Ticketing Idea for next year:

Sammy has been so wonderful through the years to reward his most loyal fans with free shows on his Birthday! It really shows what a great guy he is and it’s a testament to all of us Readheads that we would spend the nights in the street to party with him on his birthday.

I think the decision to sell tickets was good and necessary. With the change in traffic along the cantina, the recent weather, and lets face it, all the extra drinking going on, it was just a matter of time before there was some kind of accident on that sidewalk and that would just devastate Sammy. One out of control drunk driver is not that far from a reality down there. If that happened, the party would be over for all of us. Not to mention the liability for the cantina, etc. They do have personal injury lawyers down there too.

I have been giving the ticket situation a ton of thought. It is sad that some people that have been going for years did not get Tix, but I also think it is great for all the first timers. However, I think that the system failed miserably. After reading about how many people got “kicked out” at the last second, etc, I think that it had a lot to do with internet connection, speed of computer and luck. I have talked to people who got tickets to all 4 shows without much difficulty. In fact, one couple were in the same room both trying at the same time to give them 2 chances, and they could have easily gotten 2 more in the wife’s name, but they let them go at the last second once they got the 1st confirmation

But I think I have a solution for next year that would be an extremely fair way to go for all and I hope Sammy & staff agree. First of all, I think it is fair to say that all the TRUE Redheads are at least registered by now on this site and should be the only ones eligible for this new system. By my count only a small percentage of the 8,160 or so listed members have selected the “I’m going” button on the B-day shows (only about 300 per night). I realize that there are plenty of people planning on going that did not click the button, but it is still a small amount.

It seems to me that most Redheads would be very happy to get just one show if they go to Cabo, just so long as everybody else gets just one show as well.

It seems to me that this can be accomplished very simply.

First, upon announcement of the show dates, all Redheads that are planning on being there need to “register” that they are going. In order to register, you must have a valid credit card on file with redrocker.com. Included in your registration must be the last 5 digits of your Passport or Drivers License numbers.

Once all members register the dates they are in Cabo, the system randomly picks members for one show at a time (beginning with the B-day bash and working backwards). I would even say that in order to get 2 tickets, you must provide your guests name and ID digits at the time of registration. We all know who we are going with.

The system will not select the same registered member twice for two shows until all registered members have either gotten tix, or they are sold out for all shows. If everyone registered gets a set of tix after 3 shows or whatever, the system starts all over again. If you ONLY want to be charged for 1 show (yeah right) you could even “Opt out” of a second round.

Also, the system would recognize anyone with a duplicate Name and ID # and not allow that registration.

Once the selection process is done, members that are selected get an email with a link to confirm their order. That way if there are 2 members that are going together that were selected, they can release 2 tickets that they would not be able to pick up. It could even easily be set up that the registered members that did not get Tix could be the first selected the following year. Any orders not confirmed would go back into the pool.

It may sound complicated, but the program would not be that difficult to write. I know my IT director could do it easily. I am sure that ALL of the fans would at the very least feel that they had a fair shot and I know I would show up to party in the driveway if I didn’t get tickets.

Once you arrive in Cabo, all ticket purchasers and guests, must show up like now to pick up the wrist bands. They must show the proper ID to get them.

I would love to hear feedback on this. Maybe I am missing something, but if enough people agree, just maybe it would work.