Concert on a Student Budget

Today I shall recount a story of yesteryear. A story that has been told and retold many times since it happened to a group of budding thespians in their first year of University in sleepy Corner Brook Newfoundland.

It is one of my first memories from my four years at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, I had just met a group of guys from my class who would become known as "the b'ys" to the entire Theatre class and "the best friends a guy could ask for" to me. I doubt I will ever forget the night because at the time it stood out as the riskiest thing I had ever attempted.

Sam Roberts was coming to town to play a show at Marble Mountain and tickets went on sale, I believe, for about $25 a piece. Not bad in retrospect but on a student budget factoring in transportation to Steady Brook at $30 it was significantly more expensive than a night at the campus bar. We didn't purchase tickets.

The night of the concert came and the b'ys discovered they were amongst the few students at the university with no tickets and, what's more, there were no tickets left. Not good on a Friday night. The b'ys set to task on, what would become, one of their trademark missions to accomplish the impossible by any means necessary and find a way to this show. They would MAKE tickets!

It was about 5pm and the show started at 8pm, they would have to move fast. The b'ys knew a fellow classmate was on ski patrol at Marble Mountain and had a staff pass to the event that evening. This would be a great starting point. They were elated to discover that someone thought it would suffice to make staff passes simple: a yellow piece of paper with "STAFF" clearly printed in regular typeface and no extravagant graphics to duplicate. Staff were to supply their own lanyards to affix the pass so each one would naturally vary. The b'ys would capitalize on this careless oversight.

Had we gotten caught I am convinced someone surely would have been fired over the design of staff tickets.

It all started to fall into place. A quick color photocopy on white paper, later colored with a yellow highlighter, and a do-it-yourself laminating job from a kit that magically appeared from a little man known to readers only as "nugget" to avoid incrimination. The b'ys were now in possession of perfectly duplicated staff passes. And only about a half hour to spare.

Quickly into a cab pooling change to make up the $15 fare to Marble Mountain, a complete gamble. What if the passes don't work? Do we have enough money to get a cab home? Will they call the cops and charge us with fraud? Will Sam Roberts be worth the hassle? All questions swimming in the b'y's minds as they exited the cab at the base of Marble Mountain.

Interested? The story continues in the next post. (I have learned much from the media about cliffhangers)