After nigh 20 age of writing about entertainment, professional instincts compel me to attempt the Place To Be on whatsoever given nox. Without question, the Place to Be on Thursday is Invesco Field at Mile High, the Denver stadium where Barack Obama will deliver his acceptance speech.
Everyone, regardless of political orientation, should want to go, if only for the experience of standing where the eyes of the nation and world are focused. John McCain might study sneaking in disguised with Rudy Giuliani's infamous wig and get dressed.
Invesco seating area around 75,000 people, but it is the toughest ticket in ithiel Town. Many are reserved for Democratic donors and VIPs. The 5,000 rule delegates are guaranteed seats, as are the 15,000 or so journalists credentialed for the convention.
I am not among those officially canonic scribes. So weeks agone, I applied for a civilian "Community Credential" through the Democratic convention Web site. Each state was allotted a certain number of such credentials. They were available to anyone regardless of party tie-up, or want thereof.
I submitted my request by the deadline -- and heard nothing.
Time for plan B.
In college, my buddy Kenny and I crafted fake backstage passes from a CD long box -- turns forbidden those composition board monstrosities weren't entirely useless -- and strolled undisputed into a Rolling Stones concert.
But the Secret Service certificate at Invesco will be considerably tighter than that provided by disinterested Superdome ticket-takers. Much of downtown Denver is on lockdown; a stretch out of Interstate 25 nigh the sports stadium is organism closed for four hours. And many, many law enforcement officers with guns will be patrolling for uninvited gate-crashers.
So I pinned my hopes on the "miracle ticket" route pioneered by countless Deadheads who stood outside sold-out venues pleading for a "miracle" in the form of a ticket, rather free.
I intended to ride the light-rail trail from where I'm staying southwest of Denver to Invesco, debark, and hold up a "Need One Ticket" sign. It's been my experience that the larger the event, the greater the number of tickets floating around at the net minute.
The DNC has gone to great lengths to discourage the scalping and transferring of tickets. My plan hinged on the physical tickets not being electronically labelled to the original recipient's name. Surely someone would have an extra.
Competition is stiff. Supposedly thousands of Colorado residents are on a wait list for that state's ticket allocation. On Sunday, the Denver Post ran a narrative about Billy Pitt, a 76-year-old lifelong Democrat from Tennessee. His daughter bought him a plane ticket to Denver and offered $250 on Craigslist for an Invesco ticket. As of last weekend, she'd found no takers.
Given the feel-good potential of this
