Tag Archives: White Stripes

White Stripes + Public Hunger = Not a Good Show

The White Stripes

Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, April 19, 2003

Everything about the White Stripes’ Hammerstein Ballroom show on April 19 felt a little oversize, a little out of focus. Part of it was their opening act, Loretta Lynn, whose celebrity is on another level from the Stripes, and whose icon status couldn’t help but dwarf theirs. But the show also felt crowded beyond regular rock-show conditions — fans jammed the vast main room (flat as a football field, allowing 0% visibility for anyone under 5′ 5″) and thronged in the lobby in long, barely-moving lines to buy drinks. Are they overselling rock shows now, like they do airplane flights, assuming some people will cancel? There were just too many people — it brought to mind footage of the Beatles playing their pop tunes in screaming football stadiums. Meg and Jack aren’t at that level yet, but their popularity is driving them into bigger and bigger venues, where their sound has to be amplified to the point of distortion.

Continue reading White Stripes + Public Hunger = Not a Good Show

Elephantiasis

By any measure—particularly financial ones—General Electric is a big company. It employs over 300,000 people in some 100 countries. Its 2002 revenues were $131.7 billion. It places number 5 on the Fortune 500 list. Its total 2002 assets are $575 billion. We’re not talking a small company here. It is huge. General Electric consists of 13 business units. There are Aircraft Engines and Plastics; Consumer Finance and Power Systems; Industrial Systems and Transportation Systems; Medical Systems and Specialty Materials. And all of these (and more) are sizeable in and of themselves.

So, what does this have to do with music?

Continue reading Elephantiasis