Gogol Bordello, October 25 at the Mayan

I had seen Gogol Bordello earlier in the year at Coachella and it was a life-changing experience, which I told about in great detail to anyone who would listen, so I was baffled when I had an extra ticket for the show at the Mayan. I showed up early to try to sell it, which didn't happen, though I asked a few people there if they wanted it but they probably wouldn't be there and in line if they didn't have a ticket, then a homeless-looking guy bought it from me for $15. I had paid $34 for it originally and would have taken $20 but I didn't expect at that point to get anything for it anyway. Apparently he sold it to someone a few places back from me in line for $30. I never realized that that was how the scam worked. I've always seen people outside a show asking to buy tickets, more often than not they don't even know who's playing, but I always assumed that it was because they couldn't solicit selling a ticket as that would be scalping, and asking to buy one is legal but it shows they are brokering tickets, either selling or buying. In any case, I still got money for it so I didn't mind so much. I got there early enough to have to stand around in the Mayan for about three hours, and tolerating something called the Dub Trio that was opening, but it was worth it. I've seen the Bordello a number of times since then and I've never seen such a vibrant, exciting, energetic, rock-out band in all my years, and it's better to see them in a tiny places that they can test the limits of rather than a giant field at a festival which is nearly impossible to fill. I can't even say I always love the music but the show is spectacular.

I don't go to the Mayan often for shows but when I've gone before it's been a good time. It's in a rough part of downtown L.A. so you have to be a bit careful where you park and it's probably best to have someone with you but the venue itself is fantastic -- good sound, cool place, and some great acts that come through often. It's been a few years since I've been there and it would have been another great show that night except for the assholes that run the place. When you go to a show there's always the guy that tears your ticket or, these days, scans it. I've been to hundreds of shows and I've kept my tickets from every single one (except for one but that's another story); I even used to have a display of them all where I used to live (which would take up the entire wall if I had it now). That night at the Mayan, the guy at the door took my ticket and tossed it in a bin behind him. Hey, man, I wanted to keep that ticket -- but he told me that I could get it after the show. Well, that made me plenty uncomfortable, that there was a chance I wasn't going to get the ticket back and that in all the other shows I've ever been to they hadn't done that and I didn't see the reason to do it anyway, but maybe that's how it was done there and, hey, maybe I really would get the ticket back and I was already holding up the line. Sure enough, after the show I went up to the same guy to get my ticket back and he tried to dismiss me with some "the promoter came and took them all" or some other crap. In his defense, he was apologetic – once I got in his face -- about whatever excuse he was trying to pass by me but it was still crap. There were other people trying to get their tickets back -- other people that were being lied to -- so it wasn't just me. Not that the "manager" (or whatever he was) was any help and not that anybody else from the Mayan had any interest in actually listening to me. Strangely, the ticket broker actually replied to my e-mail to get the ticket back but they had no idea what I was talking about. I talked to the contact over e-mail for a while and she explained that that night at the show there was a problem with the scanning machine so they had to have the tickets -- the whole thing, apparently, for some reason -- to track the attendance. But she sent me a ticket. So it all worked out. I can't say it was the Mayan's fault but after all it hasn't really affected how I feel about the venue. And the broker was amazingly cool about it. It doesn't make up for the "convenience charges" but for just a little while they got a pass.