I. Over the last five years or so, New Year corporate parties have become a most popular kind of holiday season entertainment for office employees in Russia's bigger cities. And an event of this kind would not be complete without inviting a pop star for an "exclusive" performance.
For domestic pop stars, the New Year holiday season has traditionally been a busy time. Just like in summer they heavily tour Black Sea resorts, in the last two or three weeks before the New Year, many may have a very tight schedule, performing at corporate parties of various companies.
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Incidentally, the geography of their performances has been spreading beyond Moscow and St. Petersburg, as more and more successful regional companies consider the invitation of a national pop star to their corporate event as a "status thing." And they are not deterred by the fact that in addition to an artist's regular fee, they would have to cover transportation and accommodation.
Some of the wealthiest companies have gone as far as to invite foreign pop stars to their corporate events, paying exorbitant fees up to millions of dollars. But for a typical domestic company, regardless of how well its business is going, that would be too much, and they opt for a Russian pop artist.
Last week, the Internet show business service mmdb.ru published a top 10 list of the Russian pop stars most wanted to perform at corporate parties this holiday season, including their estimated fees.
Incidentally, there is no direct correlation between the artist's price and their popularity. For example, the most sought artists are residents of the TV show "Comedy Club," who charge at least $20,000 for a one-hour performance, while the performance by the prima donna of the domestic pop scene, Alla Pugacheva (No. 3 on the list), would cost at least 70,000 euros for a 30-minute set. Almost as expensive is Dima Bilan (No. 5), the runner-up in last year's Eurovision Song Contest, charging 60,000 euros for a half-hour performance.
Among other artist on the top 10 list are also bands Gorod 312 and A-Studio, whose prices are "only" $10,000 and the even less expensive pop group Ivanushki International, which charges $8,000.
Can this top 10 list serve as a popularity rating for domestic pop artists this year? Probably not, as individual tastes of a company's employees may differ substantially from those of their bosses or whoever makes a decision about inviting a particular artist to perform at the company's corporate party. But still, it gives an idea of how much an artist "costs."
No surprise that pop artists love to perform at corporate parties. The money is good, while requirements for the quality of performance are almost non-existent, and most artists would easily get away with lip-synching to a playback of selected hits, even without a proper accompanying band.
Basically, everyone who has ever been to a New Year corporate party in Russia, can say that the performance itself is of minor importance. As soon as a company gets the "status" artist it wants to perform at its New Year event, the very fact of the performance and the artist's name begin to matter more than anything else. Now the company can boast about its "cool" New Year party, while by the time the artist actually takes the stage, most employees will be already too drunk or busy with something else to be able to pay any attention to the performance.
II. New Year’s Resolutions for Chicago in 2009
With the end of the year just around the corner, my mind has shifted from entertainment and events to the New Year’s Resolutions 2009 that we all plan to make. I am thinking there are some New Year’s Resolutions in 2009 that Chicago should try this year too. Not just government and officials but all of us collectively as people. Well, ok some are specifically for government and elected officials since this whole Rod Blagojevich thing is out of control and so opposite how most people really are in Chicago. So, after all the New Year’s parties sit down and think about if these ideas could really improve your life and those of everyone like you in Chicago.
1. Resolve to share the power and redistribute wealth. Enough of this you pay me to do something I am legally not supposed to do bullshit. Yes, Rod Blagojevich I am looking at you, and Former Illinois Governor Ryan you too. I am guessing that Mayor Daley does this stuff ALL the time but he has enough clout that people won’t cooperate in catching him at it.
For god’s sake, if you know (work with) someone who does this kind of pay for play stuff, out them. Tell someone, tell the Tribune, Sun Times or NPR. Copy documents that verify it and send them anonymously to the press if you have to. Publish them on an anonymous blog. The only way that this behavior will stop is if people stand up to it and say no, I am not going along with this and make sure people know about it. It is your responsibility as a citizen and there are a whole lot more of us little people than there are powerful ones you know. And this was the whole point behind rallying for Barack Obama and Change. (and not just so people stopped knowing Chicago only for Al Capone, Oprah and Michael Jordan)
2. Get some more exercise. All of us, myself included could benefit from more exercise. This means walking rather than driving sometimes, going out to run once a week and generally doing things around the house to clean and fix it up. You would be surprised how much cleaning and fixing up the house can do for exercise. Walking every day to public transportation is also a great way to get exercise without knowing it. (which is pretty much the only way computer based people like me can do this) Laying off the deep dish pizza, foot long hot dogs and cold stone ice cream is probably a good idea too.
3. Save some money. Forget the economy and how 70% of the activity is from consumer spending. Just do what you need to do in order to be ready for layoffs since this is so common these days. Have 1 year of reserves in savings for daily expenses should you loose your job.
It takes a year or more for most people right now to find a new job since so many more people are looking than there are jobs. Also, have your vacation days saved up so that if they do lay you off they have to pay them out. It is the law. Most companies don’t offer any severance packages when they lay off people so your 2-3 weeks vacation time is your severance package now. Save it wisely.
4. Learn something new. This is harder the older we all get. I find it harder every year to learn something new that is an actual functional skill or knowledge useful on the job. It is just so much easier to do things the old way. It uses less energy and fewer brain cells. But you become obsolete so much faster, and in this economy that could mean a lot less money if and when you can find another job. So, whether it is community college courses, web research or just asking someone who knows cool stuff on the job if you could help out and get into a new project, it always benefits you in the long run.
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