Rhianna,
I saw your post to the mailing list and I would be happy to take a copy
of the article with me to Charlotte. I have no idea how to recognize the Fans
Rule reps. though. My friend and I are taking signs with us so, hopefully,
the boys will see if they go through to the lawn (something like "AF1 fan
club members who can't afford brokers...Happy birthday to us!"). You were
asking about contact info....I know on the Aerosmith board somebody had
posted some phone and/or fax numbers for AF1 and for the band's management awhile back. I am not sure how far back the archives go, but you might look there. You may also want to send copies to some radio stations (perhaps some in the areas the boys are playing venues in when the time comes along with boston and other areas). Metal Sludge might also be a good place to send it...LOL...that might get some attention. Most bands are aware of that site and may not admit it but they do frequently read it. I can't help you with email I received from Fans Rule because I was so pissed off I deleted it all, sorry. I saw where in Boston, they let club members in for the sound check (which was cool) and I got to thinking about that...you know if they did that for all the venues I am still screwed. I purchased my tickets through ticketmaster so I guess in their eyes, I would not count as a disgruntled member. I doubt I would get an invitation or even be contacted about it. I really hope you get this through to the right people. Let me know if I can help you :0)
Ellen

Hi Rhianna,
Yes you may use my message for your page. I ended up staying up until
6am trying to get through to that number and then got up the next morning to
get tickets through ticketmaster (I overslept though and missed the 10am time by 1 hour). I ended up getting tickets that were a lot farther back than I was hoping to. It was not until after I had purchased the tickets that I
received mail from the fan club promising 2 tickets to every club member for
the show of their choice. I was very upset because at the time, I thought I
had made the wrong decision, and I had only enough funds for one set of
tickets (which I had already gotten from ticketmaster). As it turns out,
though, I suppose I did the right thing because the venue I was going to sold
out before everyone got their tickets. I had sent FansRule several emails and
have never gotten ANY response other than an automated phone call on my
answering machine much later promising tickets to shows for other venues, and
general mail outs that all club members received. Sorry, with my finances the
way they are right now, this was my one shot to see the boys this tour and I
guess I am lucky to have gotten tickets at all, but the whole experience has
left a bad taste in my mouth. I only joined the club for the preferred
seating and I feel at the very least they should refund our dues for this
screw up. I know I am in the minority, but I also feel Aerosmith is partly
responsible for all of this. It was a very poor business decision to make
this change right before a tour. They should have either waited or done it in
enough time before to have the company ready for the volume of customers and have their records in order. Also, the lack of response in the initial
incident was another thing that was not handled properly. Somebody had to
know what was happening...it was all over their Official message boards for
weeks. An apology would have been nice...from anybody...but I believe it took
an article in the Boston Herald to get any response so it was more like an
"uh oh...we had better do something".
Anyway, I am going to see Aerosmith in Charlotte in September with my
friend to celebrate our birthdays and I am going to enjoy the show in the
second tier, but I doubt I will renew my membership with the club. And I
doubt I will be doing much more bragging on how Aerosmith is the one band who really is in touch with their fans and looks after them. I find that hard to do now that people who have been fan club members for years are having to pay hundreds of dollars to brokers for tickets they should have gotten through the fan club. Yeah, I guess I am just a little bitter...LOL....oh well the music business IS all about money.
Good luck with your article. I hope everyone who was involved has a
chance to read it. I know for me it was a rude awakening.
Ellen