Dixie Chicks story of advertising being banned for their Harvey Weinstein distributed movie on NBC is total bullshit. Harvey Weinstein, he of 192 movies produced, co-owner of Miramax films--- argueably the most successful independent production company of all time---over one hundred Oscar nominations, that Harvey Weinstein was challenged? We are to believe that NBC, the lowest rated TV network on the planet, is going to tell the number one producer of all time to "fuck off?" Impossible! No network would shut out his advertising; they will need him desperately down the line and bottom feeding NBC undoubtedly needs him desperately right now. Just another publicity stunt by one of the best, Harvey Weinstein. From what I hear, the Dixie Chicks movie sucks anyway. Nothing more than another lecture from Hollywood.

Later Add: an old pal of mine used to work as an independent contractor for Chicks booking agent, Rob Light. He told me that the Chicks real problems started at least a year before "the remark about Bush" was made from an English stage. As he tells it, the Chicks became nasty as hell to some country musicians as they rose to the top and more than a few country performers didn't want to front for them any more. Then after the "remark" they got into it with country star Toby Keith.

"Country Music is like a family; fans and stars easily co-mingle and audience members expect a sort of folksy personal relationship."

He told me the Toby Keith blow up was pretty big, but even bigger is the fact that the Chicks had cut a very successful children's album in 1991 called Little Ol' Cowgirl, a recording that caused a lot of fans to start bringing their little kids to the shows. As Maines began a sojourn into feminism and singing a few feminist songs (feminist is code word lesbian) their audience had begun to change anyway.

"Families don't feel comfortable around screaming lesbians."

Their English manager, Simon Renshaw, is virtually a card carrying member of the ACLU and it was easy for him to lead the Chicks hard Left. So as their remaining friends, most already classified as Hollywood lefties, asked people to ignore the remarks and buy their albums anyway, it was like "sombody tossed a match into a fuel yard. That stupid remark cost them plenty," said my friend, "but they were heading south before they made it."