They Won't Back Down

I stated a couple of weeks ago that Cinema Romantico does not find the need to leave the world of cinema except in extreme cases. Two things, however, are prompting an extreme case this morning. 1.) The absolute awfulness of "Click" makes me need to leave the cinema world just briefly in order to re-gain the notion that, yes, movies are a wonderful thing. 2.) An editorial in yesterday's Chicago Tribune.

Steve Johnson writes of The Dixie Chicks' in "My Country and Western right or wrong". He writes, of course, of The Dixie Chicks being shunned by all those (purported) country and western stations that supported for them so long not necessarily because their new album drifts so far from what is considered today to be country music (although I'm sure that's part of it) but because of Natalie Maines' still infamous comments about George W. Bush. Naturally, I stand on the side of Natalie Maines. Even if I hated their music (which I don't) or disliked her (which I don't) I would still defend her right to say whatever the hell she wants.

But what struck me the most in the article was the following paragraph: "They also made waves this year by insulting ABC's 'The View', asking 'Would Bruce Springsteen do 'The View'? It's been interpreted as the Chicks' being full of themselves, but their web site explains that they've taken 'What would Bruce Springsteen do?' as a mantra for personal integrity."

As if I needed any more reasons to love those Dixie Chicks. I do want to make it quite clear that I liked them before I read this article. I bought their new album "Taking the Long Way" a couple weeks ago and find it quite exhilirating. It's become my favorite go-to-work album, actually, which is a critical part of my life. It is quite a departure from what is supposedly considered to be normal country music and while the lyrics certainly could have been shallow attacks on everyone and anything that's irritated them in light of the storm that's unfairly come down on Maines in recent years, they aren't. The lyrics are mature and insightful and refuse (except for one or two moments, and even then they don't go to the extreme) to directly discuss what has happened in the past.

Good for them. And good for them for making the kind of album they wanted, damn the consequences. I like these Dixie Chicks more and more every time I learn something new about them. I know a thing or two about Mr. Springsteen, believe me, and what they have done and what they continue to do is something that would make Mr. Springsteen and any Springsteen fan proud. Hell, it's something that would make any true American proud.