New url for Peach Buzz
Bookmark this new url for Peach Buzz.. We have moved to Wordpress!
Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2006 > March > 13 > Entry
Country radio in Atlanta still shuns Dixie Chicks
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Three years ago, Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks bashed President Bush on the eve of the Iraq war in London. (The infamous quote: “We’re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas.”)
Many country radio stations, including Kicks 101.5 and Eagle 106.7, pulled them from their playlists.
Neither station has spun a single Dixie Chicks song since, to no ill effect on their ratings. “I can’t imagine playing their stuff now,” said Steve Mitchell, afternoon jock for Eagle. Both stations test hundreds of songs with listeners; Dixie Chicks songs continue to rate near the bottom.
In a national survey of country radio fans, Edison Research found 43 percent were still upset “a lot” by Maines’ comments while 20 percent were “a little upset.” But only 21 percent of respondents said country radio shouldn’t play the Chicks at all while 45 percent disagreed with her viewpoint but didn’t mind their songs on the radio.
The Chicks’ first album since the controversy is due out May 23, and the first single “Not Ready to Make Nice,” addresses the issue head on.
Maines recently told Entertainment Weekly she no longer thinks much of the country music business: “They’ve shown their true colors. I like lots of country music, but as far as the industry and everything that happened … I couldn’t want to be farther away from that.”
Nationally, half the 192 country stations measured by Mediabase 24/7 did not play a Dixie Chicks tune last week. Markets which gave the Chicks the most spins were mostly in more liberal havens such as Austin, Texas, San Jose, Calif. and Spokane, Wash., though Nashville’s WSM-FM is still a big supporter.
Hot new Scottish singer
A sold-out Loft Saturday night lapped up the sonic musings of fetching Scottish singer KT Tunstall, part of a recent U.K. invasion that includes the Arctic Monkeys and James Blunt. While her upper registers make her sound a bit like Dido and her lower registers a growling Janis Joplin, her musical DNA is actually more along the lines of ’90s singer-songwriters PJ Harvey and Poe.
Live, she conveyed a rougher-hewn feel than on her debut album “Eye of the Telescope,” giving her propulsive single “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” a delightful kick. She said, with surprise, that Elton John had stopped by to say hey, but he wasn’t at the concert itself. She ended with a wonderfully jazzy remake of Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back.”
“Always a pleasure, never a chore,” she said. “We’ll come back here!”
Kelly Preston makes a pitch
In a strangely ambitious promo, Country Crock rented out the Georgia Dome Saurday, fed more than 1,000 people free chicken, mashed potatoes and mac and cheese and flew in actress Kelly Preston as a hired gun.
The pitch? To promote families to do more sit-down dinners. Country Crock also donated $25,000 to Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta and 5 tons of food to Second Harvest.
Preston told Buzz that she and her hubby John Travolta, their 13-year-old son Jett and 5-year-old daughter Ella frequently eat dinner together. “We do a lot of barbecues,” at their Ocala, Fla., home, she said. Her young daughter’s two favorite foods? Chicken fingers and caviar. (Just not together.)
How do the pair stay out of the tabloids? “We mostly live in Ocala,” she said, away from the paparazzi.
Last fall, Preston filmed an indie flick also starring country singer Toby Keith and Atlanta favorite Burt Reynolds. She said she enjoyed her time renting a home in Buckhead and visiting Stone Mountain.
Around the TV dial
“Sex and the City” siren Kim Cattrall will play the manager to a gay British rock star in “Him and Us,” the Elton John-produced ABC sitcom pilot…
FX’s debut of “Black. White.,” the race-swapping doc featuring Lilburn family the Sparks, drew 4 million viewers, a monstrous showing for FX. And Bravo’s hot reality series “Project Runway” finale drew 3.4 million, the most in that network’s history…
NBC has finally put Matt LeBlanc’s failed post-“Friends” spinoff “Joey” out of its misery. Last week, in its first time on Tuesdays at 8 p.m., it drew just 4 million viewers. Instead, NBC will roll out throwaway special “Most Outrageous Moments” while leftover “Joey” episodes will likely air this summer.
Celebrity birthdays
Singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka is 67. Actor William H. Macy is 56. Actress Dana Delany (“China Beach”) is 50. Bassist Adam Clayton of U2 is 46.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
Permalink | |
