Henley’s comments hit sour note

Plus: If Matt LeBlanc were a carpenter

	Don Henley tried to defend fellow singer Linda Ronstadt at a recent concert.
Adrees Latif / Reuters file

By Jeannette Walls

MSNBC

updated 2:47 a.m. ET Aug. 5, 2004

Don Henley pulled a Linda Ronstadt.

At a recent concert, the former Eagles crooner drew some boos — as well as some cheers — and some angry listeners walked out when Henley talked politics. The singer poked fun at President Bush and Vice President Cheney while performing at the Amphitheater in Costa Mesa, Calif., and tried to defend Ronstadt, who was given her walking papers by management after she promoted Michael Moore’s anti-Bush film “Fahrenheit 9/11” in her concert.

“Given what my good friend Linda Ronstadt —” Henley started telling the crowd, but he was cut down as the audience erupted in boos, reports the Orange County Register. Henley responded: “Whoops — Orange County, we used to be able to have civil debate in this country. Not anymore.”

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Henley then said that Bush and Cheney should sing his next song — and then performed Randy Newman’s “Political Science” — a satirical song suggesting that the U.S. drop bombs on any country that doesn’t like it. Ex-Henley fans responded by leaving the concert.

Speaking her mind
IMAGE: Streep
Robert Galbraith / Reuters
Meanwhile, Meryl Streep is speaking out in defense of Teresa Heinz Kerry.

Streep, while promoting her film “The Manchurian Candidate,” suggested that if Dick Cheney had said the infamous “shove it” phrase uttered by the would-be First Lady, no one would have minded.

“If she had said what Cheney had said,” Streep said, referring to Cheney’s use of the F-word on the Senate floor, “imagine the reverberations. And she’s not even running for anything.”

Streep also dismissed reports that the tough, manipulative character she plays in the film is based on Hillary Clinton. She said her performance was inspired by several public figures, and when asked to name one, she grinned slyly and jokingly replied, “Tom DeLay,” referring to the House Majority Leader, a Republican from Texas.

Notes from all over
IMAGE: Cruise
Carlo Allegri / Getty Images
Tom Cruise credits Scientology with keeping his hair from going gray. No word on why it didn’t help John Travolta. . . . Buzz about catfighting on the set of “Catwoman” heated up when Sharon Stone was booked into a different hotel than the other stars of the movie when the cast promoted the flick in London. Star Halle Berry and other stars were at the Dorchester, while Stone insisted on staying at Claridges. . . .Acting was Matt LeBlanc’s fallback career. The “Friends” star originally wanted to be a carpenter. “It was winter, and I smashed my finger, and it was freezing,” the star told the September issue of Ladies Home Journal. “I remember thinking, ‘Crap! I hate this! It was either find someplace warm to go and frame houses or go with acting. Then, if you have to lift something heavy, a stuntman does it.”