Ticketmaster Security Phrases = Hipster Band Name Generator

Massive additional charges, long waits and incurably frustrating customer service.

Now, Ticketmaster can be known for something different – potential band name generation.  To block spammers from screwing with their system Ticketmaster, like many other websites, has instituted a phrase box. Squiggly words pop up and you have to type them in to prove you’re a unique user and not an algorithmic spammer.

As I tried to purchase Bruce Springsteen at Giants Stadium tickets today I noticed that my security phrase had a ring to it. 1,000 Grasps. Kind of catchy, right? — a name for a band you’d expect to find playing at 1 am at an East Village underground bar. Something edgy. Something inspirational. Lots of bass.

The online wait for tickets said 15 minutes, so I clicked off and tried again. (This is NOT the recommended way to use Ticketmaster online). In my following attempts to buy tickets I was greeted with such gems as Wrote Patton, Rashers Current, Loving Cherubic and Months Pi.

My favorite, Mongers Aria, I imagined as a group of cheese and fish vendors inspired by Andrea Boccelli.  Party’s Clerks would be a simple but energetic band — three chords, a bouncy stage show, thin ties and under-sized blazers. Then there was Yuletide Law, presumably on the bill to represent the seasonal rock crowd. The last phrase/hipster band name to pop up before I realized I was waisting my lunch (and my life) away was Call Crete, a band I’m sure will soon dominate the Greek college scene.

Thank you Ticketmaster. I don’t have my Springsteen tickets, but if I ever form a hipster band I know where to go for our name.

Grand Central Station’s $20 million Clock

A weekend trip took me to Grand Central Terminal and the meeting place of all meeting places — the information booth at the center of the main concourse. Resting atop the information booth (which, supposedly hides a secret spiral staircase inside the booth that leading to the information booth in the dining concourse below) is a clock with four faces. Each of the four clock faces is made from opal, and both Sotheby’s and Christie’s have estimated the value to be between $10 million and $20 million. The four sides of the clock also line up perfectly with the compass points of the building.

Grand Central Terminal's Center Concourse Clock

Take in the full view. (Impress your friends: the vaulted ceiling is 165 feet high.)

Grand Central Terminal (not G.C. Station, as many call it)

For more on Grand Central, click here.