My blog item yesterday about media organizations axing copy editors and receptionists set off a firestorm of comments about whether musical groups should be referred to as singular or plural entities. OK, actually it was two people. OK, both people commented on my Facebook page, not here. But this does not mean I can't get another item out of it!

Both schools of thought have valid points. To wit:

Read More "Copy-Editing Corner: Are Bands “It”s or “They”s?" »

Tickets for Phish at Merriweather Post sold out as soon as they went on sale today.

Looks like you'll have to deal with this guy.

Speaking of internet ticket jam-ups: Tickets for the August 15 Merriweather Post Pavillion/Pavilion date on Phish's reunion tour, the only tour stop in this market, go on sale tomorrow at 11 a.m. All shows on the tour are selling out immediately.

So what kind of folks will be pounding away on their keyboards come sale time?

Well, here's an ad that appeared on the Washington, DC Craigslist site on Dec. 19, 2008 (PostingID: 964346143), from a guy who scored, so to speak, some passes to Phish's March 8 show at Hampton Coliseum, during the last Web sale:

Me - Holder of 2 extra Phish Tickets for Sunday Hampton
You - Attractive Female 18-30I'm looking for the sweetest trade of all - ANAL - that is right - good old-fashioned anal sex for 2 Phish Tickets. We meet, we have anal and you get 2 hard copy lottery tix for Phish - easy, simple and everyone wins - I bust a nut in your a$$ and you get to go to the show.

If your interested please reply with a pic and I will be happy to send you my confirmation letter with Phish as proof.

God only knows what sorta bartering this dude would go for if he got his hands on a pair of Easter Egg Roll tickets.

Did you know that the word pavilion derives from the Old French word for butterfly*? Neither did I till I looked it up to see whether or not we'd been misspelling the name of a certain amphitheater in Columbia, Md.

But as Prong (above) might have said, Google begs to differ. Its search results spell the venue's ultimate name "Pavillion." Click through to Merriweather's site, and the title bar says "Pavillion" while the rest of the Web site spells it with one "L."

The Washington Post spells Pavilion with one "L." We've been less consistent. So I called Merriweather and spoke to someone who did not wish to be quoted but has worked at the venue for nearly 10 years. It's been one "L" as long as she's been there, she says. She had no idea where the double "L" came from.

Anyway, I'm sold. One "L" henceforth, folks.

*pavillon, which I guess became papillon through a consonant shift; pavilion means large tent, usually with a peaked top, which could resemble a butterfly, yes.

Photo by Flickr user tonbabydc