How much better can ya eat? (not a CHINATOWN post)

I thought it was a sick joke, this e-Mail I received today at work. You see, my current place of employment has connections with a few local concert venues, and employees can purchase advance tickets through work. This particular e-Mail announced the availability of Barbra Streisand tickets- not necessarily someone I'd see, but I imagine she would be fairly popular among some of my co-workers, many of whom are middle-aged or older.

Then I saw the prices.

The first price I saw was $152. I had to read it twice, but that was the price. As I continued reading, I expected prices to taper downward. Joke was on me, I guess... $252, $352, and $602 followed thereafter.

I wasn't sure how to react. Naturally, I wasn't personally affected by the exorbitant costs- I wasn't planning on going either way. Still, the excessiveness stirred me and confused my thoughts. Eventually, I tried to rationalize it by asking myself what cultural event I'd pay $602 to witness. It would have to be more than a simple concert, I reckon.

Perhaps a film? What filmgoing experience would warrant that price tag? How about the Museum of the Moving Image's screening of OUT 1 this fall? How much would it run me to get me to NYC to have my ass numbed and my mind blown by Rivette's 12-hour rarely-screened masterpiece? Well, last time I flew round-trip from Akron-Canton to LaGuardia for less roughly $170. So let's estimate $200. Add to that a hotel room- if I went with a friend, we could split the cost of a double, and if I did my research I could get away with spending $250 for two nights. Which leaves food, transportation, and of course the movie ticket. The ticket costs $10, and I'm sure I could manage the other two for between $100 and $150. And so, in total, that brings us in at a high estimate of $610. And while this isn't far off from the cost of a high-end Barbra ticket, consider that for my $610 I also get two air trips, two nights in a hotel, food and transportation along with my dozen hours of film. Whereas all Barbra's fans get is two hours or so of Barbra.

Which brings me back to the question posed in the title of this post. Barbra's making out like a bandit here. The concert's being held at the Schottenstein Center, which holds up to 21,000 people for concerts. Based on the listed ticket prices, I'd estimate an average of at least $250 per seat- which means a total of over $5 million. For one show. How much do you think Streisand sees? I'd guess a minimum of $2 million. And since she's doing 17 shows, that makes $34 million overall. Not too shabby, eh?

Now, I don't just blame Barbra Streisand that her tickets cost so damn much. I'm sure if she was putting on more than 17 shows they wouldn't cost so much, but there's more to this picture, I'd say. Simply put, tickets for Barbra Streisand wouldn't cost between $152 and $602 if someone in a position of power didn't think that people would pay those prices. And I have no doubt that Streisand has oodles of fans from all over who have loads of money and who would consider this a fair price to see her in concert. All I can say is, must be nice to have that kind of money. I guess I just feel sorry for her less affluent fans who would enjoy seeing her as much as their richer counterparts, but who won't be able to go because of price. I'm not sure how many people fall under that category, but there have to be some, right?

As for me, I'll be checking under my couch cushions for money, in case I actually decide to see OUT 1. Anybody interested in sharing a hotel room?