Getting Started - Part IV

Debra tells me you gotta have a proper send off so this weekend we indulged ourselves attending "Peter Pan in the Round" at the Embarcadero Center and the Paul McCartney at AT&T Park. "Peter Pan" was very well done, but not quite as thrilling as when our son, Josh, played Peter in the 8th grade - some proud memories.

Debra had been wanting to get tickets for McCartney, but kept putting it off. AT&T Park is right across the street from our pied-à-terre in the City where scalped tickets are sold all the time. It's illegal, but the police look the other way. Debra decided to try her hand at negotiating some tickets for us. As she stepped out of our apartment, she ran into Sir Paul's caravan and was quick to snap the pic below from her iPhone. That got her juices going - she just had to get tickets, which wasn't a problem, as there were plenty of scalpers hanging around. Through some hard negotiations, she got us two $100 tickets for $200 a piece - such a deal!

Two hours later we were joining the throngs entering the park. The attendant scanned Debra's ticket and she zipped through the turnstile. "Something wrong with your ticket?" The attendant muttered to me. "You need to go to the ticket window and get it checked." I did and it was counterfeit- ugh!!! I called Debra, "Go on in. I'll go back to the apartment." I actually I moped around a bit feeling sorry for myself. Debra was feeling bad too, but then she remembered that she had the scalper's telephone number. I called the scoundrel and a shouting match, with lots of expletives, ensued. He finally calmed down and so did I, when it sunk in, that I had his number, and was not a stranger to the area. We decided to meet and he agreed to find me a replacement ticket. For the next 1 1/2 hours I was introduced to the shady business of scalping as the scoundrel worked his contacts within the cabal of street vendors. He had tickets but they were too good and he wanted to get me a cheap replacement ticket. I was beyond protesting and actually intrigued by the extraordinary lengths he was prepared to go to find me just the right "cheap" ticket.

It was 8:30 and Mc had just come on stage, when my buddy Vern (yep, by this time we were buddies - first name basis and all) pulls a crumpled ticket out of his pocket and exclaims, "I got your ticket! I'll walk you to the turnstile to make sure you get in." I got in alright, but only then noticed that the ticket was for a "limited view" seat. Indeed the view was horrible. I didn't bother sitting down - instead found an open seat several sections away - with a view comparable to what Debra had initially bought. Meantime, Debra had learned that the ticket she had was for a seat sold to someone else but because her counterfeit ticket scanned, and the attendant couldn't tell if it was counterfeit, she was relocated to a seat on the main field. 

So there we were sitting in two parts of the park, texting each other throughout, and enjoying one of the most fabulous concerts we've ever seen - the Vern incident and Sir Paul - a totally priceless experience and a proper send off.