Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Kim Wilson to Rush Limbaugh: Hands Off My Songs!

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Found out about this by reading harmonica player Bob Corritore's newsletter. Here's the situation as best I can tell it::
Kim Wilson, harmonica player and lead singer of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, doesn't want his songs on radio host Rush Limbaugh's syndicated show.

Limbaugh has been under fire since last month when he called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” after she argued to Democratic House members that religious institutions should offer free contraceptives in their insurance plans. The case drew even more public attention after Republicans refused to allow her to make her arguments before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
 Limbaugh, who also recommended that Fluke post videotapes of herself having sex on line, argued that the law student was essentially asking to be paid for having sex.
“The Constitution gives us the right of free speech. (But) I don’t want people to think that I’m affiliated in any way, shape or form with him,” said Wilson, adding that he was “mortified” by Limbaugh’s comments. “The message he promotes is something I’m totally against.”
Limbaugh has not yet responded to an email from Beldon’s Blues Point asking if he will comply with Wilson’s wishes.
Wilson made his demands known in a March 6 memo sent to Limbaugh and his show’s distributors, the media conglomerate company Clear Channel Communications and its radio syndication arm, Premiere Radio Networks. The Thunderbirds’ 1986 hit “Tuff Enuff” is among the music Limbaugh has used on his show.
So far, the controversy is believed to have cost Limbaugh 142 sponsors. On March 12, Premiere announced that it was suspending national advertising on the program for two weeks.
In announcing his demand, Wilson said: “What kind of example is Rush setting for the youth of America? He’s a proven drug addict and is now in his fourth marriage…both things his listeners rail against and yet these people still listen to him. Rush Limbaugh is a promoter of ignorance. He’s a clown..all he does is stir up the rabble that exists in this country. I don’t think he’s an idiot—he makes 50 million dollars a year. The things he says are not only disrespectful, chauvinistic and racist—it’s about everything that—in my mind—is wrong.”
In 2009 Limbaugh turned himself into authorities in Palm Beach County, Florida in response to a warrant charging him with fraud to conceal information to obtain prescriptions. Prosecutors, who had accused Limbaugh of “doctor-shopping” in order to illegally acquire OxyContin, agreed to drop the charge if he continued treatment.
Wilson also said Limbaugh’s description of Fluke as a “slut” was “factual misinformation.” “It wasn’t funding as part of a health bill that she wanted, but for her own insurance—that’s private industry,” he said.
Kim also said he is releasing an album through Severn Records later this year. Here is an interview we did with him in January, 2010:
http://beldonsbluespoint.blogspot.com/2010/01/harmonica-player-kim-wilson-has-come.html
Bob also gave us notice of the following deaths in the blues world. Links to newspaper obituaries about these great artists appear under their names:

*Piano player Big Walter Price
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2012/03/houston_blues_legend_big_walte.php?utm_source=Newsletters&utm_medium=email
*Harmonica/bass player Andy Cornett
http://www.theind.com/news/9962-andy-cornett-local-musician-dies
*Guitarist Eddie King
http://lamazablues.blogspot.com/
*Guitarist Bugs Henderson
http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/03/10/3800606/bugs-henderson-local-blues-guitar.html
*Saxophonist Red Holloway
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/feb/29/red-holloway
Well, anything you'd like to share with us, let us know at beldonsbluespoint@yahoo.com. In the meantime, join our site! Represent!

1 comment:

  1. I am the booking agent for KIM WILSON'S BLUES ALL-STARS. Contact steve@launchpublicity.com or 415.686.0668 for booking information

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