Well, Ticketmaster says they didn't mean to try and pull the wool over everyone's eyes with their Springsteen tickets scam. They're paying NJ $350,000. There is also going to be a random drawing for 1000 tickets for those who filed a formal complaint by 2/17 with the NJ Division of Consumer Affairs. Unfortunately, I did all my bitching here and didn't file a formal complaint, so I guess I'm SOL, even though the Star-Ledger used my blog post in their editorial about this debacle.
BRUCE (or any E-Streeter) - If you're reading this, can you help me out here? I just live across the Oceanic Bridge from you in Navesink; I can stop by the house or we can meet at Crazee's for a sundae. My treat.
My father-in-law just called to tell me he read my submission on the editorial page today in the Newark Star-Ledger. I told him I didn't send anything to them; I don't even read that paper. So, I checked their online edition and, sure enough, there was my blog, reprinted on the editorial page. Very cool. But, I still don't have tickets!
I haven't heard directly from my congressman, but they are calling for an investigation of Ticketmaster and how they handled the Springsteen ticket sales. Here is the AP article; I'm very excited; the information provided is almost word for word what I wrote in my email. I'm sure I'm not the only person who complained, but I'd like to think I had something to do with this.
Today I did something I have never done before - I wrote my Congressman. I didn't write to him protesting the war, New Jersey's highest in the nation property taxes or even about how I'm very nervous about whether my job is going to survive my company's current downsizing. No, my issue was more mundane than that, but, still, important to me.
Like every other red-blooded American, the LSH & I watched the Super Bowl last night and enjoyed every mnute of it, from Jennifer Hudson's moving rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner:
to the final outcome of the game, although, most of the ads were pretty weak, IMHO. Of course, for me, the Half-Time Show was the highlight. I didn't know what Bruce and the band were going to be able to do in 12 minutes. Amazingly, they were able to get in 4 songs (though abbreviated) and also show Bruce's typical wonderful rapport with the audience. This got me more psyched to get concert tickets for shows coming up in May at the Izod Center, which went on sale today at 9AM at the granddaddy of all ticket sites, Ticketmaster.com. To my amazement, I was able to get through on my first try at 9AM, receiving a response that it could take up to 15 minutes to process my request. Fine, I've had this happen before. However, it's the response I got after 15 minutes that made me see red and energized me to write my congressman. I tried to upload here unsuccessfully, but, in a nutshell it said:
"Sorry, there are no more tickets available through Ticketmaster; however, you can try our sister site, Tickets Now, where we have TONS of tickets available; you'll just have to pay hundreds of dollars more than their face value of $65-$95."
Now, I admit, I have gone that route in the past and have overpaid for tickets to concerts and sporting events, but, right now, I'm going to let the marvelous actor, Peter Finch, express how I'm feeling:
(If you don't know, that's from a great flick from 1976, Network. It's worth watching. What's frightening is that, in the last 34 years, nothing much has changed.)
However, I digress. In my email, I relayed my story and just asked Congressman Pallone to please explain the scalping laws in this state because, Tickets Now, seems to be a legitimized scalping operation and I want to know how they are allowed to get away with it.
