I dig if tickets aren’t sold out. The date is December 13 and that’s a Sunday night. If I do manage to get a ticket, I know that I’ll do all that I can do to get there earlier than last time when I saw Animal Collective from the way back, but by the grace of God (and a few pushy-shove people) I managed to get really close to the front. I don’t think that will happen at an Arctic Monkeys show.
The Atlantic
Ticket distributor Ticketmaster and concert promoter Live Nation have been hoping to merge. Britain’s antitrust regulator objected today in a preliminary ruling. It believes the merger would severely limit competition and hurt consumers. I think it’s right, and its decision is something of a no-brainer.Let’s break it down. Imagine you want to go see a concert. Since Live Nation has, by far, the strongest influence in the concert space, you will probably be going to one they promoted or produced. So to buy those tickets? Well, you probably have to go through Ticketmaster, since it has vast control over concert ticket distribution.
How cornered would they have the market? According to this CNN Money article from back in February about the proposed merger, their combined market share would be close to 80%. If that isn’t a threshold for antitrust regulation, then I’m not sure what is.
It makes sense business-wise for them, but as a frequent concert attender I am concerned about prices sky-rocketing.
http://www.marksultan.com
The King Khan & BBQ Show tour dates!! Check: http://www.myspace.com/thekingkhanbbqshow there are a few that are left to be determined. as well as a couple of kids show that we will add on there. that should be cool! this will all be to play some of our new album ‘INVISIBLE GIRL’ which drops in a couple of weeks. we may have a couple limited edition LPs for sale in portland! supporting us for most of the tour and at various points are Dum Dum Girls and Those Darlins! here is the best part: The King Khan & BBQ Show have been working on a new live show (aside from playing a bunch of new songs) which harkens back to the original intent of our band. it should be really fun! this also means the inclusion of our old pal Leo Chips into the fold. you’ll see!! it’s gonna be extravagant! check in to the myspace now and again for news! also, look for The Almighty Defenders in both Portland and also on the 25th at Maxwell’s in Hoboken! And maybe another show for CMJ? who knows? My new Mark Sultan is also DONE and will be out in February. I decided to hold off on its release cuz too much shit is coming out. But a single on In The Red of non-LP cuts will rear its ugly head in a couple of weeks! see you on tour!
Indeed, see you on tour, Mark.
LINK
The members of No Age walk an interesting line. They’re some of the biggest proponents of DIY all-ages spaces out there, but they’re also fully willing to play shows with corporate sponsors. They clearly know their Fugazi, but they’ve adapted the punk rock ethos for an age when even your mom is on Twitter. It’s kind of inspiring.No Age’s latest enterprise fully fits in with that dichotomy. That shoe you see pictured above is No Age’s very own sneaker. Alongside artist and skateboarding legend Ed Templeton, the L.A. dream-punk duo designed the shoe for Emerica, as Sub Pop’s website reports. It’s a special edition of Templeton’s own Archer sneaker.
They look pretty sweet:
Don’t be surprised if you pick of the November issue of Playboy and see Marge Simpson in the buff. E! Online reporter Marc Malkin confirmed that the Simpson matriarch will appear naked. Wonder what Homer thinks? And if blue-haired cartoons aren’t your forte, Marge will not be replacing the usual Playmate in the issue.
Hugh Hefner teased a while back on Twitter about a possible Marge-Playboy collaboration. Marge will be featured in a three-page pictorial complete with an interview and a data sheet to mark ‘The Simpsons’ 20th anniversary.
Sexy! Ha, when I first heard about this I thought it was Jessica!
Chris
WASHINGTON — Recognizing the U.S. can neither win in Afghanistan nor succeed more broadly against al-Qaida without Pakistan’s cooperation, President Barack Obama’s war council is weighing a new role for Pakistan in the 8-year-old struggle in the region.
And you got to love how we’re so eager to “fix” Iraq and Afghanistan but we won’t touch Pakistan…which is where Osama is and which still has an al-Qaida-supporting government.
WERS News
1.4 trillion is the amount of the budget deficit for the 2009 fiscal year, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). This deficit, the highest in our economy in over half a century, was estimated for 2009 until September 30th.For the month of September alone, the U.S. ran an estimated deficit of 31 billion.
Patrick Yoest for Dow Jones Newswires said that “The fiscal 2009 spending is equal to 25% of the nation’s gross domestic product, which the CBO states is “the highest level in over 50 years.”
Yoest said that “The CBO in its monthly budget report states that the fiscal 2009 deficit was estimated to equal 9.9% of gross domestic product in the U.S. – the largest deficit relative to the nation’s gross domestic product since 1945.
So much for fiscal responsibility!
CNN
…Although he is only 18, Colton Harris-Moore has been on authorities’ radar for years. “Colt,” as he is called, was first arrested for burglary at age 12, said Detective Ed Wallace, a spokesman for the Island County Sheriff’s Office. The break-in at a local school earned Colton a few weeks in a juvenile facility, Wallace said.Local media reports tally nine arrests for Harris-Moore before the age of 15. Now police in five counties in Washington state are looking for him.
Harris-Moore dropped out of high school and, according to Wallace, police believe he spent his teens burglarizing unoccupied homes on Camano Island, a vacation community of about 15,000 people off the Washington state coast. He became known as “the Barefoot Burglar,” because, investigators say, he preferred to prowl shoeless.
Gradually, Wallace alleges, Harris-Moore moved onto more sophisticated crimes.
“He will typically break into a home or vehicle and copy down the credit card numbers,” Wallace said. “He then leaves the credit cards behind so people don’t realize they have been stolen.”
This kid’s messed up yo!
Reporting from Washington — The Supreme Court debated today whether the government can maintain a cross in a national preserve to honor fallen soldiers or whether an official display of this Christian symbol violates the 1st Amendment’s ban on an establishment of religion.
Yes. It does.
But the justices spent most of the hour mired in a side dispute over whether Congress solved the constitutional problem by transferring the land under the cross to the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
No. It didn’t.
At issue was cross that sits atop Sunrise Rock in a remote part of the Mojave National Preserve in California, not far from the border with Nevada.
“At issue was cross…”? Two things, “Los Angeles Times,” don’t ask stupid questions and proofread before you publish.
Does a moment pass when Kim Kardashian isn’t selling? If she’s not hyping her workout video, she’s touting her online shoe club, her new book or her sisters’ “reality” TV spinoff, a gripping look inside their high-end Miami boutique.
Shameless self-promotion is the stock in trade among the famous-for-being-famous crowd. But should the self-described “Armenian Princess” have to tell the world if she’s getting paid for the endless stream of products — Famous Cupcakes, Balenciaga shoes, Quick Trim weight loss capsules — she touts seemingly round the clock as one of the most popular users of the micro-blog site Twitter?
Slow news day at “The Los Angeles Times.”
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 