11,000 Fahrenheit Degrees of Fun

The Rolling Stones may be burdening us with yet another worldwide tour, but they're far from the oldest ticket in town. Rose Marshack, bassist of perennial Champaign-Urbana, Illinois outfit The Poster Children, is trying her hand at promoting an act that's got billions of years on Mick 'n' Keith: the setting sun. Marshack has enlisted the considerable services of Ticketmaster's Ticketweb division to hawk "Tickets to the Sunset." That’s right, for an unspecified charitable donation of two bucks (not including surcharge, of course), you can get your very own printed ticket to see Dryden's "glorious lamp of Heav'n" descend below the horizon ("Rain or shine, money-back guarantee if the sun does not set"). Marshack calls it a "time-based solar transaction," and wants you to know that t-shirts and posters are also available. Oh, and a Steve Albini-engineered field recording of the sun's March 16th setting in Chicago (on iTunes, Napster, Real, and all other non-analog mp3 outlets). Marshack hypothesizes that all of this entrepreneurialism will make people "feel justified or obligated to watch the sunset… The act of paying for something makes it seem more desirable, justifiable." Did I mention that t-shirts are available? - Andy Comer