The price of fame
I often wonder whether those who are responsible for promoting theatrical events and concerts have any grasp of the basic rules of marketing. As anybody with the minimum of understanding of the principles of marketing knows, in order to sell anything you need to get the product, publicity. place and price right. The recent Salif Keita concert at the Pavilion, which surely tnust have been the event of the year, epitornised how not to organise an event. Here was an opportunity to witness one of the progenators of modern African music and yet the Pavilion was only half full. As i left after two-and-a-half hours of non-stop passion, fun, originality and inspirational music, I pondered as to the reason why so few of the burghers of Glasgow had been there.
The answer was plain for all to see and that was the price — at £l3 a ticket and so tnuch else on offer during Mayfest, the event was grossly overpriced. Surely the promoters, with their depth of experience, will know the demand for a ‘perfonner‘ such as Salif Keita and should price the event accordingly. To me, the economies are easy to grasp, surely it is better to have a full house at £8 a ticket than a half full hall at £13. Come on promoters. live in the real world and do the product you're trying to sell justice and give him the opportunity of performing to a full house.
Ron Montgomery Robinsfield Bardowie Strathkelvin.
You win this week is prize. Pop in to our Glasgow office to collect a T shirt and a bottle of the very wonderful liquid.
In the Wilderness
So what were the huddled villagers of Western Samoa doing last Saturday? And the sun-kissed Fijians? The Hong
lETTER§
meat sells for £l30 a pound. and despite votes to the contrary, the slaughter was not stopped. Amidst the talks and prevan'cations, the only effective voice has been from Greenpeace. whose brave volunteeers put themselves between the whales and their barbaric hunters. Next Sunday, l3 June, people all over Britain will be taking part in a sponsored walk in aid of Greenpeace. Join us against the slaughter.
Joan Winter
Muirhill Avenue
Glasgow.
Sue Hollands on 0555 82400 has details of walks in Edinburgh and Glasgow This has been a public service announcement in aid of Whales.
Come Back! Come Back! The Velvets, Arthur Brown, The Buzzcocks, Stiff Little Fingers, The Monkees. Hey, do these old lags never die? What do you think of the revival revival? The best letter published earns its writer a bottle of completely scrumptious Jose Cuervo Golden Tequila and a screamingly loud T-Shirt. Take it to the bridge . . .
to Elvis! Niggling apart, what is Tony ‘Bonehead' Parsons talking about in his interview with Craig McLean? ‘Pop is the touchstone of what it means to be young in the Western world. I think that’s over,’ he whines. Come on Parsons, what about Radiohead. What about Barbed, Jellyfish, World Party, The Pet Shop Boys. This, Anthony Parsons, is Pop.
80 you don’t agree? Well, even if these don’t fall into your definition. then rave certainly does. It is the perfect touch stone of what it means to be young in the western world: Sega kids in Reeboks on E, buying sampled grooves, recycled, retrashed and rehung. Live, consume, die. Nothing has changed — the system is just that little bit more efficient than when you 14 High Street. were a lad, Parsons. You‘ve lived. -
You’ve consumed. Could it be that it is Ef‘mrgh EH1 ITE‘ now time for your pathetic opinions to Old Athenacum Thcam,‘
A cynic writes
Amidst all the Mayfest coverage and ZOOth issue celebrations it seems you forgot to list the dumbest show in Scotland this year. The Tories and Meadowbank surely ranks among the hot to trot 200. Hey, 480 seconds of carefully orchestrated ovation for someone even the organisers knew couldn‘t be relied on to attract any applause if left to himself. ls it true that they‘ve been booked into The Funny Farm? Could they be any worse than the current participants?
Tom MacMillan
Dick Street
Edinburgh
And could the Funny Farm participants be any worse at running the country?
Kong Chinese? Pot-bellied lads in an Adelaide bar? Gauchos taking a break on the Argentinian pampas?
Watching the English Cup Final that‘s what. Yet here in this tin-pot outpost of self-serving bureaucracy what do we get? Singing In The Poxy Rain and endless golf. Don’t blame the BBC. The spoilsport idiots in charge of the SPA blotted out the English game because Scottish clubs were playing a batch of meaningless end of season matches decreed necessary by the fact that the very same spoilsport idiots of the SPA have devised the longest season in Europe. nay the world.
And OK, the Cup Final wasn‘t much of a game (reportedly) but I couldn't even watch it on Sky because the BBC had the live rights. I had to make do with highlights of Mexico v Costa Rica on the Sad World Of Sports Addicts Channel. Talking of Mexico, it’s been a
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Not this time matey. phone number. but you must include "83" meat them. Deadline is tlte Friday before
publication. Keep thent pithy. as long letters may be cut. The best letter next issue will win a bottle of Jose Cuervo
Gold Tequila.
Whale meat again! Last year thousands of pe0ple demonstrated in Glasgow
against whaling. This year the whaling commission met in Japan where whale
This is pop So Tony Parsons was born with Pop Music was he (The List 200)? Tell that
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80 The List 21 May—3 June I993
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