Wednesday, August 09, 2006

The Lemonade Stand

So as I previously made mention of I spent the weekend working the DMB shows on the Island of Misfits. The two day event had more of a festival feel to it than a straight up concert. Similar to Ozzfest, there was a second stage and a village area that were opened at noon even though DMB only took the stage at 8:00pm each night.


One of the trademarks of these types of festivals are the concessions... that include large plastic cups of lemonade. These cups are sold at stands similar to the one pictured above that was next to our Riverside tent. Now aside from the fact that the Lemonade Stand was situated right near the Port-O-Potties, I assure you that it is just like the kind of Lemonade Stand you had as a kid where you charged a nickle, a dime, and eventually a quarter for a superior beverage.

So how much was a Lemonade you may ask? It was $4.00 a cup. That's a pretty steep price increase from the neighborhood stand. I don't know how many of you would be taken aback by that price... because I know I sure wasn't. In fact, I've come to expect these types of prices at amusement parks, baseball parks, and concerts. It's really a simple supply and demand issue. They have the supply, the ONLY supply, and you create a demand for it which easily doubles the price of the product.

Some other prices that may or may not astonish you: Cheeseburger $12.00, Veggie Wrap $10.00 ($12.00 with chicken), Fried Chicken (two pieces) $8.00, and a 20 oz. bottle of water $4.00. Now the last item on that list, the bottle of water, seemed to tick off a few people who apparently weren't at Woodstock '99 where the price of a bottle of water soared to $12 as the weekend culminated. There were of course a few people who had this concept in their minds that this was a public event and there had to be water fountains, which there weren't.

Now although you could very easily get a bottle of water through the medical tents if you didn't have any money on you (and there had to be at least 30 of those people), what you couldn't do was fill your 2-liter container that you had brought with you. Now some people found this very inconvenient, along with the necessity of taking a name, blood pressure, and pulse rate. One of these people (yes Michael Piper I am talking about you) actually had the gall to claim that he was denied water by said medical tents. While perhaps you may feel it inconvenient to give your name (which you did anyway), having your blood pressure and pulse taken (which is free by the way) it is infact a necessity because it is a MEDICAL TENT. Otherwise... maybe water is not what you need? Maybe you need some sort of medication like... Lithium. Yes, Lithium definately comes to mind especially after your ass tirade about public law, none of which you could cite. I on the other hand cited the law that states we need to take your name, blood pressure, and pulse in order to assure the fact that you are not a danger to yourself with a possible elevated blood pressure or out of control heart rate when we re-release you into a crowd of 25,000. If we don't do that, then you may be out there and something may happen to you such as a syncopal episode, a stroke, or something worse that would incapacitate you and require the immediate response of the Fetch Angels... and then forget about the show because you're going straight to the hospital.

The fact is these type of events are there to make money... just like the corner lemonade stand you had as a kid was there to make money. The price difference is the same as the overhead cost difference. When your a kid, everything comes at the price of hugs and kisses from mom. When your an adult you actually have to pay for the lemons, water, sugar, and labor. While I prefer mom's brand of currency to the adult brand, this is the world we live in.

Oh, and one other thing about the whole concert thing... and this is for Big Red...

• Ticket for the show- $65
• Bus Ride to the island- $20
• Cheeseburger- $12
• 12 Beers consumed in the blazingly hot sun- $60
• Listening to the band you paid to see while your head is in a plastic red bag puking your brains out- Priceless

On a much more positive note than all this drivel here... I also met the future ex-Mrs. Dog this past weekend. Sigh... and yes... she is a Latina midget.
Posted by New York City's Watchdog :: 8/09/2006 11:30:00 AM :: Permalink :: 2 Bones Added to the Pile

Pick a Bone

<< Back To The Pile

..........:*:..........