Tickets to CMJ Music Marathon: around $10 for each show
Full-ride CMJ pass: $195-$495 (TICKETS TO SEE PHOENIX AND DAFT PUNK AT MSG? TOO F*CKING LATE!)
Round-trip train ticket from Long Island (in my case, Hicksville) to Penn Station: $15.50
Getting drunk all week in NYC during the CMJ Music Marathon: …free?
The CMJ Music Marathon is a festival of sorts, and those things ain’t cheap. BUT, there’s a couple ways to pinch pennies.
There are open bars going on every day, multiple times per day, throughout the Marathon. Big Ass Lens has a great calendar of what’s available. Some require credentials or tickets to get into, but for $10 you’re then getting to see a bunch of bands, 85 percent you’ve never heard of, and unlimited Amstel Light and well drinks. Bottoms up!
Diamond Rings, Dale Earnhardy Jr. Jr., Wild Nothing rock Santos Party House
Brokelyn (jealous of that great domain name) has a list of free events. Yo La Tengo’s free show Tuesday is already in the books, but there are opportunities Thursday (DJ sets, record label parties), Friday (Devotchka, Cotton Jones playing) and Saturday (food, performance by Francis and the Lights).
And lastly, there’s swag all over the place. Why, just last night at the CMJ Press Party, I got a ton of cool stuff: a laptop bag, glowstick/rave light/rape whistle/flashlight combo device and YouTube tube socks!
