Northwest Indiana Discussion

If you have a point "A", it helps to have a point "B". I made no claims. I asked questions that you won't honestly answer. So sparks, prove to us the concert wasn't a money loser. Tell us who was the concessioneer.

Score one for the Spark. Common does a great job on Hell on Wheels. Still, there are a lot of folks who dont buy into Rap. Itz generational, but it is also an issue of subcultural identification/defiance concerning the status quo. Or so it seems.

Just speculating.

You mean my boy Lonnie Lynn Jr, a early nineties has been? Record sales of 800,000, a true influence on the American scene and such popularity, he comes to where?

Hammond, the music capital of the world? WTF Who you kiddin?

The concert was a looser from the get go. Speaking of looser, I sure Hammond's Chief Electrician made sure he was there to inspect the wiring.

What happend to Spark's dedication @ the 644 mishap?





Hmmmm.

Common has projected his charisma into a co-starring status on television.

That's great! I hadn't heard of the show until sparks mentioned it, but I have it just below a satellite test signal at the bottom of my watchlist. I again question why the city is in the concert promotion business. Come on sparks, come out of hiding and come out with the numbers on Common. Who made money and who lost? It's like a side business that saddles taxpayers with costs and stuffs the pockets of a pocket of Friends of Tom. Festival of the Lakes has lost money for ten years running. Yet vendors show up every year? Seems vendors are making money while taxpayers are losing it. Why else would the vendors show up? Private parties profit at public expense. Crap deal for even crappier "amenities". How does our Man of the People feel about that?

http://posttrib.suntimes.com/news/lake/ ... story.html

First write-up I've seen says "about 800 people paid $50 each for the Common show". I wonder though, how many actually paid and how many were comped.

Someone speaking for the city added... "The $50 tickets were not a factor in the crowd size, Turchany said. “We’re told what prices to set by each act,” Turchany said. Tickets for the Hammond Civic Center’s next show will be $25 each for Vince Neill of Motley Crue at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 12.

The spokesperson added...“It went very well,” said Michelle Turchany, events director for the City of Hammond. “There were no incidents at all.”

Break out the champagne guys! A fight didn't break out all night!

Looks like the money lost was more than the gross take. At least looking from the taxpayers' perspective. No doubt someone made money here though.

Common agreed, perhaps, to perform in Hammond as means of keeping his throat and voice in shape. For a pro like Common his performance amounted to "scales".

Sparks? Come out, come out, wherever you are... Now that you've surfaced, tell us how much money taxpayers lost in the Common concert promotion. Tell us who the beer vendor was and the split with the city. Non answers and no answer count as proof of a colossal failure.

Definitely more peaceful than a recently Democratic Party Xmas celebration @ the Civic Center where a fight broke out among participants.

Wow. That big a failure, eh? Who's held responsible? Since numbers aren't forthcoming, how about a ballpark? Not another baseball diamond but a ballpark loss figure. Was it more than 50k dollars or less than? Which account took the hit for taxpayers?

Looking at a story in the Chicago Tribune today reminded me of this topic. Seems the government in Rosemont, IL is refusing to release financials of a contract between that village and country artist Garth Brooks. The village owns and operates the Allstate Arena where Brooks performed earlier this year. They even passed a law that exempts themselves from the Illinois FOIA statue. They claim the financials are "trade secrets". That public servants wont release financial records of public dollars run through public venues is farcical. Officials claim that their competitive edge would be hurt by having to reveal the financials. That may be true, but then that only supports a position that they should not be in the concert promotion business. Tom McDermott is also refusing to release his own dealings in signing acts to play at Festival of the Take. What did we pay to have Charlie Daniels play The Take? Tom says he can't tell us. Not without a court order, I guess. Well can he at least tell us what we got hosed for hosting Common? Vince Neil?