yep, Michael, that is exactly the question. Ronstadt's political views are very similar (not exact) to my own. I don't know the details of this whole incident, but the performer's job going in is to know what their job is. There is much discussion over there of free speech, etc. This isn't a free speech issue. It is an issue of whether or not the venue, and the customers, could be reasonably expected to have known what she would say. In other words, is the casino owner just hiding based on what happened and should have known what she would do. Otherwise it is the entertainer's job to entertain.

I have some experience with this, and just recently. A new "McPub" opened in our town. You know the joints, they look like a movie set, have an Irish name, serve Guinness, Angels on Horseback, etc. But the atmosphere is phoney as hell. It ain't really an Irish joint, it is more like an Oirish joint. They had asked my band, given it's reputation, to play for the Grand Opening which we turned down. Finally they stayed after us until we agreed to play. A significant part, but no where near a majority, of our music is Irish rebel music. About 3/4 of the way through our show, the owner came up to me and indicated he wanted no political music of any sort. A long discussion occurred at the break, but the gist of it was me telling him that he had our CD in his jukebox (he admits it is one of the most played), knew what we were about, no one chooses our music but me, we kept the patrons in the seats all night, they ate and drank, and if that wasn't satisfactory, then there is no satisfactory. But the point was, everyone knew what to expect coming in. That is decidely different than my solo gigs where I do a folk oriented show and the music is historical. I avoid political statements there because that is not what the audience came to hear. On the other hand, when I play labor gigs I am very political. The distinction is that it is my obligation to make sure that folks know what to expect. After that it is their problem.

All the best,

Mick