Posted on 11/28/2007 7:08:32 AM PST by TornadoAlley3
TALLAHASSEE -- Responding to what he calls ''obscenely high prices'' for concert tickets, a state lawmaker from Miami Beach wants to crack down on people who scoop up tickets and resell them at hundreds of dollars more than face value.
Rep. Dan Gelber, who has two daughters, ages 7 and 9, will unveil his proposed legislation Tuesday at North Beach Elementary School, just hours before Disney Channel pop sensation Hannah Montana performs at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise.
His bill -- which would have to navigate through a GOP-controlled Legislature before becoming law -- takes aim primarily at those who resell tickets. Gelber, the House Democratic leader, is upset with ticket brokers and others who obtained large numbers of tickets to the Montana show through automated software. Tickets for Hannah Montana are being resold for hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of dollars more than face value.
''A lot of people who wanted to go to the concert would have obtained tickets instead of most of them going to scalpers and resellers,'' said Gelber, who said he was unable to buy tickets to the Montana show because he was unwilling to pay the inflated prices.
Last year, state lawmakers repealed Florida's anti-scalping law that prevented anyone from reselling a concert ticket for more than $1 above the face value. The Legislature overwhelmingly approved the proposal.
Gelber's bill would not bring back the anti-scalping law, but it would make it a crime to use ''ticket purchasing software'' to obtain tickets from a website. The legislation would also require companies that resell tickets to register with the state and post a $50,000 bond. Those who break the law could be fined three times the amount of the scalped ticket.
Any effort to impose price caps on resold tickets would likely be opposed by those who pushed to change Florida law in 2006.
A spokesman for Ticketmaster, the world's largest ticketing company, said there remains a need for people to be able to buy tickets from those who are reselling.
''We recognize and respect the need for a legitimate resale market -- one where tickets are acquired initially in an appropriate and lawful manner, where all relevant laws are complied with, and where the terms and conditions set by the event provider'' are respected, said spokesman Joseph Freeman.
Gelber is trying to enlist the help of Miley Cyrus, the teenage girl who portrays Montana, to join him. Gelber wrote a letter to her agent in California on Monday asking her to attend his Tuesday press conference.
''My daughters -- Sophie [age 9] and Hannah [age 7] -- love your show. My wife and I also like it because it contains family friendly themes. Regrettably, our daughters will be unable to attend your Broward County concert on Tuesday because so many of the tickets were purchased by ticket scalpers who are reselling them at obscenely high premiums,'' Gelber wrote.
''I recognize that the circumstances that created this were not of your making. However, it has hurt your fans -- including the ones in my family -- so I hope you will be willing to speak out,'' he added.
Hannah Montana concerts have created a frenzy across the country and three state attorney generals have launched investigations into the sale of the tickets. Last week a lawsuit was filed against Montana's fan club, alleging that those who joined were told that they would be given first crack at concert tickets.
Iirc correctly, they have six or seven children, so they could have gone the “stick a pin in the dictionary” route :-).
The story I read said they called her “Smiley” when she was a baby, and then got lazy with pronunciation and ended up with “Miley.” Sort of like my calling Vlad “Twinkleknees” when he was crawling, and then “Twinkles,” and now “Twink” ... if we used “Twink” as his professional name when we becomes a star!
See 21 - you got it right!
There must not be any other pressing problems to solve/address for the good citizens of Florida...
Since when do Democrats support "family friendly themes?"
If parents want to shell out money for the crap Disney passes off as “music” I say let ‘em pay $5000 per ticket. Once “Hannah” reaches puberty her music fan base will evaporate. See Hillary Duff.
They even had guys who watched the lines: they saw you twice, you were gone. And they knew who the scalpers were, had pictures of them.
Rattle anything you want about "free market". Bill Graham booked those performers and wanted to sell his tickets to the people who were going to his shows, and the scalpers pissed him off. He didn't see any reason why they should profit for all of his work just by showing up early or scamming Ticketmaster. And that was his freedom to do in his market.
So a Stones ticket might have cost a fair amount, but it came from BGP, and everyone paid the same price, and I never heard a complaint from the people going to the concerts.
The scalpers looked a bit upset, though.
...I think more and more the public is frozen out of tickets to major sporting events, concerts and other live performances....I first saw this 10 years ago when my wife and I wanted to see “Stars on Ice”....tickets were to go on sale at 10am on a Monday....at 9:59 I dialed six digits of the Ticketron number....at precisely 10:00 I punched in the 7th digit and the call went thru...the best I could do were seats way up high in the corner...the next day there were plenty of good sideline seats from ticket brokers in the paper!
Now here’s what really gripes my butt....when the city fathers want a new colesium they tell the public “vote ‘yes’ on this $40 million bond proposal so we can attract big events”....well the new arena will attract big events all right, but the average guy will never see one unless he’s prepared to pay thru the nose....and this in a building that the public paid for!!
Just so you know, "twink" is slang in the gay world for a young, easily-exploitable male who has not yet been ruined. Short for Twinkie, meaning fresh.
Learned it here on FR years ago, so don't get any crazy ideas!
Ugh. One learns the most unpleasant things here ...
Thank goodness we're not on the metric system, "Kilometery" would be worse.
I'd rather know about this stuff and avoid it than run into it, happenstance, in our society.
A nuts and bolts example is the gay hook-up spots in my town. I like to ride my mountain bike (at night, now that it gets dark so early), and have found that one biking spot is also a gay spot. After my first run-in with "Bruce of the Woods" I learned my lesson and ride elsewhere!
How many folks, do you suppose, know the linguistic origin and meaning of their given names?
Here in Texas, Miley is pronounced “Molly”.
Not many, which surprises me.
Given names and their meanings/origins have always interested me.
Gee, ticket scalping..now there’s a hotbutton issue! My brother lived off his earnings scalping Bruce Springsteen tickets in the early 1980’s! It effects this guy, so all of a sudden IT MUST BE STOPPED! LOL!
Have you ever seen this show??? I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but my hubby and I started watching it and it’s just a wholesome, old-fashioned sit-com for kids. the kids are dressed appropriately, the jokes are funny (and corny), the acting is pretty good for what it is, and best of all (and different from other shows geared at tweens) THE SEXUAL INNUENDOS are completely innocent. It reminds me of TV from the 70’s. When you get through with the marketing and the music, these Cyrus’s are going to be BILLIONAIRES. Genius marketing.
Maile (pronounced MY-lay*) Alyxia oliviformis ("chain resembling olive") is a flowering vine in the family Apocynaceae that can be found in native forests of the Hawaiian Islands. Maile grows on a vine with green oval pointed leaves. The leaves have a strong vanilla-like fragrance. Maile grows in cool moist climates with indirect sunlight.
I’m trying to think of an “innocent” sexual innuendo. Haha.
There are...normal teen things...kissing, etc. The character in this show is a gorgeous 15 year old. You have to address the boy/girl thing. But they do it tastefully and funny.
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