Trojan Horses

"Never look a gift horse in the mouth." - King Priam of Troy. This didn't work out too well

"$1 million plus expenses for 45 minutes work. So what if it is for Gadaffi's son. I'll take it." - Mariah Carey. This 2008 New Year's Eve gig actually did work out for Mariah at the time though she is now donating the money to Haitian Relief. Sometimes it takes a while for the Greeks to sneak out of that horse.

"$3 million plus expenses to appear at a Turkish hotel on Cyprus? Beats the crap out of judging American Idol! Book it." - Jennifer Lopez. "Whoopsie, you say that Cypriot Greeks and Turks are shooting each other near the hotel? I guess I'll have to put up with Randy and Steven for a while longer." J-Lo was smart enough not to let the Trojan Horse inside her public image gates.

"2 million pounds for a private concert for the leader of Uzbekistan? I'm on it." - Sting (fake quote). "I am well aware of the Uzbek President's appalling reputation in the field of human rights as well as the environment...I have come to believe that cultural boycotts are not only pointless gestures, they are counterproductive. When proscribed states are further robbed of the open commerce of ideas and art, they become even more closed, paranoid, and insular." - Sting (actual quote). "Geez, 2 million pounds! I haven't had a hit or decent concert tour in years. It may be a Trojan Horse to my public image, but I'll make a bullcrap statement about artistic freedom. By the way, exactly where is Uzbekistan?" - Sting (what he was actually thinking).

"If it looks too good to be true, it probably is." - Everyone's Mom. That Greek Horse outside the Trojan gates, those ludicrous concert guarantees will reach out and bite you eventually. Still, who wouldn't think long and hard about it?