Have you ever wanted to go to a concert, and eagerly waited for the “pre-sale” on official date with great anticipation that you will be able to score tickets to see a show you really want to see? I was in this situation when I learned Radiohead was going to play the Hollywood Bowl in 2008, and even though I logged into ticketmaster at the stroke of 10:00am, I wasn’t able to get tickets. Where the hell do 15,000 tickets go in 2 seconds!?

Trent Reznor, had the following to say:
“‘The venue, the promoter, the ticketing agency and often the artist camp (artist, management, and agent) take tickets from the pool of available seats and feed them directly to the reseller,’ Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor wrote on his blog recently. ‘This is a very common practice that happens for often than not.”
NIN: Ticket Scalping and Re-selling

Up to 30% of tickets to popular touring acts are funneled to secondary market websites such as eBay, StubHub, Ticketmaster’s own TicketsNow and TicketExchange leaving the general public little chance to get a good seat at face value.

Ben Sisario at the New York Times continues on this topic…
“the ticket marketplace has become a fiercely competitive game in which major corporations compete over resale prices with the fan next door, scalpers have a Washington lobbyist and thousands of tickets disappear in a fraction of a second.”
Online Sales Make Hot Tickets Harder to Get

Ticketmaser CEO Irving Azoff called the secondary concert-ticket market a “mess”, but his company owns TicketsNow and is merging with Live Nation, one of the nations largest concert promoters, and venue owner. Irving offered little to those fans who wanted to purchase Bruce Springsteen tickets who were immediately redirected to TicketsNow when he stated it was simply a “glitch”.

This is the best a CEO has to offer to thousands of fans who get redirected to an online ticket scalper? The man whose company is profiting from these astronomically inflated price has quite the limited vocabulary when people want answers. Hey Irving here are two other words “Fuck” and “You”. As much as I hate the idea of paying for scalped tickets, I will go to eBay or CraigsList for tickets before I ever use TicketsNow.

Unfortunately, I don’t think enough unification of fans who are against secondary markets can be formed to boycott all the scalpers sites. The solution is going to have to sit with those who have some leverage against the promoters and ticket vendors, and this is where the artist must step in. Tom Waits, AC/DC, Nine Inch Nails, Bruce Spingsteen, and Pearl Jam all have ideas on how to stop the madness, but time will tell if they are successful. I support their effort to cut down on the secondary market ticket sales, and hope additional artists will join them so fans who can’t or won’t spend hundreds or thousands of dollars can still the show.

When I arrived in Los Angeles just over a year ago, I thought I had escaped terrestrial radio hell. I was no longer subjected to the limited play list of 102.1 “The Edge”, and was exposed to new artists I may have not have had an opportunity to hear (unless they suddenly became trendy like MIA, MGMT, or Death Cab for Cutie). I have to thank Indie 103.1 for constructing a dynamic playlist which included new artists and fresh tracks and played them on air much to my delight.

It was one year ago Rolling Stone magazine named them Best Radio Station.

Much to my dismay, I turned on my radio to hear Tejano music emitting from my speakers… “This can’t be right… no! No! NO!” I yelled into the empty air. I went to their webpage to get answers to find the following message:

“Indie 103.1 will cease broadcasting over this frequency effective immediately. Because of changes in the radio industry and the way radio audiences are measured, stations in this market are being forced to play too much Britney, Puffy and alternative music that is neither new nor cutting edge. Due to these challenges, Indie 103.1 was recently faced with only one option — to play the corporate radio game.
We have decided not to play that game any longer. Rather than changing the sound, spirit, and soul of what has made Indie 103.1 great Indie 103.1 will bid farewell to the terrestrial airwaves and take an alternative course. ”

I have to respect their willingness to stick to their values and tell corporate media moguls “Fuck You!”. My understanding is that this has happened before, and they’ve returned after a long hiatus. I hope their return will come sooner rather than later. Well, they haven’t gone away completely, they’re just broadcasting on the internet.

Thankfully I still have an opportunity to listen to Gary Calamar and Morning Becomes Electic on my NPR affiliate kcrw. Never the less, indie you will be missed.

It has been a long time since I have posted anything, but I found a couple of stories that I simply could not go on without sharing with the masses. I have always been weary of the holiday “potluck” luncheon, and these articles exemplify my opinion of these situations. Attending one of these things is like being a politician on the campaign path, visiting a small town where they stick some foul smelling food in front of your face, and you feel forced to try it; grimace, and say how good it tastes all in the name of (office) politics.

Happy Holidays!!!

Holiday Potlucks Where Bacteria…

Grossed Out by Holiday Potlucks? Join the Crowd

I must have felt a little crazy agreeing to go on my first mountain bike trail ride ever in the 103 degree temperature, but Erwin Park was calling and a bike was waiting. An acquaintance of mine offered to let me use his mountain bike for the trails, and on our way over to the park he was explaining how to handle certain situations, and techniques needed for completing the course in one piece. When we arrived at the park there were quite a few cars, much to my surprise.

We quickly got the bikes off the roof of the car, attached the front wheels and I was getting a feel for the bike on asphalt before heading towards the trail. Despite what people say, “once you learn how to ride a bike you never forget”, the actual balance act may be true, but the handling and feel for the bike is just as different as various cars, especially when the terrain is made up of extremely dry dirt which has been grinded into a fine powder in spots.

The trails were not much wider than twenty-four inches wide, and the land was suffering from any sort of adequate rain fall making the course very fast and slippery. After a short distance we headed into the shade of the trees, maneuvering between branches, hairpin turns, gaps and roots left on the trail as “obstacles”. We reached the first steep decline and I was instructed to hold the back brake and let the rear wheel lock up, essentially skidding all the way down. It was a strange experience down this, but I managed my way down the first decline without falling off (yay!).

The dense trees offered little to no reprieve from the heat as we rode, and I had a fair share of “touches” with my foot trying to go around trees, roots, or other things left on the trail. I was having a hard time trusting my instincts to guide me through the turns I was currently on, and looking to the next – there were several times I caught myself caught looking just in front of me, thankfully I didn’t take a header into a tree due to this little lapse.

A dip into a small ravine was next, the drop was close to twelve feet down with the path at what seemed like just steeper than a 45 degree angle. The other side up was just as steep and a turn was going to maneuvered though along with a tree root, and unlike the other one you needed enough speed going down to assist you in getting up the other side before succumbing to incline and toppling over backwards. I took a deep breath and flew down the hill with determination to make it up the other side with out taking a header before getting there, and much to my delight the down portion was quite a rush – similar to that of a roller coaster. The up part didn’t turn out so well as my momentum quickly disappeared and I couldn’t crank in time to save myself from having another touch, so close to the top. Ultimately, it was a success, and what a rush.

The ride continued though more trees, and then we made it to an open field full of weeds which had been burned to a brown crisp. You could feel the heat radiating off, blasting you in the face with a strange musty scent. This was one of the fastest parts of the trail for me as I started to pedal with confidence that I wasn’t going to take a header into a tree or go flying into a ravine. Never had a hot breeze felt so good either, as the blazing sun was relentless, I was beginning to hope I was drinking enough water from my camelback, so I wouldn’t succumb to the heat.

Part two of the ride seemed a little more advanced than the first half, as the dips came in multiples with turns and tree roots to negotiate as you reached the top. I chose the high path on one portion, but there were two others which I was going to have to take head on. Outside of a few close calls, and brushing up against a couple of trees with my shoulder I turned out okay. I had a good time riding the trails and liked its variety, but I am not sure if I prefer it to riding on the road, but you have to worry about cars when you are on the road.

I had a great time riding today, despite the heat, and I look forward to riding again.

I didn’t think the day would come when I would be a driver for my van pool, but that day has come. Thanks to the number of people who have been dropping out, and many of them being drivers, I didn’t want to see it drop to just one eligible driver. I had resisted for two main reasons before; first I have become accustomed to taking a nap before getting to work in the morning. Until they come up with some sort of auto pilot for that I will have to grow to live without it about two days a week.

Second, I had been spending my time on the way back reading, I finished several books which I thoroughly enjoyed, The Da Vinci Code, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, and The Halfblood Prince to name a few.

Being the driver does allow you the privilege of listening to whatever you want in the morning. I expect to find the dial set to KERA 90.1 most of the time when I’m driving as it allows me to stay up with what is going on in the world and hear a variety of stories.

Maybe I can come up with some wacky rules for the passengers while they are on my watch. The thought of having to make exactly three “mini stops” before successfully parking the van is required. If you have any suggestions for new rules go ahead and leave a comment.

Just to close this out, a shout out has to go to Sunshine, the saver of birds. I am sure you’re becoming known as a “fine feathered friend” in to the birds across the nation.

Summers have always been big for bands, even before the mega concerts like Lollapalooza; acts would pack their bags for the summer and hit the road. Every year I see more articles with the headline reading “Slow Sales for Big Summer Tours” and I have to ask myself what has brought us to this? In plain English the problem is straight economics.

Ticket prices have grown steadily over the years for big-named acts. First the reason were scalpers artificially driving up the prices, then ticket brokers, not to mention the facility fees, convenience charge, and of course tax. The new hot topic is the price it takes for these bands to fuel their busses to get from venue to venue, and how much it is affecting their profitability behind the tour. Of course these acts don’t want to take a hit in the profit margin to tour, so who gets to pick up the tab? That’s right the consumers.

Not only are ticket prices getting incredibly high to see a show, but often times there are problems getting good seats simply due to availability. Artists have tried to offer good seats to the people who join their fan club (lining their pockets with more $), and acts have even started putting prime tickets up auction style. When is enough enough, and when does “alienation” of their core fan base start to happen? Not all Radiohead fan’s can drop $500 + dollars for good seats to see them perform live this summer, but many of these people would really like to sit close enough to not need binoculars to see Thom Yorke and company.

Even those cheap seats are approaching ludicrous prices, like $50 for third tier seating in an arena. Pearl Jam had it right years ago when they attempted to take on Ticketmaster and their pricing machine. Unfortunately the corporation won, but something has got to change. They need to examine their supply and demand curves a bit, re-adjust their costs and reduce the ticket prices. Oh, and what is up with charging $30 for a tour t-shirt?

There is something special about being at a concert (I really enjoy them), but when is it just going to cost too much, and the $18 DVD of a stop on their tour going to be more enjoyable?

It has been over a solid year of touring for Nine Inch Nails, and if you think that the pace would slow down or tire the band you would be mistaken. I was fortunate to catch them for their Washington D.C. performance at the Nissan Pavilion via Bristow Virginia. Of the three times I have seen them perform, this may have been the best performance yet.

The band put the theatrics away for this last leg of their With Teeth Tour, removed the video, added some new lighting schemes and turned up the intensity. The set spanned the entire catalogue, with some songs which seem to have become “staples” for live performances. Since the departure of Jerome Dillon, the touring members remain the same;

• Alessandro Cortini – Keyboards/Guitar
• Josh Freese – Drums
• Aaron North – Guitar
• Jeordie White – Bass guitar / guitar

The show opened with Trent appearing on stage behind a metal grading which was actually a lighting prop, with the members joining him shortly there after. The band wasted no time whipping the crowd into a frenzy, and this seemed to feed Aaron as it provoked him to dive off stage while still playing guitar. This wild antic was followed up with him knocking over his amp and swinging his guitar around like a maniac.

The first bump of the show was reached as Trent “choked” on either the fog machine, or something else which amused him because he kind of chuckled after it happened. There were several other parts which stand out in my mind; the lighting effect during the song “Closer” displayed red lights slowly collecting and filling up the metal grading lighting prop until it had reached capacity. Second was Aaron knocking over the keyboards set, and seeing Alessandro dive down to play on his hands and knees to make sure that element wasn’t missing from the song.

The last part has to be Aaron smashing his Fender guitar at the end of “Head Like a Hole” and then sticking it into the lighting prop. He was determined to go Keith Moon on it and didn’t let up until he was satisfied that the neck and body of the guitar had come apart enough.

Here is an incomplete list of the songs they performed:

• Wish
• The Frail
• Only
• Burn
• Terrible Lie
• March of the Pigs
• Closer
• Hurt
• The Hand That Feeds
• Only
• Dead Souls
• Into the Void
• Sin
• Somewhat Damaged
• Head Like a Hole

*There was also a brand new track which was performed, but I don’t remember the name of it.