Ditsy Chicks: Who Needs Patriotism?

The increasingly bitter Ditsy Chicks seem to have made a suicide pact with their careers, and with every public utterance, make it less likely that Americans will want to support their tours and recordings. Here's the latest:

The Chicks can't hide their disgust at the lack of support they received from other country performers. "A lot of artists cashed in on being against what we said or what we stood for because that was promoting their career, which was a horrible thing to do," says Robison.

"A lot of pandering started going on, and you'd see soldiers and the American flag in every video. It became a sickening display of ultra-patriotism."

"The entire country may disagree with me, but I don't understand the necessity for patriotism," Maines resumes, through gritted teeth. "Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country… I don't see why people care about patriotism."

Perhaps this is why the Dits have decided to drop dates in the U.S. and book in Canada instead.

They may not be running for elected office, but the Dixie Chicks appear to be struggling to work out a kind of political map of their own, heading for concert arenas where ticket sales are brisker and the fans may be more forgiving.

The pop-country trio — whose lead singer Natalie Maines set off a firestorm when she criticized President Bush during a 2003 concert in London — announced eight new concert dates in Canada and the Northeast for the first leg of their summer concert tour on Tuesday.

At the same time, at least 12 U.S. sites, concentrated mostly in the South and Midwest, have put ticket sales for shows on hold after they initially went on sale June 3.

Concert dates in cities such as Houston, Jacksonville, Memphis and St. Louis will likely have to be rescheduled or canceled. No cities have been dropped from the tour outright yet, organizers insist.

Ray Waddell, senior editor of touring for Billboard magazine, said while some places were selling only about 5,000 to 6,000 tickets in the first week of sales, tickets in other cities such as Chicago, New York and Philadelphia were selling briskly.

You'd think at some point they'd figure out that they need to just shut up and sing.