i just did something i never did before. i sold tickets to one of those people who stands outside concert halls chirping “tickets? tickets? anyone got tickets?”
scalpers. i had planned to go to the US premiere of philip Glass’ 9th Symphony tonight, but my friend and fellow Glassian had to bail at the last second, and I didn’t feel like going it alone. I was feeling some apathy about the event to begin with.
So i went over to Carnegie Hall and saw that the event was sold out, and that a number of people were standing around chirping “tickets? tickets?” i chose the most honest- and amiable-looking of the lot and produced the tickets. i was immemdiately surrounded by other interested buyers. i got face value, in cash ($112) and that is all i had in mmind, but i probably could have scored $150 or more if i had any sense of how to do the hustle. or interest. i just wanted to get it over with and go home, and that is what i did.
it looked like a much Bigger Deal than i had imagined. the tickets seemed cheap enough that this couldn’t be too big an event, but the crowd looked well-dressed and of a character not typical of Carnegie Hall.
i was severely under-dressed, as well, adding to the discomfort of following through with my attendance.
i got my money back, and that’s the best you can ask for. after compmleting the sale a woman stepped right up to me to ask if i had other tickets. i did not. big event, i guess.
speaking of Carnegie Hall, i was a bit annoyed by a Post-It notice i saw on a subway platform. hand-written, it was worded as a personal ad, evidently from a being with luscious curves, a love for classical music and the arts… and there was that horrible new Carnegie Hall logo in the corner. that logo looks to me like the Sanitary Cleanliness Grade that the city gives to restaurants and eateries.
a loner like me might see something like this and imagine it’s a siren call from a creative woman, but it’s just a pitiful attempt at going viral. the back of the post-it had a carnegiehall.org URL which i assume leads one to a membership drive or a fund-raising passing of the hat.
very “World Wide Web 1995”, and very annoying.
…..
last night i watched the old movie version of Godspell. there was a particularly depressing scene in which the cast is shown dancing and prancing and skipping-to-ma-lou high atop the World Trade Center. it made me sad.
another sequence was filmed on Randall’s Island.
mostly, though, the show annoyed almost as much as the production i saw last week. i guess my nostalgia for the first show i ever saw did not live up to my memories.
…..