Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Scalping for charity

'Some folks prefer to pay more, you get a good seat, a good tax write off and a good feeling for helping for your needy neighbors. It's scalping for charity', says tom Waits.

And that is why five pair of premium tickets to the sold out shows in Phoenix, Houston, Columbus, and Atlanta are being auctioned off to benefit various charities. The auction begins Wednesday, June 11 at 10 am pacific at ticketmaster.com. The auction for the Phoenix show will end Friday, June 13 at noon pacific, while the other three auctions will end Thursday, June 19 at noon pacific.

The charities are: The Young Adult & Family Center, Summerfield Waldorf School,
Catholic Charities, Children's Village of Sonoma County and NAMI - Sonoma County.


UPDATE: the auction seems somewhat hard to find on the Ticketmaster home page. Go to www.ticketmaster.com/tomwaits and click on the more info link.

15 comments:

mimi said...

pirate with a heart of gold?

The Book Of Mikey said...

well, yeah.
though to express my own feelings about the auction, I contemplate the brilliance of "Army Ants"
The Bombardier Beetle, when disturbed wile bidding on the sold out Columbus auction seats, defends itself by emitting a series of explosions, sometimes setting off 4 or 5 reports in succession. The noises sound like miniature popgun blasts and are accompanied by a cloud of reddish coloured vile smelling fluid. usually emanating from the frustration of being outbid by another cooler Tom Waits fan who is crazier than he with their funds.

The Book Of Mikey said...

or as the stranger says in, "The Big Lebowski",
"Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes, the bar eats you"

michael said...

I think this is kind of lame. Couldn't he just donate some of the money he's making from a few of the shows?

Hot Whiskey said...

But don't get me wrong, the fact he's donating anything is generous and better than what many will do.

au·tism (ô'tĭz'əm) said...

just scored sec a, row 8 for the phx show. looks like the auction is a smoke screen to deter ticket buyers. ticketmaster released a whole slew of lower seats last night and just checked this morning, some are still available.

Matto the Hun said...

How is this lame?

It's only 5 pairs of tickets. Not a whole section or row.

It's highly likely he already gives to these charities.

More than just raising money, this drives awareness.

Matto the Hun said...

Don't get me wrong either. I'm not trying to "slam" Hot Whiskey.

Just not sure in what way it is lame.

The Book Of Mikey said...

Kudos to the Hun.

Freshwater Mermaid said...

kill me kill me kill me! I'm ready to skin and grill myself he's NOT coming to MONTREAL gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Hot Whiskey said...

What I meant by it being lame, which may have just been an over reaction, is that it is a donation in which Mr. Waits is giving away very little (in perspective to how much he will make) and asking others to pay high prices to see him (by donating). It just seems a little indirect. For tax purposes? I don't know.

He has played many shows in support of great causes and I'm not saying he is a greedy asshole or anything.

I think the ticketing policy to this tour has been a little difficult. For the Prague shows my girlfriend and I could only buy 1 ticket at a time. He just seems (whether it is his fault or not) to be putting his fans through some real hell. Perhaps you're right and he is donating his own cash to these causes. And you're right, he is bringing awareness (to some). I lazily still haven't looked to see what causes they are.

Hot Whiskey said...

PS,

I wanted to add that I originally thought the post was saying 5 pairs of tickets for each of these shows. 5 total is nothing. Forgive me for my whining.

inabillity said...

hey, this is cool because we'll get to see the highest price people are willing to pay for these shows (but of course the fact that it's for charity could induce them to spend more).

Anonymous said...

I don't mind paying higher prices for charity. We all need all the tax deductions we can get....If I win the "auction" I'll just donate less this year to other causes that I normally do.

Unknown said...

Totally fine with me, this charity auction idea. I actually wasn't aware, up until this tour, how conscious Tom is about scalping and related issues. I followed this site since the early May tour announcement and was really happy to see that almost everyone who wanted got tickets.

Now, since I live in MD and tried buying a pair of tickets to both Columbus and Knoxville dates - and got both - now it appears impossible for me to unload the Knoxville pair (Knoxville sales started 9am, vs 10 am for Columbus). It appears I could give the Knoxville tickets to someone else once I've picked them at the box office there, but if I make it all the way down there, might as well go see the show one more time :)