Hair Bands

Concert season is upon us.

I love concert season.

I love sitting outside listening to music. I love sitting inside listening to music, too - but just like everything tastes better at a picnic, everything sounds better outside. That statement is probably wildly acoustically inaccurate and my musician friends will be down my throat about it, but I think you know what I mean. It's a whole - thing.

Yep, I love concert season. But I hate the price-gouging and the monopoly the evil Ticketmaster empire holds. When our family of four decides to get tickets for a show, we know we'll essentially be paying for a fifth ticket in service charges. I don't begrudge them their right to make a buck - they do provide a service - but it has gotten really out of hand. You're going to charge me for the convenience of printing my tickets out on my own computer? Really?

And then the prices of the shows themselves.

Yesterday a friend complained that she'd wanted to take her son to see Eric Clapton and Roger Daltrey (OMG, I KNOW! Right???) but that the ticket price (pre- service charges and convenience fees) was $200. I thought my love for Roger Daltrey knew no bounds. Turns out I was wrong. I don't know where the boundary is, exactly, but it is well before the $200 mark - $800 for my family - before service charges! For that kind of change, I want Roger Daltrey to brush my hair while Eric Clapton gives me a pedicure. (Looks dreamily off into the distance... Roger Daltrey (looking exactly like he looked in Tommy when he went through the mirror) is brushing my hair with his shirt off and...)

Whooo! Back to reality!

A reality where I don't have $200 to plunk down for a show.

That same night - last night - the Scorpions were slated to appear in my town on their farewell tour. I didn't have tickets to that, either, because my daughter had an orchestra concert last night - and also because we can only budget so much money for concerts in 'the season' and that one didn't make the cut. Lead singer from the Scorps was put on bedrest - their appearance was canceled. Cinderella - who were scheduled to be the warm-up band - decided to do the show anyway. They were here - why not? They knew, however, that the ticketholders hadn't plunked down their money to see them, so THEY DID THE SHOW FOR FREE. How patently awesome is that?

I know - comparing Clapton/Daltrey to Cinderella is like comparing apples to tigers - also, it might border on the blasphemous. But come on! They did. The show. For free. They did the show so that disappointed fans would be less disappointed. I was so impressed with them - with that. If we hadn't had another gig to attend, we would've been there for sure - buying T-shirts and showing our support.

(Looks dreamily off into the distance... Tom Keifer (looking exactly the way he looked on the cover of Night Songs) is teasing my hair...)

Eat the Rich

In case you're new here and haven't figured it out based on the title of the blog, I love Aerosmith. My love is pure and true and undaunted by criticism, general or specific. The Bad Boys from Boston rock my world and the Toxic Twins have had featured roles in a dream or two (sometimes even when I was asleep). Love. Them.

When they shared the stage with Britney Spears and N'Sync during the halftime show at Super Bowl XXXV in 2001, I cringed. I didn't approve - I knew it was a joke - I hated it and what it did to their reputation - but I still loved them.

(a long clip which, curiously, does not appall me nearly as much as it did when it originally aired)

When they sold their music and images to Guitar Hero, I knew it was kind of a sell-out, but I also figured it would get their music out there for a whole new fanbase. I got it.

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith - Mama Kin - Expert

(Yeah, I gave you Mama Kin. Like I had an option...)

Aerosmith's Rockin' Roller Coaster? Well. A band's gotta make a living somehow.

Commercial for Gap? Forgiven. (If only because of how smokin' JoePerry looks in the last couple seconds of the ad.)

Well-documented in-fighting and stints in rehab? They're only human.

I've forgiven my boys a lot.

But lottery tickets? I understand this has been going on up in their neck of the woods for a while now, but my introduction came yesterday when I heard an ad for them on the radio. Thank goodness Tom was driving, because I might have put us in a ditch.

Lottery tickets? With a Dream On second chance drawing because you don't want to miss a thing? (their words, not mine - I promise) Oh, this is a new low. We're heading fast into KISS territory.

Lottery tickets. Man. (Scroll down to the bottom of this link to see the band picture. Nobody is happy about or proud of this.)

I love you guys, but DAMN you make it hard sometimes.

I think the J. Geils band expressed my feelings best:

Love stinks.

Well - that, and:

Oh no, I can't deny it - Oh yeah, I guess I gotta buy it.

Wish me luck.