Aladdin Officials Defend Eviction of Singer After Political Comments

[kskiska]

Aladdin officials said Monday the decision to evict singer Linda Ronstadt from their hotel Saturday was not a partisan political response but an attempt to "defuse the situation" with an angry crowd.

"It was a very ugly scene," Aladdin President Bill Timmins told The Associated Press. "She praised (filmmaker Michael Moore), and all of a sudden all bedlam broke loose."

(snip)

Some concertgoers took issue with the Aladdin's accounts of angry patrons tearing down posters and throwing drink cups.

"I was so stunned to read in the newspaper that anyone had a negative reaction," said KLAS-TV, Channel 8, news anchor Paula Francis. "Everyone who was leaving when I was leaving was just thrilled. They thought it was a good concert."

(snip)

The Bush administration is "awful, and so lying and so deceitful. And they're doing so much harm. They're making it more dangerous for us. They have to be stopped, I think. We have to throw the neocons out," she said in the interview.

more…
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Jul-20-Tue-2004/news/24348468.html

[Archae]

1. Uh huh...right, sure...

CYA for sloppy security to deal with drunks.

[MuseRider]

2. Sounds to me like

they appeased the terrorists.

[billybob537]

3. Desperate freeper scum

don't like it when you don't drink the KOOL-AID.

[aden_nak]

4. Time for a new Liberal Talking Point.

"When you silence people like Michael Moore, the terrorists win."

Repeat it daily. Hourly. And again, our talking points are at least true.

[samsingh]

15. brilliant - you're so correct!

i love it! the left now understands how this game is played.

[gratuitous]

5. Wow, so they don't have security in Las Vegas?

Gosh, I'd heard that Las Vegas is just teeming with security! How do they safeguard all that money that is spent in the casinos? A dozen yahoos, tanked up on complimentary drinks could bring the entire city to its knees! Does Crisco Johnny know about this dire security situation???

[wtmusic]

6. S'all wonderful

Here's hoping liberal $ avoid the Aladdin like the plague.

[MidwestTransplant]

8. The hotel sucks

That's why is currently in (or went through) bankruptcy.

[StClone]

10. Avoid Vegas

Why not get-out-of-doors and spend time in a Dem state like Illinois :-). I hear the Morton Arboretum is great from now until November.

http://www.mortonarb.org/

[wtmusic]

13. WADR to Las Vegas DUers

IMO Las Vegas is a dirty slimey hellhole which profits from the most exploitative of excuses for entertainment, and brings out the worst in human nature.

Other than that, it's lovely in the springtime...

[StClone]

18. What happens in Las Vegas doesn't stay in

Vegas.

[oldcoot]

19. The Aladdin is off my list

The Aladdin has a nice buffet, which served unique dishes. It really is a shame that the Aladdin management decided to cater to a bunch of idiots instead of its more rational customers.

[DulceDecorum]

7. Let us see what Clear Channel Communications

is going to do to Linda Ronstadt.

[Cha]

9. They wanna be a Planet Hollywood...

Don't tell me those things are still goin' on?

I thought they were bankrupt.

[DemoTex]

11. McCarthyism is rampant. It is spreading like a SoCal wildfire.

This has a whole lot more to do with intimidating other entertainers than it does with "punishing" Linda Ronstadt. I hope it backfires on the rapacious bastards.

[Rose Siding]

12. What a great quote from Linda

:loveya:

Freeps can choreograph quite a dust up, can't they? Weasily, un-american Aladdin.

[donsu]

14. at least we now know the Aladdin is part of the criminal bushgang

may they lose business and may the owners get chronic itchy skin.

let's all buy some Linda music to thank her for speaking out.

and if you don't have the bucks and have her music, play it loud and often along with the Dixie Chicks.

[oly]

16. The "ugly scene" was stopped AFTER the concert was over?

WTF

[bobbieinok]

17. so I don't like what someone is saying and I start a riot....and that

person is kicked out............sounds like a great way to shut up everyone whose views I don't like

remember the sit-ins and the freedom-rides?......people who didn't want civil rights for blacks beat up those doing sit-ins or coming off the bus in Atlanta, Birmingham, Jacksonville, Anniston (where they tried to bar the bus door and burn the bus and then followed the injured into the hospital)

...and WHO got arrested for 'inciting to violence???' ..... the people at the lunch counter and on the bus

Ilived thru the 60s once......I HATE the super-nasty replay

[daleo]

20. Sounds like the original story was mostly lies

Typical. Someone in the hotel management was angry with Ronstadt and concocted a riot story to justify firing her. Maybe Bill Bennett, the gambling conservative, threatened to never patronize them again.

Expect spin control now, as they might just be realizing that they alienated more people than they pleased with this stunt.

On edit - Bill Bennett, "The Bookie of Virtue"

[DBoon]

21. Aladdin Labor dispute

http://www.lvaladdinalert.info/

Note this tidbit:

April 27, 2004—Southwestern College and University Professional Association for Human Resources Conference attendess receive leaflets about the labor dispute during their breakfast at the Aladdin conference center. Aladdin security detains four of the leafleters for almost an hour

This might be part of the whole picture here. Makes sense that anti-union management would do something like this.

BTW, Las Vegas is hardly a slimehole - it is a very highly organized town and a good example of the power labor can have in a service economy.