Ticketmaster, which is handling the ticketing for the sole official inaugural ball open to the public, goofed yesterday when it emailed invitations to purchase tickets to some people, prompting an early run on some of the hottest tickets of the year.

Photo by Matt.Dunn Howdy, Washington. In an interview on Good Morning America, President Barack Obama said that Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell’s omission of slavery from his preamble to a state-sanctioned Confederate History Month was “unacceptable,” according to The Hill. Far from piling on, President Obama said that he reckons that the governor realizes his mistake. And while moving on is maybe the right thing for all of us to do now, President Obama missed an…

Venerable D.C. music venue the Black Cat announced today that it will stop selling advance tickets through Ticketmaster, instead switching to competitor Ticket Alternative. The change will become effective September 25, so all shows that are taking place after that date are already on sale via Ticket Alternative. In a strongly worded release, the venue made plain the reasons for the switch: Ticket Alternative’s service charges are lower, typically $2.50 or less for the…

Wale by Shamigo This year’s Virgin Mobile Festival’s plan to give out tickets for free worked like a charm. The concert’s organizers say 35,000 free tickets were gobbled up in minutes when they went on “sale” this weekend. If you had your heart set on seeing Public Enemy, Girl Talk, Wale, The National and St. Vincent on August 30 at Merriweather Post Pavilion, but didn’t get a ticket in time, there’s still a way…

We’d heard the rumors and speculated ourselves, and today the folks behind the Virgin Mobile Festival announced that its shortened schedule and new venue this year will have one pretty great thing going for it: it’s going to be totally free. The 2009 Virgin Mobile Festival will take place on Sunday, August 30 at Merriweather Post Pavilion, and will be, for real, entirely free. Why free? Virgin Mobile just wants to be nice, they…

Every concertgoer, no matter their musical preferences, can agree on one thing: service charges are way the eff out of control. Say, for example, you wanted to buy a pair of tickets to see Tori Amos at DAR Constitution Hall on Aug. 1. You have no real choice but to go to Ticketmaster.com and cough up $45 for each ticket, plus an $11.15 “convenience” charge per ticket, plus another $1.50 each for something called…

Bruuuuutal. TicketsNow.com, the resale company owned by Ticketmaster, oversold the upcoming Bruce Springsteen concert at the Verizon Center, WTOP’s Mark Segraves reports. The company is in the middle of contacting customers who thought they had awesome seats to the show and letting them know that their dream night with the Boss won’t come true. TicketsNow is giving refunds, and some customers are also being offered free tickets in the nosebleed section. The concert is…