Ok let’s talk Phish, the NYCB and SPAC. So I hang out at Victoria Pool all day Friday then wander over with my wife to catch the first of three shows by Phish at SPAC. The following is the limited observation of an aging blogger and your experience might have been completely different.
Outside the Phish concert, boorish and unprofessional behavior by various law enforcement agencies. The police continually circled in the parking lots confronting anybody who was drinking anything. I had to repeatedly show that all I was drinking was a diet coke and the other bag was just food. Most of the crowd were adults who paid from $10 to $45 just to park.The police were overly aggressive and confrontational.
Inside the facility the entire mood changes. Live nation security is unarmed and friendly. Really they seem to genuinely want to help people have a good and safe time. I talked to a few about the fog of pot smoke {I wouldn’t pass a drug test for a month just from the second hand smoke} and any problems they were encountering. They were very open. As far as smoking pot, don’t ask don’t tell {makes sense I saw no other forms of drug use}. They said because of the intense heat and humidity many people were vomiting. Dehydration was the other problem. There were many EMT’s in the crowd and steady streams of people were being transported to the hospital for treatment. I don’t believe many if any were for anything too serious { I might well be wrong}.
So two thumbs up for Live Nation security and safety personal.
Next the fans. One word “GREAT”. Really a nice bunch. Don’t know how many offered me a hit of pot. One kind kid saw me dragging and said. “Sir you look really hot and tired you want a hit off my beer.” I passed but it was a very nice gesture. I don’t understand a person like Saratoga Springs Public Safety Commissioner Chris “Toothy’”Mathiesen who repeatedly says kids today are different. He seems to think the youth of today are more violent,meaner and dangerous than his generation. Bullshit, kids are the same. Some bad but the vast majority are just having fun.
Now on to Live Nation.
See those fucking prices. 
Almost 5 bucks for some warm water while young adults are dropping like flies from dehydration. The only thing that has gotten meaner and more dangerous are billion dollar international companies like Live Nation, who rape the public and put their profits over the well-being of people. Harsh? Yes but true.
So let’s get to the two competing VIP programs. SPAC’s patrons club{of which I’m a member} and Live Nations VIP program. SPAC’s sucks and costs almost 3 grand for fewer and fewer shows. All you get is some boxed wine and the Hall of Springs leftovers in a tent. Big fucking deal.
Now Live Nation knows how to treat its VIP’s
About Us
VIP Nation is dedicated to delivering you premium concert ticket packages via a secure and easy-to-use online environment.
Our mission:
To provide you with the best possible interactive entertainment experience through guaranteed preferred seating, VIP treatment, and unprecedented access to your favorite artists. To work tirelessly to make your experience as exciting and hassle-free as possible. To ensure that you, the true fan, have access to great seats without having to deal with unofficial ticket sources.
At SPAC you get preperformance open bar and a great buffet.
So in closing to all you people bitching about Phish. They’re not the problem. SPAC President Marcia White and the SPAC board is. SPAC hasn’t done enough to reduce its own administrative costs". The 300k salary of Ms.White, her BMW and her Manhattan Apartment are obscene. The fact CFO/COO Richard Geary made over 150k is equally troubling. The entire contract with live nation barely pays the administrative staff at SPAC.
The profits from so called special events were to be used to offset the costs to put on the Ballet and the Orchestra not to pay White’s salary.
Gov. Cuomo has proposed a new regulation designed to rein in runaway nonprofit salaries and overhead.The rule would cap the amount of money allowed to be put toward a nonprofit executive’s compe SPAC has no mortgage, no bonding debt and pays no rent to the state. Readers should contact the State Controller’s office and ask for a full audit of SPAC. The last State audit done in the last year of Chesbrough at SPAC found
Chesbrough's annual salary and benefits valued at $315,000 was found excessive and 45 percent higher than pay for the heads of similar venues; The pay packaged approved by the SPAC board may violate state law for not-for-profit organizations;
Chesbrough's pay was not reduced when a major function of booking entertainment acts was shifted in 2000 to Clear Channel.
The same could now be written about Ms.White’s
I will be at the Save the Ballet meeting at the Public Library tomorrow {Monday} night at 6:30
And Finally I did see the story in the Saratogian about the Saratoga Springs Public Safety Commissioner Chris “Toothy’”Mathiesen today HERE.
Recently after posting this http://saratogaindecline.blogspot.com/2012/07/campaign-to-replace-public-safety.html that has this video
I received an e-mail from the good dentist.
From "Christian E. Mathiesen" mathiesen8438@msn.com Originating-IP: [95.225.88.95].
I will not put up the full message because it contained a virus hidden in a link for a weight loss clinic. Not very mature.
But I will take it in good fun and suggest to the good dentist
Are you stubborn or sensitive to criticism...maybe even both? These are two personality traits you may want to consider changing using a technique called grapho-therapy.
Graphotherapy is a pseudodiagnostic technique in which handwriting analysis is the basis for treating mental disease.
And on a sad and personal note. One of our neighbors 14 year old daughter was killed in Milton Saturday night at 8:30. She was allegedly killed by a 21 year old drunk driver also our neighbor. This is such a tragedy on so many levels. That said it has nothing to do with the closing times of bars,Phish or Caroline St. People die,sometimes young people. That's just the way it is. You can try to minimize the tragedy and dealth but in the end life can really suck and we all inhabit a sack of bones that can be quite fragile.
So hug your children tonight,don't drink and drive yourself, and maybe there will be justice and peace in the next life for no such utopia exists in this one.
Goodbye and goodnight
22 comments:
JT
I took your advice, looked up grapho therapy. I changed my handwriting and now all I think about is closing bars and arresting magicians.
How do I go back to being a normal person again?
Lucian seems to be on this topic. Again, doesn't look so big and scary to me. These "drug busts" are all 7th degree possession. That covers ANY amount of a substance they find on you. For example Crazy Joe Cokehead blows a bunch of lines with a $5 bill, then uses that bill to buy himself some smokes and 40 oz beer at the corner store.
Next, your Grandma Ethel goes into the same corner store, and buy a quart of milk, pays with a $20 bill, and gets Joe Cokehead's $5 as change. Cops pull her over, and swab that bill, she has residue on it, and it's 7th degree possession.
Not saying this people are all totally innocent, but thats a charge that makes things seem a lot more "toxic" then they really are. A better way to look at it would be that 25,000+ people (each night) went to a concert and there was ONLY 14 problems. That sounds A LOT less "toxic" to me.
http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2012/07/08/news/doc4ff8a1ece2ff8931929659.txt?viewmode=default
"Maybe there will be justice and peace in the next life for no such utopia exists in this one."
I couldn't have said it better myself. Bravo.
Dr., Toothy, Commissioner Mathiesen has become an embarrassment.
Also, he is weird, odd, maybe "touched." The Council "voted," Supervisor Yepsen "presented," and the Board of Supervior's Committee "rejected." It's over Doc. Quit grandstanding. Change your drill bit.
If you want to go as a private citizen to a County Public Comment Period, fine; but please realize that unlike that paddy-whacker on Caroline Street, you are beating a dead horse.
I'm worried that you may be hoping that an unfortunate and "toxic" incident occurs this Summer after 3:00 PM.
What's your deal? Seems like some sort of strange psychological projection of remorse for past aberrant personal behavior.
Here's an idea: Start random drug and alcohol testing your police officers when they are on and/or off duty. There's lotsa gossip.
What companies run the concessions? Isn't Stewarts one of them ?
Where city police patroling SPAC"S parking lots?
I constantly emailed this website post page to all my friends, because if like to read it after that my contacts will too.
The City cops,the sheriffs and State Police all were present in the area and parking lots. But by far the overwhelming presence police were parks. They must have brought them in from as far as Niagara.
Then you have to ask who foots the bills for Hotels, drinks prostitutes and overtime.
SPAC?
Parks?
Live Nation?
The State?
Who?
Phish @ SPAC, 7/6/12
July 7, 2012 at 1:55 pm by Susan Mehalick
By Scott Waldman
At the Saratoga Performing Arts Center Friday night, Phish followed its usual path of glorious unpredictability. After rollicking versions of “Runaway Jim” and “Ocelot,” the band deftly inserted The Talking Heads’ “Pyscho Killer” in the middle of their own song “Tube” and electrified an already excited crowd.
Phish has played 198 songs in the 18 shows of its summer tour thus far. That’s an impressive variety and one unmatched by virtually any other band in the country. It’s also the key to Phish’s relationship with its fans, many of whom travel with the band across the country and camp for weeks just to hear what the band will come up with next on stage because it literally could go anywhere. Out of the 1,400 concerts the band has played over its three-decade career, no two shows are ever the same.
For a band that inspires its fans to hold up signs with their favorite obscure songs at every show, Phish delved deeply, and often quite beautifully into the work of others at SPAC. These forays were often the best parts of the show. There was a fluid take on Traffic’s “Light Up and Leave Me Alone” and an extended jam on Robert Palmer’s “Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley” that never dragged even as it surpassed the 15-minute mark. They closed the three and a half-hour show with a version of The Rolling Stones’ “Loving Cup” that only made the sweaty throng want two more days of the same thing at SPAC.
And while the band is clearly familiar with the rock-and-roll canon, it’s the other influences they bring in to life their shows that make them so intriguing. In the middle of “Run Like an Antelope,” frontman Trey Anastasio’s guitar bordered on a free jazz sound for a minute, then went to a flamenco style influence, before heading straight back to rock. Page McConnell lightened up a number of songs with masterful insertions of his keyboards and even a Hammond B3 a few times.
As with any improvisational live act, the show drifted too far off course at moments when the band got lost inside the jams. “Stash” dragged on until it almost became interminable during the first set. In the second set, “Carini” was overly indulgent and became something to endure.
It is refreshing to see a band not take itself so seriously. In the middle of the first set, drummer John Fishman took center stage for some comic relief, tucking the polka-dotted dress he wears at every show into his underwear before busting out a respectable version of Neil Diamond’s “Cracklin’ Rose.” Anastasio was dressed in a pair of old jeans and a flannel shirt, as if he were just some other regular guy from Vermont. He made faces as he teased the crowd by throwing licks from one song into the middle of another. Those seemingly obscure musical references are essentially a conversation with the faithful, who know such teases mean a song will eventually be performed, even if it’s three nights later.
Earlier in the week, Phish thrilled a Jones Beach crowd and caused a tidal storm on Twitter among fans not at the show by playing the Little Feat song “Skin It Back.” It had not been played by the group in 24 years. Many Phish fans are so familiar with every live show the band has played, they knew right away that the rare song was a hearkening back to the band’s beginning. That is the type of brand loyalty the group inspires. Fans track the group’s performances and song history like others follow baseball statistics. Some have even created their own fantasy leagues around the songs that will be played on a given tour.
Seeing Phish live on stage can’t help but make you feel good. It’s the way the band weaves so many genres of music into a free-flowing set and the way the crowd is returned to a state of anticipation every time one song ends.
Accountants, trust fund kids, lawyers, teachers. At SPAC, it didn’t matter where they came from because everybody looks the same when they wait open-mouthed for that next song to start so the dancing can begin again.
Someone asked me why this event was moved from the Times Union Center to SPAC. I didn't remember until then that it had been in downtown Albany. Does anyone know what happened?
Solid points, my thoughts exactly 1000%. But its so bad how they treat the patron's outside in the lot. This is how most people survive, or make it to the next show by selling food or water t-shirts ext. And they shut them down once the show stops. No drinking alcohol, everyone gets harassed about it and has to hide it, even if you maintain a composure. But yet once inside, welcome to spac ..empty your pockets, buy an 11$ beer or a 5$ bottle water..or sit in line for one of two fountains
jt im a little confused.....on who u are saying is making a killing (price gouging) at spac.live nation? i not sure because aarmark has got that contract,as they got times union concerts as well.so the big profits go to AArmark??right or wrong
Twitter:
Gary Dake @garydake
Thank you Phish. Saratoga Lake #Stewarts sold 3600 bags of ice last week.
Retweeted by Saratogian City Desk
Collapse
5 Retweets
Term Py Michael Cignoli Saratogian City Desk
1:16 PM - 9 Jul 12 via Twitter for iPhone · Details
Aaarmark is the concession that is correct.The rights of concession are chosen per the contract that spac signed with live nation.All profits are divided between live nation and aaarwack.spac gets nothing.Idiot White is the one who negotiated the contract.See what a great manager she is?
so to answer your ? Aarawack and live nation are price gouging.and yes Yankee stadium is catered by aarwack but they do have many water fountains on every single level.Spac has 2 for 25,000 fans and that borders on criminal
thanx for clearin that up
Don't forget first meeting save the ballet tonight Monday 6:30 at library.I will be there with bells on.just kidding
Regarding the young lady gunned down by a young man, A wise friend once said to me Life isnt just it just is..... We are all accountable for our choices. Free will means making responsible choices, drinking and driving isn't one of them.
This weekend was the first time I had heard the new acoustic improvements at SPAC. 100% better then the FURTHUR stop last year where the vocals were muddied by echo and the sound disappearing straight up.
As for the PoPo on lot I saw a few arrests one on DAY 1 on the exit from the bridge to the main lot. Also a car full of phans on the way to the show were pulled over and lined up on the side of the road. For the most part if you kept your alcohol consumption discreet and in a cup as my friend did you werent hassled. The ushers inside were actually fun police not overly assertive.
After a weekend embedded with hippies (I count myself in that group) and hosting friends from out of town for Le PHISH I am back to living in cult land. After delivering my last guest at the airport on my return home I was "treated" to KR walking shirtless with international orange shorts on. OH the horror!!! My buddies got a full cult land tour and we had a couple of sightings of a completely different circus.
So, according to the Saratogian, even SPAC is getting less "toxic" then it used to be. 18 less arrests then last time Phish was here.
Keeping in mind that the attendance at those concerts equaled, or exceeded, the entire population of the City of Saratoga Springs EACH NIGHT, and those 20 arrests a night don't seem like that big a deal. 15 - 20 arrests would seem necessary to justify a force with the size and budget of the SSPD. I mean really, I'd imagine it wasn't even a case of 20 people being arrested, we're probably looking at more like 8 - 10 incidents a night, with people arrested on multiple charges, or for simply being in the car together.
Also, how about telling us more about this "seized drug money"? How come we never read about that in the yearly report?
http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2012/07/09/news/doc4ffb3088105b3944241571.txt?viewmode=2
Looks like you lose some weight!
Thank you cancer does that to a person. I just got home from the save the ballet meeting and will have a full report before noon tomorrow.
John
OK...So let's look at the numbers from the 3 Phish concerts. Say 70,000 fans at $35.00 per ticket, and the revenues are about $2.5 million. And let's say Phish charges $300,000 per show, which we'll round off to $1 million. Throw in a very generous $500,000 for advertising, security, and administration - and ignore how much it made on concessions - and that leaves a net profit of $1 million for Live Nation. Jesus, Marcia, you are a dumb twat.
Post a Comment