.
"Initial sales for Chicks shows in more than 20 markets, most in 10,000- to 20,000-capacity sports arenas, are averaging 5,000 to 6,000 in major metropolitan areas and fewer in smaller markets, according to Billboard."
You remember the controversy. In a nutshell, in 2003 on the eve of the Iraq War, while they were in London, Natalie Maines said that she was ashamed that the President of the United States was from Texas. This irked a lot of people not just because of the content but the fact that it was delivered overseas. In any case, Maines never backed down, or apologized and, in fact, the single from the groups' latest CD is "Not Ready to Make Nice."
Well, ladies, guess the fans aren't ready to make nice yet either...
The thing that I find odd here is the discussion in some media that makes it sound like fans and radio programmers are somehow infringing on the Dixie Chicks free speech rights by boycotting their CDs or their concerts. This is plainly nuts. The constitution hardly protects an artist from facing the logic of the marketplace.
Free speech means that Natalie Maines has every right to say whatever she wants about our political leaders, and even in whatever country she wants to say it in -- without fear that she will suffer the loss of her liberty by being arrested or jailed. It's the same right Jane Fonda exercised when she went to North Vietnam and trashed the U.S.
Free speech does not protect CD sales, or concert ticket sales. In actual fact, free speech has consequences. If you exercise it in a way that is offensive to some people, those people have the same protected right to be offended. If the Dixie Chicks want to take sides in an election, trash-talk the Commander-in-Chief on the eve of war, and write songs that showcase their continued strong feelings, they're absolutely free to do so. But it also means they may suffer some loss of support among their fans if their views, or the way they express them, are at odds with the people who like(d) them.
This is the way it is. We have a great country in that our government doesn't get to tell you what to say or to punish you for something it disagrees with. Nobody can protect you from fans who may not want to hang around with you because they scorn your political views.
In any case, it seems the Chicks' new album, "Taking the Long Way Home" is in its second week at the top of the national sales charts, having sold 800,000 units so far. Maybe some people like the music better than the musicians.
*****
There are cases, and there are cases.
I'm researching a film to be based on the life of Julian Bond, the current chairman of the NAACP. We had lunch together in Washington, D.C. back when I was chairman of the TV Academy.
Bond was elected to the Georgia State Legislature in 1965, but had spoken out against the Vietnam War. The legislature voted 184-12 to exclude him because they didn't like what he said. He had to win election twice more and win the case before the U.S. Supreme Court before he finally could take office.
The Supreme Court, rightly and decisively (and unanimously), said that Bond's free speech rights had been violated. That's what free speech is about, not radio or concert boycotts.
