Looks like the Chelsea Hotel's new management has licensed the hotel's image for commercial purposes. As appalling as this is, as well as injurious to the Chelsea Hotel's reputation, we suppose they have the legal right to do this. On the other hand, one question that springs to mind is whether the artists whose work is featured in this ad campaign have been fairly compensated, if at all. (Watch the video and you'll recognize the work of familiar Chelsea Hotel artists hanging on the walls.) Additionally, we don't understand exactly what the accompanying song, "White Power", by a band called Ezra Bang & Hot Machine, is about, or what it has to do with the Chelsea (or with Levis, for that matter.) Sadly, the Chelsea Hotel, one of the most vital and enduring icons of underground culture, is now being co-opted by mainstream, commercial culture. We wear Levis jeans too, but they're the product of a multi-billion-dollar international corporation that in the end cares about only one thing, the bottom line. (They've been accused of numerous human rights violations and their jeans aren't even made in the U.S. anymore.) On the other hand, the Chelsea Hotel has always been a family-owned, family-run, locally based business. The Bards didn't have anything against making money, but the hotel was never for sale to the highest bidder.
(click on the image to enlarge)
Living with Legends 
Leave a comment