Toyger - I want one $4 K!!!

Ticketmaster Bullshit

Now I have to get this off my chest. I have been purchasing tickets from these robbing bar-stewards for 18 months and I just have to complain about the ridiculous charges these money grabbing gits have the cheek to charge for getting a ticket on line.

Most things for example my bargain BGBG $180 jeans were purchased on line for a significantly cheaper than retail price. In this case I paid $29.99 plus shipping on eBay.

Used books; get all mine for about $1 from Amazon, used of course but a damn site cheaper than the $15 they charge in Waterstones.

But what Ticketmaster do, how they actually run their business is daylight robbery. They first of all tempt you to sign up to their pre-release in order get your tickets 2 days before they go on sale to the general public. So being a geek I wait patiently for the 10am start and proceed to type furiously into the computer my pass word, which is a headache in itself since I am not exactly Carol Vauderman when it comes to numbers. This 15 minute frantic pounding of the keyboard is preceded by a nightmarish skit of trying to decode the special code, which is difficult since upper and lower case letters all mingle into a gauzed box of silliness. After several attempts you are in. Happy that you have secured for example two Wolfmother tickets for $30 each. Proceed to check out.

BANG a $8.50 service charge per ticket is added at the register, then a $2.50 charge because you want to consume your own ink and print them out on one's personal printer. What IS that all about? This really is day light robbery.

I have just been perusing Craig's List and have seen these tickets for $80 each selling to the poor fans who never have access to the magical world of Ticketmaster's pre-release system. I feel that these issuse need addressing because someone who has nothing to do with the actual mucisians are making a lot of cash from us.

OK that's my PMT rant over.

Last Chance to Play in the Snow - Some Ickle Pics from Lake Tahoe

Dry Creek Valley - Healdsburg Wine Country

For some strange reason I cannot upload any pics of the weekend I just had up in wine country. I will however have a go later.

What a shock- Spring is here- Now this means 75 degrees f over here in California. But the effects are much the same as back home in Blighty. Gorgeous blossoms on the trees, daffodils, and hyacinths. I have seen a few croci (is that the plural I wonder?) but NO bluebells. I am assured that there are bluebells some where in the Redwood forests, I think they will be abundant just North of the Golden Gate Bridge (GGB) - I must put that on my list of things to do.
In the meantime I must tell you about the lovely weekend I just had- That is before this weekend comes and goes because I am sure there will be a few tales to tell from my pending Tahoe ski trip (oh I am so lucky).

We went about 60 miles North of the GGB to the Russian River Wine Road Barrel Tasting Event www.wineroad.com/events/barreltasting.asp I am not sure if this link will work, it is my 1st attempt at putting in a link. A N Y way, the sun was blasting, the sky was as blue as a mulit saver Costco bottle of Lenor and I was cruising in Joy, my lovely WV Jetta, with the sun roof open and an array of my latest music was blasting- Note Athlete's new CD is the best- Track 3 is my favourite 'Corridors' (that is a guess at both track # and title - they don't call me Bubble at work for nothing you know).

It is the 1st time I have driven anywhere for a trip for ever and I like being at the wheel - Only because I get to say which CD goes in next. I am obsessed with music at the moment, and have great pleasure in being on my own just chilling at home. Will I become a music hermit? There is so much great stuff at the moment, how anyone has time for work is beyond me!

Back to the trip. The most amazing thing I saw was a wine cave. They keep the barrels under these little Teletubby-style hillocks with amazing little archways which you walk through, only to discover a warren of alleyways filled to the brim with barrels ready to emit the latest Cab Sav (hark at me) or Pinot Noir. We actually went to a region not known for my favourite red Pinot. However all the wine was lovely - in its final state I must add; one had to endure a few stages of the aging process before one received a thimble full of the bottle ready stuff. Matt bought a lovely Cab and we ended up necking that at the end of the day.

Definitely a must do once in your life time. However the limos with drunken college-types did not do much to promote the whole experience in my eyes. Maybe that's just because I am getting a little older, slowly!

Gotta cut this short, it has been in the edit stage for over a week, after many attempts at getting the pics up I still cannot fathom it out, I think the files are too big.

Oh someone told me Bush asked that the clocks be put back an hour three weeks early - so we are now only 7 hours behind the UK, and it is dark when one goes to the office. I am not sure where the rumor about Bush's influence came from , either my naivety or some publicity stunt to make some fucker like him ;-)

Razorlight at Slims San Francisco March 7th

WOW. I am so spoiled, I love San Francisco if only for one thing - the amazingly fabulous live gig scene. I cannot believe that last night I went to Slims for the 1st time. It was a perfect venue for me. Dirty, loud and purveying only the finest larger, that old slag, the bitch Stella and a lot of 'heads' by which I mean folk from home. I love seeing Brits on tour, it makes me smile, because it's all I miss really, the people. That's the only thing I have to force myself to LIKE here!!! He he.

Anyway, I was in line for about 3 minutes, straight in, after collecting our $14 tickets from 'will call' which is a little old fashioned cinema box office style glass booth at the front of the venue. San Francisco is like that, full of quirky 50's style traditions. Lots of retrofitted folks prancing around in severe black hair cuts with a fringe, high ponytails, red lips, Dame Edna type glasses, you know the look - Rock a round the clock type of dresses? I met a couple from Leeds who were nearly off back to Blighty after a year of studying here, they thought I was from Lancashire though! Shame on them ;-)

The band was setting up when we arrived, then all of a sudden kicked off with the one that goes 'In the Morning, everything will be alright'. I was jumping up and down from the first note, seriously they were fantastic. I must admit I have a slight problem when jumping up and down these days. I release a little moisture every time my feet land on the floor. I have been resigning myself to the fact I will no longer be able to jump, merely 'bop' which one simply cannot do to Razorlight; severe headbanging, flailing of arms and jumping up and down a lot is totally necessary, and this I knew - That's why I left my handbag at home!

The whole set was phenomenal. I was thoroughly impressed with my rendition of 'Who Needs Love' the boring folk in front of me did not think so. It was probably the first time they'd left the safety of their living room for months. Bit shell shocked, bless :-)

Is it appropriate when writing a blog to use those smiley faces? Is a blog an extended version of a text message or is it in fact more like a book? In which case smileys are inappropriate, I do not actually like using them, but some folk need a hint, you know, the one's with no sense of humour or SOH as I'd text. I am a bit miffed, being a child of the Atari computer, ping pong, space invaders and Pac Man and only doing my dissertation for my degree on a 1 inch screened 'word processor' I feel that I have been born a few years too soon, when talking about the etiquette of such mindblowingly baffling grammar issues involving a semicolon and a bracket end!

Again I wander- I am writing this at work, in between invoicing, making printed customer name labels for my mahoosive filing system....

A slight pang of guilt made me close there - but I am back. After thinking about the gig all night (geek!), I realised that I saw these dudes playing at Live 8 in Hyde Park, you know the second coming of Live Aid? Yeah, I remember now - I saw them these playing only 2 tracks and fell in love with them. That is why I was gutted they cancelled their last San Francisco gig. Anyway, they came, they conquered and now they left me, in a state. Nothing to look forward to.....


EXCEPT - The Killers at Bill Graham Auditorium SF on April 9th- Whoooooooooooooooooooa! I just had to go on line and see what I could get- They are sold out- Thanks heavens for Craig's list x

On Second Thoughts...

Most people are full to the brim!

Do you know what?

Some people are full of shite

News Flash

OK, I have to let you know, I am wearing shorts, it is official, the sun returned to San Francisco after a very long and grueling winter...NOT.
Seriously it has been really cold here, I am so happy to finally throw off the cashmere and get my cut-off Abercrombie combats ($1, garage sale) on, just a shame that I did not have the time to shave my legs. I had a rough night, no time for that nonsense.
Yesterday was spent shopping with my Mother, who bought a new black 80 GB i-pod and $300 worth of CD's, for me to download on to my PC, so that she can have her ipod instantly loaded with lots of gorgeously new and shiny music. I have been adding stuff to my computer since October, relying on copies from Mum, friends in the UK and loaned disks from the library, so there is a lot to download. Most of which was not up to Mum's spec' so I ended up just adding her new stuff. This means we are all winners. I just gained the Smiths entire collection, and a lot of new stuff from home, which I must admit is making me a little homesick just listening to it. How I miss those chavs Jamie T is talking about!
The city was unusual in two ways, it was very quiet and rather hot. Hot enough for a vest top, but the cautionary sweater is always a must, and did end up getting popped on in the afternoon. We had lunch in Macy's cafe, and then could not resist the earring bargains as we passed the 50% off racks on the 1st floor. I bought three new ravishingly beautiful pairs. One touch my collar bone- so they may need soberness and a little scaffolding when I wear them, let's just say I will not be consuming too much alcohol when I have them on- With the weight on them I will end up in the gutter at a slightly earlier time than usual if I do ;-). I also got luck in Virgin, I scored a few 99 cent CD's some funny anthem Ibiza-type stuff, so I will be roller discoing it in my bedroom once again, just as soon as I have a spare few hours to down load all MY stuff!
It is so warm I am off on a picnic in Golden gate Park this evening, and perhaps a little kick around with a football, the round variety. I will pop into Trader Joe's (purveyors of perfect picnic fayre), get loads of ready made tasty treats, and a bottle of bubbly and get my bum up there as quickly as possible. I get off at 3.30pm and it is dark by 6 so it will be a mad rush. When do the clocks change?
Anyway- I have to get on with my work, just wanted to tell you how much easier it is to get up, throw on a pair of cut offs, and cruise on down the freeway to work in the morning. Could that be a song I wonder?
See Ya laters...Alligators (Jamie T you rock)

Snow Patrol Bill Graham SF March 1st 2007

Hello.
Last night I drove up to the city with much gusto, which was unusual since I never did manage my usual hour long siesta. The reason for such excited school girl behaviour was that I was on my way to see one of my favourite bands. The Silversun Pickups. I have seen them four times now and they were supporting Snow Patrol along with OK Go at the Bill Graham Civic in San Francisco. I have had these tickets since November, and it was a sell out, well worth the $50 I paid ($15 of which went towards service and handling charges - I tell you, I wish I got paid that much for inserting paper in printer, pressing print, then retrieving printed ticket, popping it into an envelope and handing It over to disgruntled begrudging fan at 'will call' I would be able to buy a tour bus and gig with the fuckers myself!). Anyway, let's just say my pants were on fire, and I ain't no liar.
The journey up to San Francisco can be taken a few ways, but the fastest route is the 101, yes CHIPS patrol every inch of this freeway, and yes they do wear rounded scooter helmets, carry huge weapons of mass interruption (big tannoy voice enhancer devices- what are they called? You know, the ones the headmaster always used at school Sports day to make sure everyone had their eggs secured on their spoons). The traffic is not too bad and it's a 21 mile ride taking about 25 minutes. I set off in good time, found parking, which is a major feat in itself, and met my date for the evening.
Dinner followed with a glass of Red, I am favouring Pinot at the moment, still I have not found one which does not induce serious dehydration and sporadic urges to vomit the next day. Thai food, I think, not sure now but spicy prawns and some sort of egg plant chicken wrap in coconut milk were involved. So tasty in fact we completely lost track of time. It was 8.30pm by the time the bill was settled. Now I was under the impression that OK Go were on 1st, Silversun's then Snow Patrol, so the lack of promptness never thought to enter my head to be noted as a serious misjudgement and poor time management issue. But alas, I should have known. OK Go were screaming "How did you rate the Silversun Pick Ups?' just as we managed to swerve potential beer spillers, ie small wild and unruly 'Emo' kids. Emo's are some tribe of small folk who wear black, smoke spliffs and ride skateboards. I think. Some sort of sub breed of the original skater dude so frequently found wasting time on street corners. So sad faces all round, a few beers for commiseration and on with the show.
Snow Patrol kicked some arse. They sounded much better than the album, because the instruments were really electrifying. Unbelievable drums, bass and lead and the singing was spot on. The whole show was packaged in a lovely bundle of red and blue lights, which adorned the back of the stage. I think there was a bit of pyrotechnics involved but don't quote me on that. One lucky lady was invited onto the stage and she sang with the lead, she was amazing, but clearly shitting her pants. Well done Dawn. OK that was not her name, how the hell do you expect me to remember that? I cannot even recall the lead singer's name (what am I like, what am I like?).
Oh, how I miss UK TV by the way. My mind wanders.
The reason I see so much live music these days is mainly due to the fact I have not had a TV since I came to California back in October 2005. This is due to the complete and utter shite they have the audacity to transmit in this country. However I do read the trashy TV magazines my room mate Annie buys - by the ream. I have actually realised most of the tripe they serve up on a paper picnic plate here is actually a direct descendant from TV back home in the UK. Pop Idols, Dancing with the Stars (what IS that all about?) and Nannies, Mum's Dad's and Kids from Hell. Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh. What a load of codswallop (where does that word come from?). Did you know that Heather Mills Sir Paul McCartney's soon-to-be or probably is already x-wife (shows how much I know) is going to be 'starring' in the next Dancing With Stars here in the US? Who knows who she is I want to know? Knowing the softies in California she will win because they pity her. Well, if you read my blog you'll know how much pity she got from all at the Bonfire Night party at my Mum's house (we turned her into a 'guy' and burned her).
I must admit I have a very unhealthy addiction to youtube at the moment, in fact will probably have some self deprecating clip on there soon- I am considering a video blog, however don't know how long they will actually keep it up here, because I have noticed when looking through the archives on this blog, some of the photos I post have been deleted. Granted they were of naked gay granddads in noting but a dog chain and collar; living in San Francisco I see absolutely nothing wrong with that!