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Posts Tagged “fools and their money”

fools and their money

Is Riding A Led Zeppelin-Themed Roller Coaster Really Worth Four Bucks A Second?

You might not think so, and I definitely don't think so, but South Carolina resident Cindy Ennis apparently has the money to show that she disagrees with us, spending $1,829 for four seats on the inaugural run of Led Zeppelin: The Ride, which will be one of the big attractions at the music-themed amusement park Hard Rock Park. (Yes, it's still opening, stone-hewn Jimi Hendrix and all.) The ride will make its first run—set to the strains of "Whole Lotta Love," and just under three minutes long—next Tuesday, and Cindy will be right up front! More »

11:20 AM on Wed Apr 9 2008
By Maura Johnston
1,083 views, 6 comments

Latest by wev567: They need a 4th? more »

fools and their money

Billy Joel's Shea Stadium Ticketing Snafu May Make Him The New Hannah Montana

Billy Joel's July concert at Shea Stadium—the final musical event at the crumbling concrete behemoth—sold out in one hour on Saturday morning, although the ticketing system used to handle the show's ticket sales was apparently experiencing massive gridlock. (Shea's overlords eschewed Ticketmaster for in-house site 507tixx.com, which is named after the Mets' ticketing hotline.) As you might expect, the "secondary market" for these tickets is thriving, despite the tech snafus and speedy sellout; at present, there are 441 listings for tickets on the semi-legitimate scalping site StubHub, with the highest single-seat price $99,215. That total is up from the 209 sets of tickets on sale Thursday, when Mets season-ticket holders were allowed to buy tickets early. More »

9:30 AM on Mon Feb 18 2008
By Maura Johnston
6,018 views, 1 comment

Latest by Chris Molanphy: The real outrage is this Bronx-lover playing Shea at all. (Sorry, M -- you showed such restraint through that whole post, I felt obligated...) more »

fools and their money

What Would You Do With A Spare $14,654.72?

Hole up at a hotel for a month and pay the staff to disable your room's Internet access? Give new meaning to the term "bulk candy"? Distribute gold dollars on street corners until you got mugged? The possibilities are endless, really! And yet there were some people who decided that they could use that money to buy a single ticket to Led Zeppelin's reunion gig at the O2 Arena in London last month, according to the UK ticket-resale site Seatwave. More »

1:15 PM on Tue Jan 8 2008
By mjohnston
343 views, 2 comments

Latest by loudersoft: the things i could do with that much spare cash more »

fools and their money

Would You Pay $4,000 For A Rolling Stones T-Shirt? (Pit Stains Thrown In For Free)

Hope y'all hung onto your Cinderella and Neneh Cherry T-shirts, because they're about 20 years from being worth thousands of dollars, at least if an upcoming auction at Christie's is a good barometer of the amounts people are willing to spend on someone else's stinky, four decade old rock merch. More »

10:30 AM on Mon Nov 19 2007
By jharv
501 views, 4 comments

fools and their money

Nebraska Mom Shames MacGyver In Hannah Montana Ticket Hunt

If you've been following our gleeful/aghast coverage of the Hannah Montana ticket implosion, this USA Today story will be old news, but hidden at the end is the most epic/ridiculous example yet of a parent going to inane lengths (and spending inane amounts of money!) to score tix for their kids, a Nebraska woman who "labored both online and off to buy multiple sets of tickets in two different cities, selling and swapping until she finally landed good seats for the show of her choice. And spent four figures in the process." Because easily procured cheap seats make kiddies cry. More »

1:45 PM on Tue Nov 6 2007
By jharv
1,157 views, 2 comments

Latest by bcapirigi: i hate hall and oates. more »

fools and their money

Ticket Brokers: It's Not Our Fault That Hannah Montana Tickets Cost More Than Your Mortgage Payment

The parade of finger-pointing surrounding the scarcity of tickets to the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus "Best Of Both Worlds" tour—a situation that has resulted in crying 11-year-olds, fathers lining up to humiliate themselves, and possibly flawed lessons on economics from the Federal Reserve—marched on earlier this week, when the National Association Of Ticket Brokers (it's like the Elks Club for scalpers the "secondary market") issued their take on the situation. And in their mind, the root of the whole problem resides in MileyWorld, the official Hannah/Miley fan club! More »

10:50 AM on Thu Nov 1 2007
By mjohnston
1,753 views, 3 comments

Latest by bbernardini: Believe it or not, there's a small (VERY small) group of people who are attending these shows because the backing band contains two members of American Hi-Fi. more »

fools and their money

Hannah Montana Draws Attention From The Feds

As the infamously sold out Hannah Montana tour continues leaving its trail of broken hearts and tear-stained Disney merchandise across the country, it has attracted the attention of Richmond Federal Reserve, which thinks ticket prices for the tour weren't high enough to begin with, at least if the prices parents were willing to pay in the secondary market are any indication. The Fed then raises an interesting question: Should the entire big-money concert market just work like eBay? More »

11:10 AM on Tue Oct 30 2007
By jharv
691 views, 1 comment

Latest by Mike Barthel: This is the dumbest shit I've ever heard come from people ostensibly familiar with economic theory. How about increasing the supply instead, guys? Tour bookers will intentionally book less dates than there's a demand for in order to get every more »

fools and their money

Led Zeppelin Promoter Launches Venomous Vendetta Against Inanimate Web Interface

Brace yourself for some news that could not have been foreseen by any human or supernatural agency: Led Zep reunion tickets have in fact made their way to secondary resellers on eBay, who may be jacking up the price. In a brutal response to this impossible turn of events in the otherwise above-the-board world of hot concert tickets, Zep show promoter Harvey Goldsmith had the following to say: "I wish eBay would drop dead and die... I have begged them to take [the tickets] off and they have basically told us to fuck off. So I will do everything I possibly can to ruin their lives." Seemingly forgetting that eBay is a faceless corporation/Web site, and therefore can not drop dead (and then die, after dropping dead) in the normal fashion. So I guess the stringent security measures are out now that legitimate ticketholders are offering up their personal info along with their tickets? Meanwhile there's more bad news for the lucky ones who scored their tickets through non-eBay/evil means: More »

2:15 PM on Mon Oct 8 2007
By jharv
460 views, 2 comments

Latest by Bob Loblaw: Dude really wants people to contact him personally to explain their financial situation? "You see, what had happened was, I used my sister's credit card? But then it got reported as stolen ACCIDENTALLY when she forgot that she let me borrow it...And then more »

fools and their money

The New Way To Buy Concert Tickets: Chain Yourself To Your Computer And Let Legal Internet Scalpers Dick You Around

StubHub is a fan-run ticket clearinghouse where many of those phantom Hannah Montana tickets have since shown up after selling out at the concert venues themselves, and with StubHub's vendors making a killing as prices reach upwards of $400 per, many cultural commentator types (and brokers with dollar signs in their eyes) have opined over the last few weeks that this mad Internet scramble for seats at any price lower than blood or organ tissue is here to stay, not just for Montana but for any large-scale concert. But if you can't hang with the new way, don't worry because "despite quick sell-outs, good news remains, as plenty of seats are being offered on StubHub's ticket marketplace by those who were able to buy, some for as low as $65," provided you follow StubHub's simple suggestions: More »

12:18 PM on Fri Sep 28 2007
By jharv
924 views, 5 comments

Latest by Butch Huskey: also ticketmaster routinely dumps tickets for soldout shows (production holds, promoters tickets etc) ; people just need to be patient and think rational, if the show isn't for 30 days, who cares if it's sold out today, you've still got more »

fools and their money

Government Inquiry Into Hannah Montana Begins

What's the next step when you can't get your kids tickets to the upcoming Hannah Montana show thanks to venal scalpers and unconscionable brokers using the evil of the Internet to make the shows instant sell-outs, only to resell them at prices steep enough to put nice middle-class folks into the poor house: 1.) Say "no" and take them to an inexpensive evening at Chuck E. Cheese instead? 2.) Make them read a damn book? 3.) Sell them into child slavery? 4.) Call the Attorney General! More »

9:30 AM on Thu Sep 27 2007
By jharv
1,138 views, 5 comments

Latest by iantenna: It's all legal. It's big business. the most unintentionally telling comment of the day. and the dude who forgot to deliver the attorney general's kickback just got fired. more »

fools and their money

The Hannah Montana Ticket Crisis: Let's Blame The Internet!

So apparently that scalper/broker-fueled Hannah Montana concert sell-out in Florida was not an isolated incident. The Houston Chronicle reports that tickets are disappearing within seconds across the country thanks to...unscrupulous Internet types! (We're just no good, people.) With the draconian touring schedule that Disney has imposed upon thankfully-just-over-the-Child-Labor-Law-cutoff Miley Cyrus, repeat gigs in the same town are apparently impossible, and adults have been forced to make potentially life-changing decisions in order to keep their spoiled spawn happy. One of many (literally) sad tales from America's parents is after the jump: More »

10:00 AM on Tue Sep 18 2007
By jharv
1,649 views, 7 comments

Latest by zibby: @Twilly: True, it seems unlikely that a second person would be fooled into buying (or trading for) that dinette set... more »

fools and their money

The MP3 Meets Guitar World

In the latest twist to keep folks downloading legally, EMI has digitally added guitar tabulature to snoozy Brit-rock band Athlete's single "Hurricane," along with a video where the band teaches you how to play along. (Which you can also watch for free through the website Now Play It. Just in case, you know, you don't feel like paying for it.) This makes "Hurricane" the first guitar lesson with a chance to make the British pop charts, but unfortunately the video is (surprise!) less a case of largesse on the part of the record company than a possible new avenue to milk further revenue out of its dwindling customer base: More »

1:31 PM on Fri Aug 24 2007
By jharv
197 views, 2 comments

Latest by Ned Raggett: Oh god, Athlete are still around. Why. more »