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Stone Roses reunion likely (“It’s happening”, says Ian Brown)

chris — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 15:04:46 +0000

The internet is buzzing with rumors that The Stone Roses are reuniting.

I was first informed days ago that a Goldenvoice insider was quoted as saying, “we’re working on getting them for Coachella”.

Then this morning The Sun ran this article and NME followed up with this article.

Elbow’s Guy Garvey has also confirmed the reunion, with a source telling the paper: “Guy was talking to friends about how the original line-up had been rehearsing over the summer in Manchester.”

Shirts designed by me are now available

chris — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 22:58:05 +0000

The alternapop.com store with a few designs is up now. These are items I’ve designed personally or recreated from old now defunct favorites.

This is one of the t-shirts I’ve designed. It’s a vector drawing of San Francisco International Airport with 2 small additions. Can you spot them? A hint is that the text reads, “San Francisco Galactic Airport”.

Look at all of the aircraft parked at the gates. I realize the image is a bit small here so you should venture over to my store to see a larger image and read the text for the answers. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Two of them should be out of place. You can buy this with or without the “San Francisco Galactic Airport” text at the bottom and on any number of shirt colors and sizes.

The other shirts are from an old favorite bar called Mean Mr. Mustard’s. This was a dive bar at Ohio State in the 80′s and 90′s that played alternative music like The Cult, The Cure, The Smiths, New Order, Echo, etc. The two designs are replicas of shirts that used to be available there before it was torn down.

Coachella 2011 photos

chris — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 04:18:17 +0000

You can view the whole set here on Flickr

Elbow’s Guy Garvey

The National’s Matt Berninger

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s Kip Berman

Phantogram’s Sarah Barthel

The National and two new must see videos

chris — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 02:48:14 +0000

Live Nation magazine subscription scam duping customers out of $14.99 per purchase

chris — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 20:13:15 +0000

Please beware that when purchasing tickets to certain events via Live Nation (Ticketmaster) you are very easily be duped into a “bonus” or “complimentary” magazine subscription. Why is this a scam?

First of all, yes, Live Nation gives you the option to ‘opt out’ of this “complimentary” subscription but it’s listed under “Privacy Information”. It should be listed elsewhere with a different heading. Also, “bonus” implies free, no cost to you, and this is not the case. Also, you must check the box to opt-out versus checking the box to opt-in.
(Click on the image below for larger version)

Secondly, if you do decline this “bonus” offer, you are then eligible for a “refund” of $14.99 if you are thorough enough to read the fine print and follow a couple links. Why are you eligible for a “refund” if this is indeed a “complimentary” offer?!

“Ticket Special Bonus:
A one-year (52) subscription to Entertainment Weekly (a $14.99 value) is included in your concert ticket purchase today. Your first issue will mail in 8-12 weeks. You will not receive a bill for this magazine subscription. This offer is valid for new U.S. subscribers only and is limited to one subscription per household. Entertainment Weekly publishes eight double issues a year. Each double issue counts as two of 52 issues in an annual subscription. The subscription will be mailed to your ticket purchase order shipping address. If you would like to decline your magazine subscription you may request a $14.99 rebate. To request this rebate: please mail this completed form along with confirmation of purchase to Live Nation Rebate, Entertainment Weekly, P.O. Box 63440, Tampa, FL 33663-3440 within 30 days of your purchase.”

I, for one, didn’t read the fine print and received 2 issues of Entertainment Weekly in the mail. I had no idea why I was receiving this magazine until a friend, weeks later, asked me if I noticed this practice on Live Nation’s website when she was purchasing tickets for a different comedy show. That’s when it became obvious to me why I was receiving Entertainment Weekly. Of course this was 30 days after my “purchase” and too late to request a refund. I suspect this is intentional and part of the scam. By the time customers figure out what is going on, it’s too late. 6-8 weeks to receive your magazine, remember?

Here is the quote from Live Nation’s Privacy Policy:

“Newsletter and Magazine Subscriptions: When you complete the ticket purchase for our shows, you will be automatically enrolled in our newsletter. In addition, for some shows you may receive a complimentary subscription to a trade magazine. For this purpose, we will provide your name and mailing address to the magazine subscription fulfillment company. You may choose to simultaneously opt out of both subscriptions during the checkout process.”

You can see the entire Live Nation final ticket purchase page to the right. (click on it to enlarge) Notice how there is a timer on it at the bottom right? It forces you to rush through the page and not read everything because you’re afraid of losing your tickets.

Let’s put a stop to this practice by complaining directory to Live Nation. You can retweet this here.

-Chris Thacker
http://alternapop.com
http://twitter.com/indiesongaday

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Update: May 11, 2011

On February 18, I purchased tickets via Live Nation to see Kevin Nealon at Cobb’s Comedy Club in San Francisco. Now that I’m aware of Live Nation’s duplicity when buying comedy tickets I was diligent enough to check the box to decline the “complimentary” magazine subscription and fill out the necessary paperwork to receive the $14.99 refund on said COMPLIMENTARY subscription. I mailed out the paperwork within a week.

On April 28th, I realized that I hadn’t received my refund so I tweeted this to @livenation and a specific Live Nation employee who follows me. She said she’d have someone look into it.

On May 2nd, Ben from Live Nation emailed me to assist. I told him that I hadn’t yet received my refund and was curious if Live Nation had a comment regarding my concerns about the nature of how these subscriptions are filled. He said he’d look into the refund and ignored my other point.

On May 4th he said that he learned that the refund had been processed and I received a voice mail that day or the next. I replied back:

“Hi Ben,
Thanks for your help with this.

So correct me if I’m misunderstanding this whole process but every time
someone orders comedy tickets online, they must opt-out of a “free”
magazine subscription yet are entitled to a refund if they both decline
the free subscription and fill out the necessary paperwork? LiveNation
expects customers to repeat this process over and over for every ticket
purchase?”

Again no reply.

Today it’s May 11th and I have yet to receive my refund. I emailed Ben, the Live Nation rep, and he replied back, “The check is on the way and you will be receiving it this week!”. This tells me that they didn’t send the check before, like he said they did, and they just got around to it. Really?

Additionally, I found this class action lawsuit against Ticketmaster (1)(2)(3)(4) from 2000! They have been doing this for over a decade.

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Update: June 1, 2011

After calling/emailing Live Nation numerous times I finally received my rebate check for $19.99. I have no idea why that was the amount versus the stated $14.99. So the three tickets I purchased totaled around $89 and I got $20 knocked off of that.

Microsoft replacement of black man causes uproar over a common advertising practice

chris — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:41:57 +0000

Microsoft recently used a different version of a photo within an ad for two different markets. Apparently this has caused an uproar, Microsoft has apologized, and replaced the changed photo.

huffingtonpost.com

All they did was photoshop out a black man and replaced him with a white man. Advertisers and marketers have been doing this since the beginning of advertising and marketing.

I was part of a similar plan in 2003. I was a model for a Microsoft ad where they hired 3 men and 1 woman. The other two men were of Japanese and Chinese decent. Their intent was to use a different version of the ad for different markets, US, Europe and Japanese.

Click on each photo icon above to see the full size ad.

Why is this just now being brought to light and frowned upon? Because the man was photoshopped and it wasn’t reshot with a different actor?

Twitter Indie Song A Day just started

chris — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:41:11 +0000

http://twitter.com/IndieSongADay

“Request and feedback welcome”

WOXY Vintage streaming radio, “bam!”

chris — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:56:07 +0000

Listen to WOXY Vintage streaming radio with iTunes. Other streams available for other apps too.

What is it?

Welcome to WOXY Vintage, a 24/7 streaming channel from WOXY.com dedicated to the history of Modern Rock, Alternative and Punk music. You’ll hear nearly 30 years of adventurous, innovative and influential music from The Velvet Underground, The Clash, Talking Heads, The Smiths, Depeche Mode and much more. Consider it your Modern Rock primer.

Hotels, Sleepover Disaster, Skycamp, James Lanman (san francisco local show)

chris — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:37:25 +0000

Here is your chance to catch a pretty good local show for cheap that is filled with quality music!

http://sonicliving.com/event/1240860

Hotels:
http://www.alternapop.com/2009/02/17/hotels-new-wave-post-punk/

Sleepover Disaster:
http://www.myspace.com/thesleepoverdisaster

Skycamp:
http://www.myspace.com/skycamp

James Lanman:
http://www.myspace.com/jameslanman

Octo Mom car window stickers

chris — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:48:44 +0000

click on the photo for a larger photo