It’s a love story for Taylor Swift and the kids

After spending a day online trying to fetch Taylor Swift tickets from the Ticketmaster mafia, our Bill Cole shakes off the bad blood after an evening in Philadelphia and fills in the blank spaces of 100,000 girls singing “You Belong With Me” under the stars.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

people, taylor swift, concert, talked, stadium, years, philly, night, game, orioles, baltimore, week, seal, ticket, sat, playing, roofing, park, arena, music

SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Bill Cole

Nestor Aparicio  00:00

To get back wn St. Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive we are. We’re practicing a little bit around here. I wish more people were practicing. I’m crab racing and fade leaves on Wednesday and I’m sure it will be incredible video evidence of my crab jockey silks down at the old Lexington market next to the new Lexington market right around the corner from the new CFG Bank Arena. I spent the weekend with Janet Jackson concentrating. But while I was concentrating let’s see with seal in Washington seal in Philly because he was just that freakin good. And then Janet Jackson and then John late and soon to be Bruno Mars. This guy was at the big banana and I you know, I don’t know if he had big britches spending $100 A ticket on Taylor Swift or not. But I know he has daughters and Bilco as I drink my royal farms coffee and try to wake up here a little bit today and Nicole roofing mug I would say to you did it sound like this? Because every video I saw it sounded like a Beatles concert meets a John Mayer concert me to Sean Cassidy concert meets a New Kids on the Block concert. And you know what, I love me some Taylor Swift. I really do. And I looked for tickets. And I was going to go up all night on Friday or Saturday $150 ticket popped out. I was I was inferred to go sit on the roof and watch. How’d you do? How did you do with the girls at Taylor Swift? So

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Bill Cole  01:21

I think we talked about my Harry Styles that adventure.

Nestor Aparicio  01:30

Tonight, by the way, so

Bill Cole  01:31

and you know, and that was the whole group that’s doing the arena. And you know, that was like more learning about the great things that were coming to Baltimore. And Harry Styles was the sort of accidental consequence of that. But

Nestor Aparicio  01:46

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there was a lot of shrieking there.

Bill Cole  01:48

That was indoor, it was indoor. Yeah, I mean, the decibel and eardrum damage that occurred from that one was definitely worse than Taylor. Open Air. Correct. Thank

Nestor Aparicio  02:05

you, Rachel field.

Bill Cole  02:06

So that’s a good lesson for all the dads out there to understand and learn is like, if you’re going to go to a concert like that, make sure it’s outside, then you’re you’ll survive better. You know, I would say that my takeaway was like, Okay, so number one. I sat on Ticketmaster and did the whole thing where I’m stuck on the internet. And I got lucky and we got tickets. And that’s why we went fundamental

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Nestor Aparicio  02:37

and where were the seats? Bad? I mean, they weren’t great stadium. So I mean, like, I just I always go back to There’s nothing good that ever happened to the stadium. no fans, no Springsteen fan coming up, or Billy Joel or any of that. Like, it’s just, it can’t be what I had at seal on at a stadium. It’s never and I’ve seen Bruce at 100 stadiums, right? So I mean,

Bill Cole  02:59

it is totally a let’s see. And she played from seven till like 1130

Nestor Aparicio  03:06

I’ve seen all the videos. It’s unbelievable. And it’s an incredible it’s a Super Bowl production. I mean, I’ve been to 27 Super Bowls. There’s no good Super Bowl halftime I mean, maybe the Bruce Springsteen one in Tampa, but because that was 50 feet away, but like I sat at the top and watched Eminem, I sat at the top and watched Janet Jack, I sat at the top watch that all Tom Petty. It’s not

Bill Cole  03:26

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that that’s where I was going. It’s a you know, four and a half hour halftime Super Bowl show. I mean, that’s what you’re watching and, and Lucky me. My girls thought it was, you know, the most amazing thing in the whole entire world. They have no sense of like, the music being better in a smaller environment or any of the stuff that you’re speaking to are how bad our seats really for relative to other things and, and

Nestor Aparicio  03:53

an incredible musician, right, and she’s an incredible ly talented woman who now is in a Broadway show. It’s all about running out on the runway. I saw all the videos. I saw a dive in the pool. It’s It’s It’s insane. She’s the top she’s Mickey Mantle. She’s She Shohei Otani she really is, but I don’t know that I needed to fork out to under bucks. And I’ll tell you this, I went to seal Thursday night after seeing him Wednesday. I just had a crazy week like I just fell into a concert. I’m like, this might be the greatest thing I’ve ever seen. So I went back the next night and it was better the second night, which was amazing, but that I stopped that the Joe Biden rest area to urinate on the way home Thursday night, and the concerts kind of ended seal ended. I was I was uptown Philly. I avoided all the traffic and I saw the Swift these all rolling into the rest stop. You know with the parents. It was you and eight girls in a minivan it was just a sea and everybody had to pee.

Bill Cole  04:49

So yeah, so my takeaways are definitely. Like I undervalued how amazing a musician she is like, I didn’t realize how many albums I didn’t really know the story of COVID and where she like put out two albums during COVID. And like the spectrum of her music.

Nestor Aparicio  05:15

She’s a worker,

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Bill Cole  05:16

really, and you sit there and you can’t help. But like, realized, here’s like, I don’t know, 80 90,000 people, and she’s got them in the palm of her hand

Nestor Aparicio  05:31

every night, every night at 85 months that she’s gonna go over to Europe and doing the merch stand started at eight in the morning. Like, she is a machine and she’s earned it. Right. Look

Bill Cole  05:45

there, the outside of the stadium. There were people who were parked in the parking lot. And just tailgated and listen to the concert. There were 20,000 plus people outside the stadium listening to the concert

Nestor Aparicio  06:00

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would have been glad to pay three or $400 to get in. But it was only available eight, right?

Bill Cole  06:05

I mean, it was

Nestor Aparicio  06:07

it’s the Beatles in the modern era, right? Like it’s really the power of the internet. Because in the old days, it was a radio station, a television, you know, Ed Sullivan or Johnny Carson, whatever would get you over. She’s gotten herself over on, you know, on the internet, youtube, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and the parents get sucked in because her music doesn’t sock. I mean, her first song you know, the Romeo Juliet. Like the she wrote that when she was 15 years old. And like she’s fun and compassion, because I’ve seen a lot of servants not cash in. I see a lot of really talented people that I had one of them on last week hurt Newman from the bodines. You know, they talked at playing clubs and input. They’re great musicians, and they’re phenomenal. I saw her with Def Leppard. 10 years ago doing that CMT crossover show that Darius Rucker did with the Black Crowes the other night, still very successful franchise. And I saw her fall in with Def Leppard and then fall in love with this 19 year old girl and say, Oh, my God, you know, and here she is playing stadiums. You know, just 10 years later,

Bill Cole  07:09

right? So much respect that I you know, not that I never really liked her, I just didn’t really care. But to your point. In a fragmented universe, where you have social media, like nobody else decided, maybe this is true, but nobody else decided that Taylor Swift should be the one. Right? She went out and made that happen, and continues to just create music and doesn’t mind genres and well, like writes about people in her life and, and she was really personable. She like talks to the crowd a lot. You know, she’s from, like, Redding, Pennsylvania. So this was like our hometown show. And she she remembers watching ego games and blah, blah, blah. And I mean, it was, I was

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Nestor Aparicio  08:02

one you over, it was fun. Yeah. I mean, when you over all right, what did you like

Bill Cole  08:06

this? She could have played for two hours, and I would have been totally content. Like, the length was a little bit painful for me. But it was fine. Right. She

Nestor Aparicio  08:16

lays out man. I mean, I saw that the first night of the tour out in Arizona bill calls here. He dragged his children, or they dragged him kicking and screaming all the way to Taylor Swift. He puts the coffee in the monkey or coal roofing, Gordy energy. They do commercial roofing, they do all sorts of solar projects. I tried to learn things and keep up with what’s going on. It really is you and I did a thing about kid sports last week and the Orioles and the Ravens, Lamar and all that. Once we get into springtime, now, I have a whole new sort of kick with the weather and my schedule being wide open, right? Like I don’t, the summer to me is this unfolding tapestry of different things, events coming back weekend wine in the woods concert. Shanaya Twain, just things that are that are going on. But the oral baseball thing sort of sitting over top of it reminds me of my childhood where like, my wife and I got off a yoga mat. The other night, we had some food we stopped got some Chinese food. And sometimes we eat it in the basement like, you know, like, offseason, and the girl game was in progress. It was fifth inning or whatever she’s like, we’re gonna watch the game, right? And I’m like, Man, I ain’t heard that and 20 years. Like are you getting any of that? Or are you feeling that because Dennis went to the game Sunday Monday, Len Raskin came on all lubed up about Shohei Otani and he’s going into the game. I’d like to go see Otani play, although I know he’ll be a Yankee soon and we’ll have more chances. And then he goes in five hits pitches. I mean, baseball is a little back on the tongue and I don’t know about the Preakness this week. I may not. I’m going I went to John Waite The other night I these beleaguered sports brands that I have hovered over for all of my professional life, wondering every year is the Preakness staying or coming wondering every year are the Orioles ever gonna get healed? Man at least it feels like for five minutes the Orioles are in a space where they’re winning people over and even after the game before Rob lon comes on, they put Ryan mountcastle on the postgame and I say to my wife this kid seems like a nice kid and I don’t know any of these people and this is all the more reason for John Angeles to let me back in and not have me out is to say no, I could go on the air and say he is a nice kid like I used to say about Ben McDonald or about Mark Williamson or Todd fro Werth or mark Messina or any of those guys whom I like a lot so like a lot the ones that are still with us but for the Orioles have they? Are they winning you over like Taylor Swift winning me over right then that as much as they can win me again. It

Bill Cole  10:47

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was like my my two pieces of evidence. So let me preface with first mean No, not yet. Like, oh, wow, work is just really busy. I think that we got a lot of stuff going on and then

Nestor Aparicio  10:59

me know if they won or lost last night. I have no idea. Okay, fair enough. Okay, okay.

Bill Cole  11:04

But I am getting ancillary evidence in that like, this is silly, but it struck me I was driving up 95 And the Orioles van that I guess the bird goes and does,

Nestor Aparicio  11:22

you know, birds on the side like this sort of what it’s

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Bill Cole  11:25

like his mobile van to like, take the bird places. I saw the van or 95. And I’m like, I’m probably I can’t remember the last I’ve never seen that. Yeah, like, what is that? Look at that.

Nestor Aparicio  11:39

I’ve seen that’s it. So the nasty van. Right. And I think

Bill Cole  11:43

I drove the nasty van one time anyway.

Nestor Aparicio  11:45

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It’s been a fun one. Because people waved to you and stuff. It was great. I should reinstall that I should bring the NASS to get the SD van back. I just talked to Dennis about that.

Bill Cole  11:55

More and more people are talking about going to the game. Like they’re complaining about how expensive it is. And it’s like, yeah, okay, great. Like, but you haven’t complained about how expensive is to go to a game in 10 years. So I’m not sure there’s a Taylor Swift you. I paid $39 For six bottles of water. So you do the math on that. It’s ridiculous. But anyway,

Nestor Aparicio  12:22

six foot $6.50 for a

Bill Cole  12:25

bottle of water. You know, so that people don’t like pass out all over?

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Nestor Aparicio  12:30

Did you spend $800 for the ticket after spent 50. I spent 50 bucks to park. I went to see seal and the tickets were incredibly affordable. I bought them last minute and I thought wow, cheap night. And then I think tolls gas getting to Philly, I get up there get a cheesesteak to do my usual rounds. And then I go to park and I’m in North Philly, North Philly, between temple and the city. It’s the Met the Met center the Met and I thought it was going to be like a really nice experience. I mean, it was $50 to park in a cage six blocks away, walking past blue lights up Broad Street, some temple kids around it. It wasn’t it wasn’t a good experience. And this space is CFG Bank Arena me going down there and people and Camden Yards and people having a good experience. It’s important that people have a good experience. I didn’t have a bad experience in Philly. But I wouldn’t go back and pay 50 bucks to park in a cage and drive to North Philly to see sting. I will go to Wolf Trap the sea snake. You know, I mean, like I said to my wife, I wanted to try it. I tried it. I mean, unless Elvis is playing I ain’t going back to the Met in Philly.

Bill Cole  13:35

And I think that’s weird because, like we did one of those trips that I go on or whatever, where we go to the other cities and learn about it. And we did one in Philly to kind of like towards the back end of COVID we took the train up and did all that and I just underestimated like how big Philly is how many people like the population like that we have no concept of of how much bigger it is than Baltimore DC or even us combined like it is it is big. It shocks me with the number of nice things and the amount of like it’s a very it’s got a similar vibe of like the neighborhood he kind of thing that Baltimore has right just like when a more bigger scale. I guess it shocks me that they can’t have that experience. properly done right that like that they’re missing a piece to that. Like they you should fit you would figure there’s enough interest to have that be successful. And that ultimately you should tell your friends Oakview or whatever that they need to go up there and do that one next because that is the game now right the game is to take these

Nestor Aparicio  14:51

while the game is they’re trying to get the 55 year old man to get his 50 year old wife into a car and drive and pay and sit on friggin Ticketmaster with the mafia literally for hours trying to get a ticket. And then you get to the event and you’re gonna get whisked down one down. If it’s cold out, they’re gonna make you stand out in the cold before you get in. I remember remember all of that from going to the Springsteen concert DC, eight years? And I’m like, we’re not doing this again, like, Yeah, and you spend $800 on a Wednesday night, you haven’t had dinner? And it’s 50 bucks to park and and, and, and and and you say to yourself, was it a good experience? Is it something I would do again tomorrow, and there are things I would do again, tomorrow night, like, go back to Janet Jackson at the CFG Bank Arena, or even go down to see seal at the anthem. I would not go back and see seal at the Met in Philadelphia would pick another place to see him like the beacon next week in New York.

Bill Cole  15:42

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Right? I look, I think the stadiums are, you know, three run home runs for, you know, Grand Slams like like it, isn’t it? They’re different. That’s a different offering, right? The offering we’re talking about is to your point a Wednesday night, and okay, COVID stopped everything. Then we have pent up demand. So people were literally willing to do anything. And we made up all these excuses as to why their performance could be terrible. Like, we don’t have enough staff and weekend to do it, you know, and it’s like you’re charging

Nestor Aparicio  16:19

me 50 bucks to park in the worst part of Philadelphia to walk six blocks to a show. Fu you know what I mean? Like, it should have been 50 bucks, the parts that should have been 2025 bucks, maybe 30 bucks, and I wouldn’t be talking about it on the radio. Instead, I felt ripped off. And when I feel ripped off from Dundalk, it pisses me off. And if you rip me off, you’re done. You’re done. You lie to me, you rip me off, you mislead me, we got a real problem. And so I felt like I got lured into the worst part of Philadelphia and I had no option other than to pay twice as much for parking as I paid for the tickets.

Bill Cole  16:52

Which is why they right, which is why they charge what they charge because you had two options. But I think

Nestor Aparicio  17:00

that like it as a $30 in the guys back, you’re like I had that. And I’m like, I ain’t doing that.

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Bill Cole  17:07

I think this system is at the point where now we’re going to come back to this place of evaluating right and actually making decisions. And as you know, whatever recession or whatever problems are sort of ahead of us and everything, but everybody tightens their belt. Yeah, that place is gonna suffer, because they didn’t take this chance to figure it out. And now it’s the interconnectedness, right, like if you when we met with Oakview people, and they talked about the arena. They didn’t talk about it at pretending like Baltimore doesn’t have public safety issues. And they didn’t talk about like it, you know, they really talked about all the issues and then attempted to help solve for them, right, make them better. It’s the full experience where they’ve got a park, how can they walk in the state, you know, the arena, blah, blah, blah, and

Nestor Aparicio  18:02

all I saw 12 people 12,000 people down there having a beautiful experience, Janet Jackson said white people, black people, young people, old people, kids, dancing, singing ludicrous the whole deal. Oh, the pride on Phil we Dells face. Literally I saw that I had him on the show Friday state fair, I saw the pride on his face in seeing the logo and saying, you know, we’re a part of this, you know, this might have happened without us whatever. But to be a part of that. And then the next blink 182 next week and the next Bryan Adams and Joan Jett and the next Adam Sandler in the next Lizzo. And like it really, and I told him this on Friday, and I hope you watch the piece and I have to I have to jump but the the docket at the CFG Bank Arena looks like Madison Square Garden, like the and I’ve never seen a marquee with that in Baltimore. And I said painters mill Merriweather capital center, tie it all together. And whatever this roster is right now it is the most aggressive, prosperous roster of artists, musicians that the city has ever seen ever, ever. There weren’t musicians like this in the 60s when Elvis came in and the Beatles and like all that. So I am I’m bullish on all of it. And then I see the baseball team that you’ve ignored and I hope this time next week you’ll at least know they’re playing the Yankees. And you know you’ll be on board with the fact that get your get your daughters into this All right, get them into baseball for some.

Bill Cole  19:32

Okay, thanks for the advice to John Angeles his job

Nestor Aparicio  19:35

right so when you baseball, they’ll call I can be found at cole roofing and accordion He is also the front of all of our positive.com He puts the royal farms coffee in the royal the royal farms coffee in the coal roofing mug. I’m going to be doing the Maryland crab cakes were presented by the Maryland lottery, your neck of the woods. We’re coming to false town on Tuesday, and we’re gonna be at the local Han Restaurant Association of Maryland chef of the year. We’re gonna have To crabcake up there, I saw the I saw all sorts of goodies on the menu. I’m going to become hungry. Two to five on Tuesday. That’s an open invitation to you bill Cole if you weren’t, if Vegas doesn’t wear you out, we’re gonna be there with our friends at window nation as well. 866 90 nation is the way to get your windows. I’m wearing my fav these gear crab racing in Lexington market. We are wn st am 1570, Towson Baltimore. And we never stop talking Baltimore positive