Re: bait and switch

["Scott Schrade" <schrade@akrobiz.com>]

> Can those camping in line at the box office get 1st row seats, 
> even?  If not, we know why.  At least brokers should have to work like the 
> rest of us to get tickets rather than getting them via "deals" with the box 
> office or with TM.  

I camped out for Who tix in 1989 for the Cleveland show.  I went to the
main Ticketron (!) outlet (not a department or music store), was second in 
line (out of a few hundred people), & got.........seats in the 42nd row.

Talk about a let-down.  I camped out like 36 hours!  Really.

Anyway, after security had formed the line properly (about an hour before
tickets went on sale) a bunch of strangers showed up (everyone knew each 
other by that point) & began asking the people who had good positions in line
if they were going to by the max amount of tickets allowed (eight, I think it 
was).

If a person was only buying one or two tickets, the "stranger" asked if he or
she would buy the max amount of eight (money, & little something extra, pro-
vided by the stranger, of course).

So after you got your eight tickets you found your "stranger" (or more likely,
he found you), gave him his share of the tickets, kept a $20.00 bill for your
self & that was that.

That's how they did it back then.  Pre-internet, so I think they (we called 'em
scalpers back then) just advertised in local newspapers in order to sell their
stash.

Incidentally, I eventually got a pair of front row seats from a dude who won
'em off the radio.  He was really trying to win a car but got Who tickets in-
stead.  He didn't like The Who so was looking to get rid of the tickets.

He offered me $300.00 for the pair & I gobbled those motherfuckers up
like some McDonalds fries.  I felt lucky as hell.

Sure it's a sham....brokers, scalpers, & all.  But I really don't care.  I realize
I can't control everything that goes on in this world.  I can't control the price
of gasoline either.  And yet, like a decent Who ticket, I must have it.

And so let me come out of the closet (!) right now & say that I was only
too happy to pay a broker a lot of money for a Section 2 ticket for The Who's
upcoming Boston show.  They were professional, courteous, & very concern-
ed that my ticket made it to me quickly & safely.  Which it did.

We only get so much time on this planet.  You can moan & pout about the 
high cost of seeing The Who up close or you can shrug your shoulders, pay 
the money, & score a good seat.

I don't do this for every Who show.  I'm no Magik or Bjorn.  I think I've only
seen The Who seven times, I think.  So I treat myself every now & then.  

I may have a defeatist attitude about this whole broker thing - I can't change
it, so why fight it?  This isn't life or death here.  It's entertainment.  Entertain-
ment that means a hell of a lot to all of us, sure - but entertainment none-the- 
less.

Besides, technically, I think we're all getting ripped-off more when we buy
a CD.  What's it cost to make & print one of those?  

But.....why should I care....?


- SCHRADE in Akron