Tickets, Please

Here is a list of artists I have not seen live:

Shawn Colvin
Toni Childs
Angelique Kidjo
Rosanne Cash
k.d. lang
Jann Arden
Cyndi Lauper
Joan Jett
Ozzy Osbourne
The New York Dolls

I could have seen them. I had tickets. I just didn't go.

This happens a lot, and not just for concerts. I have piles of unused tickets for operas, plays, and symphony performances. I even have unused airline tickets, the most recent being for a trip to New York I never took.

The ticket thing has become something of a joke amongst...