Elton John in Anchorage Video

Hughman pointed out in a comment on the Commissioner Irwin video AGIA post, that Viddler does NOT have a ten minute limit like other video sites, so I didn't need to divide that video into two parts.

Elton John fans benefit from that - if they can bear the few seconds where the sound breaks up do to the decibel levels - because I didn't force myself to keep this video under 10 minutes. (It's 11:52). I also took advantage of John's over-the-top lighting to rationalize that it was ok to experiment with some different transitions and video FX. BTW, one of the neat features of Viddler is that you can make comments right on the video. Click on the little plus (+) sign on the bottom to the left of MENU. It will give you an option to comment anywhere on the video!

Also, as you watch the video, keep in mind Jay's comments to the Elton John v. Talis Colberg post which concluded:

Anchorage should not give itself a pat on the back for having a fun night out. They should reserve that for themselves when they again fight the all too readily justified prejudice that still exists, so strongly, so widely, in the town I grew up in and know so well.

Blessings on you all, but one night does not make it all different. Not at all.

Watching the video should remind us that Elton John, if he lived and worked in Anchorage, would be Constitutionally forbidden to marry the man he loves, and that there are still plenty of people out there that would deny him spousal health benefits if he worked for the state. It seems ironic, if not hypocritical to cheer him on for his singing ability and yet deny him pretty basic rights were he a resident of Alaska. But I'm sure that the people at the concert all voted against the Constitutional amendment in 1998 banning same-sex marriage. (Is there an irony smiley face?)






Notes on the concert goers. I'd guess the average age was about 40 or more. There were some feather boas, big sun glasses, glasses that lit up, and fancy hats. People were incredibly loud, but also very compliant and cooperative with security.


I also wondered if Elton John gets such enthusiastic responses in Las Vegas. People here were completely unpretentious. They were appreciative that John came here and they had themselves a great time. And I suspect the concert was better and longer than it might have been because the audience and the artist fed each other. Thanks, Elton, for coming.



Here's the red shoe Elton John signed in the last part of the video. Patent leather is a bitch to get a good picture of if you want the signature and you don't have a polarizing filter. Anyway, if you move your screen around, you should be able to see it better.



Other posts related to this concert.

Bike Racks

When the price of oil hit $3 people groused, but didn't seem to significantly change their energy use patterns. But now that it's flirting with $4, I'm seeing friends who are reconsidering whether they can use their bikes to commute to work, at least sometimes.

For people to use bikes more, we have to have infrastructures that make bikes more convenient - like good and plentiful bike racks. Portland has lots of bike racks and they are often interesting designs.

Friday afternoon I used this bike rack at the Court building when i went to the wedding.

At the Sullivan Arena for the Elton John concert, we couldn't find the bike racks (I'm assuming there are some somewhere.) Neither could these folks.










Or these folks.




Trees and parking meters and no parking signs are fine right now, but when more people start using bikes, non bikers are going to get tired of bikes tied up to everything strongly fastened to the ground.


















And then I always wonder when I see a lock like this. Was the bike stolen? If so, why didn't they at least take the lock home? Or maybe these reflect people who lost the keys for the locks.

Alaskans Cheer Man Married to a Man While Attorney General Fights Same-Sex Marriage

The same week that the Alaska Attorney General

joined conservative legal groups in urging the California Supreme Court to delay finalizing its ruling to legalize same-sex marriage

approximately 22,000 Alaskans spent around $2.5 million to see a married gay man and to cheer him wildly.

[My tiny Canon Powershot SD550 was totally overwhelmed by the noise level at Sullivan Arena and didn't catch many of the decibels flying around.]


Perhaps these 22,000 were among those 71,631 people who voted against Prop. 2, the 1998 Constitutional Amendment to ban same sex marriages. Perhaps some of these people voted for the ban. Or perhaps they didn't vote at all.

The Amendment passed 152,965 yes to 71,631 no. It wasn't even close. But that was ten years ago. The evidence that sexuality is basically genetic and not a choice has grown, but this isn't something that lends itself to . this clear proof. Logically, to me at least, it makes no sense for so many people to 'choose' desires that result in their being so strongly condemned by society. And why would people who could 'choose' their sexuality commit suicide because their choice was condemned? Wouldn't it be easier to just choose a different desire if they could?

Given the wildly enthusiastic response of the Elton John audience last night, I suspect that today the vote would not be so lopsided. It might not even pass. Especially if the people who went to the concert campaigned against the amendment with 1/10th of the enthusiasm they showed at the concerts. And if they all contributed half what they paid for the tickets to see a man whose married to another man perform.

BTW, $2 from every ticket was earmarked for the Elton John AIDS Foundation, so that would be around $44,000 that Alaskans contributed.


Calculations:
The exact figures really don't matter as long as we are reasonably close. Calculations for the number of people who attended the concert were based on reported seating capacity of the arenas for the three sold out concerts (2 in Anchorage, one in Fairbanks)
and an estimate of how much they paid given the prices. For this I calculated one figure based on there being as many 'cheap' seats as expensive ones. Then I figured it again with 70% of the seats being expensive and 30% being cheap. Then I split the difference.

The Sullivan Arena's Seating Capacity

• Table seating: 1500
• Concerts: 8,751
• Basketball: 7,987
• Hockey: 6,290
• Boxing or wrestling: 8,935 for
• 5' crowd barrier available

Fairbanks (for Hockey)
Name of Home Arena: Carlson Center
Capacity: 4600 or so Dimensions: 200x100

The largest meeting and exhibition facility is the Carlson Center, which features a 35,000-square-foot arena and several meeting rooms, for a combined total of 50,000 square feet of space that can accommodate more than 1,200 meeting participants, 200 trade show exhibits, or 4,000 people for a concert or sports event.

While I suspect the first website is more accurate, and concerts should have a larger seating capacity than hockey (as in the Sullivan Arena), I'll be very conservative here and round it to 4500 between the two different sources.


Bent Alaska tells us the prices were:
$56.50 to $116.50 in Anchorage
$75 and $115 in Fairbanks

The image of Talis Colberg in the video comes from the State Website.

Elton John Wows Anchorage

Here are a couple of blurry shots to at least give you a sense of the concert. John came out about 8:10pm to a standing, well ovation is to applause what the crowd actually did is to ovation. It was loud and sustained.








We left Sullivan Arena about 11pm. He played non-stop, except for a couple minutes off stage before an encore and about ten minutes of signing albums, t-shirts, pieces of paper, hats, and a red shoe.










Here he is up on the big screen.
Some video and more comment tomorrow.




For all the posts on the Elton John concert, including videos click here.

Elton John in Anchorage

I don't have any John albums, but we do have some tracks on an old CCNY tape someone gave us long ago. The friends that we asked weren't interested. But Elton John is Elton John. And he's coming to Anchorage. J got in line a week ago. The line minders assured people well behind her that they would all get tickets. But in the end, J was about six people behind the last tickets. But they did tell her and others in line that there might be a second concert and took her name and phone number. They called Friday to ask if we were still interested. Yes. Come back Monday between noon and four, we'll have tickets for you - dry or wet side?

Today, J got the tickets. I don't think we've ever paid so much for a ticket to anything. No, the LA Opera last summer was more. Slowly I'm thinking in dollars again and not figuring out how many Baht that is. It would be obscene in what Baht could buy. What's EJAF?[As soon as I hit publish I started figuring it out, and then I had to check.]