Stanford Live

To say the service is abysmal is giving them too much praise.  Just like William C in the post on 1/8/13, I can't get ahold of anyone on the phone.  Tried to call them during normal business hours of 10am-5pm on several tries and nobody picks up the phone.  You just wait listing to muzak designed to bore you to death and get you to go away.   I can't believe they are getting so many calls that it takes this long to get thru.  I actually stayed on hold once and finally it went to a ring (after 16 minutes) and then it hung up!!

Terrible ticket-buying experience.  Over the past few days, I've been trying to purchase tickets for an upcoming concert as a gift for my parents, but the website simply wouldn't let me get beyond the seating chart--tried on both Chrome and Internet Explorer, so it's definitely a problem on their end, not mine.  So I tried the more old school approach of calling several times, only to listen to Muzak for up to 10 minutes each time before giving up.  I also left a couple of messages with the Admin Office to let them know about these problems and requested a response, but received none.

And now today, the website lists the concert as sold out.  Bravo, Stanford, that was world class.

I really like what they are trying to do here at Stanford Lively Arts.  Great selection of performers, and I just saw CHARLES MINGUS BIG BAND there the other day and that was the best!

The auditorium is on campus.  Parking is hard to find, and the entrance to the auditorium is quite a small space for people who want to wait indoors.  It was like herds of folks indoors waiting for the doors to open, so wait outside in the breeze and give your inner claustrophobe a break If s/he is in there.

The seating was cool- from everywhere are good views of the stage.  I am sure that this happens a lot, but there was Q and A after the show with some band members.  I thought that was a good idea.

Good sound, good times, great big band-  I am feeling lucky I got to see them here!  I will be on the lookout more often for events here.