Not Very Far

Weekend Assignment # 340: How Far Would You Go?

Some people travel hundreds of miles (in extreme cases, thousands of miles) to see a concert by a favorite performer, or to meet their favorite writers at a convention, or to attend some other kind of public appearance by someone they especially admire. Other people don't even bother to go downtown to take advantage of such an opportunity. How far would you go to meet one or more of your favorite writers, actors, musicians, comedians or other artists, and to attend a performance by him or her or them?

Extra Credit: What is the farthest you have ever gone in a similar situation?

Oh, am I sorry to say I am in the “don’t even bother” category. It starts with music – I had really bad concert luck at an impressionable age. I live outside of Chicago and went to college in Washington DC. So inevitably, any time that a band I loved was touring at home, I was at school. Also, the only artist I loved more than Bono was Freddie Mercury, who died just as I was coming-of-concert-age. I would have gone pretty far to see Freddie Mercury live.

I went to plenty of sporting events in my youth, but these days even a Bears game makes me think, “Do I really want to spend an entire Sunday..schlepping into the city at 9am to find parking…” I am perfectly happy spending the three hours on my Lucky Couch watching it in HD, thank you very much. Although I did attend the public memorial at Soldier Field when Walter Payton died in 1999.

But you know what? It isn’t even how far I would travel, but how much it would cost. And not in a “I don’t spend money on entertainment” way. But if the going rate for a ticket is $250, there are clearly people that want to see Leonard Cohen in concert more than I do. I’d feel badly taking a ticket.

Maybe if Brannagh came back to the stage…