Fans won’t be listening to Michelle Shocked in Winters next month, all because of anti-gay remarks she’s accused of making on stage in San Francisco.
Fans and fellow musicians are furious.
“Wood is unbiased. Guitars don’t care who plays them. Music is other than math, the only other universal language that there is,” said Al Calderone of ARC Guitar in Winters.
Calderone carves communicators for that universal language of music at his guitar shop around the corner from The Palms where Shocked won’t be playing.
He’s upset about the slurs the singer is accused of slinging from the stage.
“People say God hates [expletive], but that’s not God. God’s heart is love and regardless of what a person believes, compassion is more important,” said Calderone.
Shocked, who once produced an album called ‘Kind-Hearted Woman,” was on stage at Yoshi’s of San Francisco Sunday when fans and club managers say she spewed words that were anything but kind.
“She started talking about hypocrisy in the Bible, the end of days are coming and then took it to a whole other level,” said Lisa Bautista of Yoshi’s.
Yoshi’s pulled the plug on Shocked’s microphone when she was heard saying that God hates homosexuals.
Now, venues like The Palms are pulling the plug on stops of her tour – 25 Years of Short Sharp Shocked.
Most of the folk singer’s U.S. schedule has been cancelled, along with some international dates.
The Winters Chamber of Commerce says restaurants on Main Street count on the crowds that come to concerts at The Palms.
Director Michael Sebastian was surprised when he heard about The Palms’ decision to cancel over the controversy.
“Never heard of anything like that happening before,” said Sebastian.
The cancellation is getting Palms director Dave Fleming lots of support on social media.
The now born-again Shocked is getting lots of raised eyebrows – especially since fans have watched her joke about her own sexuality in print.
She’s been quoted in Gay newspapers saying she wanted a much broader definition of self than straight or gay.
Tuesday, Shocked reached out to FOX News blog, FOX411, with a statement claiming she’s been misunderstood.
In part, the self-described poet-picker says, “I do not, nor have I ever, said or believed that God hates homosexuals (or anyone else). I said that some of His followers believe that.”
She also sad via that statement that she was “damn sorry.”