14 posts from May 2008

It was such an amazing show last night.  We missed the Elvis Costello portion of the show, but strolled in just in time for Sting and the boys to take the stage.  They looked great, and sounded FANSTASTIC. 

 

Even if you aren’t a fan of their music, you really should go see the show just to be a part of the history.  Three guys up there just knocking it out of the park.  I looked around and saw a 40 year age swing of people, all singing along to the songs and dancing in the aisles.

 

I will put up a few videos tonight that I took with my cheap ass camera when I get home.  I asked the people next to me how much they paid for their tickets, and they paid $250.  We paid $80.  Amazing. 

 

I am very excited to move forward with the book.  I think it is going to be welcomed by most.

 

Max

My girl kicks so much ass, it’s almost not fair.  Check back to a few days ago when I was kicking myself for not going with the $80 tickets for The Police show that I found on Craigslist a few weeks ago.  If you recall, I had the opportunity to get 4 tickets in Section M, row 20 for just about $10 each over face value once you add all the charges and what not.  Face value was $54.50 plus the $11.50 convenience charge.  So around $65 and they were going for $80.  Not bad, right.  Well, I decided to pass, keeping with my “only pay face value or less” mentality.  I got nervous a few days ago thinking that I screwed myself over $10 lousy bucks each.

 

Well, I stand humbled and corrected.  Last night, the Squirrel won 4 tickets on eBay in section F2, row 7 for $80 each!  Same price as the tickets were from before, but WAY cheaper.  Face value on these tickets are $99.50 plus $11.50 convenience, totaling $110 Face Value.  So we got them for $30 each UNDER FACE VALUE. 

 

ARE YOU F*#KING KIDDING ME!?!?

 

I checked online just to give a quick comparison, and this is what I found:

Tickets Available for The Police & Elvis Costello

Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday, May 28, 2008

 

The Police & Elvis Costello on May 28, 2008			Tickets Available	Tickets Selected
Seat Location		Price Each			Seating Chart
Section: U3	Row: 20	$100.00	8	1 2 3 4 5 6 8
Section: Q2	Row: 19	$100.00	4	2 4
Section: V1	Row: 9	$101.00	2	2
Section: W3	Row: 9	$101.00	8	1 2 3 4 5 6 8
Section: P2	Row: 11	$121.00	2	2
Section: WEST ACCESS	Row: PARK	$128.00	1	1
Section: K2	Row: 11	$164.00	4	2 4
Section: F2	Row: 9	$174.00	2	2

 

 

That’s my girl!!!!!!!  

 

Max

I looked up on StubHub for the price of the tickets for the seats we got for the first 1 1/2 quarters of last nights Lakers vs. Spurs, and this is what came up.  This is for tomorrow's game, but you get the picture....

\NBA Western Conference Finals Tickets: San Antonio Spurs at Los Angeles Lakers- Series C - Home Game 2

Fri, May 23, 2008 at 6:00 PM (PST) at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, CA

So I can now officially say that the plays I have developed work in just about any situation.  Case in point, the Western Conference Championship Game 1 last night between the Lakers and Spurs.

 

I was able to secure tickets yesterday up in the 300 section for face value, which was a feat in itself, seeing as the game was completely “sold out”.  I was searching the day before the game and prices were hovering around $125 or so for the cheapest possible seats.  So to see them drop down to face value the day of the game just supports my thinking about waiting until the last moment in order to get the best prices.

 

But the real winner for the night was that for the first 1 ½ quarters, we got to sit in the 6^th row behind the Spurs Bench.  This is something that I have been doing all season long, but I thought would be pretty damn near impossible for several reasons.

 

I used my “season’s greetings” play to get down to my normal section, but these are the playoffs, and the tickets look completely different than they do during the regular season.  This was my buddy’s first time going with me, so he just held the nachos and his beer and let me take care of getting us in.  The usher spent a few extra minutes looking at my tickets, but I held fast like I knew where I was going, and sure enough, he let us through.

 

We started in the 11^th row, but before the tip off, I noticed two seats in the 6^th row that were separated by a small, 12” gap between them.  This ran the whole length of the section from top to bottom.  This may go unnoticed to the untrained eye, but for me it was the perfect place to sit.  It was exactly in the middle of the section, and these were the only two seats available, so if anyone started coming down the isle from either direction, I knew that it would be time to implement the exit strategy.  In the row directly behind us, the same two seats were available.  So a very easy escape to different seats could be made without bothering anyone, and more importantly, not causing any commotion that would alert the ushers.  The last thing we wanted was to cause trouble, especially since this is such a big game and we wanted to watch the whole thing.

 

The first quarter came and went and there we were still.  AWESOME!  Half way through the second quarter, the rightful owners show up and we make our quick escape up one row.  This lasts for another few minutes until the owners of those seats arrived.  At $600 per seat, I knew that eventually we would have to vacate that area, but for a while there it was pretty incredible.

 

We made our way up to section 311 where our tickets were and watched the rest of the game from there.  I admit that I am a bit spoiled in my seating history, but it was still so great to be a part of the excitement there.  When the Lakers came back from 20 points down to take the lead in the 4^th quarter, there is no other place on earth that was more exciting than at the Staples Center.

 

Here are a few pics of the night.  Will post some video that I took at the end of the game in my next posting.  Can’t wait for Friday’s Game 2!!!!

 

 

OK, now I am going.  I couldn't stop myself!!!!! 

Section 331 row 11, Face Value.

Now to see where we end up!!!!! 

Stay tuned.

Go Lakers!!!!!

Lakers Tickets Game 1 tonight Face Value; upper section….

 

I just wanted to give anyone the heads up who may want to go to the Lakers Game tonight that I found two sets of two tickets for Face Value tonight.

 

Click here if interested:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-Lakers-vs-Spurs-Tickets-WCF-5-21-FACE-VALUE-PRICE_W0QQitemZ270239306322QQihZ017QQcategoryZ16122QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

Just a public service announcement from yours truly!

 

Go Lakers!!!

What am I thinking?!

 

You may or may not be aware that THE POLICE are doing three days after Memorial Day Weekend at the Hollywood Bowl with special guest ELVIS COSTELLO.

 

This is a MUST SEE event for me.  I may have gotten caught up in my own game too much because I just passed up four tickets in section N, which aren’t horrible seats, for $80 each.  I know that face value on them is $54 and with convenience charges, etc that they would come out to $70 each.  So what’s an extra $10 a pop, right?  Right!  This is where I sometimes kick myself.

 

I would normally buy the cheapest ticket and move to the front, but I am coming with friends from out of town and I want to just get the best seat I can and stay put.  I will definitely be putting my skills to the test and will keep you informed on what happens.

 

More to come on this…..

This email was just sent to me from a guy named Jeff who took my advice at the Dodgers game tonight…

 

Thank you max deale!

...

ViewFriday, May 9, 2008 7:43:35 PM

To:

 Cc: 

photo.jpg (59KB)

 

 

3 tix 11 rows behind homeplate $30 - YEAH BOYYY!

 

Game on, Jeff.  Game ON!

 

Max

Thanks to a Smoking Deal from Travelzoo, I was able to treat my friends to last nights Dodgers vs. Mets game.  These tickets that normally go for $28-31 per ticket were on Travelzoo for $7 plus $2 handling for a total of $9 each.  That meant I got all 8 tickets for $72.  That is over 65% off face value.

It was the first time my friends had been introduced to THE HOLE at the stadium, so now they all know where to park for free.  It was a great game with the Rookie DeWitt hitting an Inside the Park Home Run, his first ever and the first Dodger to do it in almost 5 years.  The Dodgers won 5-4. 

 

My friends all acted as the cast of my upcoming spoof commercials that I am going to put online at YouTube, etc.  These commercials will spoof what people go through to get tickets when they don’t know what they are doing.  Stay tuned.  It should be funny.  Thanks to them for helping me put those together.

 

By the way, Travelzoo sends weekly Top 20 deals directly to your email.  If you want to sign up for it (it is free), go to www.travelzoo.com and they will hook it up.

 

There are four games remaining for these amazing deals for the Dodgers.  They include tonight’s game against the Mets as well as the three game stance against the Cincinnati Reds later this month.  Top deck tickets were as low as $2 and field tix were $15.  If you are only going to go to a Dodgers game once this year, this is the time to do it.

To get these tickets, go to Ticketmaster, pick the game you want to go to, then pick the number of tickets you want under Promo tickets, then enter the area you want, then enter TZOO2 as the code.  For More information on the tickets, go to Travel Zoo's web site and type in DODGERS under the search box.

Go Blue!

 

 

It’s not very often that I recommend a ticket broker for ANYTHING (In fact, you could probably file this under “Never say Never”), but a guy just hooked me up big time for two tickets this Friday for WICKED at the Pantages.

 

My buddy came to me this morning and wanted to take his wife to see the show, and knew that I could find him the hook up.  I checked Craigslist and eBay (I always do that before going anywhere else), and found a pair in the Orchestra, 24^th row for $240 or best offer.  I know that face is $95 plus fees, which almost comes out to $120 each.  But still, if it says best offer, I am going to see what I can do to lower it.  I offered $200 and sat back and waited a few minutes.  It came back accepted (automatic savings of $40).

 

I checked on StubHub and the best deal they had was $148 plus fees, coming out to $170 per ticket, totaling $340.  So my buddy has now saved a total of $140.  I felt good about that.  I recommended a restaurant within walking distance that had a good steak and now he and his wife are all set to go.  With the savings on the tickets, it is like he is getting dinner for free.  Needless to say, he is stoked.

 

But back to the broker for a moment.  I give me full recommendation to this dude.  His name is Bruce.  He specializes in WICKED tickets and will hook you up.  His phone number is 310-462-3612.  His independent company is called THE WICKED TICKET.  His handle on eBay is oompa_wonkaville and he has a 100% rating. 

 

So if you want to treat your lady to a great show (the squirrel brought me here for my birthday and it is indeed a fantastic show, even if you aren’t into musicals, which I am not), then give Bruce a call or email and he will hook it up.

 

If you are feeling a bit more daring, then you should try the lottery system for WICKED at the Pantages.  It works like this.  Show up at 5:30 the day of the show and put your name in with the door guy.  At 6pm, he draws 25 names from the hat.  If your name is selected, you can get two (2) tickets for the FRONT ROW for $25 each.  You must be present to win, and you can’t sell them afterwards.  It is a phenomenal deal for FRONT ROW.  The downside is that your name might not be called.  But I talked with the guy at the front door and he told me that the average number of people that show up for the lottery on any given night is 50.  So your chances are one in two or 50%.  Not bad.  If you are selected, the show starts at 8pm, so you have plenty of time to grab some sushi at Katsuya on Hollywood and Vine, a steak at Musso and Franks or Citizen Smith, or a drink or five next door at the Frolic Room. 

 

Definitely a great night out.  Enjoy!