| November 18th, 2005 05:46 PM |
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| Joey |
" Denver Crazy about the Stones
Mick & Co.'s fans "ain't too proud to beg" for a ticket "
" The recent craigslist ad is alluring: "I will give you the best massage of your life for your Rolling Stones ticket. I am an absolutely awesome massage therapist. Come and see for yourself. If you want a deeply relaxing state, I can take you there and help you release stress and tension in your mind, body and soul."
Ali Kimata is dead serious. Her massage for your Mick. She's even willing to trade multiple massages for the opportunity to see the Stones when they rock the Pepsi Center on Thursday, Thanksgiving night - but that all depends on the quality of the ticket, whose face values could range from $60 to $400.
"The Rolling Stones are one of the biggest bands in the world," Kimata said earlier this week from her Boulder clinic. "They're legendary."
Right on both counts. The Stones are big. And legendary. And their fans are among the most rabid and devoted in all of rock history.
"All these fans, they come tour after tour after tour, and some of them you kind of get to know because you see them all the time," said Chuck Leavell, Stones keyboardist for more than 20 years and the man they call "the sixth Rolling Stone." "It's like the Japanese couple that's come almost to every show - that goes back to the Babylon tour.
"These people show up all the time. Some are wealthy. Some are not. Some are in between. But either way they all have this bordering-on-fanatic love for the band. ... It's really interesting to see. I don't think I could be that fanatical about anything, a band or a sports team."
The Stones are the only band in the world that can release mediocre records for more than 20 years and still sell out the $400 tickets on the floor of their every-other-year arena shows. And come to think of it, The Stones are one of the only bands that can - and will - charge its devoted legions $400 at the box office, which fires the scalping equation easily into the $1,500 range.
And while people pay it, there's oftentimes a happy resentment about the purchase.
"This was kind of a Christmas present to ourselves," said Daniel Mumoz, who owns a barbershop downtown and paid about $200 apiece for his seats on Thanksgiving. "I'll be quite honest with you: I don't often spend that much money on a concert. And so even if it's on Thanksgiving, it's still a Christmas present."
The scene outside the Pepsi Center on Feb. 1, 2003 - the last time the Stones played Denver, with a top ticket price of $350 - was downright giddy. Denverite Alex Garlin was smiling as he walked into the arena with his friend Virginia Chavez.
"I'm not against supporting the boys," Garlin told me then. He had paid more than $800 for two sixth-row seats on the floor in 2003. "There is nothing like a Rolling Stones show," he said, adding that there is no other band, alive or dead, that he'd spend that kind of money on.
Garlin is a fan just like Kimata, with a slight difference. Whereas Garlin isn't "against supporting the boys" - the boys in question, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, all long-time millionaires - Kimata is against supporting them.
"I can't afford the tickets," Kimata said, giving her reasoning for the craigslist ad. "And even if I could, I'm not sure I'd pay that much for them. Four-hundred dollars per ticket? That's what I pay for a plane ticket. ... I think that they're multi-millionaires/billionaires at this point, and for them to ask that kind of a price is really outrageous."
Don't get Kimata wrong. She values her Rolling Stones records from the '60s and '70s dearly, and she holds the one time she's seen the band live close to her heart. When she talks about the band's 1981 concert in Los Angeles, her voice takes on altered tones.
"The Rolling Stones came out and there was no seating, everybody was just standing up, and they were larger than life," Kimata said. "We were nowhere near the stage, but still it was like you were looking at giants - the untouchables, even."
They're untouchable all right.
"It's nearly impossible to get close to them," said Kimata, who is talking with a few people and hoping for a Thanksgiving barter. And if nearly impossible is about $1,600 - last week's going price on eBay for a single seat in the front row beneath Guitar God Keith Richards - then she's right. But being in the front row isn't essential. And sometimes, seeing the Stones is.
"I am of that age - the same age as Jagger, and my friend I'm going with is pretty close, too - and we have all their CDs and that kind of thing, but one time I'd like to see them in person," said Mumoz the barber. "Because they're my age, they might not be performing that much longer. And you never know, but this might be their last tour."
Health withstanding, chances are good the audience will know it when the Stones choose to say farewell. The pricetag will say it all. "
http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_3225195
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| November 18th, 2005 09:52 PM |
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| glencar |
Maybe Keno needs a massage... |
| November 19th, 2005 05:11 PM |
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| Joey |
quote:
glencar wrote:
Maybe Keno needs a massage...
Done !
Flacky ! |
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