Liberal Talk Radio

Everyone knows that income disparity in the U.S. is widening as the rich just get richer, which makes folks nervous about long-term societal stability.

But how exactly does this play out in the world of entertainment? Actually, it’s worse than you think:

Ja Rule stopped by a party at Shaquille O’Neal’s mansion in Miami Beach the Friday night before last as a favor to the host, who asked him to grab a microphone and rock the house to surprise his guests. He obliged, he told friends, but for only two numbers. Ja Rule, the platinum-selling rapper accustomed to Madison Square Garden, could not afford to strain his vocal cords. He had an important gig the next night. He was playing a Miami steakhouse. The occasion was a bat mitzvah.

The next night he displayed considerably more fire, performing for more than an hour in front of 215 friends and relatives of Amber Ridinger, 13, sometimes barking out their names as he rapped. But that wasn’t all. As he closed out the set, another superstar, Ashanti, joined him onstage for three numbers. As they performed, Amber stood onstage with them, in a $27,000 Dolce & Gabbana dress, waving to the crowd, particularly her deep-pocketed parents, Loren and J. R. Ridinger, the founder of an Internet marketing company.

Although Ja Rule’s visit was a favor to the family, other deep-pocketed fat cats are gobbling up the best and brightest talent, hording them for themselves, and setting up a gross disparity between the haves and the have-nots:

Disco throwback acts like KC and the Sunshine Band, young stars like Beyoncé Knowles and Christina Aguilera, and even legacy acts like Elton John, the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney have all taken part in an increasingly common star-for-hire side business, quietly signing to play the occasional but very lucrative private party, be it a wedding or a birthday bash.

“It’s definitely a growing trend,” said Erik Marshall, a partner at Hank Lane Music and Productions, a company that recruits stars to perform at private and corporate events in New York. He said he has handled events involving Neil Sedaka, the B-52’s, Blues Traveler and Billy Joel.

“You used to hear about it maybe once a year, even as recently as five years ago,” he said. Now, he added, his company handles more than 20 such gigs a year. The stars command fees that can range from $25,000 to more than $1 million, event planners and music industry people say. And the entertainers almost always insist on one other thing: that the public not find out.

Before committing to a private date most stars or their representatives carefully read the guest list and demand a clause in the contract forbidding publicity: no press, no cameras, no video. The secrecy, say people involved in these functions, stems in part from the stars’ insecurity. They worry that cashing a six-figure check for a couple of hours of rocking out for Aunt Alice or Cousin Bobby will make them look like sellouts - or, maybe worse, wedding singers. The last thing they want is to be associated in the gossip pages with an event that smacks of elitist excess.

Crass? Who can say? Anti-democratic? You betcha.