2,500 Beckheads paid $90.50 to see him on stage

RamboLiberal

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Fri Dec-03-10 06:36 PM
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2,500 Beckheads paid $90.50 to see him on stage

Aaaack - hate there are 2,500 in my city.

"Let's say that this Primanti Bros. sandwich is our federal budget ..."

And with that calorie-laden stage prop, conservative commentator Glenn Beck connected with his audience Thursday night at the Benedum Center, Downtown, as well as a nationwide audience that watched a live simulcast of the show in 537 movie theaters across the country.

Mr. Beck, 46, is the host of a nationally syndicated radio program and a daily Fox News television show that reach millions. His books have been best-sellers, and tens of thousands attended a rally he hosted at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, the anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

Thursday night's show, before 2,500 people who paid $90.50 a ticket, was part of Mr. Beck's tour promoting his latest book, "Broke: Restarting the Engine of America." Folks in furs sat next to fans in Steelers jackets, cheering as Mr. Beck took the stage.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10337/1107889-53.stm#ixzz175v5PUUT

Last night, Glenn Beck continued what is becoming a holiday tradition for him: A high-priced national movie theater simulcast, although this year he dropped the holiday pretense of 2009's "The Christmas Sweater." This time, the ostensible theme was Beck's latest tome -- "Broke: The Plan to Restore Our Trust, Truth and Treasure" -- and while the centerpiece at Pittsburgh's Benedum Center was supposed to be a restored 1965 Mustang (I'll try to explain later) the central prop became a massive sandwich from the Steel City institution Primanti Brothers, beef slathered in cole slaw and French fries. It was supposed to symbolize the federal budget apparently, but it seemed a fitting metaphor for the entire Beckian extravaganza: overly stuffed yet offering only empty calories and, most likely, a severe case of indigestion for anyone not accustomed to a right-wing diet larded with misinformation.

The oversized sandwich offered Beck and his audience -- at 537 theatres across America as well as in Pittsburgh -- a chance to devour the red meat that it seemed to enjoy the most: Jokes about Michelle Obama. When the Fox News Channel and radio right-winger first shoved the sandwich toward the camera, he called it "Michelle Obama's worst nightmare" -- not unfunny, given the First Lady's anti-obesity crusade -- but later Beck piled it on, saying to loud applause that "I don't care if she's the Queen of Sheba, or I don't care if she's a Republican, but I don't need the First Lady to tell me what to eat or if I'm fat." By the end of the night, he somehow compared Michelle Obama to Darth Vader.

Meanwhile, one thing that did lose a little weight last night was the collective wallets of Beck's biggest fans. In Pittsburgh, attendees paid $90.50 for the privilege of seeing their hero in person, grossing close to $250,000 for Beck Inc. At the multiplex, tickets were $20, or nearly double the cost of seeing "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1." At the multiplex near the King of Prussia mall where I watched, the showing drew more than 100 people and nearly filled the theater -- a fairly impressive turnout considering "Broke" was competing with a Thursday night game for the Philadelphia Eagles, our civic obsession. (Assuming that this was an average turnout -- past Beck simulcasts have done poorly in big cities but sold out in the Sunbelt -- the gross would have been more than $1 million, a reminder that the real-life Beck has been anything but "Broke" during this period of economic hardship for many.) If you've followed Beck's rise, I probably don't need to tell you that the crowd was largely older and all or mostly white -- a 29-year-old CPA that I spoke with joked that he was the youngest person there, except he probably wasn't joking.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201012030014

Primanti's sandwich