Ticketma$ter

posted by The Dark Prince

I just noticed that some of my favorite female artists are performing together on the same night as part of the Hotel Cafe Tour at the Music Box in LA next month, including Rachael Yamagata, Meiko, Kate Havnevik, and Emily Wells. I really wanted to go, and tickets were only $20.00, so I clicked through to Ticketmaster to buy a ticket, and this is what it all came down to:

For those that are too lazy to do the math, the grand total comes to $38.30 . . . but the ticket only costs $20.00. WTF, mate? I mean, a building charge, a convenience charge, an order processing charge, and a TicketFast charge. All totaling $18.30. Almost doubling the cost of the ticket. I closed the browser window right there before they could add tax lest I faint from sheer shock.

Okay, let’s break it down. A building fee. Okay, I get that, House of Blues has been doing it for years. It sucks that they just don’t add that into the cost of the ticket. It’s kinda like saying, okay, pay this money for the band, but to see the band in a special room with a roof over your head, you also need to pay this amount of money. By the way, the money you gave to the band, yeah, some of that goes to the venue, too. Fine, I’ll pay it only because I’ve been paying it for years.

The good ol’ convenience charge. Ticketmaster has been steadily increasing this fee for years. I’m no economist, maybe it has something to do with inflation, maybe it has to do with the recent financial crisis, but I remember this fee being way, way lower 10 years ago, and today it’s damn near $10.00. But okay, fine, TM has to get paid too, right? This goes to pay for computer servers, and people to process your order, and those official Ticketmaster tickets, so yeah, I’ll pay it, but really, don’t push your luck with the fee increases in the future.

Order processing charge. Seriously? Are you serious? What the hell was that “convenience” charge all about then if you’re going to charge me for processing my order?! C’mon, seriously! I have no idea what this is even for, I’ve never seen it before, it’s like Ticketmaster broke off their actual group that takes your ticket order away from the people that actually get your ticket to you, and since they’re two separate entities, they both need to get paid. I’m sorry, but I’m dangerously close to calling shenanigans on this one, it’s just . . . wow, an order processing charge.

TicketFast, I have never understood. You’re actually going to charge me $2.50 to use my own printer, paper, ink, time and engery to make my own ticket, effectively saving you the cost, materials, time and energy of mailing my ticket to me in the mail? Take a second and read what I just wrote and tell me that doesn’t sound completely backwards. Something I also noticed, Ticketmaster no longer ships you tickets for free via USPS, the only free option is to have your tickets available for you waiting at will-call, meaning you can’t give them to a friend if you won’t be able to make it for whatever reason. For $1.00, you can have your ticket waiting for you at one of the many Ticketmaster retail locations, which you are able to pick up at your convenience, and they’ll use their own printer, paper and ink to print out a ticket for you, or for as little as $14.50 or as much as $25.00 you can have your tickets shipped via UPS and receive them in 3 business days or less.

So, while I can’t really say anything bad about Ticketmaster the company, since they’re indirectly paying my salary right now, and I’ve always had great experiences with them over the past decade I’ve been buying concert tickets (I have a fat stack of stubs at home from every show I’ve ever been to, and 90 percent of them are from TM) I will make a plea to them: “C’mon Ticketmaster. M’kay? Times are tough, I just want to catch a show and relax, and not be making life decisions while I’m on your ticketing site — ‘Did I eat today? Man, I only got but three cigarettes, I don’t know . . . ‘”

Comments: [6]
October 16th, 2008
Tags: concert, Eventful.com, music, Ticketmaster, tickets

Club Suicide Saturday Night

posted by The Dark Prince

We had the pleasure of interviewing the lovely Atlas Suicide this past Sunday. She came on to promote her enticing Club Suicide at the Echoplex in Los Angeles, CA, this upcoming Saturday night, which all or some of the Takeover crew might be appearing at. I mean, half-naked tattooed/pierced girls dancing to throbbing/pulsing music . . . how can you go wrong? Sign up for the club’s mailing list and it might even be free all night. Again, no-brainer, right? Check out the official website at clubsuicide.com for the list, and Eventful.com for full details.

Comments: [0]
September 24th, 2008
Tags: Eventful.com, girl, hot, Suidcide Girls

ZeaLouS1 is Losing to Ukulele Girl

posted by The Dark Prince

Today is the last day of the competition, and currently ZeaLouS1 is 18 Demands behind a girl that plays the ukulele on YouTube. The freakin’ ukulele. C’mon people, don’t let him go out like that, click the button. And I know you know at least one person that would vote just because you asked. Ask them! C’mon. Do it. Do it, right now. Seriously, it takes, not even a minute. I timed it. 18 seconds if you’re quick with a mouse and keyboard. C’mon. Let’s go. Team BOSSFIGHT. Thank you. The podcast should be up later tonight.

Comments: [0]
September 23rd, 2008
Tags: Demand, Eventful.com, girl, youtube, ZeaLouS1

This Sunday Night, Atlas Suicide

posted by The Dark Prince

Yes. A girl. A Suicide Girl. God I love this job :)

This Sunday night we’ll be interviewing Atlas Suicide of the world famous Suicide Girls website, which features some of the most gorgeous tattooed/pierced/punk/rock pin-ups on the Internet. She’ll be promoting her Club Suicide night at the Echoplex in Los Angeles, CA, on Saturday, September 27. She’ll also be talking about her involvement with the SG site, her modeling and dancing career, flight school, and her not so secret lover, World of Warcraft.

If you’d like to ask Atlas Suicide a question, send them to her via our MySpace at myspace.com/247Takeover, or jump in the chat live on Sunday night, 6 PM PST, at 247Takeover.com.

Comments: [2]
September 18th, 2008
Tags: Eventful.com, girl, hot, MySpace, Suidcide Girls, Takeover

Deftones Live in LA Thursday Night

posted by The Dark Prince

Sent from the Deftones MySpace:

“Deftones will be playing a very special, and rare show tomorrow night, 9/18/08, at Spaceland in Los Angeles. Tickets for the show go on sale tomorrow morning at 10am, limit 2 per person.”

I’ve never been to Spaceland before (at least I don’t think, my early 20s were kinda a blur) but I know that it is not a large venue at all, catering mostly to indie and punk bands, so this should be a really small and unique show for Deftones to play.

I’m really thinking about going. Really. Tickets are $25 via TicketWeb Thursday morning at 10 AM. Full details, including ticket links, at Eventful.com.

Comments: [0]
September 17th, 2008
Tags: Deftones, Eventful.com, music, MySpace, Spaceland, tickets

Nine Inch Nails, Complete with “Stealth Screens”

posted by The Dark Prince

I saw Nine Inch Nails a couple of years ago at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, CA. I like NIN, you can say, in theory. I don’t really go out of my way to play their music as opposed to say, I don’t know, Tori Amos (I love Tori Amos), but if it’s on the radio, or I hear something of theirs somewhere on the ‘Net, I remember to myself, Damn, Nine Inch Nails is a really good band.

One thing I can say about Nine Inch Nails is that they put on a damn good live show. Really good. Like fireworks in July kinda good. Go to a NIN show and you definitely feel you got your money’s worth at the end, even after paying $9.00 for a fucking Heineken thank you very much much Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. If you’ve ever sat at your desk and watched your music player’s graphic equalizer dance around for a minute simply because it looked cool, go see Nine Inch Nails live.

Reading this Wired.com article, it really made me regret missing their show in LA last month. Definitely check it out to see a live 12 minute video from their “Lights in the Sky” tour, complete with “stealth screens.” Also, check out Eventful.com for their tour dates. They’re playing Vegas in December, if anyone’s down to go.

Comments: [0]
September 13th, 2008
Tags: Eventful.com, music, Nine Inch Nails

Help ZeaLouS1 Win $5,000 . . . Hey, We’d Do It For You

posted by The Dark Prince

Eventful.com has a contest going where the band that has the most Demands (and are entered in the contest, yeah, I’m looking at you Paramore, sneaky bastards) by September 23 gets $5,000 and a couple of guitars. Sure, they have to use that money to perform in the city that Demanded the winning band the most times, but we’ve put on pretty decent shows for next to nothing in the past, so I’m betting we’d have enough left over to do something crazy, like rent an elephant for the weekend. Wouldn’t that be fucking sick? Screw the limo, I want Z1 arriving by ELEPHANT! That would be beyond rock star, that’d be Michael Jackson status, right there.

Here’s the new sticker we’re throwing around the Internets:

If you’ve already Demanded ZeaLouS before, do it again, it’s cool, you’re vote still counts for the contest. Right now, as I’m typing this, ZeaLouS1 is 15 after spending a few hours as 12 earlier today, so get on it. We want to win. Nay, we NEED to win. We got bills to pay, yo. Front’s not the only one destitute.

Comments: [0]
July 10th, 2008
Tags: contest, Demand, elephant, Eventful.com, guitar, money, Paramore, ZeaLouS1