Ticketmaster and Live Nation to merge and devise new fees

Today’s announced merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation is big news. The two companies are trying to quell fears that the deal will increase ticket prices. Here’s what Ticketmaster Chairman Barry Diller said about prices:

“Ticketmaster does not set prices. Live Nation does not set ticket prices. Artists set the prices,” Diller said.

The Associated Press writer was keen to point out that Diller did not mention the ticket surcharges that Ticketmaster is well known for.
While artists may set the ticket prices, Ticketmaster seems to find new and fun ways to charge its customers new supplemental fees. When I bought tickets for an event in San Jose last year, Ticketmaster wanted to charge me to print my tickets at home. This hardly seemed fair — while Ticketmaster paid to invest in the ticket-generating technology, I would have to pay for the ink, paper and printer in addition for this added fee. Needless to say, I opted for the cheapest method possible — delivered via first-class mail.
Public radio’s Marketplace had an interesting story about the fees last year. It also noted that Ticketmaster could have lost 10 percent of its business if a partnership between the company and Live Nation fell by the wayside. Clearly, this isn’t going to happen now.
With this merger in the works, who knows what fun ways Ticketmaster will charge people. Any ideas?

The blogging thing

I’m surprised at MySpace. It’s been an Internet phenomenon for more than two years, but they still can’t get their blogging tool to fully work in Firefox. For shame, Tom. For shame.

On the subject of blogging, I wanted to announce the newest and coolest blog to hit my profile in the past 10 minutes. I’ve started up a pop-culture entertainment blog on NorCal Blogs. It’s the Buzz Blog. It’s sorta like my old pop-culture column, but slightly more frequent and vastly more banal.

To keep tabs on all of my blogging endeavors, I’ve added a little widget to my profile. All of my blogs are now squeezed into a tiny space.

On Pop Culture: Pledge break

We’ll rejoin the regular “On Pop Culture” column in a minute, but first we’d like to take a moment of your time to ask you to call in with your pledge of support for this publication.

As you may have heard, our publication faces a tightening budget due to advertisers deciding that newspapers aren’t going to be the new MySpace. I know we’re not MySpace — the newspapers are like CraigsList, but with news and classifieds you have to pay for.

Because of the cutbacks, we’re now turning to you — the reader — for your support. For the cost of a submarine sandwich a month, you can help keep this column going. We will take your generous donation and buy our columnists sub sandwiches.

Since the inception of the “On Pop Culture” column last year, the average age of our publication’s columnists has been lowered by about 20 years. Without it and the “Starving Student,” the average age of the columnists jumps back to 67.

That includes Wm. Jameson T. Cornballer, our 93-year-old phonograph reviewer who thinks that “McPheever” is a disease his young fiancee died from in the 1930s. Thanks to your ongoing support, we have a vaccination for the most fatal and virulent forms of McPheever.

I know “On Pop Culture” can’t be as timely as the entertainment blogs or even weekly TV programs. Instead of going for instantaneous gratification, every two weeks our column goes for timelessness.

Remember where you were when he tried to explain the culture significance of the phrase, “Time to make the doughnuts”? Recall the good times when we tried to discuss the impact of the Disney Channel phenomenon “High School Musical” without actually seeing the program.

Who else but an overweight, out-of-touch columnist can shed insight on the things that you can hear and see with your own ears and eyes?

Call now. As our way of saying thanks, with your pledge at the level of $75 a year, we’ll give you a special premium — the voice of columnist Ryan singing a TV theme song on your phone answering machine. I’m a fan of “Electric Company” and “Speed Racer,” but can just as well sing the themes to “Lost” or “Heroes.”

We’re going to rejoin our regular programming in a minute, but we just want to let you know that we’ve got a lot of great things lined up for the next few months. April Fool’s Day is around the corner. We’ve got more “Secret Shames,” including a look at local karaoke bars.

With your generous pledge of support, we can … Uh, one second.

We’ve just received word that no one has called in during the past five minutes it’s taken you to read this column. I’m hearing from my manager that this will be the end of “On Pop Culture.”

Thanks for your support. It’s been a blast these past four months. And, please, buy a newspaper once in a while. It’s good for you (and me).


Due to budget cutbacks, the size of the Enterprise-Record’s “Buzz” entertainment section was halved. “On Pop Culture” was among the items cut to save space.

This MySpace-only column is my reaction to the news. The Dude abides and I hope I do too.

Why Mom says I’m not as funny as I think

I try to be funny from time to time. It doesn’t always work (hence, why my mom says that). Some people laugh, but I’m always afraid it’s pity laughter.

Now you can judge for yourself. I’m reposting my twice-monthly “pop culture” column on my MySpace blog after it’s published in the newspaper (and on ChicoER.com).

Here’s my latest, skipping the usual moaning about Valentine’s Day and focusing on what comes next — marriage.

New service to give weddings an extra boost

Background

When I wasn’t dreaming of becoming a diplomat (like they were on “Star Trek”), one of childhood fantasies was to save “Saturday Night Live.” Given how bad some of the episodes were back in the day, I figured I help out and save the show.

Although SNL emerged from that slump and has mired itself in a new one, I’ve moved on from that dream and turned to news writing.

My new position as an online editor gives a chance to stretch my legs a bit. One direction is a twice-monthly “pop culture” column where I have fun looking at our society from different angles.

Instead of focusing on Britney Spears’ latest f-up, my column strives to be longer lasting than tabloid tissue.

So please feel free to poke around and let me know what you think. Do _you_ think I’m as funny as I think I am?