This is my first diary on DailyKOS, so I apologize in advance for any disorganization of thought.
In the last few days, multiple diaries have talked about Ted Nugent's upcoming tour, A Native American tribe's response to having his previous behavior pointed out, and Nugent's incredibly reasonable and mature response to being canceled by the casino. I found one of my own local venues on the list of tour dates, and wrote to the venue to express my displeasure.
To whom it may concern,
I'm writing in regard to the performance scheduled on this date, Ted Nugent's "Uncensored" tour. As both an artist and someone who has enjoyed concerts at House of Blues before, I appreciate the importance of free speech and lack of censorship! However, based on previous experiences at House of Blues, I suspect the venue was booked without management being entirely aware of some of Mr. Nugent's recent actions.
Mr. Nugent has referred to our President as a "chimpanzee," suggested that Obama should "suck on my machine gun," and in 2012 made this statement: "If Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year." He's also written songs bragging about having sex with a 13-year-old and Courtney Love has accused him of forcing her to administer oral sex on him when she was twelve. While her claim is not 100% certain, it is certain that Mr. Nugent adopted a 17-year-old girl in order to have sex with her without her parents having legal recourse. In 2007, the Houston Press put the cover for Mr. Nugent's "Love Grenade" on its Top Ten of tasteless album covers for featuring a bound woman "stuffed" with a grenade.
In addition to the above--if death threats and child molestation aren't enough--Mr. Nugent has repeatedly referred to women with words this form probably won't let me enter. A quick Google search for "Ted Nugent misogyny" will pull up a whole lot of entries from both news and watchdog sites featuring quotes chock-full of words we all know, but try not to use, that include threats against female politicians and feminists.
I urge the management of House of Blues to seriously consider if Mr. Nugent is really representative of the level of class and entertainment I've seen at the venue in the past, and if promotion of a child molester and violent anti-government protester is the image House of Blues wants to put forward.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
In writing the letter, I made a discovery: not all venue "Contact Us" pages are created equal, and I very nearly gave up before finding the one for Houston. Concerts
can be canceled due to mass criticism--but that criticism can only come with actual contact.
If you want to send a letter of your own to your local venue--or any of the venues at all--links to all Contact Us pages (with concert dates from July 25 forward; alas, it's probably too late for Ohio) are found below the cut, for your clicking convenience. All the information you need is included in the blurb (contact link, best contact within the page, and a note if the venue appears to be public). When composing your letter, don't forget: Ted Nugent just referred to a group of Native Americans as "unclean vermin." Today.
Take your pick: Racism, radicalism, misogyny, child molestation, generally wanting to shoot up the world, he's not a guy who needs to be on the stage.
EDITED TO INCLUDE: I got the name of the tour wrong in my email. It's actually called Shut Up & Jam.
25 July: Mountainfest At Mylan Park, Morgantown, West Virginia. This page lists emails for all coordinators; Cliff Sutherland is the man you need to reach, in the bottom right corner (this will automatically open your email program).
26 July: Leach Amphitheater at Riverside Park, Oshkosh, Wisconsin. This page includes a feedback form that should be used for comments; the emails and phone number listed are for the Parks Department. This appears to be a public venue.
27 July: Medina Entertainment Center, Medina, Minnesota. This page includes a feedback form and links to both Twitter and Facebook.
29 July: Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland, Kansas City, Missouri. This page includes a feedback form and phone numbers.
Update: Scratchtasia suggested in comments that letters should also be sent to the corporate sponsor, Arvest Bank. You can find that comments page here. Thanks to Scratchtasia for the info!
30 July: The Gothic Theatre, Englewood, Colorado. This page includes a feedback form and phone number.
31 July: Trails End Concert Park, Sheridan, Wyoming. This venue does not have a Contact Us page, but links are available in the top right corner of the page provided to Twitter, Facebook, email, and Pinterest. This appears to be part of a festival. Organizers might want to be most aware that they're inviting into their festival a man who talks routinely about shooting things up.
2 August: CANCELED. Thank Emerald Queen Casino here.
3 August: CANCELED Thank Emerald Queen Casino here.
5 August: Portland Expo Center, Portland, Oregon. This page includes phone numbers and email. This is a public venue. However, comments on someone else's excellent diary indicate that comments will be forwarded to event promoters, so it's worth a shot.
6 August: Full Throttle Saloon, Sturgis, South Dakota. This page has a feedback form. This location is filming a biker rally for TruTV during Nugent's date.
8 August: NW Ohio Rib-Off at Lucas County Fairgrounds, Maumee, Ohio. This event has only email contact, available at the very bottom of the page (will open directly in your email program). This appears to be a public venue but a privately-run event. Information given is for the event organizers, not the venue.
9 August: Indian Creek Amphitheatre, Oxford, Ohio. This page includes a feedback form, phone numbers, and email. Seizure and migraine warning for high-contrast, brightly-colored layout. Due to the page layout, I have reproduced the email here in "crawler"-unfriendly form. People prone to migraines and seizures, you're probably better off using this: DBP(at)indiancreektavern(dot)net. Remember to replace the @ and .net when you copy the address.
11 August: THERE IS FURTHER HOUSE OF BLUES INFORMATION AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS DIARY. House of Blues, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. House of Blues is a chain of venues. This page includes a link to a feedback form (top left-hand on the list); you'll need to select "11 August" as a performance date. There's also information for contacting corporate in California.
12 August: THERE IS FURTHER HOUSE OF BLUES INFORMATION AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS DIARY. House of Blues, Lake Buena Vista, Florida. House of Blues is a chain of venues. This page includes a link to a feedback form (top left-hand on the list); you'll need to select "12 August" as a performance date. There's also information for contacting corporate in California.
14 August: THERE IS FURTHER HOUSE OF BLUES INFORMATION AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS DIARY. House of Blues, Houston, Texas. House of Blues is a chain of venues. This page includes a link to a feedback form (top left-hand on the list); you'll need to select "14 August" as a performance date. There's also information for contacting corporate in California.
Houston, TX, United States
15 August: Hard Rock Live, Biloxi, Mississippi. This page includes phone numbers and an email (will open directly in your email program).
16 August: Billy Bob's Texas, Fort Worth, Texas. This page includes phone numbers and multiple emails (will open directly in your email program). Be sure to use either a phone number or the General Info email; other emails are related to Billy Bob's events like bull-riding.
17 August: Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center, Midland, Texas. This page includes only a phone number. This is a University of Texas venue. Although this is a state college and therefore a "public venue," even state colleges have discretion over acts who may perform on their property.
FURTHER INFORMATION ON HOUSE OF BLUES: House of Blues is a chain of venues in the Deep South, all under the same name. If you contact a specific venue, it also doesn't hurt to give a shout to the corporate office. House of Blues in Lake Buena Vista is actually located within Downtown Disney in Walt Disney World, which exposes Nugent to thousands of children during his visit (see: history of pedophilia). You may choose to contact Walt Disney World as well (I didn't note the name of the person who suggested this in Delta Overload's diary, I am so so so so sorry. Please let me know if you see this so I can credit). As that person suggested, Community Relations seems a good place to start.
House of Blues Decisions made by one venue will not affect the other House of Blues venues, so if you're doing a clean sweep to contact all venues, contact each separately, plus corporate.
Edited to fix some stray HTML. Bad HTML, bad. Sit. Stay. Do what you're told.
Edited again to fix bad formatting. Thanks to gfv6800 for catching it!
Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 4:22 PM PT: Just received word from a Washington friend that the appearances at Emerald Queen have been CANCELLED. This was the biggest gig of the remaining tour dates, spanning two nights. Let's keep going!
Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 4:25 PM PT: Thanks to DailyKOS user Delta Overdue for the linkback from this wonderful diary about the Emerald Queen cancellation!
Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 12:48 PM PT: I heard back from Arvest Bank, which says they do not sponsor this concert specifically and are only the naming sponsor for the venue. The person who wrote the email also apparently feels that pedophilia and violent threats against the President are in the same category as "a variety of different acts, all of whom could probably be considered offensive in some way." Contacting the Midland directly will probably be more effective than contacting the bank.