[Peace-discuss] War profiteer suborns culture

[David Green]

And I thought $500 for a DJ was extravagant.



--- "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu> wrote:

> <www.rockrap.com>
> 
> History will forever record Elizabeth Brooks' bat
> mitzvah as
> "Mitzvahpalooza." For his daughter's coming-of-age
> celebration
> last weekend, multimillionaire Long Island defense
> contractor
> David H. Brooks booked two floors of the Rainbow
> Room, hauled
> in concert-ready equipment, built a stage, installed
> special
> carpeting, outfitted the space with Jumbotrons and
> arranged
> command performances by everyone from 50 Cent to Tom
> Petty to
> Aerosmith. I hear it was garish display of rock 'n'
> roll idol
> worship for which the famously irascible CEO of DHB
> Industries, a Westbury-based manufacturer of
> bulletproof
> vests, sent his company jet to retrieve Aerosmith's
> Steven
> Tyler and Joe Perry from their Saturday gig in
> Pittsburgh. I'm
> also told that in honor of Aerosmith (and the $2
> million fee I
> hear he paid for their appearance), the 50-year-old
> Brooks
> changed from a black-leather, metal-studded suit -
> accessorized with biker-chic necklace chains and
> diamonds from
> Chrome Hearts jewelers - into a hot-pink suede
> version of the
> same lovely outfit. The party cost an estimated $10
> million,
> including the price of corporate jets to ferry the
> performers
> to and from. Also on the bill were The Eagles' Don
> Henley and
> Joe Walsh performing with Fleetwood Mac's Stevie
> Nicks; DJ AM
> (Nicole Richie's fiance); rap diva Ciara and, sadly
> perhaps
> (except that he received an estimated $250,000 for
> the job),
> Kenny G blowing on his soprano sax as more than 300
> guests
> strolled and chatted into their pre-dinner
> cocktails. "Hey,
> that guy looks like Kenny G," a disbelieving grownup
> was
> overheard remarking - though the 150 kids in
> attendance seemed
> more impressed by their $1,000 gift bags, complete
> with
> digital cameras and the latest video iPod. For his
> estimated
> $500,000, I hear that 50 Cent performed only four or
> five
> songs - and badly - though he did manage to work in
> the lyric,
> "Go shorty, it's your bat miztvah, we gonna party
> like it's
> your bat mitzvah." At one point, I'm told, one of
> Fitty's
> beefy bodyguards blocked shots of his boss
> performing and
> batted down the kids' cameras, shouting "No
> pictures! No
> pictures!" - even preventing Brooks' personal
> videographers
> and photographers from capturing 50 Cent's
> bat-miztvah moment.
> "Fitty and his posse smelled like an open bottle of
> Hennessy,"
> a witness told me, adding that when the departing
> rapper
> prepared to enter his limo in the loading dock, a
> naked woman
> was spotted inside. I'm told that Petty's
> performance - on
> acoustic guitar - was fabulous, as was the 45-minute
> set by
> Perry and Tyler, who was virtuosic on drums when
> they took the
> stage at 2:45 a.m. Sunday. Henley, I hear, was
> grumpy at the
> realization that he'd agreed to play a kids' party.
> I'm told
> that at one point Brooks leapt on the stage with
> Tyler and
> Perry, who responded with good grace when their
> paymaster
> demanded that his teenage nephew be permitted to sit
> in on
> drums. At another point, I'm told, Tyler
> theatrically wiped
> sweat off Brooks' forehead - and then dried his hand
> with a
> flourish. Yesterday, Brooks disputed many details
> provided to
> me by Lowdown spies at the affair and by other
> informed
> sources, scrawling on a fax to me: "All dollar
> figures vastly
> exaggerated." He added: "This was a private event
> and we do
> not wish to comment on details of the party."
> 
>    ###
> 
> 
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