Maybe Bear Stearns should have turned to Bruce Springsteen for a bailout.
Tickets to Springsteen’s May 7 solo fundraiser concert at the Count Basie Theatre to help the facility defray costs of rehab work will be auctioned off with a minimum bid of $1,000 apiece, the Star-Ledger reports.
The auction begins at 6p tomorrow on the Basie website and runs until noon, April 2.
The Sledger reports that the Basie website…
will offer updates on what the current leading bids are, so bidders can make increases, if they wish to. In the event of a tie, the person who made the first bid will get the ticket.
In addition, some tickets will be distributed via a raffle. Each raffle ticket is $100, and each winner chosen will receive a pair of tickets. Raffle tickets will be available starting April 1, and winners will be drawn on May 1.
About 1,000 of the 1,543 seats will be auctioned, in maximum blocks of six, and seating location will be based on individual seat bid values.
OK, this is the part where all the grizzled fans who knew him when tell us about seeing Springsteen (and the E Street Band, to boot) for $1.25 in some cabana in Elberon back in ‘73. Let’s hear it, folks…
could Redbankgreen use their journalistic resources to find out the following :
1. what seat locations are being set aside for count basie sponsers
2. what price are count basie sponsers paying for a ticket
3. what seat locations are being set aside for count basie staffers
4. what price are count basie staffers paying for their tickets
5 what seat locations are being raffled off?
6 how many seats are being raffled off
7 why is a $1,000 floor being set? does count basie think that a true auction would set a lower minimum price ?
8 if count basie is forcing springsteen fans to bid against each other to maximize profits, why are approximately 30% of the seats not subject to the auction?
I was hoping the Basie press release would have more information about the format of the show. I doubt that I'd pay $1000 for a ticket, but I might be more inclined to buy a raffle ticket if I knew whether the show was Bruce and an acoustic guitar, Bruce and the E Street Band or something in between.
(And welcome, by the way, to the world of the Bruce fan where nothing is ever right. I speak from my own experience over the past 20+ years - we complain more than anybody. We complain if there's no new album, and then we complain about the album that comes out. We complain that he's playing Giants Stadium, and then he announces a show at a tiny place and we complain that there's not enough tickets or information about the show. It's kind of funny, especially when everyone realizes after the fact that it all worked out alright, but that's what happened.)
Come on guys. The money goes right back into the count basie theatre.
I can't afford the ticket, but I'm very grateful for everyone who does shell out the bucks. I love that theatre. My little 50 dollar a year donation isn't going to repair those walls. It takes big donors. So, to whoever goes: enjoy the show, thank Bruce for me, and very glad you're choosing to spend your money on a great cause. Stop your whining, folks.
This is not just about having people support the Count Basie. If the goal were only to support the theter there would be lots of ways for the theater to do that, and it wouldn't cost $1000 to sit in the back row of the balcony. If the Basie wants to exploit the perceived demand of a Bruce show in a small theater (which I think they're hugely overestimating, btw), then I think they should expect to answer a few quesetions about what they're asking people to shell over (literally) thousands of dollars for.
dear rb resident,
How? Please tell me right now how you would raise as much $$ as they're going to raise in one evening for the theatre? A mail-fundraiser drive?
Why not exploit the perceived value of Bruce's concert?
As a diehard Bruce fan I'm aghast at the small-minded, conspiracy theorists who are teed off at C.Basie about this. I don't care if they give away 3 rows of free seats. The Board has a fundraising target, they've done the math, they know how much they need, and they hope to raise the funds.
And, by the way, this isn't even a tax write off..since the donors can't write off the cost of a donation when you receive a goods or service. my hats off to them.
According to the Basie website:
"The tax deductible portion of your purchase for this show is equal to the ticket price you pay less $45."
To unbelievable, I think you missed my point. And that's understandable, because my post really wasn't written that well. I'm not saying the Basie could or should raise the money in a different way, but I am saying that at these price levels they should be a little more specific about what they're selling and not expect potential supporters to give to a worthy cause merely from the goodness of their hearts. And at these price levels, it is not a donation to support the theater, it's an arms-length business transaction that the Basie has priced according to what they believe the market will bear.
I'm not teed off at the Basie. I've met a lot of the people who work there, and they do a great job. I with them success with this event, and I hope they haven't priced themselves out of the market.
okay, that makes sense. the value of the concert is $45. Anything over that amount is a gift. And that part is tax deductable.
I am happy to report that I saw Bruce play at the Hope Concert benefit for Bobby Bandiera's son back in April 2003, so I'm not whining this time around. I was a Basie employee at the time, so not only did I see (most of) the show for free, but I got paid about 300 bucks to be there.
I agree with no_whine_zone: Red Bank just wouldn't be the same without the Basie. Thank you, Coco Pari and Garmany shoppers, for supporting this show. Although chances are, your kids go to school with Evan, Jessica and Sam, so you see him for the low, low price of $3,500 per couple at the Stone Pony's annual Ranney School benefit. But isn't it so much cooler to be able to tell all your friends you paid between $1,000 and $5,000 for a Bruce ticket?
Love,
A Funk & Standard shopper
Was it ever listed anywhere, on "who" won those two front seats from the $100.00 raffle?