Braised Lambchop
a nurse trying to work while suffering with chronic pain - she rambles a bit

This is the stupidest robber on the face of the earth.

I can't believe a defense attorney and a judge went along with it - but this is Oklahoma, after all. This is the state that tried Terry Nichols twice - just in case, you know, he served out his federal life sentence and had some life left to serve as a guest in McAlester.

(From Dr. Andy.)

Want to see how much rock stars make? Feel like throwing a brick at your monitor every time you buy tickets from Ticketbastard? Go read this blog entry from Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies, responding to a fan's outrage at high ticket costs and the variance in cost from one venue and city to the next. BNL is touring this holiday season (unfortunately they're not coming this far south) and tickets are on sale now, prompting a fan to express his outrage about ticket prices:

From SP:

Someone who calls has written to me via the ‘Call & Answers’ section of the blog, and the question got me thinking that perhaps some of our fans would like a better explanation of where their money goes when they buy tickets to our shows. Not sure how many people read the C&A page, so I’m posting the whole exchange here. Thanks to Fin for the help.…

From ‘your conscience’:

So, after ticketmaster (sic) charges and stuff, I would wind up paying over 60 bucks for one of the 'good' tickets for your upcoming tour. I already paid 40 bucks to see your last holiday tour. What's gonna be so special about this one, Steve? Or should I call you Don Henley? ... (snip) ... Take care (but seriously, 53 bucks?).

From SP:

Hello Conscience,

As you didn't mention which city you're in, I can't respond specifically to why the prices of the two shows are so disparate, but perhaps you’re now sitting a better seat? We’ve always tried to keep our ticket prices in check, but, being a shorter tour, prices sometimes get a bit higher just so we can cover our costs. That said, the prices are pretty much in line with other tours in similar venues, as opposed to the $190 U2 tickets, $125 Eagles tickets, $250 for Simon and Garfunkel, and McCartney and Stones Tickets going for as much as $400!

After I regained my composure from being called Don Henley (Joe Walsh would have been nicer, thanks), I asked our tour manager, Fin, to give us a breakdown of where the money goes. Though he is kind enough to leave out the fact that the venues and promoters (often subsidiaries of the same company) often get sizeable kickbacks from Ticketmaster, I am not. They do. But otherwise, this is a realistic breakdown (of) our revenues....

I won't post Fin's response, with the breakdown of the group's estimated earnings from a 22 stop tour, because it's very detailed and I have a difficult time simply pasting entire posts from another person's or group's blog like that. I feel it's important to send people to the author's site because that's how I would like to be treated myself if I wrote a piece like this one and posted it here as my original work. So, if you think the life of a touring musician is full of big cash rewards derived from your $50 concert ticket, go read the whole item. It's an eye-opener.