thedrifter
04-23-09, 07:45 AM
Toby Keith: More celebs should visit troops
By: Jeff Dufour and Kiki Ryan
Examiner Columnist
04/21/09 4:22 PM
Country superstar Toby Keith will leave D.C. for Afghanistan on Tuesday night to add to the 100-plus USO shows he’s played throughout the past seven years. But at the National Press Club earlier in the day, Keith lamented that more celebrities don’t make similar trips to back the troops.
He said when they’re being paid to make movies, few stars want to leave “Disneyland” and “go to a war zone.”
Not that the danger isn’t real. “I’ve raced Marines to a bunker when the sirens go off,” he said. “It took me 100 shows to learn to trust how good our guys really are.”
But “you don’t have to go to a war zone,” he implored any celebs who were listening. “Go to Walter Reed Hospital.”
“Most of the time they’re rowdy and drinking ‘near beer,’ ” he said of his USO performances. “Most of the time it’s just a party.”
Keith (black baseball cap, green camouflage pants, desert camouflage jacket issued to him by the Army) largely kept it light, telling the crowd they had him to thank for the chicken-fried steak lunch. But like most of his appearances before the media, the conversation focused on politics more than music.
“I’m not political,” he repeated throughout the hour-long lunch. “I’m not an activist,” he added. And he kept trying to prove it. “My lefty friends think I’m a Nazi and my righty friends think I’m a hippie,” he joked.
On President Barack Obama, he said any president should get the benefit of the doubt, but “right off the bat, he got a big brownie point from me” in appointing Gen. James Jones his national security adviser. He reminded the crowd that after a performance at Constitution Hall in 2001, Jones encouraged him to release “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue,” perhaps his most controversial song (and one of his biggest hits).
And he sounded like a man who would never run for office. “I couldn’t deal with all the lies,” he said. “I couldn’t shake your hand and then walk five feet and say something bad about you.” Besides, “Being a politician would mean I’d have to get along with too many people. ... I don’t shake hands well with people who don’t like me.”
Not that he hasn't learned how to use people who don't like him to his advantage. "I go on [The Colbert Report] and I know who's watching," he said. Then all the bloggers get going "with their sick hate." But whatever they write, they'll mention that "he's got a new album out."
Ellie
By: Jeff Dufour and Kiki Ryan
Examiner Columnist
04/21/09 4:22 PM
Country superstar Toby Keith will leave D.C. for Afghanistan on Tuesday night to add to the 100-plus USO shows he’s played throughout the past seven years. But at the National Press Club earlier in the day, Keith lamented that more celebrities don’t make similar trips to back the troops.
He said when they’re being paid to make movies, few stars want to leave “Disneyland” and “go to a war zone.”
Not that the danger isn’t real. “I’ve raced Marines to a bunker when the sirens go off,” he said. “It took me 100 shows to learn to trust how good our guys really are.”
But “you don’t have to go to a war zone,” he implored any celebs who were listening. “Go to Walter Reed Hospital.”
“Most of the time they’re rowdy and drinking ‘near beer,’ ” he said of his USO performances. “Most of the time it’s just a party.”
Keith (black baseball cap, green camouflage pants, desert camouflage jacket issued to him by the Army) largely kept it light, telling the crowd they had him to thank for the chicken-fried steak lunch. But like most of his appearances before the media, the conversation focused on politics more than music.
“I’m not political,” he repeated throughout the hour-long lunch. “I’m not an activist,” he added. And he kept trying to prove it. “My lefty friends think I’m a Nazi and my righty friends think I’m a hippie,” he joked.
On President Barack Obama, he said any president should get the benefit of the doubt, but “right off the bat, he got a big brownie point from me” in appointing Gen. James Jones his national security adviser. He reminded the crowd that after a performance at Constitution Hall in 2001, Jones encouraged him to release “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue,” perhaps his most controversial song (and one of his biggest hits).
And he sounded like a man who would never run for office. “I couldn’t deal with all the lies,” he said. “I couldn’t shake your hand and then walk five feet and say something bad about you.” Besides, “Being a politician would mean I’d have to get along with too many people. ... I don’t shake hands well with people who don’t like me.”
Not that he hasn't learned how to use people who don't like him to his advantage. "I go on [The Colbert Report] and I know who's watching," he said. Then all the bloggers get going "with their sick hate." But whatever they write, they'll mention that "he's got a new album out."
Ellie