I always have something to say about ticket buying stuff. And I'm writing this before I've seen any Rush shows go on sale. I think that's a good thing. It gives me a glimmer of hope that Rush fans might be spared the same...fate. It also makes me shudder in anticipation of what might be in store for us Rush fans. So at the moment I'm 50/50 hopeful/dreadful.

The Police. Genesis. Rush. Van Halen reunion. Roger Waters returns. Wow. Last summer's concert season seemed like it wasn't a season at all. I didn't see a single act, I don't think. With the exception of David Gilmour in the spring and Roger Waters in the Fall - I didn't see one summer tour or show. And with the above bands (remove Van Halen, they might as well be Diver Down), you know, I think this summer concert season could be spectacular. That is, if you have a Swiss Bank account with a couple of gold bars in it - or rob a bank.

I'd die to see the Police again. And Genesis. Far out. Until I started to look a little closer. And instead of getting that closer to my heart feeling, all of a sudden I started to feel someone reach into my back pocket without asking. Like some punk on a subway bumping into you and ripping you off without knowing it. I'm used to that happening on Ticketmaster. I've tollerated the practice of "convenience fees" for years, or more likely, Ticketmaster has trained me to accept the fact that I'm going to be charged seven to 20 percent of the face value for each ticket I purchase via their website or walk up counter. While I understand the need to make a living, I don't understand why a $260 Police ticket gets tagged with $21.35 in charges. Yeah, we've been over this ground many times before. But this year is particularly disgraceful. And the interesting thing is that I don't think it's all Ticketmaster's fault.

The marketing and ticketing gurus for these bands, besides making a fortune themselves, are somewhat spectacular in their creativity to exploit us out of our money. They've thought up literally dozens of ways for us to go to these concerts and somehow feel enpowered or entitled, like the sound of the music will bathe and soothe us in the fountain of our youths, a time when we paid $10.50 for a ticket and a $1.50 parking or facility fee. Riiiiiiiiight.

The hard numbers are this. The Police tickets are $95 to $260. The Genesis tickets are $77 to $227. Be careful, there are $50 seats. Those are the last few rows at the top of most venues commonly referred to as the "nose bleed" sections. But you have to be careful regarding these prices. Because they fluctuate from venue to venue. Check this out. The Roger Waters pricing is $36 to $260 for Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Two days later in Irvine, CA., an hour away, the tickets are $25 to $129. Can someone please explain this to me? Well, don't because I already know. It's okay to rip off the people who go to the Hollywood Bowl show and then the peons and unwanted people show up in Irvine. Right. How can there exist such a riff in modern society as this! The ticketing prices and policies and variations in price, on sale time and accessable availabilty is almost a case to call the ACLU and the brotherhood of the UAW! Let's get them involved!

It used to be you bought a floor seat and you paid the big money and you also felt, well, empowered and special. "Yeah, we got floor seats and they cost a ton of money but we're on the floor." That's how it used to be. Like an elite club. Now, the pricing for the floor and first two levels of the loge are the same price. What I'm saying is that you can now pay $260 to sit all the way in the back in the loge, or even behind the stage with an obstructed view, for that same $260. Don't believe me? Log on to ticketquacker dhot chom and check it out. I did the research. The floor is no longer that coveted, special place it once was. For me, the coveted place is in the first five rows in the first three sections, and that's it. Outside of that small area - forget it. I'll keep my $260.

Since the floor tickets no longer really hold that much stature anymore, the agencies, managment teams, consultants, marketing gurus and band managers have all come up with other ways to make us feel special while they STEAL our money. Let me show you how to feel good when you are buying a ticket. Just sign up for one of these things, and we'll make you feel like spending the dough was worth it. Afterall, you are an American Express Gold Card carrying member of the Legacy Fan Club aren't you? If you are, you get special access to presale tickets.