New Year Bashes Going Bust

There are great celebrations expected for the arrival of the Year 2000. It appears, however, there may be more hype than hoopla.

"Should auld acquaintence be forgot," some will sing. But as CBS News Correspondent Jeffrey Kofman reports, others would just as soon forget the whole thing.

Everywhere those big bashes that promised to bring in the new millennium with a bang are going bust.

Brendan Brogan organized a Gala 2000 in Atlanta. "The price was $295 per couple, which included dinner, big bands, light show," Brogan says.

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"It was going to be quite a night," she says.

It was going to be quite a night at the Javits Convention Center in New York. Called Celebration 2000, it cost $2,500 a seat. It was canceled.

Michael Jackson backed out of New Year's concerts in Hawaii and Australia. The Three Tenors decided to take the night off. And singer Jewel canceled her hometown show in Anchorage after poor ticket sales.

We've been hearing the hype for the better part of two years: "Book early, or you'll miss the party of a lifetime." Well, it seems a lot of potential partygoers have been hit by a strain of the Y2K bug, as in Y2K is really bugging people.

"Why should I let somebody exploit me cause they want to make a fortune?" asks Jackie Lipsky.

According to recent polls, more than 70 perent of Americans are planning to spend New Year's Eve 2000 at home.

"All that hype is not for me," says Kip Amazon. "Frankly I'd rather just stay home with my family and at midnight watch the airplanes crash and the electricity go off," he adds.

And that talk of a champagne shortage? Spirits Liquor Co. in Dallas has 650 cases in stock, and sales are flat. "Everyone's dragging their feet so we're just waiting for the big rush," the owner says.

That's a rush that may never come as New Year's 2000 shapes up to be the biggest bust in a thousand years.

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