NY's Top Court To Consider Taxability of Strip Club Performances

In times of financial trouble, states look to maximize their revenues wherever possible. New York has expanded its tax compliance efforts and looked to pick up revenues in more obscure places.

One of those places was a New York strip club. The club, which charges a cover fee, had argued that it was exempt from sales tax under two exemptions relating to admissions and performances. Now, the matter is set to appear on the Court of Appeals calendar:

For years, Nite Moves, an adult "juice bar" on Route 9, has been fighting the tax law -- first in an administrative hearing that ultimately went before the state Tax Appeals Tribunal and then in state Supreme Court. A 2005 audit by the state Division of Taxation concluded the club owed nearly $125,000 in sales tax, plus interest for door admission charges and private dance sales. The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court upheld that decision.
In a motion before the Court of Appeals, Utah attorney W. Andrew McCullough, representing 677 New Loudon Corp., which operates Nite Moves, claimed the club was entitled to the sales tax exemptions on two levels, both of which define entertainment as "dramatic or musical arts performances."

Broadway and local theaters -- such as Proctors in Schenectady and the Palace in Albany -- do not charge state sales tax on their tickets, said Ed Walsh, a spokesman for the state Department of Taxation and Finance.

On Monday, McCullough, an Albany native, said, "I'm excited. It's been one of my things in life to get a case before the Court of Appeals. I think the Appellate Division blew it, and it looks like someone is finally listening."

Iin his motion brief, McCullough argued the Tax Appeals Tribunal and the Appellate Division misinterpreted the statute. He said the language in the tax statutes apply to the club.

The earlier decisions on the tax at Nite Moves is "content-based, as it is applied based on the distaste of the tribunal for the dance performances presented by petitioner," the club argued.
The top court will have to decide if the lower court misinterpreted the tax exemptions, or, if by taxing Nite Moves, it violates the club's constitutional rights.

Robert M. Goldfarb of the state attorney general's office represents the state tax commissioner, and in papers submitted to the high court argued there was nothing to suggest the tax was being applied in a discriminatory manner.

Tax Law § 1123 exempts charges for admission to a roof garden, cabaret, or similar place for the purpose of attending a dramatic or musical arts performance held there. Further, New York law exempts choreographed performances, which qualify for the exemption for dramatic or musical arts performances under Tax Law § 1105. It would appear that the Department of Tax and Finance is misreading the tax law.

The Good and Ugly Revealed In Hollywood in Japan Disaster Aftermath

So, while you've got asshats like Gilbert Godfrey saying inappropriate comments and getting himself fired from a lucrative gig as AFLAC spokesgoose, entertainers like Mark Hoppus of Blink 182 have gone and found ways to donate to relief efforts. They're auctioning off a bunch of Blink 182 items, and one of them is now fetching over $20,000. His other listings are here.

Godfrey represented an insurance company that happened to be Japan's largest foreign insurer. Those inappropriate comments harmed the AFLAC brand and the company was well within its rights to dump him.

Entertainers Now Realize Taking Money From Khadafi Was a Bad Thing?

It only takes a revolution and the deaths of thousands of Libyans at the hands of Mumar Khadafi's loyalists and mercenaries to get some Hollywood types to realize that taking money to perform for Khadafi and his family was a bad thing?

Carey accepted $1 million to perform for Qaddafi's son, Muatassim, Libya's national-security adviser, at a lavish New Year's Eve party on the Caribbean island of St. Barts in 2008; Beyoncé and Usher performed for an undisclosed sum on the island the following year. 50 Cent gave a performance before Muatassim at a 2005 film festival in Venice. Managers for Usher, 50 Cent and Carey declined comment, and Beyoncé's management, run by her father, Mathew Knowles, did not return phone calls. "They've done it for tons of artists," says a music-business source, referring to Muatassim's parties, which are often jammed with supermodels. "Those guys are all over the world."

Qaddafi’s record of brutality and terrorism during his 40-year reign is well-documented – his regime was linked to a 1986 Berlin disco bombing, causing the deaths of two American soldiers, and the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270. Late last month, Libya’s former justice minister told a Swedish newspaper that Qaddafi himself ordered the Pan Am bombing. Muatassim’s brother Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi recently warned Libyan protesters on state television to abandon the streets or face "rivers of blood."

All these entertainers knew full well that Khadafi was linked to terrorism, including the murder of 270 people in the Pan Am 103 bombing, and yet they saw a paycheck at the end of the day and took it.

They could have skipped the Khadafi entertainment parties without suffering any kind of repercussion on their careers, but instead took money from a totalitarian dictator.

Now, years later, they're facing calls to donate the money, and some are stepping forward to attempt to make amends. Nelly Furtado is saying that she's going to donate money since she performed for Khadafi and his clan in Italy and received $1 million for the 45 minute show.

They should never have taken the money in the first place, but the least they can do now is make sure that the money goes to humanitarian relief to assist those who are now being displaced by the fighting in Libya.

Now, some are going to defend these entertainers as not knowing who they were going to be performing for and that they find out about who was behind the concerts after the fact. I'm not sure that excuse quite cuts it - not when there are indications that at least some of those entertainers knew full well who was in the crowd and who was paying for the concerts.

The Justin Bieber Riot Act Strikes Down Under

I'm not even sure who this guy is, but apparently the girls just dig him. He's a big hit with the tweeners, and has caused riots all over the world when promoters do such a good job that more people show up than they're prepared to handle at venues (which are frequently malls).

It happened in New York's Roosevelt Field mall on Long Island, which ended with injuries, and a record executive arrested because of the completely out of control crowd.

It now happened at a concert venue in Sydney, Australia.

Thousands of frenzied teenagers, who spent the night camped out by Sydney Harbour awaiting a concert by pop star Justin Bieber, surged toward the venue Monday morning, sending at least eight girls to the hospital and injuring several more.

Police canceled the performance after the swarm, which may have begun when rumors spread that the 16-year-old Canadian heartthrob had arrived early. In the crush, at least 10 girls fainted, and paramedics had to pull them out of the crowd, according to Australia's Network Seven. Of the eight sent to the hospital, one fractured her knee cap, though most had hyperventilated.

"We were expecting this to be the biggest concert we ever had, but we just couldn't have foreseen this scale," said Grant Denyer, the weather presenter for Network Seven's Sunrise program, which was planning to broadcast the open-air concert.

David Carradine Found Dead In Bangkok Hotel Room

David Carradine, who was the kung-fu master in so many of the martial arts movies of my youth, and who was the sinister Bill in the Kill Bill movies, was found dead in a Bangkok hotel room. This particular report says he was found hanging inside his hotel room and may have committed suicide. TMZ says that he died of natural causes.

The man had a voice that projected in turns a serenity and an unearthly danger, depending on the situation. He will be missed.

UPDATE:
Carradine in Kill Bill, Vol. 2:



My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

Bruce Springsteen: Home Wrecker?

A divorce case in Monmouth County, New Jersey names Bruce Springsteen as the other man.

Arthur Kelly alleged his estranged wife, who lives in Long Branch, "has committed adultery with one Bruce Springsteen, who resides in Rumson, N.J., and Colts Neck, N.J., at various times and places too numerous to mention."

Arthur Kelly is seeking joint custody of the couple's two daughters, 13 and 10, and wants his soon-to-be ex to pay child support as well as a portion of the girls' college education, insurance and extracurricular activities and summer camp costs.

The complaint also says a temporary restraining order was issued between the couple -- though it did not specify on whose behalf -- but the order was eventually dismissed March 26 following a consent order. Arthur Kelly filed the request for divorce the next day.

This is not the first time Springsteen, who has been married to E-Street Band member Patti Scialfa for 17 years, has been the subject of alleged infidelity. In 2006, published reports claimed he and Scialfa were splitting because of an affair he had with a 9/11 widow he met in 2001 at a television benefit show. He denied that report in a statement on his Web site -- space he usually avoids using for personal information.

Scialfa and Springsteen had a 3-year affair while Springsteen was married to Julianne Phillips.

UPDATE:
Added a photo of Arthur Kelly's wife, Ann, who he claims is having the affair with Springsteen. Hot News has more (Via Mr. Bingley in the comments).

UPDATE:
For comparison purposes, here's Bruce's current wife Patti, and his former wife, Julianne.