2004-03-05 - 8:33 p.m.

Ticket voodoo

You know... some people are just going to want to shoot me. But as long as they miss - I really don't care.

Today has turned out to be ticket day. Last night was event search night, and kinda sorta as a result, today was ticket day. Allow me to elaborate (try and stop me).

I am a concertgoer - as you may perhaps have noticed. I have one particular band that I follow as much as possible. I'd love to tell you who, but if I did - then you'd know, wouldn't you? The real issue is that they, like almost every touring band, have a big online following who do a lot of googling to find out information. As soon as I mention the name of the band, someone will find this journal, and quite frankly, I don't need people who know me in person to know all this crap about me. Not to mention some of the crappy things I say about some people that I would only say here, behind their backs, like any good two-faced weasel. I've talked about the anonymity thing before. Is it just me, or wouldn't most of us rather that our real-life acquaintances not read these entries? There's enough information in here that people would recognize me, and while there's nothing I'd be ashamed of or really even too embarrassed by, it's just more than I choose to share with a lot of those people who already think they know me and have no freakin clue. Yeah, I know, paranoid much? But just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHH

You know?

As I was saying. Because I have this ravenous need to know if my band is going to be playing anywhere near me (or not near me that I can possibly reach, but that's another story), I routinely check the websites of every venue within, oh, 300 miles of me, to keep as up to date as possible on who's going to be there. If that sounds obsessive, well of course it is, duh. But that kind of thing is why I get to see them so often and why I get good seats. Ironically, I share this information with anyone and everyone as soon as I find it out. The irony there is that even given that, I still get the whiny jealousy of "how come you always know about stuff first" and "how come you always get good seats" even though the word "always" isn't applicable in either case. Don't I just wish. But you know - opportunity meeting preparation and all that.

Anyway. While I'm looking at all those venues to find information on my band, of course I find information on tons of other bands too. After hearing from a lot of my local friends, "how come you didn't tell me so and so was going to be playing around here?" all the time, I started putting the information into a revolving list, which I send out to a list of friends as often as I update it, which is whenever I get around to it; no more, no less.

All that just to explain what I meant by "last night was event search night." Don't you feel illuminated?

So in the search, I found two other local shows I'd like to go see. Three actually, but one that just won't work logistically. One of the two went on sale this morning and turned out to be general admission, which, whew - means I can wait a little while to buy the ticket. The other went on sale I don't know when - maybe a few weeks ago, but I just found out last night. So I went to their site to buy a ticket. They have an awesome online ticket system (Cyberseats rocks) which shows you exactly which seats are open, so YOU get to decide on your OWN definition of "best available." First I checked the front center section - closest available was something like row T. Okay - acceptable. But first let's check the side sections. So I checked the front right section. As total luck would have it, the front row of that section has seven seats. Four are reserved for handicapped seating. Two of the remaining three had been bought, probably long ago. The one on the end... sitting there waiting for me. I'll bet a lot of really lucky single-ticket-buying people have occupied that seat for a lot of shows.

This, my friends, is how you sometimes get front row for a show, without having any inside information, paying a scalper, bribing anyone, sleeping with anyone, or using anyone. And in this case, which is quite unusual, even without sitting on alert waiting for the initial instant tickets go on sale. Sorry I keep justifying myself here, but I do it here because if I tried to say this to the people who level those accusations at me, I'd just get, "Well, it's still not fair because I don't have the time to do all that." Well darling, no one ever said any of us were entitled to front row on a silver platter. I can't help it that I'm a vampire and don't have to waste time sleeping. As Fezzik said in The Princess Bride, "It's not my fault being the biggest and the strongest. I don't even exercise." Or a bit more succinctly, as Rod Tidwell said in Jerry Maguire, "Boo fucking hoo." All I can say is, big rocks. I'll tell you that little parable next. But if I told it to them, it would lead to an argument over whether my rocks are actually bigger than theirs, and I really am not interested in going there.

So, front row for John Hiatt for $30. Can't beat that with a stick! Not just one stick, anyway, that's for sure.

The other ticket score of the day was for my band. There's a show in June I wasn't going to go to, but there was a presale. In fact, there were four presales. I've gone window shopping for tickets in all of them, and once threw back third row and once threw back second row, in addition to a lot of seats in rows 4-8. Which tells you just exactly what a spoiled brat I am when it comes to my band. But this one is logistically just a complete nightmare, and there are more dates for the summer being announced soon, so reluctantly and with pain in my heart, I squeezed my eyes closed tightly, nodded to the spirits of common sense and delayed gratification, and let the tickets go. People asked me if I was going to the show and I said no I can't - not this one.

Well. For people who don't know me, here is a translation chart.

Question: Are you going to such and such show?

Answer: Yes I am. means: Yes I am.
Answer: Probably. means: Yes I am.
Answer: I don't know yet. means: Yes I am.
Answer: I really want to. means: Yes I am.
Answer: I shouldn't. means: Yes I am.
Answer: I don't think I can. means: Yes I am.
Answer: I can't. means: I'm trying not to talk myself into it.
Answer: No. means: I could be talked into it.
Answer: I really, really can't. means: Probably not.

You get the idea. The only time you can really be sure of a "no" is when the show already happened and I missed it.

Resisting the urge to justify myself again. Relive my past rationalizations here if you wish.

So today... on the fourth presale... up came second row again. It's like God is just waving this ticket in my face, you know? I would really hate to be rude to God after all He's been doing for me. So I bought it. How do these things happen?? This really is a logistical nightmare. But... I guess I've figured out worse. Or close anyway.

So I'm happy, because I really hate it when I don't have confirmed shows on the horizon. This one is in June. After that, nothing at the moment. But there's a show on the 4th of July... a coupla several hundred miles away. I really want to go. But I don't know yet. I shouldn't.

(see above chart)

my mood -

the mood of the whole world wide bleepin' web -