Never Find an Answer that Fits in Your Plans

Four issues are burning a hole in my mind, but I’ll only get to two of them today. And, shock-of-all-shocks, I’m pissed off about both.

First things first. The fine folks on our local Campus Activities Council have put together a fall concert for the students, featuring 311. 311. Three Eleven. They sucked even when they were popular. I can’t imagine that the intervening years have lessened their suck. Back when 105.3 was the SPY in Oklahoma, I called to de-request 311’s "Amber." The DJ thanked me, and encouraged me to send an email to the station expressing my dislike of the band so that other DJ’s would take the song out of rotation. They suck that badly. Why are we being graced with their presence? I don’t know. What sucks even more, however, is that Better Than Ezra, one of my favorite 90’s bands, is also on the bill. So, a quandary ensues. Do I purchase a ticket, thus lending money and credibility to the musical cat-butt that is 311? (not to be confused with actual cat butts, or the old SubPop group Cat Butt, which deserve not the denigration I am offering 311) Or do I avoid the show, and Better Than Ezra, for spite? Yeah, I think I do. I am, if nothing else, a spiteful little bastard.

Second thing that’s pissing me off this week (actually, it started to piss me off last week) is my hometown’s ridiculous lack of scalping laws. There was a time (about 4 years ago) and a place (right here, actually) when it made no sense for OKC to trouble itself over scalping. No one ever played here, so we had no tickets for scalpers to scalp. Then, some forward-thinking folks decided to build some nice places for touring acts to tour through. And then came the scalpers! For example, the Killers played a week ago at the Coca-Cola Convention Center in Bricktown. It’s a pretty big venue for a hip, new, indie-type band to be playing. Of course the show sold out. Feeling stupidly optimistic, I checked eBay to see if anyone in town was selling tickets. I found one jackass in New York selling a pair for $100. Let me deconstruct exactly what is wrong with that sentence. First off, the tickets sold originally for $28 each. But more importantly... the guy was in New York! What the hell is he doing speculating on tickets in Oklahoma City? Oh, and the kicker: he offered FedEx same day shipping to OKC for $175. So, we’re talking $274 to see a show that originally, with service charges, would have run $56 for two. Ridiculous.

So, I’m a bit pissed-off. Come back later, though, and I’ll share my thoughts on signals, and the weird realization that I’m about to be seen by scores of strangers on the Starz Network. Tingly...