Well Claire, you just BEYOND made my day, week, month, year!!! I hope that wasn't some sort of sick Friday the 13th joke (not that there is such a thing, but it's all I can come up w/!)
Last night was pretty much a bust. My mom and I decided to make a day of it and go to Boston just for the hell of it. Since Avalon's on Lansdowne street and we're big Sox people, we had to hit up Fenway. We bought some raffle tix for three official World Series rings that they're giving away. I guess it's the first time any team has ever raffled off tix for the fans. It's beyond unlikely that we'll win, but the $ goes to charity, so who cares?!? Then, we asked about 3 tix to any of the home games left this season and they said all they had were scattered singles and obstructed view. Blech!
So, we rounded the corner and went by Avalon. There were only like 25 people there, which totally shocked me, because it was already 3. I figured there'd be tons of people either looking for tix, or just there to be in line, since it's all GA (I mean, they were opening the doors at 6 (I'd wait more than 3 hours to be front row at a tiny venue like Avalon!). We'd already gone by at 2 or something, and the line wasn't any bigger at 3 and then 3:30, so we decided to kill an hour and go on a tour of Fenway. We figured, it'd be the closest we'd get, so we'd better take it (I've only seen one game at Fenway, years ago, back when they sucked...of course they lost!) Anyway, it was really cool. Got to see the super expensive Club seats, and tour around the press box. They were working on the field, so we couldn't walk around the warning track.
Anyway, after the tour, we ran back to the car to make sure we didn't have a ticket or anything (gotta love parking signs that are have one sign that says 2 hour parking w/ one under it that says No Parking Anytime...actually, that's more of an NYC thing. These weren't that bad, but we wanted to double check.) No ticket, so we went back to Avalon. A SH*T.LOAD of people! Maybe a few hundred. It was about 5:40. The girl in front of me was also ticketless. The couple behind me had bought tix from a scalper the day they went on sale for $200 each, and the people behind them got them on ticketmaster at 4:30, when they released an extra block!!! ARG!
So, around 6, they opened the doors, and by the time we got close, someone (for the first time) asked us if we had tix in hand, and told us to get out of the line, since we didn't. There was a mini group of people on the curb (like 12 of us) who had heard about the Chicago thing and came down for the hell of it. I found out later that around 4 they let them all in for the soundcheck. DAMMIT! I figured the Fenway tour was a great way to kill some time. I can't believe we missed out on the soundcheck. I guess they were like 10 feet away! I would have left more than happy, if I'd gotten into the sound check, let me tell you!
So, times a-passin'. We get excited a couple of times seeing stacks of tix going by (always going back to the VIP list guy...the list apparently had 400 people on it!) Bouncers kept telling us to move farther down. There were like two mini groups. Ours w/ about a dozen that stayed pretty close together the whole time that was back by the end of the line/near a door where some roadies and a bouncer guy were, and another scattered group of a half a dozen by the front, near where the VIP guy was.
Around 7, this freaky pair of guys showed up. I dubbed one of them Googley-Eyes, because he had the freakiest googley eyes EVER! He totally looked psychotic, like that runaway bride. My mom and I had fun making fun of G-E w/ his striped Polo shirt and khakis, but G-E would be the one w/ the last laugh. More on him later.
Oh yeah, aroung 6:30 or so, this college aged guy and his girlfriend came out (when we were still up near the check-in, on the curb) and we got his story. He claimed that he had bought a pair of tix on eBay for $700 (and they didn't work). He's acting all distraught, and weepy, etc. I decided (after seeing the tix...they were these little purple things. The tix were just regular TM hard tix. They weren't even a computer print out for ticketfast). Anyway, I decided he was a theatre major from Emerson, who was trying to pull a scam w/ this faux sob-story. Whatever, it worked. They let him in! If it were me, I'd totally be screaming on the sidewalk, making a scene (like the suitcase!), but this guy was just kind of like *pout* "I can't believe that. I spent $700 dollars." *pout, look mildly distraught*
Back to Googley-Eyes. We've been shushed back by now, and my mom spots G-E getting closer to this bouncer w/ this crazy 70's porn star moustache (but he's bald and a total beast). Anyway, I start watching them, and see G-E reach up over the rail, onto the platform and shake Mr. Porn's hand. Porno looks down the street in our direction, holds two fingers close together on his chest, and a minute later this guy w/ a black hooded sweatshirt strolls by, quickly does the hand off, and Googley-Eyes walks past us, into the line w/ his tix! Right in front of us, another Avalon worker goes "You got 'em?" and does a little two finger to the forhead wave/salute thing. Shadey stuff is starting to brew. Right after that, we see this girl w/ long curly hair talk to Porno, and she runs off to the front where the guest list is. About 5 minutes later, she comes back w/ tix, not really willing to divulge how she got them. Kelly, the girl who was in front of me in the initial line, goes to talk to Mr. Porn. He's like "What? I've never seen any of those people you're talking about before. I have no idea what you're talking about." So we're thinking something funky's going on. Did G-E and Curly Hair buy him off? What's up?
So, we go to the front, there's no one handing out tix. We finally ask someone w/ a Coldplay pass, and he says he doesn't think it's going to happen tonight, because everything's been crazy. There have been people around w/ counterfeit tix, and the VIP list was out of control, so it didn't look hopeful at all. Earlier, this British guy w/ a walkie-talkie had been taking tabs on our group, and at one point, I saw him come out Porno's door w/ a small stack of tix (then he disappeared) but nothing really came of that. By 8, when we left, the crowds of people w/o tix started getting crazy, and I didn't want to stick around and see people that got there at 8 get in, and not get in myself (I thought that'd be worse than having everyone get turned away). On top of that, the line of ticket holders to get into Avalon got HUGE around quarter to 8. Hundreds of people just started showing up. It looked like they were way over booked, and there was no way, they'd be letting more in.
So, that was that. My mom and I picked up a spinach pizza on the way home, and we got some of the free junior frosties they were giving away at Wendy's (figured we wanted SOMETHING free out of all that!) and had a good laugh over how insanely small they were. Seriously, it was like an ounce! I was surprisingly not bitter last night. I really wasn't. We listened to A Rush of Blood to the Head on the way home, I thanked my mom for humoring me, and we got home, had some pizza and watched the Sox in Seattle. It wasn't a bad day at all, all things considered!
Anyway, this got terribly long, so I'm off. Keep me posted, Elphie!
But when did New Hampshire become--Such a backward wasteland of seatbelt hating crazies?...I mean, only 40 people actually live there. The others are just visitors who come for the tax-free liquor and three inches of novelty coastline. John Hodgeman on The Daily Show (1-30-07)
I should have just bought it when he offered. 
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