Radio host pushes alternative to Dixie Chicks concert

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The nationally syndicated talk show host told The Greenville News that a concert is on for May 1 at the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium. All he needs is a performer, he said.

Gallagher said the possibilities are country stars Charlie Daniels, Travis Tritt, Toby Keith and Darryl Worley. But it really won't matter who performs, he said.

"I think people are so upset about the Dixie Chicks that if I have to get a banjo and stand up there on stage and sing 'On Top of Old Smokey' people will stand up and cheer," he said. "They don't care."

Lead singer Natalie Maines' irked many of the group's fans when she told a London audience, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."

Maines has since issued an apology but that didn't stop the firestorm of criticism from flag-waving country fans, who have flooded radio stations and Internet boards with calls to stop playing Chicks' songs and cancel their concerts. (Bruce Logan, operations manager for Clear Channel in Greenville, which owns both country music stations here, declined to comment about the reaction the stations have received.)

To top it off, the South Carolina House of Representatives passed a resolution this week demanding that the group pay penance by putting on a free concert for the troops.

Catherine Ceips, the freshman Republican lawmaker from Beaufort who sponsored the resolution demanding a free concert for the troops, said she was a Dixie Chicks fan who is dismayed at their comments.

"You don't go to a foreign country when men and women are in harm's way and speak badly about the country," Ceips said. "You don't do that. Everyone knows that."

Rep. Harry Cato of Greenville also voted for the resolution but said he plans to attend the Dixie Chicks concert.

"The Dixie Chicks are entertainers," he said. "They should stick with entertaining and stay out of politics. As far as their music, I like their music, I listen to their music, I love country music. I have tickets to their concert, I'm going but they should stick to entertaining."

Gloria Haskins, a Republican representative from Greenville, also voted for the resolution and said those who plan on going should re-think their decision.

"I applaud the president, I can't say that enough," she said. "I would call on everyone in Greenville who has a ticket to this to think twice and maybe lose a few dollars but make a statement in support of our military, in support of our president in support of the time of war that we're in."

Haskins said she will attend Gallagher's concert.

"You tell him thank you and I will be there," she said.

Kathy Allmand, a spokeswoman for the Dixie Chicks, told The Greenville News Friday that the band had no further comment at this time.

Jill Weninger, marketing director for the Bi-Lo Center, said the sold-out show will go on as scheduled. Tickets will not be refunded or exchanged as part of the arena's policy, she said.

Gallagher, who lived and worked in Greenville for six years and can still be heard locally, said his concert will give those fans who wanted a refund a place to hear patriotic music.

"Obviously, this is designed to send a message that it's not OK to run down our president during this time of war," he said. "I want to take a negative and make it a positive."

Gallagher said the fixed expenses of his concert are covered and that all proceeds will go to military families from South Carolina. He urged the Dixie Chicks to do the same.

"To tell you the truth, I would call on the Dixie Chicks publicly to donate proceeds from their concert to our concert," he said.

Gallagher said he also hopes to let people with Dixie Chicks tickets in for free. They would sit in a VIP section, receive a free T-shirt and maybe talk to the performer after the show.

"They insulted their core audience," Gallagher said of the Dixie Chicks. "Country music fans are red-blooded, patriotic Americans who support our military and support our commander-in-chief."

Gallagher said he is close to booking Daniels but would also love to get Tritt or Keith, both of whom have spoken out against Maines.

The appearance of Keith would be especially satisfying to country fans angered by the Dixie Chicks because Maines has criticized the singer for his controversial song, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)."

Maines told the Los Angeles Daily News that she "hated" the song because, "It's ignorant, and it makes country music sound ignorant. It targets an entire culture — and not just the bad people who did bad things.

"You've got to have some tact."