When Girl Talk came to campus on Oct. 14, less than half of the student body was able to get tickets to see him perform.
Ellie Klein is the public events chair. As such, she decided where Girl Talk would play and how many tickets would be sold.

“The ballroom capacity is 600, so we made 600 tickets,” she said. “That’s where I think there was a lot of confusion. We really couldn’t make more than 600, on the chance that 600 people showed up, plus we had security and the sound and lights crew and Gregg Gillis, Girl Talk himself.”

Girl Talk tickets were given out every day for a week prior to the event. On the final day, Friday, tickets sold out at 12:30 p.m. Klein had planned to sell them until 1:30 p.m.

“It worked out pretty well because the line stopped as the tickets stopped,” Klein said.

Abby McCoy was one of the final students to receive a ticket. “Including us, there were three people there and three tickets left. They gave us the last tickets and said, ‘Alright, we’re done.’ I was so relieved.”

Nevertheless, many students were disappointed about not receiving Girl Talk tickets. Some even offered money on the listserv to anyone willing to give up a ticket.

Others were frustrated that only Whitman students could get tickets. Friends, boyfriends and girlfriends of Whitman students were among the many who wanted to see Girl Talk and listen to his music.

Klein explained, “There were a fair number of people who did pay their ASWC fees that could not get in. Of course people who paid tuition and go here should get priority. That’s why we didn’t open it up to the public at all, or alums.”

Nevertheless, Girl Talk fans without tickets or without a valid Whitman ID showed up at Reid on the night of the event.

Many people who do not attend Whitman had obtained tickets and borrowed IDs from students. Since these people were not allowed in, their tickets were wasted. Tom Bugert was among the students who checked tickets and identification at the door.

“I caught a couple of people who weren’t Whitman students who had somehow gotten Whitman IDs and tickets. A couple of people didn’t have tickets and were trying to get in. I also stopped a couple of Whitman alums.” Bugert says. “There was this one girl who wasn’t a Whitman student who tried to get in. When she handed me her ID, she was covering up the picture with her thumb. I was like, ‘I really need to see the whole card.’ The person in the photo had, like, a completely different face and hair color.”

Unfortunately, the door patrol did not catch everyone. Bugert said, “I know that a couple Whitman alums got past us, which is really frustrating. It’s just not fair to all the other people we had to turn away.”

Bugert said, “We can either do it in the ballroom, which only fits 600 but we can dance, or we can do in Cordiner, which can fit everyone but there’s no dancing. Girl Talk would not be nearly as much fun in Cordiner. I guess I would ask the people who were frustrated that they didn’t get tickets, ‘Why didn’t you get at the beginning of the week when there were a hundred of them?’ It’s kind of their own fault for putting it off ’til Friday afternoon and then being surprised that there weren’t tickets.”