My Google Alert today directed me to this post on Linda Ronstadt, which began with the title "What Ever Happened to Linda Ronstadt?" (This is a long post--bear with me here.) It is a good synopsis of Linda's career, and after it, I have added why it is relevant to me.
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"In the 1970s, like it or not, it seemed that Ronstadt was everywhere. And now, at the age of 61, she seems to have vanished. What gives?

Born in Tucson in 1946, Linda Ronstadt got her first taste of fame as the lead singer of The Stone Poneys in the mid-sixties. Their biggest hit single was "A Different Drum," written- oddly enough- by Michael Nesmith, who would go on to become one of The Monkees.

The Stone Poneys broke up and Ronstadt embarked on a solo career. She hit the folk/rock circuit, touring with a backup band that included two then unknown musicians named Glenn Frey and Don Henley. They, of course, would later go on to form The Eagles.
In the 1970s, Ronstadt became the first lady of rock, thanks to her smoldering good looks, tough attitude, and a string of hits that included "It's So Easy," "You're No Good," and "Blue Bayou."

When the 1980s rolled in, like many of her contemporaries, Ronstadt started to dabble in various other genres of music. It got to the point where things got rather bizarre. First she cut a new wave rock album in 1980, which featured her covers of works by artist like Elvis Costello. Then she was chosen to star in a Broadway revival of "Pirates of Penzance," opposite Kevin Kline. In 1983 she tackled The Great American Songbook (some two decades before Rod Stewart). Always an opera buff, Ronstadt decided to try her hand at this challenging genre. In 1984, she made her operatic debut as Mimi in Puccini's "La Boheme."
Perhaps the most bizarre move, however, came in 1989, when Ronstadt decided to get in touch with her Mexican roots. She donned traditional Mexican attire, got herself some excellent Latin musicians, and released an album of Mariachi-flavored classics. Titled "Canciones de Mi Padre," the album was actually a hit and a surprise, as many people didn't know that Linda Ronstadt was actually of Mexican descent (though I suppose the dark hair and dark eyes should've given this away). Through all this, we can't forget her 1986 duet with James Ingram, "Somewhere Out There," from the soundtrack to "An American Tale."

Finally, in the 1990s, Ronstadt returned to her rock n roll roots with a series of albums that met with mixed success. On December 31st, 1999, she was part of a triple bill that came to be known as "The Millennium Concert" at L.A.'s Staples Center. Headlined by her old backup band, The Eagles, the show also featured Jackson Brown.

For a few years, she was quiet, but then all hell broke loose in 2004. Ronstadt was booked to do a series of shows at The Aladdin in Las Vegas. During one of her performances, she dedicated her cover of The Eagles classic, "Desperado," to filmmaker, Michael Moore. Defending Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11" and lashing out at President Bush, Ronstadt angered most of the audience. Many started booing, some got up and left, and some even threw drinks and tore down her posters in the lobby. The performance was stopped, and Ronstadt was escorted out of The Aladdin as she refused to leave on her own accord. While she gained support from some of her friends in the music industry like The Rolling Stones, The Eagles, and Elton John, her comments praising Moore and, later, attacking President Bush, found her to be the target of many right wing analysts and commentators.

Did this incident effect Ronstadt's career and popularity? Perhaps. The fact that she is now almost 62, and a good 75 pounds overweight doesn't help either. Though she still tours now and then, and even released an album in 2006, she has been rather quiet and out of the public eye. "
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Now, my two cents:
The first time I saw Don solo was in Atlanta in the summer of 2004. I didn't know one thing about him except that I liked his songs. He was chatty and charming and the show was fantastic. The audience was constantly yelling stuff out and interrupting him, which I thought was kind of rude, but he was patient and good natured. He joked, "I guess some of you folks think this is an interactive concert?" Anyway, he started talking negatively about Bush before he sang Randy Newman's biting & hilarious "Political Science," a song about dropping bombs on the rest of the world and making them all American. Don said he envisioned this song as a duet with Bush and Cheney. The boos started. He said something like, "We deal with the real issues here - if you want something else, go see Britney." Anyway, after several more boos he said, "I forgot I am in the Deep South--I had better shut up & sing before the same thing happens to me that just happened to Linda Ronstadt."

That night was a revelation for me in more ways than one. I not only got a crash-course in Don's politics and his activism----
but I also fell for him, HARD.