Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Pretty self-explanatory
johnfoyle
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Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by johnfoyle »

http://www.citiprivatepass.com/#/landin ... isCostello

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THIS OFFER IS FULLY REDEEMED.

A Special Engagement featuring Elvis Costello
Complimentary Event

Thursday, December 16, 2010
8:00 p.m. (doors open at 7:00 p.m.)
New York City

You and one (1) guest are invited to an exclusive engagement featuring
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Elvis Costello. Guests will be treated
with hors d'oeuvres and beverages in an intimate venue in New York
City and will enjoy a short performance of Elvis Costello's most
celebrated songs. Music personality and radio DJ Matt Pinfield will
host the event and conduct a Q&A with the artist following the
performance. This very limited complimentary event is not to be
missed!

Citi cardmembers who respond and redeem entry to this event (subject
to availability) will be provided with the event details and be asked
to confirm their attendance and the name of their guest. Cardmembers
must be responsible for their own transportation to and from the
event. Two-ticket maximum per cardmember and household.
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by bronxapostle »

fully redeemed by the time i saw this...anyone need a guest to bring???
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by krm »

this offer is unrepeatable!
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Jeremy Dylan
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by Jeremy Dylan »

You goddamn New Yorkers get all the luck. This is like the 90th EC performance in the big apple in the last two months!
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by Jack of All Parades »

Benefit of having one of the world's great cities in one's neighborhood! On a more serious note this story is disturbing to me. I do not know a thing about the payment arrangements for such a gig but I have to assume given the size of the Corporate firm holding the event the payday could be substantial. Here is my problem with this. I do not for a minute believe EC is financially in need of such a gig as say a Marshall Crenshaw, Graham Parker or Ron Sexsmith who probably could really use the cash should such a gig be offered to them. I would understand their being able to hold their nose and do it for the cash attitude.

If he does not need the gig for financial reasons as I suspect is the case, then why get in bed with the very corporate behemoth that he lampoons on his latest record, particularly in the song "National Ransom". Is this not the very kind of firm that he states "you couldn't hold me, baby with anything but contempt"? Is this not the kind of firm, Citibank, that is supposedly pouring down pennies but leaving us unsaturated?

Richard Thompson, on his website, confronts this very issue in his regular Q&A-saying he would have to think long and hard before he performed at such an event unless it supported his world and social view- political and economical. It makes me wary of potential hypocrisy. I begin to question the young man who spoke to this young man so many years ago with his 'bite the hand that feeds me' anger and intensity. I am now left wondering where that person and performer is these days.
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Couldn't agree more. It's probably for someone deeply evil and reprehensible.
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jardine
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by jardine »

with a cd that disappeared quicker than it took to record, i'm not completely convinced that he even broke even with his recent efforts.

plus, i could imagine that citibank has in part financed the cd--one of the very few i can think of--that holds them in contempt AND that they have absolutely no idea what they've done. i find that kind of funny (and you're not wrong in your concerns....it is a weird kind of funny. better he get thousands from those fuc&^$%#&&s ...beats the famous contemporary performers that charge hundreds of dollars to ordinary folk.
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by Jack of All Parades »

Otis said"

"Couldn't agree more. It's probably for someone deeply evil and reprehensible."

Makes me think of "Thurn and Taxis"- can you say 'Tystero'? Sound familiar?
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

:D Missing an 'r'! (Trystero.) Yes, sounds like Them.
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supplydavid
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by supplydavid »

Did anyone get a ticket, i got the email from citibank and replied in less than a minute and got the its subsrcibed message....
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by Neil. »

Gah! I have to say, this appears to stink to high heaven! The man who gave us that wonderful, passionate album, National Ransom, playing to a roomful of bankers. Ugh!

But, as there are two sides to every story...

Elvis has two kids whose future he has in mind. If this gig nets him a few thousand, that's a few thousand in the bank toward their future that he can put aside for his kids, in the absence of record sales. Is he exploiting the bankers for his personal gain... as the bankers do to us?

Artists have always relied on patrons, back to the Renaissance... is this the same sort of thing? The record industry, as a means of income for artists, turns out to have been a blip in history... superceded by the freedom of the internet. It seems it's back to patrons... the rich... the support the artist.

Amadeus et al were paid by the rich, before the record industry. Now that the record industry is almost dead, the artists are having to revert to centuries-old methods to earn their crust.

Ugh, what a shame.... but understandable. At least we feel Elvis's passion when he's addressing a roomful of paying fans. Who knows how he performs to a roomful of 'who's-this-Elvis-bloke-anyway?' bankers. Has anyone ever been to one of these things? What's it like?
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by Ypsilanti »

It doesn't appear that he's playing for bankers. Rather, the events looks to be some kind of reward or treat for people who have Citibank Visa Cards--a little fun in exchange for their mountains of debt.

True, Citibank is paying him, but record sales aren't going to do it anymore. As Neil pointed out, this kind of patronage is nothing new--or perhaps is new once again. A shame things have to work this way, but this one show is certainly less repulsive than U2 or Elton John, etc whose entire tours are underwritten by giant corporations.
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by the_platypus »

Image
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by Poor Deportee »

I think the key is to simply resign oneself to the patent absurdity of it all. There's almost a kind of performance art involved in the scenario itself - as when Dylan sold 'The Times they are a Changin' to a bank. The days of music representing some sort of hope for an alternative society are long gone, and postmodern irony is the best we've got. Anyway, it's EC's business - doesn't bother me a jot.
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by Jeremy Dylan »

If you have a moral objection to the show, don't go to it. I personally have no objection to Mr. Costello getting paid handsomely to play for some folks who happen to own a particular type of credit card.
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krm
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by krm »

...i am busy the 16th anyway.........
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by jardine »

tony bennett, rush, clay aiken (!), the wailers, arlo guthrie, jeff beck. etc. etc.
jackie mason!!!!!

this thing is just a "if you have our credit card, you get easy access to tickets" offer. it is not at all exclusive to credit card holders. it is more like an air miles perk, or a discount card to a grocery store by the look of it.

http://www.citiprivatepass.com/
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by jardine »

i.e., it isn't a "corporate gig."
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Jack of All Parades
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by Jack of All Parades »

Neil- I do not for a minute believe he is so financially strapped that he needs a gig of this kind. I do not find such a decision to play this gig 'understandable'- either you have the moral convictions which you tout on your recent album or you do not. It is a slippery slope he is going down. This is not patronage- EC is being retained by Citibank as a performer for a concert; he is not a court composer for the Hapsburg Emperor[or for Citibank} for that matter.

Ypsilanti- I do not think for a moment that this 'intimate venue' will be filled with regular Citicard holders other than a token few sprinkled amongst the crowd to make it seem legitimate. That room will be filled with Citibank bigwigs and their friends and families. Again this is in no way patronage. You argued passionately in another thread that EC is a successful artist, able to travel at will, keep a full concert schedule playing to filled halls and enthusiastic audiences, capable of buying expensive musical instruments. I happen to believe you are correct in those presumptions. Unless he and his wife were really damaged with investment losses due to the fraud of their indited Financial adviser- see another thread. I find U2 or the Stones, for example, suspect with their extensive corporate sponsorship deals. Nature of the beast I guess. But it is right to question their integrity. I do think you are wrong to lump Elton John in there- he is an artist[who outside of his stand on AIDS and Gay Rights] has never made political announcements in his music or in interviews. He basically has never professed to be anything other than an entertainer- unlike EC who has consistently voiced political and moral judgments throughout his career. That is a big difference to me.

PD- It is hard to resign myself to the 'patent absurdity' in this gig. I know you, and I, appreciate the tremendous irony EC brings to his work. But I do not find this ironic- just sad. You are right; it is EC's business. With that said he should not be preaching to me or other listeners through a song like "National Ransom" or the cover art of his recent album. This is a disturbing lack of 'moral clarity' for me.

Jeremy-Absolutely right. If it is morally objectionable do not go. I learned a long time ago to guide my consumer activities by my political and moral compass. I steer very clear of the Citibanks of the world as best I can.

Jardine- I do not think for a minute you should delude or rationalize for yourself that this is not a "corporate gig" - this is Citibank's credit card operation- their profit center and very much a part of their corporate structure.

Maybe it is because it is the 30th anniversary of the murder of an artist, who for all his complications, had a moral compass that he tried to stick to . This story bothers me and sits uncomfortably within my thoughts.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by alexv »

This is fun!! I’ve been praising the fucker up to high heaven over the last month, since he’s once again redeemed my fan boy faith in him by delivering yet another bag of tunes I’ll be singing even as they lay me down to endless sleep.

But what the heck, let’s bring the corporate shilling fucker down to earth, shall we. Let's get judgmental on his ass {smiley face;I'm kidding, ok?}.

I’m with Christopher in that when I saw this I couldn’t help but think, unfortunately, of the one tune in NR that I despise, the hit single. 1929 to the present indeed!! Citi is one of the main bailout beneficiaries, for goodness sakes. And he’s enabling them, for a fee?

Of course, he’s done this kind of thing in the past. I remember seeing a clip of him playing Veronica on some rooftop for some Dot Com guys out in Cali, and there was a Yahoo gig (or was that the same thing?), and of course he plays for Vegas conventioneers. So there’s a record of our Boy playing for money, anybody’s money.

But, for Citi, and just after releasing NR, and doing all that publicity about robber barons and the like? Couldn’t he have put these activities on ice for a spell, or maybe pick a different corporate patron? Lexus? Cristal?

Ypsi and Neil point out, rightly, that there is a long history of artists having to rely on patrons. The difference, however, is that those artists did not, publicly at least, bite the hand that fed them, as forcefully as EC has and does. Even funky old artists considered themselves part of the Establishment, and when they got out of line they risked being beheaded.

In the olden days, artists had to rely on patrons; there wasn’t an active market for their art. In recent years, in the US, these same artists rely on idiots like us, on record companies, and on funding from national foundations. I don’t think we’ve reached the stage where rock stars, even minor rock starts like our hero, who have TV shows and earn millions in royalties a year have to rely on corporate sponsors for their daily bread. I’m pretty sure that if EC didn’t sell a copy of NR he would still, through performances, and royalties, make a millionaire’s income this year

What all this points to, is the basic truth that EC, no matter what his public posturing may be, is part of the Establishment. He’s corporate. There are lots of his contemporaries, Marshall Crenshaw, for example who, unfortunately for them are no longer corporate. Not by choice, however. They are in need of patrons. And do you know who those patrons are? In Marshall’s case, he actually will play a gig at your house if you pay him. You don’t see Citi going out of their way to patronize him.

And because EC is corporate, there is a hint of hypocrisy in his “outsider” public posturing, his anti-corporate stance. Always has been. The Citi thing brings this out and I love it. He's an artist, though, and entitled to his contradictions, just like Boy George was/is. As long as he puts out gems like NR (the double record) I don't give a rat's ass how he peddles his tukhus.

As far as this not being a corporate gig, I disagree. Yes, he’s playing for cardholders and not for Citi bankers (if he were, at least one of my robber baron friends would have done right by me), but he’s doing Citi's bidding, and for a fee. Citi uses EC and others in this way to get more folks to sign up for Citi cards. He’s part of their advertising budget. Get a card and win a chance to have a chat with your hero, and add to your personal debt!! Sign me up, boss. It’s capitalism at its crassest (and most efficient). And our Boy is a crucial cog in their wheel. Does he need to put himself in that position? No, but he does it anyway. He's EC and we are not.

So I say let’s give him a break. He’s put out a batch of magnificent songs for our aural pleasure. It’s the Holidays, and some lucky Citi cardholders are going to have a real peek at a great artist, although I worry about how the announcement says he will play a “brief” set. They may get a medley.

Let’s think back to when he was young, however, when he had a different accent, a different attitude and he and the Attractions “were supposed to play Detroit befoooor” but The Man didn’t let them. Well, he showed the Man then, and he's taking The Man's money now, thank-you very much.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWYDxMKvGSU
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by Emotional Toothpaste »

Good post, AlexV. I mostly agree.

I find it also sort've curious how the event is hyped as "featuring Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Elvis Costello". While that Hall of Fame "spectacle" has been a couple years ago already, its still fresh in my mind how Elvis decided it would be "churlish" if he were not to show up to receive the accolades of his inductment . . . even though he has LONG been against the idea of such phony sentamentalism and ego posturing that are a part of awards and awards shows. Seems now like that was a calculated move to accept and play along with the machine, to go ahead and embrace the label of a "hall of famer", because it would pay dividends later as we see here.

Anyway, who cares. As Nick Lowe says, People Change. Angst and rebelliousness against the machine was and still is a marketing tool, lets not be so naive to think that Elvis didn't know this even back in the late 70s. Its a no-win situation for Elvis. Success, yeah, okay thank you its been a hard road getting here, but don't give me any of that cash thats being passed around. I've got my standards! :lol:
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Top balcony
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by Top balcony »

Think the clue is in the words "professional musician".

Nevertheless with Elvis's record of charitable donations and general good works over many years he should be fully entitled to chase the filthy lucre with a clear conscience on 16th December. Revenues for NR won't exactly be overwhelming.
alexv wrote:when he was young, however, when he had a different accent
That cod-cockney was part of the act, just like his hats are now, Scouse is his native tongue.

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jardine
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by jardine »

i still think that the fact they invited HIM and that the recent music is about the national ransom is actually rather funny--not just "ironic" but actually...well, don't we all hope that he does a nice gentle version of the title song and that they get up to dance?? don't we hope that someone has a way to get a vid. up on youtube? AND that he gets paid a wheelbarrow full of money? AND wears a wolfy tophat? and so on? and that no one there notices??!!?? and "thought it was GREAT!!"????
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by jardine »

and, like we discussed months ago, that they think the song is "you belong to me" which they remember back from 1978 when they were 18 and really liked...
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Re: Elvis doing corporate gig, NY, Dec. 16 '10

Post by verbal gymnastics »

Elvis is, whether you like it or not, a gun for hire. Some of these events probably help fund other projects.

I'm not going to get out of my pram because he can make some easy money.

No doubt nearer the time there will be some national incident which will result in a moral objection and the gig will be cancelled...

The 2nd Amsterdam show a few years ago with the Metropole Orchestra was a concert exclusively for Barclaycard holders as I remember. I also remember Steve offering us guest list tickets but I'm sure that story has been relayed before :lol:
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
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