From Jeff Barszcz Sent Tue, Nov 10th 1998, 05:47
From Jeff Barszcz Sent Tue, Nov 10th 1998, 05:47
To who anyone who cares:
I went to New York last week for the CMJ festival, and what a horrible
ripoff it was! I paid $170 for some stupid little badge that was supposed
to let me in to all sorts of shows for free. Anyway, the one show I really
wanted to see was the opening night party--it was the one with all the
Ninja Tune guys, Luke Vibert, etc. Well, when we checked in to the CMJ
thing and picked up our badges (a bag full of free but useless crap), I
found out that you needed to get a special "pass" to get into the show. I
bet you can guess what happened. They were all gone ("Yeah, they went
pretty quick"). Needless to say, I was pissed. So, I got over that after
a night. Then, on Friday, I wanted to go see Komeda play at some place
called the Mercury Lounge. I walked 20-30 blocks by myself from the
Knitting Factory (where my friends were enjoying an awesome jazz show which
I wish I'd stayed for) to the club, get there just in time to catch the
band, and the guy at the door tells me it's fucking sold out. I show him
my little badge and he gives me a look like "Yeah right, buddy..." and then
tells me I can come in in an hour.
What's my point? If any of you guys are thinking of ever going, my advice
to you is skip that damn badge and just pay for the shows individually.
You'll save a lot of money, trust me.
On the brighter side of things, I loved seeing NY (never been before); I
bought some kool records, did a little sight-seeing, and overheard someone
at Other Music saying the Ninja show was disappointing. BTW, anyone else
go? How was it for you?
Later,
Jeff