OT: Which proves.....

[Robatoy]

that I know nothing about 'music'.

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

C=E9line Dion is proof that if you build it, they will come.

The Canadian star raked in more money in the decade that ended Dec. 31 than any other musician, and she did it largely by staying put in custom-built performance space in Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

The Quebec-born superstar, who has been performing for five years at Vegas, out earned U2 and the Rolling Stones.

The Times=92 list, its Ultimate Top 10, combines artists=92 album sales revenue and their concert earnings to put Dion=92s $747.9 million (U.S.) in the Number 1 spot, with ticket sales making up $522.2 million of that.

Here=92s the rest of their list:

1. Kenny Chesney, 2 million, two-thirds of it down to constant touring.

1. Dave Matthews Band, 7.4 million, with 9.1 million in concert earnings that made him the top North American live band of the decade, according to the music magazine Pollstar.

2. The Beatles, 7.3 million, 41 years after their last live show on Jan. 30, 1969. The total includes live performances by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Their =931=94 hits collection was the bestselling album of the previous decade, and their album catalogue was reissued in

2009.

1. U2, 9.7 million. They hold the Number 1 spot for the highest- grossing North American tour of 2009.

2. Toby Keith, 1.9 million for the Oklahoma singer and songwriter.

1. Bruce Springsteen, 8.3 million, three-quarters of it earned on the road.

2. The Rolling Stones, 9.6 million, ditto.

1. Tim McGraw, 0.7 million, including half of the take from shows with his wife, Faith Hill.

2. Britney Spears, 4.3 million.

[Tim W]

========

Céline Dion ... ...in the Number 1 spot, ...

Here?s the rest of their list:

1. Kenny Chesney, 2 million, two-thirds of it down to constant touring.

1. Dave Matthews Band, 7.4 million, with 9.1 million in concert earnings that made him the top North American live band of the decade, according to the music magazine Pollstar.

2. The Beatles, 7.3 million, 41 years after their last live show on Jan. 30, 1969. The total includes live performances by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Their ?1? hits collection was the bestselling album of the previous decade, and their album catalogue was reissued in

2009.

1. U2, 9.7 million. They hold the Number 1 spot for the highest- grossing North American tour of 2009.

2. Toby Keith, 1.9 million for the Oklahoma singer and songwriter.

1. Bruce Springsteen, 8.3 million, three-quarters of it earned on the road.

2. The Rolling Stones, 9.6 million, ditto.

1. Tim McGraw, 0.7 million, including half of the take from shows with his wife, Faith Hill.

2. Britney Spears, 4.3 million.

Blimey. I have never even heard of 2,3,6,& 9. They must be American acts and I must be really out of touch.

Tim W

[Swingman]

3 of the four are "country music" acts (well, what passes for it these days), and the fourth, DMB, is _very_ big with twenty somethings and college age kids here in the US.

[Tim W]

That does sort of explain it, thanks

Tim w

[CW]

Not to far out of touch. I'm American and I've never heard of 2,3,6,9, either.

>

[Lee Michaels]

"CW" wrote

I have heard of them. They just didn't get any of my money.

[Robatoy]

DMB got some of mine. So did Toby.

[Leon]

========

Céline Dion is proof that if you build it, they will come.

Because Britney Spears in on the list it proves that music is not the main draw. Her voice is absolutely pathetic compared to a deaf person voice.

[Robert Bonomi]

I _know_ I'm out of it. I wouldn't recognize at least _nine_ out of the ten if I heard them. But, then, I also don't know the difference between Iron Zeppelin and Led Butterfly.

And don't _want_ to. :)

[Robatoy]

and I go back to Jefferson Spoonful.

But like Toby Keith and DMB.

[Doug Miller]

Just curious, Robert - what kind of music *do* you listen to?

[Robert Bonomi]

"Eclectic"

in no particular order:

Instrumental stuff -- classical, classical jazz, some Dixieland (e.g., the N.O. "Preservation Hall" bunch), traditional marches.

Vocals -- torch song type stuff, ballads, light opera (especially G&S), musicals, & show tunes, Gregorian chants.

Specialty stuff: Bagpipes!! Steam calliopes,

limited amounts of: things like The Singing Dogs, Alvin & The Chipmunks, Chuck Jones's "Kill the Wabbit", P.D.Q. Bach (although a lot of that _really_ requires a live performance), Alan Sherman, Tom Leherer, and, apropos _this_ group, Woody Phillips.

I used to be fairly heavily involved in square dancing, so I developed a tolerance for the branches of C&W -- yes 'both kinds' -- used for that.

If it's got any of: a heavy percussion line, electric guitar(s), many kilowatts of 'amps', screaming vocals that you can hardly hear over the 'background', a melody line you can't pick out of the 'noise', or if it consists of "only 4 chords and 3 changes" (as a family friend described the majority of 'pop' music of the 60's), etc., ad nauseum, I'm likely -not- in the least interested.

I grew up exposed to regular _live_ performances of the likes of the London Philharmonic, the Philadelphia, Van Clyburn, Rubenstein, Segovia, etc. *And* the town was a stop for most 'touring' Broadway productions -- ones with the big-name stars, like Yul Brynner, Carol Channing, Robert Goulet, etc.

We got this stuff in a 'medium-small' (pop. ~200,000) town, _because_ we had one of the biggest theater venues in the country. When you can seat circa

4,200 people for one show, this does wonders for keeping the ticket prices 'reasonable', while being able to pay 'decent' money to the performers. The fact the Theater was owned by the company that owned the major newspaper in town, _and_ owned one of the biggest TV and radio stations in the area made publicity fairly 'simple', and went a long way towards ensuring capacity audiences.

I didn't know it at the time, but Smokey Smith and the Grand Ole Opry got started there. A local 'lack of foresight' was Nashville's gain. :)

[Doug Miller]

Concur (except that I'm not real fond of marches). Mostly classical here, particularly Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Arriaga, and almost anything from the Baroque period (especially Bach and Purcell).

bleah.

bleah^2 (sorry).

Great Scot! That *is* an eclectic list.

I'm with you there.

[CW]

You're missing all the good stuff. Try some Drowning Pool sometime.