My Life and Times

Posted on Sat, Dec. 18, 2004
Springsteen benefit tickets on eBayColumnist Name Column Title
A benefit concert by the Boss is bringing out big bids on eBay.
But some people offering tickets at several times their face value for an intimate performance in Asbury Park, N.J., by Bruce Springsteen may be running afoul of anti-scalping laws. The face value of the tickets is $100 each.
Three pairs and one single ticket to the sold-out shows were listed recently at prices ranging from $750 to $2,000 for the pairs and $780 for the single seat.
Under state law, a licensed ticket broker cannot resell tickets, even for a charity event, for more than 50 percent of the face value, said Jeff Lamm, a spokesman for the state Division of Consumer Affairs. Individuals reselling a ticket may not get more than 20 percent above the face value.
However, eBay spokesman Hani Durzy said different regulations apply if the seller lives outside New Jersey. That contention was disputed by the Consumer Affairs Division.
Lamm wouldn't comment on whether the agency was investigating.
Show organizer Tony Pellagrosi said measures were taken to reduce scalping: A person could buy only two tickets, and the tickets could only be obtained at the venue, Harry's Roadhouse, before showtime, he said. Once the tickets were picked up, holders would be brought inside to prevent sidewalk scalping, he said.
The two concerts Sunday at the restaurant, for just 500 people each, are to benefit charities in Asbury Park, where the Jersey-born rocker rose to fame.
Prior holiday benefits have been at a 3,000-seat oceanside venue.
Rock 'n' roll auction to bring in big bucks
A Gibson guitar once owned by Beatle George Harrison and a guitar played by Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones were among the highlights of a rock 'n' roll auction.
Christie's of New York, was offering more than 400 items of rock 'n' roll and entertainment memorabilia at Friday's auction, which was expected to bring in about $3 million.
''Some articles are being offered for sale by collectors, and others by the celebrities themselves or their families,'' said Darren Julien of Julien's, a Hollywood, based entertainment auction house, a co-sponsor of the auction.
He said 90 percent of the items were fresh to the market. The sellers' identities were being kept confidential at their request.
Other items included Elvis Presley's Army trench coat, an album cover signed by Bob Dylan and Britney Spears' grade school book report.
Harrison's rare SG Standard guitar was worth $200,000,'' Julien said. Its value increases, he said, because it was owned by Harrison and once played by Beatle John Lennon. Its pre-sale estimate was $600,000.
Richards' guitar, a 1959 Gibson, was valued at about $400,000. The pre-sale estimate for Presley's trench coat was $15,000.
The Britney Spears book report was expected to sell for under $1,000. The handwritten report includes a teacher's annotation: ''proof read, messy.''
--Herald wire services
Natasha Gregson Wagner to spend Christmas with family
Natasha Gregson Wagner is planning to spend a warm and sunny Southern California Christmas with her family in Los Angeles.
The holiday is one Wagner's favorites, so she jumped at the chance to star in the Christmas-themed movie ''Angel in the Family,'' airing Saturday on the Hallmark Channel. She co-stars with Meredith Baxter and Ronny Cox.
Wagner, 34, and her husband, screenwriter D.V. DeVincentis (''High Fidelity'' and ''Grosse Pointe Blank''), will join her father, Robert Wagner; his wife, Jill St. John; and her sisters Katie and Courtney.
''My nanny Willie Mae-South, who still lives at my dad's house, prepares her famous orange-stuffed yams and my dad still writes a letter from Santa Claus asking if I've been naughty or nice,'' she said.
Wagner was 11 when her mother, actress Natalie Wood, drowned off California's Santa Catalina Island a few days after Thanksgiving 1981.
''It left a huge hole in my heart,'' she said. ''But with a lot of therapy and the support of my two dads and my sisters and my brother, I discovered how resilient the human heart can be.''
Wagner's father is Richard Gregson, who was Wood's second husband. She was later adopted by Wagner, who married Wood twice.
--Herald wire services
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