Bill Clinton is coming to town. On Friday afternoon, the former prez will host a fundraiser for his wife’s presidential campaign at Century Ballroom on Pine.
But you gotta pony up to see him. Details here. Tickets are available at prices of $250 for “young professionals” (these are in limited supply), $500, and $1000, which gets you special seating. The most expensive tickets, which cost $2700 and get you a photo with the Clinton, are already sold out.
Funny/gross Clinton story:
Back in 2009, shortly after I arrived in Haiti as a freelance reporter, Clinton showed up at a fancy hotel for a press conference to encourage investment in the country. That evening, I went to the bathroom and peed at the urinal. As I turned around, Clinton came in with his security guards. He recognized me from the press conference and stuck his hand out. I hadn’t washed my hands and he either didn’t care or hadn’t thought about it. I was momentarily stunned. We shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. I washed up and exited, then realized I’d squandered an opportunity to set up an exclusive interview with the guy. As he came out of the restroom, his security guards swept him away to his next destination. (A few years later, I made up for it by getting Clinton—who has an atrocious track record when it comes to making good on promises to help Haiti in all kinds ways—to go on record stating that the United Nations had inadvertently introduced a cholera epidemic to the country, sickening and killing thousands of people. That’s an inconvenient truth that the UN itself has never fully admitted. His guards never let me get close to him again.)
Anyway, I once shook Clinton’s hand without washing my own after I peed, and I still wonder where his hands had been that day.