March 5, 2008

David Oppenheimer fills us in on this year’s AMJam, which takes place in Deerfields, North Carolina on May 23- 25. Take it away David… Photo by F/stop Grooves The mountains

Today, local blog Chicagoist reported that the Metro has decided to ditch Ticketmaster, and move all ticketing services for the Metro and SmartBar in-house. This is a huge move considering

Mastering the Ticketmaster.com process is not something that comes easy. It takes cunning, honing, dry runs and live-action experience. It takes patience and dedication. But for years, the effort and constant refreshing was worth it when you pulled up tickets for the show.

When Phish was touring towards the end of its career, I was at my ticketmaster zenith. I masterfully maneuvered tickets for the reunion show at MSG, the subsequent shows at Hampton and scored pavilion seats left and right. On-sale dates, re-releases, it didn’t matter. I was on it. I never got shut out. As long as you put in the effort, you were rewarded.

But in the recent past, something has happened that has made getting tickets more of a crapshoot then ever before. I don’t know exactly what it was, but I have a hunch it has something to do with the 12 presales and various “auctions” that now accompany Ticketmaster on-sales.

On Monday, I slipped back into “Ticketmaster Master” mode to grab two tickets for my wife and I to check out Robert Plant and Alison Krauss at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden, a venue that claims on its website to have, “a flexible seating capacity ranging from 3,300 to 7,000.” When I pulled up the Event Page a few minutes early to do a little scouting – like a good Ticketmaster.com veteran does – I noticed no fewer than three presales had already taken place. One for some fan club and two more for Amex card holders. Oh, and something called the “Hot Seat Package” that apparently starts at $304.50. But hey – it does include a merchandise gift and a special laminate. That’s gotta be worth the extra $200, right? Just ask the people who signed up for the Police fan club what their “special gift” was and if it was worth the extra cost. Read on for more of Luke’s rant…

The Jammy Awards will return to The Theater at Madison Square Garden on May 7, 2008. This year’s ceremony and all-star concert will mark the seventh Jammy event, and will

We’ve always been big fans of The Weight, so we were thrilled that one of The Weight’s writers was interested in creating a column for Hidden Track. Ryan from The Weight plans to share some thoughts on the songs bring up strong memories immediately from the opening lick, with lyrics that make you sit back and think about the “what-ifs”and reflect on what you are doing with your life.

Here’s his first column on The Five Stairsteps classic one-hit wonder Ooh Child:

If you’ve been through high school, college, a break-up or a tragedy, you know that music often becomes more than just a soundtrack. This first tune I wanted to use for this column came immediately to me when thinking about songs that bring back memories, bring on the tears, and ultimately uplift the spirit. Let me set the stage: cops, handcuffs, and Doughboy and Chris being led to the waiting police cruiser. Then Ricky shuffles off and Tre can’t believe his 10-year-old eyes when his buddies are sent off to prison. Read on for more of The Weight Presents…

We aim to cover nearly every story that’s of interest to our readers, but sometimes our real jobs prevent us from posting the latest news items. This week was no