I have been in love with Linda Ronstadt since I was twelve years old and saw her sing “Different Drum” with the Stone Poneys on my parents’ battered black and white television. Of course she was beautiful, but I like to think that part of my infatuation sprang from an appreciation of her remarkable voice – which I continued to love throughout her illustrious career. Sadly, a Neurodegenerative disease, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy has stilled her once superlative singing voice, but Ms. Ronstadt had plenty to say in a letter she issued upon hearing that Donald Trump had booked a music venue named after her for one of his hate rallies in Tucson, Arizona. The Arizona Central has the story:
“Linda Ronstadt took to Instagram to voice her displeasure with Donald Trump holding a rally in Tucson’s Linda Ronstadt Music Hall.
“Donald Trump is holding a rally on Thursday in a rented hall in my hometown,” Ronstadt wrote.
“I would prefer to ignore that sad fact. But since the building has my name on it, I need to say something. It saddens me to see the former President bring his hate show to Tucson, a town with deep Mexican-American roots and a joyful, tolerant spirit…
… “I don’t just deplore his toxic politics, his hatred of women, immigrants and people of color, his criminality, dishonesty and ignorance – although there’s that,” she continued.
“For me it comes down to this: In Nogales and across the southern border, the Trump Administration systematically ripped apart migrant families seeking asylum. Family separation made orphans of thousands of little children and babies, and brutalized their desperate mothers and fathers. It remains a humanitarian catastrophe that Physicians for Human Rights said met the criteria for torture”.
“There is no forgiving or forgetting the heartbreak he caused,” she wrote.“
Wow, that is a powerful indictment of the felonious punk! And we haven’t even got to the part where she calls him a rapist…
Her full statement:
And with that Linda joins an extraordinary trio of legendary female singers, Taylor Swift, Stevie Nicks and of course herself, who have endorsed Harris/Walz just since Kamala thoroughly emasculated Trump in debate Tuesday night.
Thank you, Linda for enthusiastically coming to the defense of your heritage and gender… I think this calls for a dedication.
This one goes out to the dotard:
You may be aware of this, but Linda Ronstadt was a classically trained opera singer before she did pop music. I heartily agree that she had a beautiful voice and I appreciate her reminder of the horrific things TFG has brought about.
I was aware that Ronstadt was a fan of Maria Callas, but I don’t believe she was ever a “classically trained opera singer” since she began her pop music career (well, more specifically, folk rock music) as a teenager. She and her siblings formed a trio in Tucson, performing bluegrass, folk, country and Mexican music. She moved to LA after just a semester of college in Tucson where she met with the guys with whom she would form the Stone Poneys (fun fact: The group’s first major hit, “Different Drum,” was written by the Monkees’ Mike Nesmith before he was hired for that group). And from there, she went on to her solo career, mixing pop, rock, country, R&B, traditional Mexican music and the “Great American Songbook.”
Linda’s only real foray into opera came from her role as Mabel in “The Pirates of Penzance” (actually, a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta–close enough) and she did actually perform the role of Mimi in a production of “La bohème” (but, the production was considered a flop though not necessarily Ronstadt’s performance).
Thank you, I sit corrected. 😉
Serve feel I directed her at Lincoln Center in La Boheme.
Still time for Streisand to endorse. The cast of Rent? Current revivals?
I still have the Stone Ponies vinyl. Even bought speaker wire just the other day to re-hook my old stereo system up.
Unmarried never pregnant cat women for Kamala. Love it.
I Love Linda Ronstadt, always have, always will. Saw her with my wife at the Troubadour in 1968 and fell in love for life.
Loved her since the Stone Ponies…still looking for blue bayou. Glad she brought up the family separation. That was pure evil and remains to this day. Anyone who supports this nazi child killer and has since the beginning can go straight to HELL. For so many to think they are moral is a LIE!!! YOU are evil…pure phucking evil.
Don’t worry. They will (go straight to hell.) And they should certainly know it – it’s not as if they haven’t been warned:
Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons, and in your name work many wonders?” And I will say, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” (from memory, from Matthew 7;21-23)
That was a really excellent body slam. Kudos to Linda Ronstadt! I was not aware she has developed PSP, and so sorry to hear it. My husband has another in that group of similar alpha synucleinopathathies. His is the one called multiple system atrophy, a degenerstion caused by his exposure to Agent Orange and the poisoned well water at Camp LeJeune.
Sorry to hear about your husband. My brother was also exposed while in the service and had various symptoms throughout the rest of his life.
I’d be more inclined to think of her rendition of Warren Zevon’s “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” for Trump’s walk in music. Maybe the songstress of the Trump family can give Autotune a whirl for him.
Please no! Don’t make ANYONE listen to Lara Trump, autotune or no. YECH!
Reading Scott’s pertinent comment above, I note that I live in Upstate NY these days and we have a LOT of Trumpies. I almost never engage (I mean, what’s the point, eh??) but when I’m goaded into it, I always respond “the question is NOT why I have “Trump deragement syndrome” it’s why don’t you??!! Don’t call yourself pro-life when you support someone who deliberately separated children from their parents JUST for the fun of the cruelty!
I’ve always loved Linda and the amazing range of her voice and choice of music styles. I’ve watched a couple of the videos on her life, as well as the documentary, The Sound of My Voice, and I want to cry, thinking of our loss. She was an incredible talent, called her own shots in a time where so many women could not. It’s obvious she’s still quite a force to be reckoned with. You go girl! Kick tRump’s nasty butt out of her music hall. He defiles everything he touches.
We need a huge banner across the front of that hall: MY NAME IS LINDA RONSTADT AND I DO NOT APPROVE OF THIS HATE RALLY.