Maybe I’m having a big mid-life crisis at the tender age of 33. Maybe it’s just part of me wanting to be young and in college again.

Nah, it’s that I miss getting into concerts for free and meeting the artists and merely writing about the experience for the press.

Regarding the Einsturzende Neubauten show this past week, I did manage to secure an assignment with a local magazine that had limited staff and limited time, so had to pass on the show. This was very last minute, and I wasn’t able to get ahold of Mute’s Media Relations people quickly enough to arrange for a formal interview. Her mail bounced all weekend; overquota, and she’d taken the day off on the 3rd, so I didn’t speak with her until the morning of the concert.

She apologized for not getting back sooner, but that all of the interview slots had been filled. She did arrange for me to be listed as press at the box office, so I did manage a photo pass (and could have had a door ticket as well… should have just sold mine). The House of Blues has a crazy photo contract that they make you sign at the door stating that photos placed on the web can only remain up for 30 days, and can’t be archived online in any fashion. Even though the image consists entirely of the artist’s head with no context on where the show was appearing. It’s craziness, really.

I’d signed up with neubauten.org for Phase IIin order to find out more about what they’re doing with the fan interaction, etc. Cost me 35 Euros (~55 Canadian $) to join up, and it’ll do well. I’m fully planning on writing an article entirely on the fan-supported recording and how it has (or hasn’t) changed what they’re making. Out of this deal I get a CD that’s limited in its distribution – only supporters get this (outside of bittorrent or kazaa, obviously), in addition to discounted merchandise, and priority access to private forums, etc. This membership also included a tour program when I showed up at the show, a discount on the Live CD of the concert, and a free button. That button was for supporters only, and acted as a pass to the green room after the show.

So, yeah, despite not getting a formal interview, I did get a couple of excellent anecdotes from lead singer Blixa Bargeld, that I managed to integrate into the article, regardless. Hah! Nice guy, very calm after the show, and rather charming.

There’s also a supporter’s concert in Berlin in the fall (October?) that I’m thinking might make an interesting part of the Supporter Story… All I need to do is SELL the story so that I can write off the cost of airfare…. A feature length 5000 words shouldn’t be too hard to turn out of these guys.