The Diane Rehm Show: Singer Linda Ronstadt on Her Life in Music
DIANE REHM: Thanks for joining us. I’m Diane Rehm. Legendary singer Linda Ronstadt has sold more than 100 million records in her 40-year career. She’s best known for chart-topping hits like “You’re No Good,” “Blue Bayou,” and “When Will I Be Loved?” Ronstadt was the first female artist in popular music history to release four consecutive platinum albums. But last year, a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease forced her to stop singing. She’s in Washington D.C. this week, where yesterday she received the National Medal of Arts from President Obama.
…. Tell us about that ceremony yesterday and how you felt.
LINDA RONSTADT: Well, I think most artists always will say, I don’t know if you agree with this or not, but I felt like a fraud. You know? I felt surely they’d made a mistake and they would be telling me any minute that, you know, I needed to go home. I was on the wrong list.
….. But otherwise I was delighted. And I am a great fan of President Obama and think he has been a fine president. And I’m very pleased that we’ve got to have someone of his grace and his dignity, which is rare in American culture these days.
REHM: Do you think, in part, it comes from his Hawaiian upbringing?
RONSTADT: Well, he — there’s a beautiful, beautiful ancient culture in the Hawaiian Islands and an old tradition of a lot of diversity. You know, there are Japanese, Chinese, Hawaiian, Portuguese, Okinawan, and they all had to get along. And so there’s a high level of lovely, beautiful manners, you know? People treat each other with respect and courtesy in the islands that you don’t find in the mainland. And I think — and there’s a real gentleness, you know?
Of course people stand up for themselves too. You don’t want to get into a fight with a Hawaiian. Because if you want to push him, he’s a tough guy, you know? But he’ll give you an out before. And I think that he reflects a lot of that. Maybe his background in the Hawaiian Islands…
REHM: He was very warm.
RONSTADT: He was very genuine and he was very present. And I liked that. He was very aware of what was going on around him. We’ve had so many people that have just been, you know, so egotistical or so completely full of themselves they can’t tell what’s going on around them. And I don’t think that’s the case with him. And his wife Mrs. Obama couldn’t be more impressive. My god, she’s beautiful. She’s very beautiful in the photographs…
REHM: Absolutely gorgeous.
RONSTADT: …but she’s 50 times as pretty.
REHM: Totally gorgeous.
RONSTADT: And little looks going back and forth between them, you know? You can tell that that’s a strong relationship. I was very impressed. I expected to be impressed and I was very much more impressed…
Full transcript here
The Obama Diary 
Go, Sandra!
Jacqueliiiiiiiine!!!
Chips!!!!!
Gonna be a great Obama day, dontcha think? (And then we can get back to the real world after that.)
It’s already an exquisite Obama Day, J, he’s got me all fiiiiiiired up!!! 🙂
I think I’ve been sprinkled with a little magical Obama dust meself!
Product: ‘Obama Dust’, sprinkle it on your friends, families, neighbors, communities and acquaintances to get out the vote in 2014!
Thanks, JER – Love seeing our President out and about!
Wow…wow…wow.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. We are freaking blessed to have a President Barack Obama in this country and in the world.
Thanks so much, Chips. What a beautiful post.
Really loved her words Nerdy, tender, sweet, observant, gorgeous! Thank you Legend.
Beautiful comments from Linda Ronstadt. She articulates what we all have seen.
Beautiful comments by Linda Ronstadt. My dad, like President Obama, also had a crush on her, “back in the day”. A musical crush—-and he thought she was pretty cute.
I must admit I heard of Linda, but I didn’t listen to her music.
I grew up being a huge fan of Jackson 5, then MJ.
Huh ?
“He was very genuine and he was very present. And I liked that. He was very aware of what was going on around him. We’ve had so many people that have just been, you know, so egotistical or so completely full of themselves they can’t tell what’s going on around them. And I don’t think that’s the case with him. ….”
Yep, eat that GOP & your MSM shills! We-The-People know this to be so.
LIVE NOW: Awaiting President Obama’s departure from Kansas City, MO – http://livewire.kmbc.com/Event/Live_updates_on_President_Barack_Obamas_visit_to_Kansas_City
OMB… Knoller posted a picture of PBO’s plate of food on that site.
This is getting old. I guess Knoller want the media world to know what POTUS is eating, then the right wing haters can try to bring FLOTUS in it.
Thanks, JER! Looked like 2 Beasts stayed parked on the tarmac even after AF1 took off. I always thought they put them on a transport plane right away.
This Linda Ronstadt song was played at the graveside of my nephew…….the words are amazing
Beautiful song, Linda. Such heartbreaking lyrics, perfectly sung.
It still gives me the chills……
Such an apt description of our President, “grace and dignity.”
Bill R. it’s to bad others can’t see that, they are blinded by the blackness, that they can’t see the grace and dignity.
Many more do than don’t.
You think so. Sometimes I fine myself wondering about that.
I have to stop listening to the negative stuff.
AB, Oh, I think they see it, but, they’re just so blinded by jealousy, they have to tear him down so they won’t look so awful beside him.
Let me go listen to POTUS speech and then try to fine FLOTUS speech this morning. I know POTUS handle hecklers just fine, but the fact that people think that is the only way to get their point across pisses me off.
Anniebella, we have your thoughts in a good space so just treat yourself to a nice cool glass of your favorite tea or coffee of just a nice glass of water in one of your beautiful glasses and make a toast to POB’s grace, wisdom, and peaceful mind.
You are so supportive, so just remember that we will get through all of this. Like you do, call the facts of the goodness of POB and fill your space up with so much of what you know is so good and decent about PBO and his team. Remember, we need you for our work leading up to Nov. And I know it is very difficult at times to hear and see all of this “stuff”, but I know together we will keep his back.
Thank you for all that you do, anniebella. His speech will uplift you. He will make it with all of our love and support. {{{{{{{{Love you}}}}}}}}HZ
Photos in Kansas City:
http://www.kansascity.com/news/government-politics/article829210.html
Another that cracked me up — the young girls precious expressions. There’s a local news video at end of article:
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/ken-walshs-washington/2014/07/30/obama-eats-ribs-dines-with-locals-in-kansas-city
I noticed in this in the Ken Walsh article…”As I point out in my book “Prisoners of the White House: The Isolation of America’s Presidents and the Crisis of Leadership” Obama, like other presidents, is trying to avoid being out of touch. It’s a common problem in the White House. To keep in contact, he meets with everyday people as he did in Kansas City, reads 10 citizen letters a day provided by his staff, keeps track of opinion polls, takes an interest in popular culture and social media, hosts discussions at the White House with historians, journalists and others, talks to friends around the country, and reads news coverage in the media and books.
Presidents “feel trapped,” local Democratic political consultant Martin Hamburger told the Kansas City Star Tuesday, praising outreach events that put presidents in contact with everyday people. “It probably does give them perspective,” Hamburger said.”
This is true of a lot of us, Jer. I’m lost in a quilting shop, although I admire the talent that creates the beautiful final pieces.
Thank you, Chips for this beautiful post. I was just thinking as I await my’ sweet oil’ call for today from my loving sibling: we are so very blessed to be living and participating in this great president’s presidency. Just a beautiful joy!!!! And thank you Chips for taking on this beautiful and very hard work of keeping this space open to us. You are one of my most precious gems, and the jewels are few in this area. I love you and thank you so much.HZ
I read in the KC Star that the woman in the balcony yelled, “Jesus is the God of Israel. He is fully God”——ay yi yi—–and the perfect PBO response of “I believe in God. Thanks for the prayer.”
I see she’s still stuck in the days of the Council of Nicaea.
Thanks, Dotser, I was wondering what loony-ness the heckler yelled. That’s a doozy! 🙂
So where does that leave Jesus’ Dad? Has he been replaced by Jesus?
I’m not being facetious. I’m Jewish so I’m curious as to Christian beliefs concerning the placement of the ‘first’ God and then the Son.
If you want a great read about how the conception of Jesus evolved from that of a Jewish apocalyptic prophet to the Son of God, read Bart D. Ehrman’s new book, “How Jesus Became God.” I finished it a couple of weeks ago.
I have the book my To Read list. I was being a tad facetious, because this issue has always been a part of my life, as I tried to figure out why Jews were hated. I didn’t experience the level of anti-Semitism that my parents did, or even my brother who was 15 years older than I. But it was there. And you don’t grow up in post- WW II America as a Jew without the spectre of the Holocaust hanging over you. I’ve done a fair amount of reading of religious history – it fascinates me.
I guess what caught my attention was the heckler’s statement that Jesus is the God of Israel. I think of the ‘God of Israel’ as the Old Testament God. Just wondered.
Well, if you go by more hardline elements, Jesus is God, and Jesus was sent to the Jews, so in that view he’s the “God of Israel”. Of course, Jews “rejected” this God, hence the 2000 years of pogroms and annihilations.
I sometimes feel like learning me some New Testament Greek, biblical Hebrew, and starting a 3rd career as a biblical scholar.
Wouldn’t that be a joy – to be a biblical scholar. In your spare time……
I’m still curious as to where the Bible-thumpers place the Old Testament God. Certainly it is His hard line judgments that the RW churches follow, but if Jesus ‘replaces’ Him, how does that work?
I question of Sarah Palin in Bible study class!
I am currently reading “The New Oxford Annotated Bible,” which is definitely eye-opening. Started last week and I’ve so far finished reading Genesis and Exodus. Before I was “confirmed” to receive “Holly Communion” I had to attend catechism schools. I also took a course in World Religions when I was in courage and read many excerpts from the Bible. But now I am determined to read the entire Bible because I want to understand where fundamentalists, both Jewish and Christians, are coming from.
Amen, 57. I have a younger brother who is a pastor of his own church, and I often hear him teaching that Jesus created the entire universe and everything in it. (that’s kind of new for me, oh well)
Hey, I’m Jewish so what do I know? Except that in my denomination we discussed everything, were encouraged to question everything. It was about a ‘dialogue’. I sometimes think I know more about Jesus than the Dominionist usurpers. I was taught Christ’s message was to be incorporated, but as one in a long line of Jewish prophets. I won’t get into the mystical and historical meanings of the Jewish Messiah. But these were wonderful, intellectual discussions upon which I was raised.
Um, Dotster, what exactly was her point, or, was she just expressing random bigotry against Palestinian Muslims. The mind boggles at the lunatic connections in some people’s minds. Or maybe she thinks that Jesus is cheering on the massive killing of infants and children. After all, what did Jesus ever say that made anyone think he cared about “children”? All the troublesome bits were probably cut out of her Bible.
Her description of the culture of Hawaii is touching. Would that the mainland U.S. could learn something from what it means to live in a diverse culture based on mutual respect and dignity.
I should like to add that President Obama had an unusually gifted mother who had a heart filled with compassionate love for the entire world. Doubtless that compassionate heart and the values she imparted validated and empowered his already sensitive and compassionate nature. I grew up with a single mother like that. Despite the fact that we lived in small town America with more than its share of racism and injustice, I was raised differently. Yet I grew up with a devotion to social justice, empathy for the poor, ( we were poor), and a respect for the dignity of all people, gay, straight, black, brown. (My mother, a white woman, took me to my first meeting of the NAACP when I was in high school in the mid-sixties.) This devotion was due in large part to my mother, born to a low income immigrant family, a single mother who raised three children on waitress wages. Each of us went on to have a good life, college educated, and to live out the values she taught. Our President’s greater legacy, even greater than the great public policy changes he has brought, is a vision of the world that is fundamentally loving and compassionate, devoted to the understanding that we, all peoples across this planet, are in this journey of life together, and we are here to help one another.
Lovely, Bill!
Bill, your last sentence, “Our president’s greater legacy, even greater than the great public policy changes he has brought, is a vision of the world that is fundamentally loving and compassionate, devoted to the understanding that we, all peoples across this planet, are in this journey of life together, and we are here to help one another,” is the statement and belief we all need to act on. I agree wholeheartedly with this, because this a matter of change of the heart, and “Out of the heart, the mouth speaks.”
Thank you for this wonderful summation.
Thank you for sharing this with us, Bill R.
^5.
thank you for sharing the stories of you family….thank you…..it is profound….
Excellent commentary, Bill R, and if I may add not only PBO’s mother, and your own mother, but so many of us single moms have a great deal of courage, just to get through the wonderful and challenging gift of raising a child alone. We learn about community, and building that village of those willing to love and nurture, both our child, and us! Separation is the greatest sin. When we separate ourselves from others, we separate ourselves from God. There is only One Soul, and we are all It!
GA TOD.
Fantastic Coverage of POTUS in KC.
Thanks.
Counting Mark couldn’t help himself! Apparently there was an article that said they’d run out of coleslaw when PBO got there. Some teasing from PBO to cashier, etc.:
“Obama ordered half a slab of ribs, beans, fries and a beer but was unable to get cole slaw because it had sold out. “You didn’t save any for me?” he joked to the cashier.”
.
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/ken-walshs-washington/2014/07/30/obama-eats-ribs-dines-with-locals-in-kansas-city
This guy is SICK. Why would POTUS notice his cole slaw? POTUS is not an Obsessive pri.ck as Count Von Knoller.
ODS to the Nth degree?
Um…. isn’t Nancy Pelosi the ” Top House Democrat “?
CNN is pathetic.
Steve is head of DCCC and in charge of house elections.
Debbie W-S is DNC Chair……Co-Chair to be accurate.
hahahahaha go for it…. nutjobs.
oh wait. I thought it read GOP going to run on impeachment. I am sure most of them will. They just hope no one records it.
“Motivating the base
Israel says talk of impeachment and lawsuit against Obama is motivating the Democratic party’s base.
“The phone calls, the emails, people signing up, wanting volunteer on campaigns, has surged literally over the past several weeks. Now it always surges as you get closer to an election, but I’m telling you the August numbers are what the Octobers numbers should be,” Israel said.
And he added that “their accusations of presidential overreach have become a Republican overreach and that is motivating swing voters and persuadable voters.”
I read were someone said something stupid about it’s the Democrats who are talking about impeachment. I said to myself what the heck is this person talking about, Republicans has been talking about impeaching this President for years.
Saw that at your “Departure” link, JER, & thought that was sweet of KMBC.
Crop Circles fascinates me.
Call mulder and scully? The truth is out there. 🙂
That’s funny Jovie!!!!!!!!
Er, pretty sure it was NOT students on holiday cutting in this field! HaHa! Our most sophisticated computers still can’t interpret the mathematics of Crop Circles. Woot!
Hey, wait a minute! Mark Knoller is a mathematician, maybe HE could work on the algorithms?! Well, maybe not..
Just another reason to love Linda Ronstadt.
🙂
😆 I’m with ya, Mr President!
Me too—–sometimes when creative, interesting ingredients are added to food and beverage, stuff gets wrecked—–like my brunch potatoes the other day. (messed up with little weird tasting greenies of some unknown origin—-totally unnecessary and damaging) (bad decision) (sad)
Maybe rosemary…
weird tasting greenies ……… 😯
I bought some lavender tea Chips and so far I have used it only one time. Was not impressed with the tea, although I love the smell of lavender. 🙂
It belongs in the garden, COS! 🙂
hahaha
Lavender relaxes.. don’t think the President needs anymore relaxing. 😀
I like it in my soap and body lotion, don’t want to eat or drink it. 🙂
It’s tasty but you gotta be open not that PBO is not open but let the WH chefs test it out first.
LOL! 😀
The Lies and the Lying Liars that tell the them.
Al Jazeera America has seen a 30% increase in their viewership. While MSNBC is lagging behind? Hmm?
why is MSNBC and the rest of the media pro-Israel circle so slow?
Very simple, those who Control the Media, Control the News. No Nationally Independent Objective News Media is left……OK….but to say that 5-6 Corporations control what 318.9M consume as News.
Warren Buffett is buying some News Papers…..trying to keep them going as a check, locally. Fine. But he is not buying them in a larger scale nor is he or Soros interested in building a Nationally News Media Outlet….that is Independent and with it’s Own Goal……Just to inform the public. Liberals are still in denial that the News Media is trying to be fair.
read that thanks. Also saw a link from a 16 year old girl who was tweeting from Gaza. She was afraid she wouldn’t live to see the next day.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jennaguillaume/this-16-year-old-girl-is-live-tweeting-gaza-under-attack
Thanks, Nospin. I read it yesterday.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/29/3465442/whitehouse-blasts-inhofe-on-climate/?utm_source=huffingtonpost.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pubexchange_article
Thanks Sen Whitehouse……..
And the Courts will? Sooner or later, they will show their Obvious Bias.
I saw that earlier and cracked up laughing.
Satan sounds like the good guy.
“The Satanic Temple’s attorney, told ABC. “It’s a statement from the patient to the physician and to the world at large that ‘here’s my position, here’s what i believe’. actually going to court and picking the test case actually depends on the facts. At this stage, we don’t know who that will be.”
The Satanic Temple remains a mystery to many but their spokesman Lucien Greaves told ABC News that they have gained 10,000 members in the past year and a half. They gained notoriety earlier this year when they pushed for a 7-foot Satanic statue to be approved to stand alongside a 10 Commandments monument at the Oklahoma State Capital. The statue is under construction.
When it comes to fighting any lawsuits that The Satanic Temple brings forward regarding informed consent laws, it appears that the devil is truly in the details.
“It really puts the conservative Christians and the anti-contraceptive Catholics in a bind: They’re going to have to argue that a religious group should lose a RFRA claim that is on par with the Hobby Lobby claim,” Hamilton said.
“The courts cant pick and choose between beliefs.”
hah! this is going to be interesting.
Just finish listening to POTUS speech in KC this morning, I love the guy who introduce POTUS. He said POTUS can tear up some ribs. 🙂
Linda Ronstadt’s comments about the President are so beautiful. Here impression of FLOTUS mirrors mine when I was blessed to be 10 feet from FLOTUS when she gave a Let’s Move speech here in DC in 2013. I was floored by her beauty. When people make the statement that pictures don’t do a person justice they were talking about our FLOTUS. She is a stunningly beautiful woman in person both inside and out. Our President is blessed in many ways!!!
Hi Donna. I so agree with you about FLOTUS. I was blessed to introduce her when she came to Indy in 2012 for a fundraiser. She is just drop dead gorgeous. She had on a knit dress that showed her flawless figure and her skin is just luminous. And like you’ve so eloquently said, she is just the nicest and most gracious lady. POTUS and FLOTUS are just a powerhouse of intelligence, grace and goodness.
Wow what a wonderful honor for you LP. Isn’t she amazing? She’s a knock out beauty and as sincere and graceful as anyone that you would ever encounter. I guess that’s why the digs on her by the right hurt me the most. She is the epitome of First Lady. There will never be another like her in my book!
Fully agree with you both. Her skin and her eyes just glow. She is a very tall, stunning woman in great shape. And then there’s the sweeping grace and extraordinary intelligence and PASSION!! They are perfectly suited for one another.
Donna, my sentiments exactly.
I posted last night in response to the woman who said that,” Michelle was lucky” because POB was so handsome.
Michelle’s beauty is inside/outside and natural.
As handsome as he is Michelle accentuates him to a higher level.
Linda Ronstadt also commented on the back and forth way they look at each other.
When I notice that in a couple it makes me smile and pray their relationship grows stronger.
Every time I see a simple touch, holding hands and allowing the other to finish their thought or sentence unless asked, tugs at my heart.
It keeps me smiling.
I sure needed this speech today and Linda Ronstadt’s interview.
What a difference a day makes…….it’s called hope!
When even Luke Fucking Russert is tweeting something like this…
more terrorist actions by the Israeli militants.
There are no words left for these actions, LL. This is the kind of blatant genocide that should have every civilized person and society up in arms against Israel.
Holy shit……
Yeah, the “part time” economy. *smirk*
Wouldn’t it be nice to see this reported in MSM?
yet more propaganda via the media exposed.
Also note that there are now over 4M Jobs unfilled due to Lack of Skills to match those positions. Job Training used to be non-partisan and now it hardly a tool the Fed Use any more to help when the Need Now is so blatantly obvious.
Today by 10k a day……Baby Boomers are retiring……..So the need for Tech Schools…affordable….to help easy the lack of Job Training Centers is of a great importance.
So pathetically true.
Nerdy’s new post:
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/07/30/obamacare-making-medicare-stronger-for-future-generations/
Love Linda Ronstadt forever. Beautiful voice, great music and a perceptive warm heart. Grace and dignity indeed. “Don’t know much” but I know I love them (her and the President) both