DETROIT — Ted Nugent scheduled interviews this week to talk about his new live CD and DVD set, but politics naturally entered the discussion as a partial government shutdown moves through a second week.
The 65-year-old Michigan rocker and staunch firearms and hunting advocate characteristically made no secret about where he stands, citing a recent piece he wrote for a conservative website entitled “Make my Day, Shut it Down.”
“The government is so out of control. It is so bloated and infested with fraud and deceit and corruption and abuse of power,” he said Monday. “The American government today will go down and the American people, it breaks my heart to say … will go down as the dumbest, most unappreciative society in the history of humankind.”
Nugent said government overreach and incompetence goes back decades, but it’s at its worst under President Barack Obama. He described Obama as a “monster in the White House” who “wouldn’t qualify to drive my tour bus.”
Nugent drew the attention of the Secret Service last year when he said he would be “dead or in jail” if Obama was re-elected. He said this week that he wasn’t making threats — he was merely afraid for his life and others because law-abiding farmers, ranchers and small business owners have been targeted by what he considers overzealous government agents. The case was closed.
Nugent said he’s “blessed with just unbelievable energy.” He had one of the top-20 concert tours during various weeks this year while on the road with Styx and REO Speedwagon.
The new collection, a hard-rocking romp recorded in 2011, is a reflection of that live show and includes best-known songs “Wango Tango,” “Cat Scratch Fever” and “Stranglehold.” With a U.S. flag as a backdrop, the camo-clad Nugent tells the crowd between songs, “We’re gonna groove you to death. … We are the last of ‘em.”
“When I’m onstage, it really is out of body — it really is untouchable,” he said. “That Motor City throttle is purely driven and conveyed via the music. … Time stands still — just at extreme velocity.”
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