Ticketbastard. I really like music. I really hate Ticketmaster.

Fees fees fees. I can't stand a bunch of fees. Tickets.com will charge one fee for one purchase, reasonable enough, after all, there is convenience buying tickets at home or at a store compared to having to drive 45 minutes or an hour to a venue. I don't mind paying a four or five dollar fee when I buy a couple tickets to a show in San Francisco. I don't like it, but hey, it's a service you pay for, and it's really not a horrible price. Whoa to the if you want to see a show at any venue sold by Ticketmaster. Holy crap. You bastardasses. Ticketbastard. I hate you to the very core of my living breath. Here is my favorite recent example. September 11th and 12th the Decemberists were playing at the Fillmore. I see the show and think, "awesome. I really want to see these guys. They are dressed as trees on the back cover of their latest album, and they have songs about pirates. I like pirates, I like trees. I like the Decemberists. I'm going to buy tickets." So these tickets, they're not to bad, $20 each. I can handle it. I haven't seen the band and I would really like to. So I click to buy. There's like a $7 fee, per ticket. "Yeesh" I say. I exit the site. No tickets for me today. So I go back to my everyday life, pissed that Ticketmaster would charge so much. I forget about it and work another week, and payday comes. "Yeah, I have some extra cash." Maybe I'll eat that $7 a ticket fee, that's $14 in fees for two tickets, but hey, I want to see them. So I go online. I click the tickets and am fully prepared to pay the outrageous fee. Bastards! Another fee. You assholes. A processing fee!!!? After the friggin $7 per ticket "convenience fee"!? I couldn't take it. I snapped. I hate these ticketbastards. Their fees are now my sworn enemy. The effers. I refused to buy. So I missed the show. I mean, after the fees were done, it was like buying three tickets, instead of two. Left me fuming. I'll catch them next time. The important thing is I didn't pay their ridiculous charges. If a show comes around at a ticketmaster controlled venue and I really want to see it, if I'm just dying to see it, then I will make the drive to buy from the venue. I will even scalp them. I would rather give some crazy scalper a few extra dollars then TM commonly known as TB. I would rather give my money to gas stations. I would rather eat shit. No...that's not true. This is: Ticketmaster, you will not get anymore of my money, I hope you die. As a corporation. I have nothing against people working the ticket booth. I've done it myself. Ticketmaster needs to go down though. They won't receive any of my meager funds. I'm sure that makes them sad. They mourn the loss of my business. They weep bitterly over my outright rejection of fees. This of course isn't true. They don't care. They don't know. They won't notice. I'll continue my fantasy though: they'll write a letter of apology along with free ticket vouchers...

M. Ward, The Shins, and The White Stripes on NPR

Today on National Public Radio a concert is (maybe was by the time this is posted) being broadcast featuring M. Ward, The Shins, and The White Stripes. A good show, I sadly missed M. Ward, which I would have liked to hear the most. The Shins are currently playing, which would be my second choice. They sound very good and the performance is coming through very clear, thanks to NPR. Im going to post this now, hoping that some reader will catch it. The link is: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4834385
I wonder if things were reversed, if M. Ward were most popular and The White Stripes were very small and unknown, if my preference for hearing them would in turn be reversed. I would like to say no. Honestly, I don't know. I wish I could say for sure. All the bands are worth a listen though. Sorry to post this so late. I hope someone hears it. Good music from all involved.
(Photo of M. Ward taken from http://www.matadorrecords.com/m_ward/gallery.html)

I still can't resist seeing "V For Vendetta" but this did reduce my expectation...

Sometimes it’s quite difficult for me to resist the temptation to cut and paste. I don’t think it’s an entirely good habit though, so I’m mostly going to avoid it, though some of this must by nature be quoted. You see, I am not a writer of note. I don’t get the opportunity to interview the famous, the talented, the genius. I have to read about it, and then, as I read, I form many opinions and struggle with all kinds of emotions and reactions, which I in turn write about, though I have little idea of how many people read my blog. I once again am writing about comics, since I feel it’s an under-appreciated art form, although it continues to get more attention as such. As an art admirer, and as someone who tries to make art in several fashions, none of which will make me money (because I am: 1. Not a great painter 2. Not a great musician and 3. Not a great writer) I find it disturbing when I hear anyone describe comics as childish, meaningless, or a waste of time. So once again I bring up comics, this time sparked by finding that Alan Moore did not endorse the movie adaptation of “V For Vendetta”. What!? I must say this came as a shock to me, because, in my idealistic mind, I thought that an artist was the one who possessed the rights to his/her creation. Apparently, while somewhat true, it is of course more complicated. Of course, rights are sold and comics become movies, but this was shocking and I couldn’t ignore it. Here’s where I am forced to quote from the article.

“Earlier in the year, Moore received a call from "V For Vendetta" writer/producer and "Matrix" director Larry Wachowski, but told him politely, "I didn't want anything to do with films and had no time this year, being in the middle of work, my day job, writing, I wasn't interested in Hollywood."

In this press release, Joel Silver, as well as announcing that the release date November the 5th 2005 was the 100th anniversary of Guy Fawkes attempt on Parliament, instead of the 400th anniversary, also said of Alan, "he was very excited about what Larry had to say and Larry sent the script, so we hope to see him sometime before we're in the UK. We'd just like him to know what we're doing and to be involved in what we're trying to do together"
Alan felt, basically, that his name was being used in vain. Not only had he expressed the opposite to Larry, but his endorsement was being used as a selling point for a movie - the reason he'd requested his credit and association be dropped from all of these movies.”
Hollywood, filled with the honest and hardworking… Great. Read this article if you have any interest:
http://www.alanmoorefansite.com/news/may2005.html#vfvloeg
Now i must mention Albion. Also by Moore, it’s a good comic you can get now. I suggest you do. Here’s a cover pic of issue #2 (I was going to scan the actual comic but my scanner wasn't cooperating). With that, I end my writing for today.

Ahhh...the writers at TMT, you are humorous.

Here's the greatest thing I've read today...
"Hmm, what is this Coldplay band like?" asks an older woman after ordering a decaf iced latte and a slice of lemon-raspberry loaf. This wasn't in my job description; I think to myself, I wish they would have sent along a card of a preordained little recitation I'm supposed to give, as they did with the Yukon Blend. "Well, they are pretty much the quintessential band of a large group of decidedly British bands capitalizing off trying to sound like Bends-era Radiohead though falling flat due to trite and pithy lyricism, lack of musical inventiveness that hides behind washes of reverbed soundscapes and ornately orchestrated string sections as a means to connote deep existential journeying and hopefully portray an unassuming genius from a heavyhearted and (supposedly) lovelorn mind that is making his way in this universe despite its maddening incomprehensibility."
Funny stuff. The only reason I read it again was todays article on www.tinymixtapes.com about Kanye West referenced that older article. Today's article started with this paragraph...
"So, it's not like you guys/gals won't hear about this Kanye West/Common tour from every other news source, but hey, we're TMT and West made that inflammatory comment about Bush, so we's all like, "Hey, let's report on it, cuz we're TMT and we don't like Bush, too! We totally think he's dumb! Ooooh, we're anti-big corporations! Blah blah blah!" You know, I think this site would be much better if we just pretended that politics had nothing to do with music, if we just omitted all stories referencing RIAA and Clear Channel and Starbucks and Wal-Mart. Maybe we should take down our Colplay review, too..."
It's a rather humorous article. I like their news and reviews that turn into something more blog-like. It may just be my mood, or it could be that it was truly hilarious, but I found todays news and the article linked to it particulary humorous, and I said to myself, hey, I should just copy and paste these parts of the article and put them in my blog. It works well with my laziness today. I didn't feel like coming up with something on my own, so I snagged these items from someone else. On that note, here's a painting of Harvey Pekar that I really liked as seen earlier on www.drawn.ca, one of the best blogs about illustration which just so happens to link you to countless other blogs about illustration and the like. I do believe this is the least effort I have put into a blog yet. It feels good.

the tale of me drinking alone

i'm drinking alone again. makers and a couple rocks. followed by some knob, minus the rocks. i should eat dinner, but i don't have the will to heat the leftovers up. i'm waiting for a friend. i'm drinking till the end. i have a good life.

Violin, Trumpet, Clarinet, Tuba, Banjo, Harmonica, Pot and Pan, and drums bass guitar= Great show Olivia Tremor Control!

There's probably instruments I forgot to mention in the title list. Incredible show from one of the founders of the Elephant 6 Collective (the other two are Neutral Milk Hotel and the Apples in Stereo, if you don't know about them you can check out www.elephant6.com, an unofficial homepage with all kinds of links and info). There are so many great bands in E6 (Elephant 6 Collective, just in case the abbreviation confused) that you could wonder how they all became part of it. With a meager amount of research you'll come to this conclusion: Olivia Tremor Control are some of the greatest recruiters anywhere. Coincidently, they're also a great band. I was looking forward to the show last night, I went in with high hopes (and a slightly ridiculous wish that Jeff Mangum also appear and sing a couple fo my favorite NMH songs) and was blown away. Listening to an album you can kind of write off details at points, you hear so much going on and can assume that it might sound different live, that it might sound simpler. Not so with OTC (abbreviating once again). Seven performers and not one seemed to be an extra. Most played multiple instruments and at least four of them sang, sometimes in unison. I can't explain how great it is to see a band play and sound so fantastic blending guitars, bass, and drums with clarinets and various horns and violins and so on. Instruments played with drumsticks that are not drums. This is not some inaccessible art-rock, this is very catchy indie rock with some inaccessible qualities made accessible to all. Or to most. Or to those with good taste in music. They played a splendid set that went by quick but was actually somewhere around 1 1/2-2 hours. I didn't time it, but roughly. Looking around at the crowd was looking around at a sea of smiles. They play once again tonight at Great American Music Hall (like last night) and if at all possible see them. I don't think it was sold out last night, which is amazing because indie music today owes a lot to this band. It's a shame I didn't write this immediately when I came home last night (this morning technically speaking) but I was far too tired and wanted a small amount of sleep before work. Great band, great show, great night. Highly recommended.