JAY LENO'S CURSED HARLEYS
9-29-05 THIS POST'S CONTENT IS RATED:
In case you are like me and don't watch Jay Leno, he has been running another one of those "I have a Harley Davidson on the stage of The Tonight Show and celebrities are signing it each night so we can put it on ebay and raise money for Katrina survivors." He did this once before, back in 2001 just after 9/11.
From a report in last weeks CLOVIS NEWS JOURNAL :
"Two Portales men drowned in a boating accident at Ute Lake on Thursday night (September 22). One victim was Frank Davis, who gained national attention when he paid comedian Jay Leno more than $360,000 for a celebrity-autographed motorcycle soon after Sept. 11, 2001. The money went to the Twin Towers Fund for the victims of the 9-11 terrorist attacks."
If that isn't creepy enough, it goes on. . .
"Davis appeared on Jay Leno's Tonight Show shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, after placing the highest bid -- $360,100 -- on a celebrity-autographed Harley Davidson motorcycle."
The new bike's Ebay auction closes today (The 29th). The money will benifit Katrina survivors. It's for a good cause and all but you couldn't get me on that bike for a million bucks. That shit is a jinx. It's like when they rolled snake eyes in Stand By Me, it's a Goucher! River Phoenix ends up dead in real life, and the fat kid grows up to be engaged to Rebecca Romain Stamos.
Has Harley Davidson and Ebay's greed and shameless capitilization on tradgedy with the sour guise of goodwill finally been their undoing. "Sacrificing" one bike for a free onscreen daily prop, repeated "by name" mentions, and mentions of the auction to be held, on "E" bay, that's a strong E.
Jay just parades Americas Celebrated TV and Film greats in to bow down to the Golden Calf to kiss it and add to the illusion of charity, standing up to mention "don't forget to check out the new episode of so and so on so and so network" before they walk off the stage waiving, when the bike, after all the hoopla and show-bid-ness sells for just about $340 Grand more than what it originally cost to manufacture!
Keep in mind, without all the showboating celebrities like John Bon Jovi and Oprah donated three times that a piece for Katrina.
Harley Davidson gets millions of dollars in free advertising and promotion, as does ebay, and I'm sure that their sales probably shoot through the roof.
I would love to see the statistics on how Harley Davidson sales do in times of tradgedy, or how many more hits and online sales ebay experiences. These past few weeks have probably been both companies most prosperious times since the last tragedy when the last bike sat on Leno's stage. Try to tell me they aren't profiting from tradgedy. That karma is stuck to that bike. Scrawled all over it with black ink.
Bid at your own risk!
Just another day in the life of an Art Juggernaut.
-Cojo
