Miley Cyrus Returns

“Interesting Times” indeed. Not just the punchline of a purported ancient Chinese curse or a good read by Terry Prachett, it describes the movement on the top 10 in recent weeks nicely. Not that I mind, makes it easier to write these things. One thing certainly hasn’t changed, that’s Taylor Swift’s recent dominance, which continues handily through this week as well.

It is all about music and football this week. The football arrives courtesy of 2 upcoming and hotly anticipated conference championships, one for the SEC and one for the Big 12. The Big 12 is certainly anticipated locally, as Austin’s own Longhorns are a favorite to attend at this point. The SEC because, well, it’s the SEC which has a habit of producing college football’s top teams year after year.

Miley missed the countdown so much she returned at #3, while Aventura and Bon Jovi both dropped thanks to the Longhorns and their championship hopes. AC/DC makes an appearance. They’ve been on tour for a while now, but it took a show at the Frank Irwin Center to put them up on the big board. A veritable institution of rock, they’ve been touring in support of their most recent release, Black Ice, which is just over a year old at this point.

Top 25 College Football Games for Week 12

Each week TicketCity releases a list of the top 25 hottest games of the 2009 regular college football season based on average ticket price.  The list is accumulated by compiling a majority of the available tickets on the secondary market throughout the entire country.  The secondary market is comprised of over 800 established ticket brokers, and fans who are listing extra tickets to sell.

Check weekly for the Top 25 list and analysis of college football!

• Data is from Week of November 2, 2009
• Average Price is generated from all Secondary Market tickets listed on TicketCity.com (approx. 800 ticket brokers)
• All prices are per ticket.
• Prices are subject to change, so they may not be the same today.

Make-Up Taylor Swift Pic For Last Week

A slightly premature Happy Halloween to all.  The shakeups continue, though Taylor Swift retains her commanding lead at #1, Miley Cyrus exits the countdown completely for the first time in a long time. Replaced by? Bon Jovi. The veteran pop rockers have a new album, The Circle, releasing in November, and a new tour to support it. The Circle Tour doesn’t kick off until February 2010, but long time fans are looking to get their seats early.

Aventura remains a steady 3, while the announcement of a new Garth Brooks show in Vegas put him back on the radar after his “retirement”. Interest is running high for his opening shows, though the engagement is for five years, so I wouldn’t worry too much if you’re not able to get in for the first few months. Like many Vegas acts, Garth is going to be there a while.

The World Series clocks in at #6, though maybe I should have just combined the numbers for it and the Yankees down at #8. The Turnpike Series is now tied 1-1 heading into Game 3. Squeezed in between is Notre Dame, who’s about engage to in the “San Antonio Showdown” with rivals Washington State this weekend. Tickets are still available for that game.

The BCS Championship started in 1998 as a way to matchup the #1 and #2 team in a one-game National Championship Game.  Since that first game in 1998 between Tennessee and Florida State, the BCS Championship Game has matched the #1 and #2 teams in the AP rankings just eight times.  In those eight matchups, the #1 team has won four and the #2 has won four.  Below is a breakdown of those BCS Championship Games – click here to see more information on the BCS National Championship Game history.

BCS Championship Game (#1 ranked team defeats #2 team)
1998 – Tennessee Volunteers (#1) beat Florida State Seminoles (#2)
1999 – Florida State (#1) beats Virginia Tech Hokies (#2)
2004 – USC Trojans (#1) beat Oklahoma Sooners (#2)
2008 – Florida Gators (#1) beat Oklahoma (#2)

BCS Championship Game (#2 ranked team upsets #1 team)
2002 – Ohio State Buckeyes (#2) beat Miami Hurricanes (#1)
2005 – Texas Longhorns (#2) beat USC (#1)
2006 – Florida (#2) beats Ohio State (#1)
2007 – LSU Tigers (#2) beat Ohio State (#1)

BCS Championship Games that did not match #1 versus #2 team
2000 – Oklahoma (#1) beats Florida State (#3)
* The Miami Hurricanes were ranked #2 in AP poll to end season, won their bowl game and finished #2 overall.

2001 – Miami (#1) beats Nebraska Cornhuskers (#4)
* Oregon & Colorado finished ahead of Nebraska in week 15 AP rank. Oregon won Fiesta Bowl to finish 11-1 and #2.

2003 – LSU (#2) beats Oklahoma (#3)
* USC was #1 ranked team, won their bowl game and split the Championship.

Top 25 College Football Games for Week 11

Each week TicketCity releases a list of the top 25 hottest games of the 2009 regular college football season based on average ticket price.  The list is accumulated by compiling a majority of the available tickets on the secondary market throughout the entire country.  The secondary market is comprised of over 800 established ticket brokers, and fans who are listing extra tickets to sell.

Check weekly for the Top 25 list and analysis of college football!

• Data is from Week of October 26, 2009
• Average Price is generated from all Secondary Market tickets listed on TicketCity.com (approx. 800 ticket brokers)
• All prices are per ticket.
• Prices are subject to change, so they may not be the same today.

After Saturday’s rain cancellation, ALCS Game 6 moved to Sunday and the Yankees subsequently moved into the World Series after ending the Angels’ run. They will meet returning champs the Phillies, who took out the Dodgers in the NLCS. The prospect of a “freeway series” out in LA was not to be.

There’s less than 100 miles between Philly and New York, though, so the freeway ride may be longer, but it’s possible for enterprising fans to see all the games in both Yankee Stadium and Citizens Bank Park.

2009 World Series Schedule:

*If necessary. Full refund on games not played.

There’s 2 days before the opener, so get your tickets today!

I could have gone with
a Taylor Swift photo, but how
boring would that have been?

Big changes this week. Taylor Swift, who hasn’t been absent the countdown for some time, rises to the very top as demand for her Fearless Tour is bigger now than ever before. The tour was recently extended to run through the middle of 2010, with additional dates in Austrailia and North America. Perhaps with a little girl power bump, Miley Cyrus takes the second spot, while Aventura climbs again to #3.

The Longhorns dip a bit, and right on their heels are the New York Yankees. I wonder why? Oh, right… the ALCS and their inability to shut the Angels down and get it over with. I’ve got a World Series Tickets page to update guys, so get it done so I can put that puppy to bed for 2009.

Finally, making her debut on the countdown at #9 is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, which is the really, really long way of saying Lady Gaga. Another in a long line of artists that no one you know will admit to liking yet sells millions of albums and sells out shows nationwide. The Lady is touring solo in support of her debut album, The Fame, after a planned joint tour with Kanye West fell through. On the whole, that was probably a plus for her.

The Philadelphia Phillies have clinched a spot in the 2009 World Series and the New York Yankees are up 3-2 on the Los Angeles Angels for the AL spot.  So it’s time to set the schedule for the ‘09 Fall Classic.

2009 World Series schedule:
Game 1 – Phillies at Yankees/Angels – Wed, Oct 28th
Game 2 – Phillies at Yankees/Angels – Thur, Oct 29th
Game 3 – Yankees/Angels at Phillies – Sat, Oct 31
Game 4 – Yankees/Angels at Phillies – Sun, Nov 1
Game 5 – Yankees/Angels at Phillies – Mon, Nov 2
Game 6 – Phillies at Yankees/Angels – Wed, Nov 4
Game 7 – Phillies at Yankees/Angels – Thu, Nov 5

The World Series is best 4 out of 7 series, the team with 4 wins is declared the champion.  The 2-3-2 series starts in the American League city, because the AL won the 2009 MLB All-Star Game, then moves to Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia for Games 3, 4 and 5 (if necessary).

Buy Phillies World Series tickets.
Buy Yankees World Series tickets.
Buy Angels World Series tickets.

3 Additional Data Points for
January Unemployment Figures

At least the “ever” part. Shrek the Musical is closing. The final performance at the Broadway Theatre will be January 3rd, 2010. The show will have run for 441 performances by the time it closes. Based on the same children’s book by William Steig as the successful series of films, the musical mixed elements of both, including the sequels, in telling the story of ogre Shrek and his quest to save Princess Fiona in order to get his swamp back.

Though nominated for eight Tonys in 2008, it won only 1, and also won some Drama Desk Awards. Shrek will be going on tour after closing on Broadway, so while your opportunities to see it on the Great White Way are growing shorter, it may be coming to a theatre near you sometime in 2010. We still have tickets to the Broadway production on our Shrek The Musical Tickets page, and will update that as the dates for the touring production are set.

In a follow-up to a previous post, because it’s something to post, the touring production of 101 Dalmatians: The Musical opened in Minnesota at Minneapolis’ Orpheum theatre last Wednesday night. One unique aspect of the production, namely that the human characters would be “larger than life” was revealed to be… stilts. Yes, the performers in the human roles parade around on stage wearing stilts, including acclaimed Broadway performer Rachel York in the Cruella De Vil role. Makes you wonder if she knew about the stilts before or after she signed the paperwork.

This is shameless, I know.

Reviews from the opening night were mixed, though most noted the audience reaction was less mixed and more on the positive side. No doubt there’s a lot of crossover between film and theatre critics, and a cognitive dissonance between their opinion and box office grosses is hardly unheard of. The music is all original, and not based on any from the 1963 Disney animated production. That means the memorable “Cruella De Vil” ditty is absent here. The plot follows that of the book about as loosely as the various movies have.

Pictured here as De Vil, wearing what appears to be a large swatch of shag carpeting from the late 1970’s, York’s performance is roundly praised amongst otherwise mixed reviews. None of this means too much, as one of the purposes of a touring production prior to a Broadway run is to tweak the show based on audience reaction. This may well happen before the show finds a more long term home on Broadway later next year. It seems the one certainty is they’ll want to keep Rachel York on, whatever else may change.

Currently the show is running in Appleton, Wisconsin, and will head on to Atlanta and Washington DC after that. It will make it to our backyard around Thanksgiving, playing The Long Center Nov. 24-29th. You can check out all the listings on our 101 Dalmatians Tickets page.