
1. This is the Ticketmaster security code I was faced with this morning when REM tickets went on sale. I think they were getting back at me for posting those other codes. Any guesses?
2. Can someone please explain to me why, for a show that doesn’t sell out, if you wait hours or even weeks after tickets go on sale you can get better “best available” tickets than you would have gotten at the moment they go on sale? I am already finding better seats for REM this afternoon than I found when tickets went on sale this morning. Ticketmaster, you are lame.

REM was my favorite band and soundtrack for my life for many years. If bands were significant others (if only!), REM would be my long term relationship. But as often happens with LTRs, things got a little stale as the years went on. We tried to stick together for old time’s sake, but the magic was gone, and finally REM and I parted amicably. For the past few years I’ve been seeing other bands, and I’ve gotten pretty serious with one in particular. I’ve moved on, but REM, I’ll never forget you and the times we shared.
Oh god. Anyway, with REM reappearing on the scene with a new album (April 1?) and tour (June 13!), it hit me that it really does seem like a lifetime since I’ve thought about them. Their new album is supposed to be a “return to form”, whatever that means. My hopes aren’t high since they’ve said that about the last 3, but I’m looking forward to it anyway.
From one of the last times I saw them in concert:
Me (standing in line for hot chocolate): “Why is the line for hot chocolate way longer than the beer line at a rock concert?”
Woman behind me in line: “Because we’re old!”