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RONSTADT TAKES ON THE PRESS Foreign correspondents and photographers zero in on the governor and the pop star. For some reason, Linda Ronstadt and Jerry Brown thought they could sneak off for a quiet vacation in Africa. But for five days, they battled more than two dozen press people waiting in Nairobi to cover the fall of Idi Amin. At one point, when Linda walked out of Nairobi's Norfolk Hotel, she was set upon by 10 photographers. While she hid her face, a phalanx of friends protected her- smashing a few cameras and twisting a few arms as they went. The photographers insist that Linda is partially responsible for the hullabaloo: all she had to do, they say, was stand still, answer questions, and let them shoot a few pictures. But Ronstadt is defensive. "When I see all those guys out there with those machines pointed at me, I just freak," she explains. "There is never an end to the pictures. They say, 'Just one and we'll leave you alone.' But they never do." Linda finally started to relax on the fifth day, as she waited for Jerry to finish a tour of the Kenyan wilderness. She said she'd take some pictures of the photographers who'd been dogging her. "Will I get credit?" she asked. That broke the ice. Soon she was opening beers, talking music, and trading jokes. The hostile press turned friendly. The same day, Kampala fell to the Tanzanians, and the press siege was lifted. Linda and Jerry slipped away, and for the three remaining days of the trip, they got their vacation. |
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