The headline read: "White Trash, Hicks & Morons." Was this story in the hometown newspaper of country music bashing the durable music genre? After all, country has been frequently lambasted by "refined'' critics for the crime of having its roots in the poor and working classes.

No. It was an advertisement - promoting the new Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

For a change, the industry is having some fun with the stereotypical backward image that is still tied to country music. In the past, it has either pandered to it for profit (see "Hee Haw") or just seemed embarrassed.

"Sure, we wanted to be provocative," said Kyle Young, director of the Hall of Fame. "For this campaign, we wanted something that would dispel preconceived notions about country music, and let people know how big the music is. In a sense, it is the story of our country because it is so linked to our culture."

The "White Trash, Hicks & Morons" headline stems from the reaction of New York columnist Dorothy Kilgallen when she heard about a 1961 concert at Carnegie Hall featuring Patsy Cline, Bill Monroe, Marty Robbins, Faron Young and other Nashville stars. Kilgallen, known as a panelist on the game show "What's My Line,'' called country music fans "hicks from the sticks,'' and advised New Yorkers to schedule their vacations to avoid being in town the day of the concert.

Lisa Flood/ImagineThat Productions

"But, despite the cold welcome, they went ahead and played at Carnegie Hall anyway," reads the ad. "Filled it to the rafters and rocked the house. Then donated the proceeds to local musicians down on their luck. Discover America in the making and a bit of yourself in the music at the new Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum."

Lisa Flood/ImagineThat Productions
Patsy's Knockout Blow To Dorothy Kilgallen In the Second Round

The print ads and billboards are appearing in Nashville to draw tourists and residents to the museum.

"That's delightful," Vanderbilt University sociologist Richard Peterson said about the ads. Peterson who wrote "Fabricating Authenticity," a book about the complex ways "authenticity" is measured and manipulated in the country music industry.

"I think it is new for them to be self-confident enough of who they are and what they're doing, and confident of the readers out there who are middle-class people," Peterson said.

The Hall of Fame campaign is far more provocative than the slogan the genre's trade organization, the Country Music Association, is getting ready to market: "Country. Admit it. You Love It."

"The CMA has always reacted to the snobbery by saying, 'Let's dress up in ball gowns and tuxedos and show them we're as good as they are,'" Peterson said.

Ed Benson, CMA executive director, said the two campaigns had the same goals.

"They were privy to our research," he said. "I think their campaign probably addresses the same kind of questions and issues as ours. It's supposed to encourage and reinforce the core consumer, and broaden the base."

The ad headlines are taken either from historical events or famous pop culture taglines: "To Hell With Roy Acuff," one reads. "Elvis Has Never Left The Building," a billboard on Interstate 40 proclaims. "To Hell With Roy Acuff" was a Japanese battle cry during World War II, along with "To Hell with Roosevelt" and "To Hell With Babe Ruth." Acuff, who died in 1992, was, and is, regarded as one of the kings of country music, having been the Grand Master of the Grand Ole Opry and influenced artists like Hank Williams and George Jones.

"Elvis Has Never Left The Building" and "Cash Accepted Here" stand alone as slogans on billboards, alluding to the enduring popularity of Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash with country fans, while their stock rises and falls in mainstream culture. "This approach is more like Volkswagen did with the Bug," Peterson said. "Just the tell them, 'We have a Bug,' and be proud."

LeAnn will be featured in an upcoming Dr. Pepper commercial. The commercial will be a tribute to Patsy Cline with LeAnn in the role of Patsy Cline of 2001. No details yet as to when the commercial will air.

Darwin Patsy Cline Concert Cancelled

The Darwin Entertainment Centre's manager has blamed the lack of knowledge of the Darwin market for the cancellation of a major concert. The manager, Bob O'Callahan, says the Patsy Cline concert was cancelled after the promoter decided early ticket sales were unsatisfactory. Mr O'Callahan says Darwin audiences rarely buy tickets until the last minute, but interstate promoters will not listen. "We have our own marketing department which knows the Darwin market," he said. "We offer our services, usually at no charge to southern promoters, but they choose to organise their marketing out of Sydney or Melbourne, not knowing the Darwin market."

It all begins with Bessie Smith and runs through "Mother" Maybelle Carter and Patsy Cline to Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner, Patti Smith, Madonna, Bikini Kill, and Janet Jackson, finally arriving at Lauryn Hill and Missy Elliott. It is the bloodline of rock and roll's maternal ancestry. It is anything but a straight line. And yet, all those women it passes through seem to have, at their core, a need to do the same thing. Gerri Hirshey summarizes that inner drive in four words: "Gotta sing. Gotta go."

Boy, can they sing. Girl, can they go.

In "We Gotta Get Outta This Place," Hirshey tells the life story of rock and roll by examining the lives of women who have made the music their own. That description might create the image of a book that is encyclopedic and superficial. Whatever else she might be, Hirshey is not a superficial writer. Her book is relatively short, but it packs a punch that can only be measured in megatons.

Hirshey doesn't write about rock and roll. She writes rock and roll. Her prose is infused with the energy of the music itself. At times, it seems to march in cadence with a thrumming bass line; at other times, it seems to soar toward that place where only great guitar licks and Janis Joplin's voice can live. Reading her stories about rock's greatest women is like listening to an album of their music.

Making contributions She harnesses her art to the purpose of letting women have their say. "We Gotta Get Outta This Place" is not an exercise in feminist revisionism. Hirshey doesn't belittle the contributions men have made to rock music. Instead, she demonstrates that women have been toiling in the same fields beside them from the beginning, and making contributions equally important, if not equally recognized.

Hirshey's story begins at the beginning -- in the blues and country-western music that gave birth to rock and roll. She makes her way chronologically toward the current state of affairs, which embraces everything from corporate pop to conglomerate hip-hop. Rather than compile a compendium of names, dates and chart positions, Hirshey lets us hear what women have to say, drawing from research and her own reportage to give voice to female rockers past and present.... Gerri Hirshey writes rock and roll from the soul. "We Gotta Get Outta This Place" is an exultant shout, a foot-stomping, hip-swinging, arms-flailing celebration of the music and the women who make it.

Hometown Finally Embraces Cline

By: MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press

WINCHESTER, VA (AP) - Patsy Cline was always proud of her hometown, but Winchester was not always proud of her.

Cline, famous for such hits as "Crazy," "Walkin' After Midnight" and "I Fall To Pieces," died in a 1963 plane crash, at the age of 30 and the height of her popularity.

She moved 19 times by the time she was 16, giving numerous towns in the region their own stake to her legacy. But she was born in Winchester, spent more time there than anywhere else, and claimed it as her hometown at the beginning of every concert.

For many years after her death, though, the town refused to acknowledge its link to the star. As late as 1986, the City Council rejected a resolution to name a street after her.

Old-timers in the town resented what they perceived as Cline's wild habits. She had been divorced once, and rumors circulated about her supposedly loose ways with men.

In recent years, though, the town has come to accept its connection to Cline, with both a belated recognition of her talent as well as a realization of the potential for a tourism bonanza.

IMAX Film Production Crew Sues Gaylord

By: RICHARD LAWSON
Staff Writer

An IMAX film featuring top country artists like Dolly Parton, Alan Jackson and the Dixie Chicks that Gaylord Entertainment Co. had hoped to release this summer has gotten off key, landing in court with a $1 million lawsuit.

Twang, the working title of the film on the history of country music, is now tied up in Davidson County Chancery Court in a $1 million contract dispute between Gaylord and The Collective, the Nashville production company hired to make the film.

The Collective filed a lawsuit late Thursday, claiming Gaylord had left the firm with more than $1 million in unpaid bills. It also includes a claim that Gaylord hasn’t made a promised $250,000 donation to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis as part of a deal to entice the artists to accept less money for their film appearances.

"All of the principals and entire staff of The Collective are saddened that the magnificent work and cooperation of the artists and entire music community for this IMAX project will now be overshadowed by the need for this litigation, " the firm said in a statement through spokeswoman Cathy Gurley. " This is a last resort for us. We have tried extensive negotiation efforts, but to no avail."

Kevin Adams Dies
Community Activist and Business Leader

By: Daniel Friend
The Winchester Star

Kevin D. Adams, a community activist and real estate leader described by his peers as a visionary with rock-solid integrity, has died.

Adams, 43, president and principal broker for The Adams Cos. in Frederick County, was pronounced dead on Monday evening at Winchester Medical Center, hospital officials said.

Family members said he suffered a heart attack during an intense tennis match at the Winchester Country Club.

"It’s the sort of thing you don’t expect to happen, a man in the prime of his life struck down by a heart attack," said his father, C. Douglas Adams.

Kevin D. Adams, President of The Adams Cos., Stands Friday In the Kitchen of Patsy Cline’s Former Winchester Home.
(Photo by Ginger Perry, The Winchester Star)

For Rent: Patsy’s Place

By: Bridgette Blair
The Winchester Star

The ultimate Patsy Cline lover now has a chance to live at her Winchester home at 608 S. Kent St. for $625 a month.

One catch, though: You must be willing to deal with tourists who make a pilgrimage to the city for the beloved country singer.

Built in 1900, the 1,716-square-foot home has wooden floors, a backyard that borders Town Run, and, obviously, some famous karma attached to it.

Kevin D. Adams, president of The Adams Cos., said Friday the home is for rent, basically to cover the cost of purchasing the building. It’s pretty much ready for occupancy, he said.

The real idea behind the purchase of the home, though, is to preserve the home of Patsy, according to Adams.