giggirl

napalm in the morning

It's so depressing that there are 4 separate threads on the front page about muggings. I've lived in ED for 21 years and the only crime I've ever experienced (touching wood desperately) happened to me 4 days after I moved here. Really sorry about your friend's ordeal - not a very good welcome to the area. I live on Silvester Road - next to Whateley - I use the bus stop outside the police station every evening so I'm always walking up Whateley late at night. I won't use the no 12 bus after dark because it's full of dodgy fare evaders and I had my phone snatched on it a few years ago. Is this a mugging crime wave or have I just been lucky for the last 21 years?

pablogrande Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > We could organise the worlds biggest conga, I'm > sure Ken wouldn't object to closing down central > London for the day What about if we just used the bus lanes?

All you Korn fans out there might be interested to know that Jonathan Davis (lead singer) has some solo gigs planned. He will be playing at Union Chapel Islington on Monday 16th June. Not the easiest venue to get to from ED but it's so nice there that it's worth the effort. You can buy direct from the venue and collect the tickets on the night (thus cutting out those ugly booking fees that we all hate). http://www.unionchapel.org.uk/whatson/index.php/20080601.html

Have just been on the NT's website. There have been returns overnight. You can get seats for the matinee on Saturday 22nd.

Duffy rocks. Amazing voice of course. If you close your eyes you really do hear traces of Dusty. She's extremely pretty and very composed. Oozes confidence. I predict she'll go far. She didn't come on until about 9.15 but the Bush Hall had a great DJ - he even played Thelma Houston's Jumping Jack Flash - now there's a classic.

Sorry I'm such a miserable old bag. The problem at the moment is that I've given up coffee for Lent so I have a permanent headache. Usually by the afternoon I can't take it any more and go to Neros. If only I could stick it out and get through the withdrawal period .... but I'm such a pussy. Anyway, I'm currently inhaling a latte so I'm feeling much better now - and I'm starting to look forward to tonight. Bring it on Duffy!

I'm going to see Duffy tonight at Bush Hall. I know nothing about her. I haven't heard the album. Hope she's OK. I'm feeling grumpy today so getting to Shepherds Bush is an effort. The glass is definitely half empty today.

The queue at the NT is always very civilised. You need to phone the box office and ask what time to arrive as it varies from play to play. It's normally never earlier than about 8.00am. Box office opens at 10.00. Sometimes you just need to be there by the time the box office opens. Give them a ring - they will tell you The first people to arrive usuually get row A in the stalls. After that it goes to circle and then after that to standing. Row A stalls is nice (if a bit close). They do get returns all the time though so it's worth keep checking the website.

Everyone's score is higher than mine! I'm the forum dunce. Gonna attack Africa now (not literally) and see if I can do better.

I thought I was sooooo clever. Then I friend sent me this... I scored 30 out of 44. That's the geographical equivalent of being in the corner with a big white hat on.

KalamityKel Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Further to my experience last nite I am even more > (6) at ticketmaster... I did nothing but cover up > for them, having loads of concert goers shouting > at me as if I was a representative of theirs... at > one point I did turn round to a mouthy young chav > with her posh mother and say "oh I totally agree > with you about ticket master. I'm so glad I don't > work for such a misinformed and unorganised > company" seemed to shut alot of them up! > *breathes* > > giggirl... have you heard of the TCB Group? Vaguely heard of TCB Group - do they manage people? Do you work for them? Sorry you had lots of people being snotty with you. TM are rubbish.

If I told you what I did for a living I would need to poke you with a sharp stick to keep you awake. I have no links with any music company/agency/band, but suffice to say my ear is very close to the ground and I know pretty much everything that is happening. I just like to flag up gigs because I am of the firm opinion that people should get out more and have fun. Life is short. Very often by the time people find out about great gigs they are sold out and it is too late to get tickets at face value. That's it.

Don't even get me started on ticketing. OK here I go.....yes they are all badly organised and run by staff who don?t know their arses from their elbows; their fees are a joke and their so called "customer service" (always a premium number) is non existent. God forbid anything should go wrong with your booking (e.g. your tickets get lost in the post) as you will be put on hold for half a day before speaking to a moron who is rude to you and then cuts you off so you have to redial. If this should happen to you, just phone your credit card company and instigate a ?goods not received? clawback. My advice to anyone is to always buy directly from the venue wherever possible. Some venues still have their own box offices (Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Roundhouse). If it?s a theatre booking, ALWAYS buy direct from the box office. Otherwise, try and buy from a smaller agent (Stargreen, Gigantic). Only buy from Ticketmaster or Seetickets if you really really must because they do next to nothing at all to earn their booking fees. A few years ago I had a booking with Seetickets go very badly wrong; their website crashed mid-booking so my booking went through in triplicate and I ended up with 3 times more seats than I wanted. They were top price seats for a really premium gig so the overbooking amounted to about ?800 in value. See?s ?customer services? washed their hands of the problem. Within half an hour of being knocked back by Seetickets I had a letter of complaint hand-delivered to the desk of Andrew Lloyd-Webber who owns Seetickets. Within minutes of that I had a call from his PA (a really nice lady as it happens); I told her that unless I had immediate satisfaction I would take it up personally with Andy the next time he set foot in the Ivy for lunch. Now ALW has lunch at the Ivy about 3 times a week; I eat there about 3 times a year. Do the maths; our chances of ever meeting were not good. Whatever, I had an instant refund and a call from the MD of Seetickets apologising and blah blah blah. So there you go; if you feel ripped off with booking fees, you know who to write to. Booking fees are money for nothing and it?s time the customer fought back. I told you not to get me started. Rant over.

OK this is going to look really fishy now - I've just found a ticketweb link for Carter which is live. What were the chances of that happening? I don't think this is an official presale BTW - but it's live link so go for it. http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=256997&interface=amg&REFID=carter The parent company of ticketweb is ticketmaster - but ticketweb's booking fees are much less - go figure?

I'm so busted. I'm on the sales team at ticketweb and we work on a commission basis. Don't forget to mention me when you book so that I get my 5%. Thanks.

Oh Snorky - what a cynical post - I'm depressed now.

Apparently livenation only has circle seats - the circle seats at Brixton are terrible. If you want stalls tickets for Carter then my advice is to buy tomorrow morning from www.ticketweb.com. Ticketweb has the lowest booking fees and tend to send the tickets out quickly.

Carter USM playing the Academy again this winter. Tickets for last year's show sold out pretty quickly and then went for silly money on e-bay, so I thought I would flag it up. The date is Saturday 22nd November. There is a pre-sale tomorrow at 9.00am at www.livenation.co.uk.

I think that people who drop chewing gum should be fined ?10,000 on the spot and then be locked in a small room and made to listen to the Spice Girls until their ears fall off.

Like SeanMacG, I also object to how aggressive the street vendors are in trying to get you to take one of their crappy papers. I have so little "me" time in a working day (don't we all) and in days gone by I used to look forward to a quiet walk (to/from the office to the bus stop, sandwich shop etc). I genuinely found these snatched moments in the "fresh" air to be therapeutic and calming. These days if you work in central London you can?t walk down the street without someone stopping you for something or other. I really find this invasive ? I just want to have a moment with my thoughts. Too much to ask?

Hey guys - bargain DVD ?4.99 including delivery at play.com http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/3436614/Taking-Liberties/Product.html

Lightbulb moment - maybe we should ask those very nice people at Cinema Paradiso to screen the Taking Liberties movie at the EDT some time soon. What do you think?

SeanMacGabhann Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I pity anyone dropping into this thread with it's > seemingly innocuous title! > You've got a point there. PeckhamRose! Look what you did.

What Mockney P said - I agree totally. Also, just found this on the BBC "Why did Britain get rid of ID cards after World War II? During the WWII the ID card was seen as a way of protecting the nation from Nazi spies. But in 1952, Winston Churchill's government scrapped the cards. The feeling was that in peacetime they simply were not needed. In fact they were thought to be hindering the work of the police, because so many people resented being asked to produce a card to prove their identity"