giggirl

I think you've been very nice and I think her attitude sucks. Speaking personally, I'm quite litigious and it pays off 100%. I expect people to behave decently and, if they don't, I take no prisoners. Give her one last chance and then take her to the small claims court. This couldn't be more straightforward - you don't even need to leave the comfort of your laptop. You just fill out the form online, pay the fee (which she will need to repay when she looses), and hit send. Effectively she has already admitted responsibility - she's just being awkward about receipts. You should claim for the full ?150. Also, remind her that when you go to court you will be claiming for your travel expenses and you will require compensating for using a day's holiday (if you are using a day's holiday). Trust me - this is effective. Over the last 15 years I have threatened the Small Claims Court 5 times. 3 times the defendant admitted the claim and paid up as soon as they received the SCC papers 2 times the defendant attempted to fight the claim - both lost, it cost them much more ??? than it would have had if they paid up in the first place, and finally, let me tell you - they both rued the day I would also look to change your gym as quickly as possible and remind her that, not only are you taking her to court, she's losing your business. People should just behave decently - that's my personal manifesto. If she can't step up then hit her where it hurts.

I can still find live and functioning presales for some of the gigs but it's a hassle and to be honest I'm busy so if anyone needs anything specific mail me

Teenage Cancer Trust Presale Link - LIVE AND WORKING http://www.seetickets.com/tct/corporate/ Edited to say I hope you got in quick and bought what you needed because the link has closed down - probably due to people like me posting it on public forums (they don't like that - but tough I say). This was the so called "corporate" pre-sale. I don't know about you but I don't go to gigs so I can stand next to some banker smoozing clients.

It isn't that the links aren't working it is just that there is no guarantee if and when these links will go live. If they aren't live now then I would try again at 12 o clock and again tomorrow morning. If they aren't live tomorrow morning then I will remove them and post links for Friday's onsale that aren't See - who are not good people to buy from anyway. All you can do for now is keep trying the links.

There's a rumour that there will be a pre-sale some time this morning for the Teenage Cancer gigs. I am so reluctant to post this info here because the pre (if it happens) will go to See and I cannot begin to tell you how rubbish they are. Normally I would say avoid them at all costs. They have a habit of making you buy blind - not telling you where your seats are. Then, when the seats are allocated, they aren't good. Anyway - buyer beware - but here are the links: TCV http://www.seetickets.com/see/event.asp?filler1=see&n|showname=coming&showname=them+crooked+vultures&filler2=&orderby=date&filler3=id1getfront Comedy Night http://www.seetickets.com/see/price.asp?code=452807&userid={DCD8299D-A5B3-4178-99B8-AA9730ED1AD4}&filler1=see&filler3=id1getfront Suede http://www.seetickets.com/see/event.asp?filler1=see&n|showname=coming&showname=suede&filler2=&orderby=date&filler3=id1getfront Noel Gallagher http://www.seetickets.com/see/event.asp?filler1=see&n|showname=coming&showname=noel+gallagher&filler2=&orderby=date&filler3=id1getfront Arctic Monkeys http://www.seetickets.com/see/event.asp?filler1=see&n|showname=coming&showname=arctic+monkeys&filler2=&orderby=date&filler3=id1getfront JLS http://www.seetickets.com/see/event.asp?filler1=see&n|showname=coming&showname=jls&filler2=&orderby=date&filler3=id1getfront The Specials http://www.seetickets.com/see/event.asp?filler1=see&n|showname=coming&showname=the+specials&filler2=&orderby=date&filler3=id1getfront The Who http://www.seetickets.com/see/event.asp?filler1=see&n|showname=coming&showname=the+who&filler2=&orderby=date&filler3=id1getfront If any of these links go live I would say it will be around 10am this morning and whatever tickets they have won't last long - demand always outstrips supply for these shows.

I am very very confused. I would just like to add that it's a full-time job being me, so I applaud those of you who find the time to be more than one person. Really ? it?s not as if men are any good at multi-tasking so I don?t know how you manage. Any tips for us lesser mortals?

That's great Mockney. Does it come in pink?

Final band just announced for Teenage Cancer Gigs - Depeche Mode on Weds 17the Feb - this will be the smallest gig they've done in ages so a lovely one for the fans Edited to say I'm sure they mean Weds 17th March but the announcement says Feb

PeckhamRose Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > giggirl you go to centreparks? Absolutely - I love them - been a couple of times. I can only do three days mind - then I long for a lung-full of city air. Thetford was running at 80% capacity on the third weekend after Christmas so they must be doing something right. The food isn't good (although it's better than it was a few years ago), but you can just get a big Ocado delivery and take it all with you.

Here's this year's line up from the Teenage Cancer Trust @ The RAH http://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/teenage-cancer-trust/default.aspx They are always fully seated (no standing) gigs. I can post pre-sales. I think there is one gig left to be announced as there will be 10 in all. The Teenage Cancer gigs are instant sell outs ever year so don't hang about if you want to go to anything. The public onsale is 9am on Friday but I will (fingers crossed) post pre sales. Seats are expensive - around the ?45 to ?55 mark - but ever penny goes to supporting teenagers who are battling cancer - so you can't complain too much. Them Crooked Vultures, Monday 22nd March Comedy Night - Jimy Carr, Noel Fielding, Tuesday 23rd March Suede, Wednesday 24th March Noel Gallagher, Thursday 25th March Noel Gallagher, Friday 26th March Arctic Monkeys, Saturday 27th March JLS, Sunday 28th March The Specials, Monday 29th March The Who, Tuesday 30th March I'm updating my posting with some (subjective) advice on the best seats at the RAH. Arena Floor - only good if you can get rows 1 to 6. There is no rake on the floor so if you go any further back than row 6 you'll have big heads in front of you. Stalls - I've never had a bad seat in the stalls and I've sat in plenty of them. The view is great. There is a steep rake on the stalls so you don't get bothered by heads in front. Stalls go from row 1 to (I think ) row 10 - all good. Loggia Boxes and Grand Tier Boxes - these are privately owned and don't tend to go on public sale until the owners have given permission. Great seats if you can get them though because you can take a drink in! Second Tier Boxes - OK but you're higher up. Not the best seats (I think) but if you buy directly from the RAH's website it will default to these as the best seats. Circle - NO NO NO - not unless you can't get anything else and you really must be there. Restricted View Circle - you're kidding, right?

I don't have an iphone and I refuse to get one until they're as common as muck. I don't want to own a fancy phone that gets snatched from me on the bus home. I recently had a weekend in Center Parcs (Thetford) with a number if iphone owners. They struggled to get a signal for most of the weekend whereas my 5 year old Motorola basic model was fully operational all weekend. OK I couldn't hear people very well but I had a functioning phone. Now, whenever they try to impress me with their apps, I remind them of the Thetford weekend.

Yes that's absolutely true. I think that if he was to do anything like that he would wait for it to sell out first and then be a last minute addition. I want to go anyway - if anything just to get some warmth - so busy I'm trying to make it happen. Has there been any news from Twitter's "Bowie" in the last year? I'm still not completely convinced it isn't him. Six years is a long time to be getting over a heart attack - he must be very bored. Poor man.

Wow - the forum has its very own DB thread. Who knew! I may be going to Coachella this year which - if it happens - I will be very excited about. Yesterday I was googling something random about Coachella and came across a DB rumour. The rumour has, of course, been squashed. But just imagine.....

SeanMacGabhann Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > The man's favourite Bowie album is Low - and it > was the K&D mix of useless that got his DM thang > ON - so that should give you some idea.. Sorry to go off topic but that's reminded me. DB has done an NME interview. It's out this week. Have you read it SM? Anything in it to raise our pulses? Damn I shall have to buy a copy of NME and I dont like them one bit!

Roll Deep Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > My tip for enduring a sexless existence is to go > and buy yourself a remote controlled helicopter. If you're thinking of going down the "remote controlled" route then you may find a rabbit more rewarding.

???? Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It get's better That's made me feel quite nauseous. I wish I could believe in reincarnation as at least we could cling to the comfort that further down the line there would be a reckoning. As it is, it looks like things keep getting better for those such as Tone and Thatcher. What a terrible state of affairs. Quite puts me off my lunch.

When your boyfriend, husband or significant other does something that makes you angry don't give in to the temptation to argue and fight. Just count to ten, remain calm and after he goes to bed, super-glue his thongs to the floor. I could watch this one over and over?. OH wait a minute?I have!!!

Monica - I'm terribly sorry - that's a really hard place to be in after all that time together. Ellie - very sorry that you're suffering too. Ladies I really hope that neither of you are single for too long - I'm sure there's someone special out there for each and every one of us (I'm a romantic at heart).

Bless me father for I have sinned - I used to be a PR and I made shit up all of the time. Come to think of it, I think that was my job description; "make shit up". National prune (or whatever) day was a good wheeze. Another trick that gave good coverage was to conduct a survey. Of course the survey consisted of either (a) a straw poll of those in the office with whom I could communicate without actually leaving my desk; or (b) the old fall-back method of just making shit up. After the "survey results" were carefully compiled I'd bang out a press release that said something like "95% of new bands are males under the age of 75" or "83% of CD buyers are male under the age of 25". What a waste of time. I'm terribly sorry.

PR departments

I'm just beginning with Paul Collier's "The Bottom Billion". Anyone out there read it already? Thoughts?

Huguenot Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Am I being stupid, but since t'interweb is the > great leveller, can't these bands sell their own > tickets direct from a website? > > The history of the web is "disintermediation", it > gets rid of the middleman. Ticketmaster is a > middleman, and surely the writing is on the wall? Huguenot - you're never stupid but I don't think you've grasped the scope of this merger. It's not two ticket selling companies merging. The new company will (a) sell the tickets (b) promote the artist (in many cases) © own the venue (in some cases) (d) own the festival (in some cases) Live Nation is a massive promoter - Madonna, U2 - in fact, every "biggie" I can think of. Here's a link to their website listing all the UK events they are currently promoting (basically, a lot). http://www.livenation.co.uk/event/allevents I'm not sure which UK venues Live Nation owns now because it sold some off last year. They do own the following though OWN OUTRIGHT: * Download Festival, O2 Wireless Festival and Hyde Park Calling 50.1% STAKE: * in Festival Republic, and thus interests in several music festivals, including the production of Glastonbury Festival, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Latitude Festival This merger has the green light in the US. So, Huguenot, how's your antitrust? Do you think it should have been allowed?

Ticketmaster, pre-merger, was a thriving company. Perhaps you missed the Economist article I linked to above so here it is again. Check the sales graph - the US market has gone from less than $2 billion in year 2000 to more than $4 billion in 2009. A massive growth. I can't find UK figures but I'm pretty sure they would mirror the US. http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15394198 Nobody pays for music anymore. That's the point - the live concert market is the only thriving market in the music industry. It's a gret big fat cash cow the this merger will see TM/LN get the lion's share.

I honestly thought the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger would get blocked by the US regulators but the silly sods have given it the go ahead. My understanding is that the merger still has the red light in the UK but how long will that hold up? For us punters no good will come of creating this behemoth. If it goes ahead we will basically see the price of a night out rocket and the smaller agents will get the nosebleed seats that nobody wants to sit in. It's a tricky subject. The days when artists could make money out of CD sales are gone - so how to fill the void? I remember reading a Bowie interview a few years (2002) ago and I just googled it. Here's a quote "I don't even know why I would want to be on a label in a few years, because I don't think it's going to work by labels and by distribution systems in the same way. The absolute transformation of everything that we ever thought about music will take place within 10 years, and nothing is going to be able to stop it. I see absolutely no point in pretending that it's not going to happen. I'm fully confident that copyright, for instance, will no longer exist in 10 years, and authorship and intellectual property is in for such a bashing. ''Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity. So it's like, just take advantage of these last few years because none of this is ever going to happen again. You'd better be prepared for doing a lot of touring because that's really the only unique situation that's going to be left. It's terribly exciting. But on the other hand it doesn't matter if you think it's exciting or not; it's what's going to happen.'' Bands like Pearl Jam and NIN have done battle with Ticketbastard and lost. Sadly NIN has quit touring - but on a happy personal note I got to see them last year just before they quit. I do hope it's a temporary fit of pique - come back Trent - I miss you! Anyway, Trent Reznor is most lucid on the subject of Ticketbastard: http://stereogum.com/archives/trent_reznor_blasts_ticketmaster_and_the_artists_w_058831.html http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15394198

It really bugs me when people who don't even use the forum come on here to sell something or get you to sign up for something. AND STOP SHOUTING