The full-page newspaper ad for THE CONCERT FOR JOHN KERRY at Radio
\nCity Music Hall had a star-spangled banner wrapped around an electric guitar. Black background.
\nWhite type. It said: “A Change Is Going to Come.” It said there will be performances by Jon Bon
\nJovi, Whoopi Goldberg, Wyclef Jean, John Mellencamp, Bette Midler, James Taylor and Robin
\nWilliams. <\/P>
\n
But here’s where it gets interesting. According to the ad, tickets are on sale by phone only
\nthrough Ticketmaster. The ad gave the number to call. It also gave a different phone number and
\norganization for “VIP Orchestra tickets and Premium Seats.” I wanted a regular ticket. The kind
\nthat ordinary people could buy. There were no prices listed in the ad, but I figured I’d go as high
\nas $100 if I had to. (Frankly, I didn’t really care about the show. I wanted to go strictly for
\nresearch, to see whether it could serve as the model for a fictional event in a novel I’m
\nwriting.)<\/P>
\n
The Ticketmaster operator set me straight. The price of a “regular,” non-VIP ticket for a seat Will somebody please remind Kerry and the show’s producers — Jann S. Wenner, John Sykes The show is likely to be SRO, and if it isn’t they’ll paper the house. But one thing is certain. It
\nin the orchestra is $1,000. “What’s the cheapest seat in the house?” He told me: $250, in the
\nbalcony. No wonder there is no mention of ticket prices in the ad, or even on the Ticketmaster site
\nfor the concert<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A>. Why advertise bad news? They need to give you that
\nin private. “Never mind,” I said. “You’re sure this is a Kerry fund-raiser, not a Bush
\nfund-raiser?”<\/P>
\n
\nand Harvey Weinstein — that ordinary people don’t have $1,000 to shell out so showbiz celebrities
\ncan raise funds for a multimillionaire candidate, even if he is a Democrat? Even if we need him to
\nrid ourselves of the multimillionaire Republican in the White House?<\/P>
\n
\nwill not be ordinary folks cheering the candidate on at Radio City Music Hall. It will be an
\naudience of fat cats.<\/P>
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