Sunday marginalia

• JR brought my attention to a NYT article on the uproar over the difficulty fans have getting tickets to concerts and other events. Of course, it certainly doesn’t help if Ticketmaster is correct in alleging one software company developed a program that means ticket brokers are “bombarding Ticketmaster’s Web site with millions of automated ticket requests that can constitute up to 80 percent of all ticket requests.”
• The Springsteen tour is one of the things that’s drawing fan ire. But word is Springsteen and the E Street Band have enough in the vault from their recent recording sessions for another album. (BTW, Rolling Stone is among those praising Magic. In giving it five stars, it’s highest rating, the review make some observations similar to my recent post.)
• Barnes & Noble has launched its own online review site. While it looks fairly good, I think the lack of an RSS feed will seriously undercut the effort.
• The Nobel Prize Foundation will announce the winner of the 2007 literature award on October 11. (Via.)
• At the other extreme, the winners of the 2007 Ig Nobel Prizes were announced this past Thursday. The literature winner? Australian Glenda Browne “for her study of the word ‘the’ — and of the many ways it causes problems for anyone who tries to put things into alphabetical order.”
• How about this for a concept for the presidential race: “each serious candidate for the presidency should be required to give a speech on his/her views of the constitutional powers of the presidency.” Nah, that’s got far too much to do with how we’re governed to attract the media.
• As NHL Center Ice has consumed most of my evenings this week — except for Saturday night when I went to the Stampede’s season opener — I may as well note The Hockey News has a piece on former Stampede player and Gopher Thomas Vanek coping with the expectations he faces in light of his $10 million salary this year playing for the Buffalo Sabres.

“Playing in the Band,” Grateful Dead, Grateful Dead (Skull & Roses)