Waiting in Line-A History

August 7, 2008 at 4:51 pm · Filed under Banging My Head Against A Wall, Music, Random Musings

I’ve often said ‘There are people who are born to lead, and there are people who are born to wait in line,’ and I believe it’s in my genetic coding to be among the former. However, it appears that the line itself is making a comeback.

I watched the line and its meaning dissolve in 1990 in Boulder, CO.  Prior to that date, people would start ‘lining up’ for just about anything,  usually concert tickets (OK, Grateful Dead concert tickets).  They had such devoted followers that being in line for a few days became a party unto itself.  Coming out of the 70’s, some bands were HUGE, and stadiums filled with people would sell out in minutes.  You had better be in that line.

However, in an attempt to curb people camping out, and to keep order for those days leading up to the on sale date, the main record store in Boulder first tried this:  If you were in line the night before the ticket went on sale, you’d be given a number based on their allotment, and if you got a number, you were guaranteed a ticket.  Perhaps it wasn’t the best ticket, but at the very least, you were IN.  Then, if there were people who didn’t get numbers from the day before or just decided to wait, if any tickets were left, they’d swoop in on like vultures once all the ‘guaranteed’ ones were sold.

The day the line died (funny that-the music died with Don McLean’s song in 1972, but the line seemed to survive) we can thank our friends at Ticketmaster.  Not only could you NOT wait the night before and have bestowed upon you a ticket guaranteeing you will get what you want the next day, you couldn’t even try to make a nice new line right then and there-on the day of the show-so if you got there at 4 a.m., you’d at least be rewarded for getting up so damn early.

It was the RANDOM numbering system.  This was done, of course, to discourage people from loitering around the ticket place and taking up space.  NOW, it didn’t matter if you got there at 4:36 am or 9:52 am (most Ticketmaster ticket sales begin exactly at 10:00 am), the numbers were distributed randomly.  Once the numbers were handed out, everyone had to change their positions in line based on whatever number they got.  You could have waited there for four hours and get pushed all the way to the end of the line, or you could have traipsed in at the last moment and be standing with ticket #1 (and everyone else hating you).  With no advantage to coming sooner, the line died….almost.

Oddly enough, the people who are now pining in lines are those who are waiting for the release of some GADGET.  And for some reason, since this seems to be outside the auspices of TicketMaster…so far.  Here you CAN wait all day, and you will be given a number corresponding to when you got there to hold what’s promised for you.  You can’t camp, you have to leave when the mall closes, but you can sit in one place for days on end…waiting in line

People are waiting in line so they can BUY something?  Eh? What happens three months down the road when everyone you know has the same thing?  Ooooh, is the dude’s phone, for example,  sooo much better because he waited in a line for hours and hours to purchase it on the first day, and this other girl spent five minutes and got the same thing three days ago?  Did they add some ’secret’ extra features for the ones who demonstrated their devotion so openly?  I doubt it.

It’s kind of sad, really, that THAT’S what kids are waiting for these days.  The days of nervously hoping that you’ll get in before tickets sell out, or before the GOOD seats sell out are gone; now it’s just another line to wait in…

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Groundhog Day…the anniversary of one ultra famous junkie death

February 2, 2007 at 9:14 am · Filed under Music, Random Musings

So today is February 2nd, a day where some ridiculous pseudo holiday grew out of whether a groundhog in Punxsutawney PA could see his shadow, and if so, how much longer winter would last.  Whatever.  I live in Hawaii now, so how long winter is going to be is a moot point, and this day had no bearing EVER on any of the more northern places where I’ve spent most of my life.

However, this is also a day when early in the morning in New York city as most were waking up, Sid didn’t.

One thing is for sure, a lot of people have made a lot of profit by his demise.  People are STILL writing books about him nearly 30 years later, dissecting whether he was a troubled genius misguided and misled or a brain cell deficient follower who couldn’t think an original thought if forced at gunpoint.  He’s the subject of endless speculation, even though he’s been dead longer than he lived (but one could say that most who achieve great fame do it posthumously).  Hot Topic sells shirts bearing his likeness and accessories for anyone who is really wanting to look like him.  Even though he did the least, was a member of the Sex Pistols for the shortest amount of time, had most of his bass lines overdubbed on recordings, and is probably more well known for the drama in his life (ie his heroin addiction and Nancy, which you could say were one in the same) he’s still the most famous member of that band.

I bet that pisses off the other band members, that the no talent twit with a penchant for self destruction and little else gets more attention even TODAY than the other former Sex Pistol members combined.  That’s not to say that they’ve done nothing or aren’t famous in their own right today, but they’ve had to work like hell for it while all Sid did was die.

Would Mr. Vicious have been part of the prozac nation had he lived?

Would he be around and above ground if Nancy he hadn’t found?  Chloe Webb made her much prettier in the movie than she was in real life, that’s for sure. 

Maybe we see these tragic departed characters with a touch of envy.  To err on the side of shooting up too much smack and killing yourself isn’t exactly difficult.  Staying alive and trying to find happiness and meaning out of life and all the things that get thrown at you while you’re still upright and breathing can be a lot harder.  So if you’re one of those people who might be thinking about Mr. Richie/Beverly who’s resting in peace today, maybe give yourself some credit as well.  Living today can be a lot more challenging than ODing in some hotel room…

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