[Peace-discuss] War profiteer suborns culture

[C. G. Estabrook]

Your mistake for not becoming an arms dealer.


---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2005 12:37:43 -0800 (PST)
>From: David Green <davegreen84 at yahoo.com>  
>Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] War profiteer suborns culture  
>To: Peace Discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
>
>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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>
>
>
>		
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