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Entertainment - Reuters
Singer Elvis Costello Defends Outspoken Artists
Wed May 21, 7:20 AM ET
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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - British singer-songwriter Elvis Costello (news) on Tuesday defended
musicians who speak their minds in these "fairly dangerous times" and warned Americans to guard
against "any attempts by people who swindle their way into office."
Addressing a music industry dinner in Beverly Hills, California,
Costello also criticized the British political system, which he
described as "privileged people handing wigs to one another making
the laws of the land."
The 48-year-old musician, famed for such songs as "Oliver's Army"
and "Everyday I Write the Book," was being honored by the
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, a music
licensing group that also campaigns for artists' rights.
Costello drew loud cheers from the black-tie audience, which
included songwriters Stevie Wonder (news), Rick James, Burt
Bacharach (news), Solomon Burke (news) and Nelly.
His comments came amid concerns that singers and actors who
spoke out against the U.S.-led war in Iraq (news - web sites) were being blacklisted.
When the lead singer of popular country trio the Dixie Chicks (news - web sites) criticized President
Bush (news - web sites), many U.S. radio stations all but stopped playing the group's songs.
What does it mean that radio stations "all but stopped" playing the Dixie Chicks? Does it mean that they DIDN'T stop playing them, but if they had, it would have been newsworthy?
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 15:24 (twenty-two years ago)