Truthdig interview: Danny Goldberg on Antiwar Artistry

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Full Transcript:
JAMES HARRIS: This is Truthdig. This is James Harris, sitting down with the usual suspects: Bob Scheer and Josh Scheer, and we also have on the phone a distinguished guest, Mr. Danny Goldberg. He’s a revolutionary - one of the people who led the fight against record censorship in the ‘80s. Former CEO of Air America, but now Danny is the president of Gold Village Entertainment, and we have the pleasure of talking to him on the heels of the Dixie Chicks winning five Grammys. And if you don’t know, some of you might have heard about the frenzy they caused when they spoke out against President Bush. They spoke out against our position - our potential position—in Iraq. And they seem, with their title track, “Not Ready to Make Nice,” they seem to have captured the spirits of America, because they’re not just going to do what everybody wants them to do. They’re not just going to follow what the President says is right. And in the spirit of patriotism, that’s an important message.

If you go to Truthdig.com, you can see where the Dixie Chicks have been granted and given an award by the ACLU. He quote says, “It hasn’t taken courage to stand strong, just a first-grade education” to figure out some of the things that are going on in Iraq, some of the things that the President and the former Mr. Rumsfeld and Mr. Cheney, some of the things they’re telling us, they’re not right.

Danny, welcome to Truthdig, first of all. I just want to ask you, what are your feelings? Do you feel any redemption in the fact that the Dixie Chicks have just won this national award and have been seemingly embraced by the American public?

DANNY GOLDBERG: I think it’s certainly good for the country and good for the Dixie Chicks. In general, I think back to—in 1949 the Weavers had a No. 1 record with “Good Night Irene.” Within three years the blacklisting that had affected them because of their supposed Communist sympathies had made the group break up. It was another 15 years before Pete Seeger could be on national television or really have any kind of commercial activity. And I think it’s a refreshing contrast that in this era, they did take a shot, they lost a lot of exposure on Country radio, because Natalie Mains said she was embarrassed to be from the same state as President Bush. And their sales in records and concerts were not as big as they were during their apex, but they did sell a couple of million albums, and the Grammy voters—which includes people from all different kinds of music—were making a statement that they don’t like it when right-wing talk show hosts or apologists for any particular kind of government tries to intimidate artists. A similar thing happened in last year’s Grammys. My client, Steve Earle, took a lot of grief for his song, John Walker’s blues, and for his own anti-war views, and he won a Grammy in the contemporary folk category. So I think there’s an atmosphere, culturally, that is more protective of artists, and a public that will give them a little more license than existed in previous years—even though were damaged by the attacks, even with the Grammys.

ROBERT SCHEER: Yeah, Hi, Danny. It’s Bob Scheer.

DANNY GOLDBERG: Hi, Bob.

ROBERT SCHEER: Hi. Hey, listen, I think you should be making more of this. I just feel what they did took more courage in a way than almost anything I had seen in my lifetime ... not just from artists, but from academic people, what have you. I mean, this was coming after 9/11, and I know a lot of people were silent, and for them to take the stand - but more important, and you could tell us about this, they must have gotten a lot of advice after that, as they say in their lyrics, “Shut up and sing.” We know they were blocked out of certain radio stations. And there was a lot of feeling that they would be destroyed. And the fact that they stuck to their guns and then came out with this album, saying, ‘No, I’m not going to make nice, and I’m going to stick to this,’ I just don’t think I’ve seen that kind of - I think it took more courage than what John Lennon did, what Bob Dylan did, I really do.

DANNY GOLDBERG: I don’t think it took more than John Lennon -

JAMES HARRIS: More than John Lennon?

DANNY GOLDBERG: I think John Lennon certainly had an equal amount of courage; and paid a pretty steep price. There’s a pretty good movie about the Nixon administration’s response. ......(more)

The complete interview, in transcript and audio versions, is at: http://www.truthdig.com/interview/item/20070220_danny_goldberg_on_antiwar_artistry/

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1. Danny Goldberg decimated Air America as the most inept

CEO they have had to date.... Getting rid of shows that worked, because he didn't like humor mixed in with political discussion... Uggh... I could care less what he thinks. I'm just glad he is long gone from AAR.