Seems steep to me .
Nothing against Martin Short, but two things stand out to me: one, I'm a fan of the guy from SCTV and his other work in movies and television, but I don't think I need to see Martin Short seventy bucks worth. The other that it is interesting to me that the Ginger Rogers Theater is just a couple blocks down from the Medford Public Library, a three-story edifice that is open all of 30 hours a week and closed three days a week because the Jackson County community didn't support a library levy to maintain a full-time public center for adult and children's education. (The library is totally supported by a Federal Grant; no public tax money has been approved for its operating budget.)
If acts like Martin Short and all the music acts and Broadway road shows that come through here can get top dollar for their appearances, why can't a majority of local people support a library, which would be about the cost of a ticket to one of these shows per year?
The Jackson County Library system is running on fumes and the county above us, in Grants Pass, doesn't even have the money to reopen their libraries after a year. Obviously not all the community of voters are going to see Martin Short or ex-Doobie Brother Michael McDonald or the road company of "Chicago" this season. But I have to wonder if public priorities are a little off here.
Our societies priorities are just not right at the moment. We spend billions on stadiums to house sports teams but cannot make sure everyone has a home to live in. We spend billions on weapons and cannot win the fight on hunger.
ReplyDeleteIt is precisely because way too much is spent on weaponry and wars that there is supposedly not enough money to feed people. Or fund libraries presumably. Because our libraries (and education system) is fully funded from our Government (from our taxes) there is, of course, no need for people to add to the funding from our own pockets again.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that I agree with you, priorities are indeed skewed if people will happily pay out that much for a celebrity (btw this is the first time I have heard of Martin Short).
That puts it very well, Fred --never mind the libraries for a moment, although they are important for the future of any community, but what about housing and food? San Francisco, Dallas, Washington, DC all have new sports arenas or are building them, but what kind of shape are their schools in? I can say in th case of Frisco and Washington they are lousy. We build arenas of pleasure and distraction that cost billions so sports team owners won't leave town but do we set high standards (and pay) to attact the better public school instructors?
ReplyDeleteI don't even want to start on housing. Its a wonder to me that average two-income families can hold it together.
Although my analogy is not perfect, Iri Ani, I have to say the juxaposition of the two buildings so close to each other in Medford invited this comparison in my mind.
ReplyDeletePeople who don't blink when the budget for weapons comes up at the Federal level balk like crazy when someone asks for local money to come out of their pocket for a decent local library system.
There is so much of a disparity between school districts in many parts of America (inner-city/suburb or poorer rural/posher rural) that we really are more of a two-tier class society than ever I have seen the USA in my life. Money doesn't solve everything I know, but I think this lack of support here locally for funding a place of free available learning is to me a direct result of a "i-gots-mine" attitude that perpetuates ignorance and elects bad leaders.
btw--my next panel above will give you an idea of Martin Short's work.
Here's one of Martin Short's characters, an uptight corporate executive named Nathan Thurm, being interviewed by real-life political activist Robert F Kennedy, Jr., as part of a conference on global warming.
ReplyDeleteI am frequently amazed at the cost of tickets for shows here too Doug. It seems the bigger the venue the greater the cost which to me is just a rip off, exploiting the capacity of an auditorium to make mega-bucks. Surely if a place holds say 5,000 people ticket prices should be less than a smaller place that holds just 500, but it is always the other way round. Actually $US 66 which is around £36 here is not too bad.
ReplyDeleteOn 4 October Stevie Wonder is playing Birmingham's National Indoor Arena which holds 13,000 people, the cheapest tickets (including booking fee) is £61.25 ($112) and the best seats are £71.75 ($130) ...that's daylight robbery in my view.
Compare that with the Metallica gig tonight at a club called Rios in Leeds (capacity 1,000) where the ticket price is £8 ($14)...different crowds of course, but both top line US acts in their respective fields, but the cheapest Stevie Wonder tickets are nearly 8 times more expensive than tickets for Metallica, although the capacity of the NIA is 13 times greater than Rios. To me this does not compute, somebody is taking the piss I think.
Excellent, the facial expressions are brilliant, but still not worth the money they are demanding to see Martin Short. I had not previously come across him either....great bit of satire here.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The lengthy cigarette ash is worthy of some sort of award by itself!
ReplyDeleteWe have a little Marie Antoinette going on here. Let them eat cake when they have not had any bread. Here is a case where pour leaders have lost touch with the "common" man.
ReplyDeleteYes, certain high-profile acts over here are the same way. I've sat in high-priced "nose bleed" seats for a couple concerts down in the Bay Area--far away and high enough from the performers to make me feel like a displaced Nepalese Sherpa.
ReplyDeleteMethinks there is too much money in politics and this includes both Federal, State. Local. (i.e., look at all the 30-second ads you see on television for state-wide offices. It's great for the private television industry I'll grant that, but why is all this money necessary for candidates?) Why can't they meet for a series of debates, or go on our public broadcasting system to address the voters? The cost of these multi-multi million dollar campaigns are prohibitive to the idea of true citizen-legislators getting into office.
ReplyDeleteWe need to get back to grass roots campaigns and some series campaign reform. I think they should not be allowed to spend more than 1 million dollars to be President and they have to donate the rest of their contributions to homelessness or educatioon. Maybe after they put some money "where their mouth is" we might believe their campaign promises.
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