Napa
 

Tickets go on sale today for the Napa show...anyone here going?

TC

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Want to

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Got my ticket today. Very expensive! The most I ever payed for a concert.

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That's why I only said I want to. 90 to 100 bucks a ticket is crazy

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The ticket prices do seem high - however - in this case, the venue is quite small: 485 seats! If this were a 3000 seat theatre it would be out of line - but to be able to attend such an intimite show (to me) justifies the price of admission. This venue is a historical site in the Napa Valley - and the renovations are beautiful. I do know that the minimal operating costs just to do a small show like this eats up a lot of the ticket price. Staff, insurances, and middle-men still cost the same as it would for a much larger show. For sure, GL and all that travel with him will only see a fraction of this. I do agree though about the initial sticker shock, but it did not stop me from clicking on my "add to cart" button. Second row, center, 2 seats!! Can't wait! This - by the way - comes from a guy who use to get comps to Gord's shows for 3 decades. This has all changed now - and I am quite happy to be a paying customer (with benefits!). Remember - this is California....concert tickets are prioritized over mortgage payments! :-)

".....and the mouths I feed are many"

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It just occurred to me that the Napa date (Oct. 17), falls on the 20th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Those of us who were here remember this date all too well. Those who may be interested - Wikipedia has a huge database on this event - with unbelievable photos!

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I had no idea of the small venue size. I'm just glad Gord and the band aren't playing in Stockton again. Voted America's worst city 2008.

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TC - I have heard this about Stockton also...many times.
However - The Bob Hope Theater is one of the newest and finest in the Country!!
Incredible may be the only description.
Plus - many of us must pay some homage to Stockton....after all - it was the location for the 1960's TV show: The Big Valley.
Now, I - for one - was in love with Audra Barkley (aka Linda Evans), ....so for this reason, and the incredible Theater - I must defend Stockton to some extent. I write this from my home in rural Clayton, California - on the east side of Mt. Diablo - but - just a short 45 minute drive to Stockton.
Really just injecting some levity here!!

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good stuff, nice grab...nice photos

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgur...%3D21%26um%3D1

ok, this would be the ideal venue for Gord to sit down at that beautiful piano and revive Bells of the Evening, Fine as Fine Can Be, etc...no? oh well, just a thought

btw, i see Phillipe Petit is there a few weeks later (for a mere $35)...loved that Man on Wire doc, such a nice blend of visuals, narrative and music...would be captivating to kick back and listen to him for a candid Q&A session following the film's screening in such an intimate room

there's also the sedating Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia paying a visit...a mere $15...ahh, approaching my budget

enjoy!

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I would LOVE to be able to go to the Napa show. 485 people...wow! I'd say it would be worth every penny.

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DJ, I loved the Bob Hope theater and Big Valley.

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i hear you but i think that would be a quite Large fraction

should gross about $45K for the night with venue rental cost of only about $3K

http://www.napavalleyoperahouse.org/...e-main-theatre

once those other various costs are subtracted there should be a decent amount of change left to put away for Mer's tuition and pay the guy who cuts his lawn, errr, lawns:cool:

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jj:
Some valid (and funny) points here.
I honestly do not know the particulars regarding this venue - but I can offer this just for a comparative.
About ten years back - Barry Harvey and myself were attempting to book a "plug-in" gig for Gord in Walnut Creek, California at the Dean Lesher Center for Performing Arts; a very nice theater - seating 800 +. Small, but do-able for a plug in. This was a three day hole in Gord's schedule between Santa Rosa and The Mountain Winery in Saratoga, CA.
From the outset - the venue made it clear that they were calling all the
shots - to include ticket pricing and percentages of sales to The House. Also, comps, load-in/load out, and sound issues were all under THEIR control. This is a very nice venue - and it would have sold out two nights!! But, after a few frustrating phone calls with the (then) venue manager....Barry just threw his hands up and said "I give."
NO SHOWS.
This happens more than people realize in this business.
Also - if the Napa can be rented for $3,000. - which I do not doubt - it would most likely be a special price for a school function, company party, etc. Translation? Non-profit.
But once a NAME like Lightfoot takes the Marquee - the rules change - and percentages apply. I do speak from "past experiences" though.
I truly have no clue as to how things work today.
Honestly, I would have paid even more for the seats I acquired for Napa - and I have nobody cutting my lawn! Ok, I do , but it's a small yard!
:) :)

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oh, dj...i thought he would fall under the Private Party category rates in the link i posted...i guess there is a third category not listed, eh?

as far as %s, i thought they'd just want their stated 20 cents per ticket, lol

ashamed, it's not surprising your booking attempt fell through if the condition was one where Gord had to give up control of those sound levels (it's said that some notes only a dog can hear:) )

you've gonna have a great eve in those seats...even those in the back row will!

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You are so right...
ALL WILL HAVE GREAT SEATS!
A very fortuneate opportunity.
Most likely will sound optimum at the back of this little house!
I'll be the guy in line - balding - wearing a smile.
(oh, I guess that makes me hard to spot!). :)

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Dj, I'll be the other bald guy (short too...but not fat) in line also with a smile. First row!

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THAT WOULD BE AWESOME !

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I know what you mean....it's just a matter of p:):)r Stockton.
Once you get "bad ink" - or a bad reputation - it is so hard to reverse.
The City has its work cut out!

Now - as far as the Big Valley - I agree.....just another silly TV Western from the 60's, but it got our attention. (but please - stay clear of "my Audra").

"......NICK! - HEATH! - JARROD! - there's a fire in the barn!!!"

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HI, TC! I wondered whether you'd be going or not. I think you're the one who was able to use my ticket in Stockton last year. Yep, I'm going. Glad that I don't have to jump a plane and rent a motel room to see The Band!

If NVOH personnel are a good idea as to how this venue will be, it will be wonderful - I called them over the past several months asking when the tickets would go on sale, and have talked and e-mailed to a Julie, who works there. So pleasant and helpful! HOWEVER, it thought that the last sentence of the second paragraph telling us of the NVOH concert left me scratching my head - I don't think I'd ever seen that before: It indicated that Lightfoot's concert was being underwritten. I've seen that on movies but never a concert. (Heard in the past that movie companies do this to protect themselves in case the star can't make the movie. Don't know why they decided to publicize this. Who cares? AND I agree, the prices are steep. Kind of reminded me of an OLD Steve Martin bit where he says (paraphrasing), "I think it's great that I can fill these stadiums but I have to do so many appearances. I think I'll just do one concert in a stadium and the price will be $10,000. One appearance - GOODBYE! Wonder if the prices reflect that underwriting thing, and people going to the concert have to pay for the underwriting!

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[QUOTE=SherylKat;153796]HI, TC! I wondered whether you'd be going or not. I think you're the one who was able to use my ticket in Stockton last year. Yep, I'm going. Glad that I don't have to jump a plane and rent a motel room to see The Band!


Yup, I'm the one who scored your stockton ticket last year (thanks again). Looking forward to October 17th!

TC

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The Big Valley used to be my favorite show. I think I saw every episode more than once.

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Hi, B45! LOVED your comment about Stockton and "The Big Valley" - took me 'way back to 1966, when my dad retired and we moved from his last post to Sacramento. We had lived in such a little podunk (sorry Podunklander!) town in Illinois, and then bam! we came out to California, and I remember the tv being on and thinking I was going to live in a GREAT place because if they made that big a deal out of STOCKTON, Sacramento must be so much better! (WRONG!) I thinkk Stockton's been going through 'tidying itself up' for awhile and yes, it WILL take a long time. I admire the people who refuse to give up on this little town (BUT, that doesn't mean that I want to walk through any part of the downtown area alone!) If the Lightfoot Band brings revenue into the City, that's great. I mentioned that to a corfidian recently. Mandoann and I went to Tarrytown, and I went to Richmond, VA to see the Lightfoot Band and joked that I'm sure it wasn't planned on his part, but The Lightfoot Band has put a spotlight on these wonderful little theatres that were built around the turn of the century and need to be preserved. We here in Sacramento lost a two- or three-year battle with developers, who trashed a great Art Deco theatre to put up a Safeway grocery store. Same thing's happening in Toronto (Maple Leaf Gardens was bought by some big grocery chain and almost trashed it when they found out that the seats were "holding up" the roof! Apparently people were up in arms about that and the company is trying to figure out a way to keep as many people as they can happy. Anyway, that's what the tour guide said! I sure hope they can serve as a blueprint for saving these great little theatres!.

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Hey, TC! I'm looking forward to it, too. I think what it's exactly eight weeks from today...not that I'm counting! :biggrin:


[quote=TC;153797]

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I guess I'm reading these in the wrong order...just got to where you made that comment about where you're sitting. I JOINED NVOH in order to be one of the first to be notified so I could sit in my favorite seat - front row, two or three seats from center! LOVE to watch Terry and Gord getting inspired by each other!

Re first row, the past couple of concerts have had empty seats in the front row, so what's going on there? Has somebody been buying up tix and then trying to sell them at jacked-up prices, or what? I didn't think too much of it until I saw like the third concert and the same thing happened at each venue---SherylKat

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Thanks for your input. I always wondered who called the shots and who decides what the tickets are priced at, etc. MY GOD, you must have to have an asbestos skin to make it in the entertainment world or, as someone said recently, they don't call it show BUSINESS for nothing!

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:whistle:I thought your "California comment" was so funny - and there's more truth in that than I think a lot of people out there know! And unfortunately, I agree with you regarding the ticket price - steep but it didn't stop me from hitting the "Buy now" button! Lord, by the time the concert date comes, we might be able to say hi to all the corfidians comprising the first and second rows! This should be a VERY INTERESTING COMMENT, and I totally second reviving "Bells of the Evening." The first time I was taken to a Lightfoot concert, he played that as well as "Fine as Fine Could Be" at the piano. Mentioned this to Mandoann and she was a little taken aback, I think, when I told her that he was so funny that night - he even introduced "As Fine As Fine Could Be" as a song he wrote for his daughter, and you could tell he really touched the heartstrings of so many of us in the audience. However, to get us back, he pretended to fall off the piano bench! And yes, this WAS during his drinking years! LOL

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Hi, Napa people! Formerlylavender, if for some reason I can't make Napa (and that has happened to me before), I'll send you my ticket, unless you have other plans. This has happened before and frankly, by October, I HOPE to have a conflict of interest (wilth a new JOB, now that kind of stress I can live with)

And to the people with tickets, I think they sent me some free drink tickets (or at least percent off coupons) I'll give them to you at the venue or if you prefer to do your drinking before the show, tell me your address on my personal e-mail (ciaras2madre@aol.com) and I'll send them to you before the Napa concert. I can't use them; I don't drink anymore (I feel like at birth, everybody's given a finite amount of liquor they can drink in their lifetime, and if true, I think I drank my allotment around 1987! :eek:

Have a great week, everybody! SherylKat

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Thanks, Sherylkat - how nice of you to think of me! I don't know if I could manage it - flying acroos the country etc.! In fantasyland, I'd go to the concert and stay in Napa for a week and do some wine tasting.

I hope it works out that you can go and enjoy. BTW, free drink/% off coupons? This theater is the best!