NIN Try to Fix Flawed Ticketing System

One thing that technology has ruined is the distribution of concert tickets. Unfortunately, by the time I hit the age to go to concerts, the technology was there. I remember, though, a few times when I went to a physical Ticketmaster outlet to buy tickets. Yes, you had to wait in line for long periods of time, but if you're a fan of the music, it's worth it.

At my school, events were sold at tables and you had to wait in line the day of the sale to purchase tickets. Being a dumb freshman and witnessing the massive line that assembled for Red Sox-Yankees tickets, I assumed that something similar would happen when Dave Chappelle was doing a show on campus...well man was I wrong. I was the first person in line around 7 am, waiting for 2 1/2-3 hours for tickets to go on sale...I think like 10 people came in behind me around 9:15. However, I'm proud to say that I was the biggest Dave Chappelle fan on campus.

I wish tickets were still sold like this. Instead, scalpers, ebay-ers, and ticket reselling agencies scoop up the good seats in quantity, hike up the price about 400% to those who can afford it, and leave some of the biggest fans in the back row. I recently bought Radiohead tickets. Knowing that they were going to play a show in Philly, I constantly checked their website for updates on the date and when tickets were going on sale. Out of nowhere, a presale for pit tickets started on a Wednesday morning...unfortunately, I had a meeting at work and by the time I got out, all of the pit tickets were gone. I brushed it off and waited for the public sale that following Saturday, which I woke up atleast an hour and a half in advance for, and constantly hit refresh on the ticketmaster page as it neared 10 am. My first request...lawn seats. What the hell? Fortunately, I lucked out with someone who backed out of their seats, but the seats are still toward the back.

I would gladly camp out for front-row seats to Radiohead. Anyone who is a big enough fan of a certain group would probably do the same, and the people who are grabbing all of the good seats just to make a profit probably would not.

Well, Trent Reznor is seeing this, and has made a small effort toward fixing it. It's nothing new...fans that are registered on the NIN site get first access to the best seats at their shows. I think that there's probably no way to cutting out technology and going back to selling tickets at physical outlets with physical lines of people, so I suppose this is one of the best ways to get the good tickets in the hands of the real fans.

Technology has had a huge impact on music and artists need to realize that sometimes that impact can hinder the true fans from being true fans. There's a movement toward cutting out the middleman between the artist and the fans with music...why not do the same with their concerts?

Free Metallica Music?

When I was growing up and deciding which music genres to become a fan of, my older brothers played a big role. I often listened to the music that they purchased and much of it molded my taste for music. One band particular: Metallica.

I loved Metallica's older music and purchased and listened to all of their older albums. The best albums were the ones with the original group, before tragedy struck bassist Cliff Burton: Kill 'Em All, Ride The Lightning, and Master of Puppets. "Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)" has an incredible bass solo which I attempted to nail as I began playing bass guitar. When bassist Jason Newsted took over, they still put out some good albums. ...And Justice for All has some killer guitar solos and of course one of their best known albums: The Black Album. [You know an album is good if fans refer to it as the (insert color) album (Weezer's blue album is another).] Then they cut their hair.

Load wasn't bad...Reload was "ehh." I liked their innovation with S&M, when they played with an entire orchestra. But that was about the time that things went faster downhill. Y2K may have been fine for technology but it hit Metallica the wrong way I guess. They battled Napster. Jason Newsted quit. A few years went by and they put out a crappy album with a bass player who I can't even name. That was 5 years ago.

Out of left field, I saw a headline that "Metallica may join the free music movement," which has been innovated by Radiohead and Trent Reznor. Wait, what? Let's go back to "They battled Napster." Lars Ulrich was the #1 enemy of the music fan with internet access. He went to the headquarters of Napster with a list of users that were sharing Metallica's music, demanding that all of them get blocked. I know that I'll never forget that...I doubt anyone else that was downloading music at that time will either.

I suppose it's a good thing that Lars (because I doubt Kirk Hammett, guitar god, was that opposed to pirating music...he's a mellow dude) came to the realization that you can not stop the "illegal" downloading. This free music movement should not only be about the price though. It's about principle and your opinion of a group. Radiohead is probably my favorite group and the only album of theirs that I paid any money for was the one that they offered for free. I'm holding a grudge with Lars though...I'm not taking their freebies and I hope other people who were against what he did with Napster do the same.

Volleyball Season is Over

It was a challenging volleyball season to say the least. Our final record: 2 and about 40.

I remember the first week, thinking about how we would improve over the course of the season. I'm not sure if our team exactly achieved that "most improved" award, however, I think it speaks to our character that we stuck it out until the end.

Cliff came to the realization that we would probably do a lot better in dodgeball. Case in point: in one of our final matches last night, Caroline literally pulled a move worthy of The Matrix and fell on her ass when the ball was coming toward her. Unfortunately, Leanne could not have the same reaction when a 100 mph spike was slammed toward her face (but she shook it off and kept playing of course...that's team dedication).

Needless to say, we will not be appearing in the playoffs next week.

Mario Kart Wii Tries Guerilla Marketing

If I lived anywhere near NYC, I would have definitely tried to get a view of this one...

Mario Kart Wii is a highly-anticipated game that comes out this Sunday, 4/27. Apparently, one promotion that went on today in NYC involved Mario and cabs. In fact, in midtown Manhattan, in the morning and around lunchtime, Mario was hailing cabs for commuters.

I would rather see Mario driving the cabs, but I suppose that's probably difficult for whoever is wearing the large Mario head. Plus most people in their right mind would not enter a cab driven by Mario (I, on the other hand, would absolutely love to).

I love guerilla marketing efforts like this because they really allow for creativity. They're less common, often a break from reality, and you can't really avoid someone dressed like Mario hailing cabs in Manhattan. Of course, they don't always go well...

In January 2007, to hype up the release of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie, aptly named, "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters," large LED blocks that animated a "mooninite," a popular character from the TV series (if you have no idea what I'm talking about right now, I wouldn't worry about it), were put up all over Boston. Apparently, the people of Boston did not react very well to it, because eventually the Boston bomb squad declared all of these LED blocks as "improvised explosive devices." Yikes.

Weed Beer

Ok, if you just read the title of this blog post, you would probably think it was about a beer brewed with weed. Well no, it's not, but there is a "Weed Beer" and it stirred up some controversy recently. Why the name? The town in which it is brewed, in Northern California, is called Weed. (Apparently tourists love the school buses in the town that say "Weed High" on the side but that's irrelevant).

The problem obviously is not that the name of their town is Weed. Federal alcohol regulators made a stink about the bottle caps, that owner Vaune Dillman (Dillman from Weed? too easy) already spent 10k on, which state: "Try LEGAL Weed." The agency said the wording, "could mislead consumers about the characteristics of the alcoholic beverage." The beer says "WEED" on the label! I'm pretty sure anyone who is not familiar with the town of Weed, California (which is probably a LOT of people) would see "Weed Ale" or "Weed Lager" on the shelves and get the wrong idea based on that...I think using the word "legal" is actually a small, but decent way to dispel those wrong ideas (even though it's purpose is probably mostly for humor). I'm sure the packaging also explains how the name comes from the town where it is brewed also.

Dillman makes a good point, questioning this so-called ban on drug references on alcoholic beverages. What about Hemp Ale? And why haven't they made any strides toward Rogue's Dead Guy Ale? Stone Coast Brewing in Maine has some borderline references...their 420 IPA is named for the brewing process, but who are they kidding? Besides, this controversy is happening in a California town...don't they give away prescriptions to medicinal marijuana like lollipops in that state?

I'm pulling for the Mt. Shasta Brewing company to win this battle.