James Taranto calls this "two papers in one."
Attendance at Summerfest is down. ZOMG! Teh economy, it is shambles!
Attendance and merchandise sales at Miller Park are way way up. DESPITE teh shamble-y economy. (Everytime I'm at a game, watching underage kids in $130 hoodies, drunk off $7.50 beers, I wonder if the Congressional "college loan bailout" will happen in 2012 or 2014...)
C'mon people, is this not obvious? People are just choosing to spend their money--and their time--at one venue over the other. Maybe they need to work with the Brewers to not schedule a homestand during Summerfest. But "teh lousy economy" doesn't seem to have affected the level of summer live-entertainment spending.
And--I feel this is worth mentioning even though it won't apply to most residents of SE Wisconsin--when I was looking for something to do over the recent long weekend, I chose to spend my entertainment dollars at the ballpark instead of Summerfest because I knew none of the players were going to climb out of the batter's box and deliver a leftist political lecture to the fans. They could all be card-carrying members of Code Pink, and I have no idea because they don't talk about it when they're playing or giving interviews. I appreciate that. Maybe the Summerfest organizers need to take this into consideration when they're booking bands.
UPDATE: This link from my favorite Colts blog (the owners are Reds fans, snicker) disturbs me. Although that is one cute kiddo getting a beer bath.
UPDATE 2: Corey says his daughter is just fine and everyone should lighten up. Works for me.
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2 comments:
No - I totally agree with you on the politicizing Summerfest thing. That's one of the major reasons I didn't go - I'm not going to pay to listen to someone stump for his holiness, Obama.
The acts at Summerfest this year were marginal at best. Other than the main stage acts, there weren't a lot of bands to go see. Do you think anyone ever thought of that?
Also, I have to say this... I went to the Petty show this year and I was a little scared at the crowd walking the grounds. I saw lots of what I would call shady characters. Then, we were lucky enough to have the Petty show end 125 minutes before the park closed, so EVERYONE was leaving Summerfest at the same time. WOW! Talk about congestion, not just the traffic, but the crowd. There was absolutely no security/police presence that I saw around the grounds (including the parking lots and traffic control). Call me crazy, but being in the dark, no security presence, drunk people staggering all over the place, and people looking like they belonged in the Latin Kings makes me a little bit concerned for my safety.
I doubt I'll be going back to Summerfest any time soon unless they bring in some really good acts. Based on what I saw this year I think the festival as a whole is going downhill.
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