Dixie Chicks Documentaries and Dad's Dreams for Daughters

How are you supposed to turn the channel on a Dixie Chicks documentary when you turn it on and Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers is playing drums with the girls in the studio? You don't. You don't even have to like the Dixie Chicks. I suppose you do have to like Chad Smith a little, but what you really need to embrace is the coolness in that turn of events. Chili Peppers and Dixie Chicks...kinda cool. It seems Smith laid down all of the drum tracks on the Chicks last album. That's cool.

Why would I even ramble on about this stuff? Mostly because it's a great documentary, more about the post-Bush trashing experience the girls endured than about music specifically, and also because I feel really strongly about a person's right to let what they're thinking seep into the atmosphere. As much as I understand how unfair life is, I'm also the most fervent of advocates for the pursuit of that same illusive fairness. The Dixie Chicks stood up for what they believed in and I became a fan that very instant. Right or wrong, it was their commitment to the pursuit of truth and freedom that pulled me in, and it's this documentary film that's helping to keep me. I want Zoey to grow up a strong and introspective girl, certainly one who's willing to fight for something. There really isn't much that is more powerful than a person whose convictions are just and beyond reproach. I want her to say what's on her mind, and I want her to believe in herself enough to say anything.

I was watching this documentary with the most innocent of intentions and ended it hoping that my daughter is willing to stand up for herself, her friends, and her beliefs.

If you haven't seen Shut Up & Sing, get busy watching it. You don't have to agree with it, but you'd be hard pressed not to respect the kind of conviction it takes to do what these girls do. All that AND Chad Smith is cool.