Damn you, Ticketmaster!!  Damn you, and your $9.40 PER TICKET “convenience” fee!

I was logged on at 11.59a, reading and waiting for the 12p release of Ryan Adams tickets.  I had them.  Two of them.  And then came the screen with that damn fee.  I faltered.  Stupid stupid girl!  I faltered.  I checked the venue website to see what their handling fee was.  In the meantime, my minute expired and I lost my tickets. No problem, I thought, it’s only 12.05p.  I returned to the start page to take another pair and just that fast:

“There are no events that match your request.”

Are you f@#$ing kidding me?!?!

Apparently not.  I mean, okay… I expected the show to sell out, but 6 minutes?!?!

I blame Ticketmaster, of course.  First of all, there’s nothing convenient about paying $20 extra for two stinking concert tickets.  Second of all, let’s not even get me started on the “pre-order for advance tickets” scam (as alluded to in this post).  Because the fine print was that it was for shows *in the fall* which is kind of easy to overlook when you’re psyched about the show that’s happening in LESS THAN A MONTH!  And finally, Ticketmaster just is an evil evil empire that conspires to keep people away from the shows they really want to go to.

Really, I know it was my own damn fault.  I’m a cheap-ass bastard, and now I’m paying an even bigger price.  Argh!

So, I just made my bi-monthly login to myspace and found out that one of my “friends” Ryan Adams (*swoon*) will be hitting the road at the end of June in support of his new album Easy Tiger. Although I haven’t heard anything yet, I’ve read good things about the album in Harp. And I’ve been wanting to see Ryan live since I first heard Heartbreaker a few years ago. (Yeah, yeah, I’m generally a little behind the curve on some of these things.)

The Philly show is scheduled for Thursday June 28th at the TLA, which seems like just the right venue to me, since its small but not too small, has a couple of bars, some seating, and healthy area for bopping about. But Ticketbastards tells me that tix are gonna run $35 a pop. Okay… it’s no Barbra Streisand price… but that’s a little steeper than I’m used to. I’m also kinda cheap, so maybe the price is just right. Either way, I’m going.

And, Ryan tells me (through Myspace, of course) that I can get advance access to tix by pre-ordering the album at iTunes. Since I’m going to be driving tomorrow at noon when the tix go on sale, I’m thinking this might be the way to go. Otherwise, I’ll go through a sweaty-palmed paranoia all day wondering if it will or won’t sell out before my appointed envoy gets through to purchase tickets on my behalf.

Last Thursday was a quite a cold evening. But not cold enough to dissuade me from heading down to the Gramercy Theatre on 23rd Street to check out Charlie Louvin and Laura Cantrell. I had never been to the Gramercy before and though it was a little chilly- the sound was excellent- and the size was just right for an intimate evening with two excellent performers.

Laura Cantrell opened the show; accompanying herself on an acoustic guitar. Her backing band consisted of mandolin, guitar and upright bass. Laura commented on the temperature in the room as the show began- hoping that the audience was wearing long-johns, or in the alternative had a glass of whiskey. I had neither. Perhaps it was the cold, or the slightly chilly audience, but the band seemed a little out of sync. Never the less they pulled together a nice set opening with That What You Said and proceeding through Poor Ellen Smith, Mountain Fern (Cantrell’s ode to Molly O’Day), Roger Miller’s Train of Life and Bees. The set also featured a cameo by Mr. Louvin on Everytime You Leave- which was seemed a little unrehearsed- but I imagine that is the nature of such moments. The band finished the set fittingly with the Nashville to NY epic Old Downtown.

Charlie Louvin was up next and hit the stage with a backing band that included bass, a small drum kit, electric and acoustic guitars. The woman playing acoustic guitar also sang harmony vocals, and as you might expect, was excellent. They opened with Must You Throw Dirt In My Face and moved through a set whose highlights included Great Atomic Power, Blues Stay Away From Me and When I Stop Dreaming. Louvin also commented on the cold weather- calling NYC the coldest place he had ever been. However, Charlie seemed in good spirits and excited about having a new record out. He was very conversational and told several long jokes- much to the delight of the audience. At one point in the evening he even took a moment to vent a bit about Jet Blue – something many New Yorker’s could relate to in light of recent events. Other musical highlights of the evening included: See The Big Man Cry, Will You Visit Me On Sunday’s, Knoxville Girl, Here’s A Toast To Mama and Think I’ll Go Somewhere And Cry Myself To Sleep. I was once again impressed by Louvin’s commanding stage presence and his obvious chemistry with his band. His ability to relate to an audience, many of whom hadn’t even been born during the heyday of his hits, was also very impressive and speaks to the enduring quality of his music.

Lucinda Williams was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana in 1953. She reminised, this past Friday night at Radio City Music Hall, that she had lived in New York City in the late seventies and would play out on the street. She’s come a long way.

Lucinda was backed by a more than capable three piece band including bass, drums and Doug Pettibone on guitar and pedal steel. The threesome was joined about halfway through the set by Jenny Scheinman on violin. Both Pettibone and Scheinman played extenisively on Williams’ new album West and the set drew most heavily from that release including: “Unsuffer Me,” “Everything Has Changed,” “Come On” and “Where Is My Love” which Lucinda said was inspried by Nina Simone. Perhaps the highlight from the new album was cautionary “Fancy Funeral” which was introduced simply as “about my mother.”

There was also of plenty of classic Luncinda material including: Essence, Drunken Angel (her ode to Townes Van Zandt / Blaze Foley), Fruits of My Labor, Righteously and Ventura. She closed the set with Joy from 1998’s Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, noting that the track has been covered by Bette Lavyette (if you haven’t already- check it out it’s excellent). Erica from opening act The Heartless Bastards (also very good) joined the band for the closing number. The high point of the set, for me, was Lake Charles which Lucinda introduced as being based on a true story- el camino and all. It gave me chills- that’s a good sign.

The short encore included West and also the classic blues Hard Time Killing Floor Blues originally written by Skip Jones (I think) which Lucinda had recorded for Martin Scorsese’s The Blues series on PBS.

It was a great night of music. As with many performers who I have seen play Radio City Luncinda seems a bit overwhelmed by the grandiose nature of the venue. She was extremely gracious thanking the fans for her success and for their patronage.