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Fans support dixie chicks Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2003/05/19ky/met-front-dix0519-5039.htmlhttp://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2003/05/19ky/met-front-dix0519-5039.html
Dixie Chicks get only peep of protest
Public displays before concert show support
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By MEGAN WOOLHOUSE
mwoolhouse@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
Several Dixie Chicks fans made their own political statement before the group's concert last night at Freedom Hall.
Bearing a hot-pink sign that read, "Natalie Maines 4 president," Eastern Kentucky University student Lettie Dixon and several friends said they supported the country artists and their lead singer as well as the controversial comments she made that were critical of President Bush and the war in Iraq.
Boycotting the concert was never a question, Dixon said.
"I wanted to come even more," she said.
Large groups of Dixie Chicks fans in cars, trucks and motor homes blared the band's songs in the parking lot before last night's concert, and there were no protesters in sight. Yet just two months ago, many wondered if the group had lost its following. That was after a controversy stemming from a London concert at which Maines told the audience, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."
Maines later apologized for being "disrespectful" but stood by her belief that every alternative to war should have been explored before lives were lost.
The apology didn't stop a backlash against the group, which resulted in the its songs being banned from many radio stations. There were rallies at which Dixie Chicks CDs were destroyed, and sales of their album "Home" faltered.
But the album is now near the top of the country charts, and last night the group appeared to be as popular as ever as a steady stream of fans who paid $65 a ticket flowed into the sold-out arena.
Tammie Hodges of Upton said that she didn't agree with Maines' comment but that it didn't stop her from bringing her 11-year-old daughter, Kaela Ward, to the show. "They have the right to say what they want, just like anybody else," Hodges said.
Richard Bullivant, who is from Preston, England, but is temporarily living in Louisville, said he is a big fan of the Dixie Chicks, despite not liking most country music and supporting the war in Iraq.
A member of the Dixie Chicks' fan club, he described the band as "kind of sassy and upbeat," and said he thought Maines' comments were blown out of proportion by the media. He said the band members have also said they support the troops and he couldn't understand why there was so much negative reaction.
"People say bad things about President Bush every day," he said. "I firmly believe they're entitled to say exactly what they want to say."
But not everyone was so accepting.
Frank Mellon, a manufacturing executive from Elizabethtown whose father was in the military, said he wanted to make his own statement yesterday by returning his tickets and boycotting the concert. He said his girlfriend is a big fan of the band but they both were disgusted by the singer's comments.
When personnel at Freedom Hall would not give him a refund for his tickets, Mellon said he would either sell them or burn them.
"I'm getting rid of them," he said. "The right to run your mouth doesn't come with being rich and popular."
Rachel Bernard of Vine Grove said she thought Maines shouldn't have made political comments on stage and "especially in England, where nobody likes us anyway." But calling the Dixie Chicks talented, Bernard said she remains big fan.
"It didn't stop me" from coming, she said. "I'm here."
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