Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 5, 1994 TAG: 9411070035
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
All she wanted was front-row seats.
Eight of them, actually. Four for herself and four for her mother to see country singer Vince Gill perform next month at the Roanoke Civic Center. Front and center.
It seemed easy enough - not that getting front-row concert seats is ever easy. All Lewanda Hogan had to do was arrive early and wait - three days - until the tickets went on sale.
Oh, and she also would have to be the keeper of the list.
This is no small responsibility. Among concert-goers with a fever for the front rows, the keeper of the list holds an honored place, a position envied for its power and privilege and greatly appreciated as a service to people who don't want to live for three days in a parking lot.
Since Wednesday, Hogan has held steady.
As the keeper of the list, Hogan, 27, gets the privilege of holding its top spot, the first place in line. Her mother, Dreama Byer, holds the second spot. This morning, when Vince Gill tickets go on sale at 10, they get to buy the first tickets.
In the front row, they hope.
As the keeper of the list, Hogan also maintains it as others come along and sign up. By Friday afternoon, more than 165 names were listed. This allows all of those people to avoid camping overnight to guarantee their places in line.
Only Hogan has to remain.
It is an informal system, not unique to Roanoke. Other concert arenas have similar arrangements, but just as many have abandoned them in favor of a lottery system.
The Roanoke Civic Center generally honors the list, said Judy Jennings, box office manager. But she said the Civic Center reserves the right to reject the list if it creates problems.
For Hogan, list keeper is a role she has never had before. She learned about the system when she was buying tickets for Michael Bolton's concert in September. She said that Vince Gill, Alan Jackson and Garth Brooks are the only big-name performers she would ever go to such efforts for to ensure front-row tickets.
This will be her first Vince Gill concert.
Hogan, a billing clerk at Preston Trucking, has been camping in her father's 33-foot Fleetwood Southwind recreational vehicle, which is equipped with two televisions, among other luxuries. "We're really roughing it," she joked.
Staying with her have been her mother; her father, David Byer; and a friend, Lori Caldwell. All of them have alternated keeping the list while Hogan has worked.
Hogan said it has been fun. People who come to sign up often stop to talk awhile. She only hopes that her three-day detail will pay off this morning. Tickets for Vince Gill go on sale at the Civic Center and at Ticketmaster outlets at the same time.
There's no guarantee. Was it worth it?
"If I'm sitting in the front row," she said.
by CNB