The Downsides to Concerts

For anyone who knows me or anyone who has read my previous blogs, my boyfriend and I go to a lot of shows/concerts/music festivals. We are no strangers to the patchouli scented scene that is jam music.  I have attended the following shows:

The Monkees - Star Plaza Theatre, IN - 96'
Paul McCartney - The United Center, IL 99'
Warped Tour - Tweeter Center, IL - 01'
Warped Tour - Tweeter Center, IL - 03'
Summercamp Music Festival, IL -  04'
Particle - The Pearl Room, IL - 04'
Dave Matthews - Tweeter Center, IL - 04'
Particle - The Congress Theater - IL - 04'
Summercamp Music Fesitval, IL 05'
Dave Matthews - Alpine Music Theater, WI - 05'
Keller Williams - Canopy Club - 07'
Umphreys McGee - The Aragon, IL 08'
Rothbury Music Festival, MI - 08'
Disco Biscuits - Congress Theatre, IL - 09'
Keller Williams - Canopy Club - 09'
Umphreys McGee - Auditorium Theater, IL 09'
Phish - Alpine Valley Music Theater, WI - 09'
Phish (Festival 8) - Indio, CA - 09'
Keller Williams - The Canopy Club, IL - 10'
Phish - Alpine Valley Theater, WI -10'
Primus - Congress Theater, IL - 10'
Phish (Superball IX) - Watkins Glen, NY - 11'
String Cheese Incident - The Aragon, IL - 11'

Needless to say, I have been to quite a few shows.  Unfortunately the last show for Cheese was cut short, mainly because some asshole stole Ben's bank card at some point the night before and he didn't realize it until a half hour before we were supposed to leave for the concert. Naturally, that will instantly ruin your night, but also because we finally came to the realization of how ignorant the attendees are at these jam shows.

Firstly, The Aragon is a semi-huge venue in Chicago.  It can house a large amount of people easily, but apparently they never sell out of tickets and over stuff the venue for whatever reason with sweaty, smelly bodies, so Ben and I were literally backed into a wall for the 40 minute duration we made it through the show. I could not move. It's a good thing we didn't move too because had we moved, the asshole in front of us sporting a gigantic, bulging, backpack wouldn't have had any room to maneuver his giant asshole bag around in the crowd.  What are you carrying in that backpack? Your friends? A blanket? What gives? Why is it necessary that you bring a gigantic backpack into a sardine packed venue? It's like a wandering airbag that plows into innocent bystanders and knocks them down steps and into walls, and god forbid you should step into someone holding a dixie cup of beer that they just had to take out a second mortgage to purchase. Shame on you.

Secondly, it is a non-smoking venue. Have a little respect for the sea of people who don't smoke in the crowd, and don't blow your cigarette and weed smoke on us while your flailing around, punch dancing all of us.

Thirdly, If you have gigantic dreads, wear them down for the night. When you put your dreads in a ponytail, it creates a very deadly and large weapon of mass destruction that may have the same effect as the 'backpack guy' or even worse, possibly end up in the persons mouth trying to have a good time behind you. This also goes for girls will extremely long hair. There is no reason you have to put your ponytail up and then swing it around like Jan Brady. You don't pay property taxes on the tiny 1x1 space we all get, so knock the shit off. Nobody thinks you're cute accept all the drunk assholes blowing weed on people and punch dancing everyone. (Which reminds me, what is up with the fairy wings and tutus? You look retarded.)

Fourth, If you are going to throw glowsticks at a show (which I encourage), get the little, thin, glowsticks that you can make bracelets out of. Unfortunately, dumbasses will bring gigantic, thick glowsticks with hooks on them that rocket down and hurt people when they come down. Are you stupid? Why would you get these?  When you are in a store and you see gigantic glowsticks, that weigh approximately 2 pounds a peice, why the hell would you be like, 'Yeah, these will be a good idea, nobody really needs their eyes anyway." Seriously, have a little common sense. Assholes. OH, and don't even get me started on the Sky Lanterns. Do you understand how dangerous it is to bring those to a festival around all those dreadlocks? When you light them, you have to wait until they are ready to take off, but instead, without fail, some idiot will light it and try to throw it like a frisbee and it ends up falling back into the crowd.  These are at the outdoor festivals obviously, but it wouldn't surprise me if someone tried to let one go in a venue.

Lastly, why do you drive from Georgia to Chicago and then stand outside with $20 bucks to get a ticket? I guess I respect the fact that you are a dedicated fan, but shit, you can't wait until they come around to your state? It's not my problem, but still. Wtf? It seems pretty stupid to travel 16 hours or so with $20 bucks?

Other than that, I love shows and I love music, but after being at so many, all this stuff has just really started to get to me. No more indoor venue shows, not for awhile at least.

Comcast Rant

Since I moved out on my own into the big old world, Comcast has been my cable provider. At first, they seemed ideal and the corny commercials seemed legitimate.  But then, they give you 6 months free of a promotional priced package, where I was paying around $80 a month, then shoots up to some ridiculously overpriced amount. Currently I am paying roughly $150 bucks a month for this. Ben and I have ONE box, NO DVR service, NO movie channels, basic HD channels, and "Xfinity" internet.  What in the HELL am I paying $150 bucks for?  I'm not asking to see a copy of my statement, because I've seen it. I GET what I am PAYING for but what I don't understand is how they can charge people $150 a month for cable and internet?


So yesterday, I get another $150 bill and that was about it for me. Not to mention, if you are one day late on your bill, they shut your service off and then charge you $5 bucks a device to turn all of your stuff back on. They shut me off last month because I was a day late, and 2 months before that they shut me off for being $.20 cents off on the bill. Twenty CENTS off.  When I called them to complain, they said, "Well the computer system shuts you off, not the reps."  And still, thereafter, charged me the reconnect fees.  Not to mention, that my internet connection is so unbelievably slow that more often than not, I have to restart my computer because it's working so hard to bring up a website that it just freezes. Two months this went on before I finally called Comcast (I put it off because most of the time when I talk to them I get nowhere so I just kept procrastinating) and the guy was completely confused when I asked him to run a health check on my system.  He kept mumbling weird things into the phone before finally putting me on hold for 20 minutes. I had actually set my phone down, turned it on speaker, and then forgot I was on hold, because I had time to watch almost a whole show before I realized that my phone was still on. He never came back, so I hung up. Useless.


Yesterday, I got online with a rep and asked them why I keep getting bills that were so outrageous. I also wanted some kind of compensation for the fact that I've had the slowest Internet on the planet. I figure if I'm going to get raped all this money, I can at least have a Internet connection that works faster than the speed of my hair growing.  The rep tells me that he cannot talk to me because I'm not an authorized user on the account.  Ben has called Comcast before and told them that I was, and although I've fought with Comcast numerous times, that was the first time I'd heard that one.  I have a feeling that after all my complaining to them, they've blacklisted me, but instead just told me that I'm not authorized to speak to anyone. I told him "Thanks for nothing as usual" and logged off. In a stint of rage, I completed the survey you are forced to take after chatting with an online rep and without even reading the questions, just vigorously clicked 'highly dissatisfied' until my finger hurt. Then in the comment section I went on a long rant (basically what I just typed here) but made sure to end my comment with 'Your service is terrible, Comcast is terrible and I hate you".


That'll show 'em.


The conclusion? I'm still stuck with a $150 bill and nothing is being done about my internet.


Moral of the story: Keep calling Comcast and complaining because it makes you feel better.