Reuters.com: Linda Ronstadt Performance In LA

Entertainment: Reviews Article | Reuters.com: "LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Pretty much beaming under the flood of publicity she'd been getting in the preceding few days, Linda Ronstadt got a big laugh with the first words out of her mouth: 'Seen any good movies lately?' she asked the satisfactory thousands who had come out to hear her sing.
This brought her a standing ovation. Everybody knew she was talking about the furor that ensued when she said a few kind words about Michael Moore and his new movie at a show in Las Vegas and was 86'd by the management, not to mention half that audience.
Not tonight. They were all ears as she made her plain vanilla way through the Great American Songbook, uttering a few triple forte notes when she felt the song was supposed to be exciting. She wasn't always right about this.
When the person in 'Lush Life' sings, for instance, about how wrong he or she was about the departed lover's smile being tinged with the sadness of a great love, it is not necessary to start blasting. This composition by Billy Strayhorn is one of the best songs in the history of the sport, and all you have to do is sing it nicely.
When Ronstadt left the bower of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, which is touring with her, and began to serve up her more popular fare, this loud and soft strategy paid off. 'It's Too Soon to Know' and 'Say You Will Be Mine,' products of the music industry boom of the 1960s and after, took shape clearly and compellingly under the power of the Ronstadt pipes.
For this flimsy material, she nestled right in with her good solid rhythm section, led by versatile guitarist Bob Mann, and a doo-wop trio of remarkable deftness, and let it all boom out. This was fun.

A bright little bouquet was presented to Ronstadt as she prepared to bow off, and when she coyly asked the audience to guess who it was from, everybody shouted, "Michael Moore!"

Whereupon she launched into "Desperado," the song that got her the boot in Vegas. This time, no walkouts were evident."


By Tony Gieske
Hollywood Reporter