{"id":662,"date":"2012-02-14T01:37:33","date_gmt":"2012-02-14T01:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/punkoutlawrecords.com\/?p=662"},"modified":"2012-02-16T23:10:35","modified_gmt":"2012-02-16T23:10:35","slug":"scorched-by-the-bernie-madoff-of-concert-promoters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/punkoutlawrecords.com\/2012\/02\/14\/scorched-by-the-bernie-madoff-of-concert-promoters\/","title":{"rendered":"Scorched! By the Bernie Madoff of Concert Promoters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

There were near riots in downtown Los Angeles this past Sunday night at the Mayan Theater. No, Occupy LA didn\u2019t gear back up, but Rich Vreede of Black Cat Entertainment was back in action\u2026 spreading his unique brand of concert promotion and \u201cnice guy\u201d misery, which means a packed house but unpaid bands, ripped off \u201cinvestors\u201d, people on the verge of tears trying to maintain their dignity and in the end, a police escort out of the building among a throng of the pissed off for a guy I\u2019ve dubbed the \u201cBernie Madoff of all Concert Promoters\u201d.<\/p>\n

The approximately 650 attendees paid their $20-$25 at the door of the Mayan theater for the Valentine\u2019s Ball and spent unknown thousands at the bars (beers at $8 a pop) and would have no idea that most, in not all the bands they just enjoyed would end up not getting one penny owed them by the promoters.<\/p>\n

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Buying Tickets<\/p><\/div>\n

There were hardworking and respected guys like Elvis Cortez from the bands like Left Alone shaking their heads in disbelief that they had to put up with such amateur behavior just a couple of hours after the show.\u00a0 A booking agent for another band said that in all her years of booking, this would be the first time she\u2019d never gotten paid.<\/p>\n

The band from the UK who flew all the way over for the gig told me that in the Europe they were always paid their due, even when the crowd was light, much less when the crowd was packed. Word was, and I wasn\u2019t able to substantiate it personally but believe it to be true, that even the lead band Frantic Flintstones got stiffed. My buddies from Italy, Evil Devil good naturedly took it all in stride, just saying \u201che hasn\u2019t paid us everything just yet\u201d. Good luck fellas! At least you got a trip to the U.S. out of the deal.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The Mayan was packed and no one gets paid?<\/p><\/div>\n

And then there was the pissed off \u201cinvestor\u201d, a stocky, muscular dude with a heavy accent that I would never, even think about crossing up with financially, who chased Rich down and reportedly got him in a semi-headlock before security could intervene and break it up.<\/p>\n

By the end of the concert there were people floating around Rich like so many flies around cow dung. \u00a0\u00a0And yes I dear reader, am sad to report, was one of the unfortunate flies.\u00a0 Yes, I was one of the pissed off (or pissed on), who had been suckered into thinking I was going to be helping a nice guy, I thought I knew. A guy, who, though sometimes seeming a little disorganized at times, had always managed to pull off some pretty good events for over 10 years.<\/p>\n

Oh, but little did I know then, when I loaned my \u201cfriend\u201d some money for a deposit he needed to make to secure a venue for the event which was originally supposed to take place last September at the Music Box, that once money is obtained (in my case under fraudulent circumstances which I can prove in court) by the Bernie Madoff of Concert Promotions, your chances of getting money back depend on where you are in the pyramid scheme of payments, not how tight your legal agreement (mine is water tight) or how long you\u2019ve known the guy (I\u2019ve known him since 2006).<\/p>\n

\"\"

With Elvis from "Left Alone" and Alex from "Normandie Blue"<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

For me, it\u2019s a relatively small business hit. If I never see it, I\u2019ll absorb it in stride as part of the cost of doing business, but for the bands who had set aside the dates, refused other gigs and in the process promoted their hearts out so that someone else could make all the money with what turned out to be their free music? Well, it is an understandably bitter pill to swallow. \u00a0We all know the stories of musicians who make extreme sacrifices, especially financially, to make their music, just to work their way up to a level where they can actually get paid at a gig like \u201cThe Valentine\u2019s Ball\u201d. It\u2019s not right, that once they finally get that opportunity, morally challenged promoters then screw them some more. Some people I\u2019m sure were sorely depending on that money.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve recently learned through this experience, the list of bands shorted by Black Cat over the years reads like a Who\u2019s Who of psychobilly acts. From the famous to the not so famous, the bigger the tab, the less likely the band is going to get paid.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure who made all the money at the Valentine\u2019s Ball at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles last night, but it sure wasn\u2019t the hardworking and talented people who the people paid to see. And I gather from the angry crowd, the police escort, the Mayan Theater Security Guards who kept insisting that we turn off our cameras and go home and the weasley way our mutual \u201cbuddy\u201d Rich tried to slink out of the building under heavy police escort (seriously, there 6 police cars and 10-12 officers), that it wasn\u2019t Rich either. I mean he\u2019s not that crazy is he? Or is he? There was some rumor of some other mystery guy, disappearing with the money, but nobody knew who this guy was. But one thing is for sure, with this packed of a house, somebody made off big, like a bandit.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Most fans are blisffully unaware of Black Cat's miserable track record for paying bands<\/p><\/div>\n

There is more to this story and I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll get to the bottom of it soon. Yeah right ha, ha! But in the meantime, I kept thinking about the money I loaned the guy on good faith and a rock solid contract that now seems to not matter anymore. I certainly don\u2019t trust the California justice system but I\u2019ll give it one shot in this instance on principle alone and because there are few other options. Hopefully, they\u2019ll prove me wrong and I\u2019ll write a mea culpa. At least I have the resources to chase the guy. Some people will have to try to simply move on.<\/p>\n

For me, that money had been set aside for marketing for the new Punk Outlaw Record label we were starting. I thought it would be a good way to help a \u201cbuddy\u201d out while also promoting the label, and then when the INTEREST FREE LOAN was paid back as promised and agreed to on the day of the concert, I could promote some of my own events and maybe even bring a band or two from South America.<\/p>\n

But when it became clear I was dealing with a con (apparent the very next day after my check cleared, when my phone calls which up to that point had been returned immediately, began a markedly slower pace of returns or were downright ignored) and not a reputable business relationship, I needed to program myself with different motivation to keep doing the crazy, mind boggling stuff you have to do to try and get money from someone who doesn\u2019t have a job, someone whom I once treated to a Social Distortion concert and didn\u2019t even have the common decency to even buy me a beer as a thank you.<\/p>\n

I pledged to myself that if I got any of the money back, I\u2019d offer it as microloans to people who really need it. People in places like Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, Haiti, etc. who literally don\u2019t have anything. Microloans are tiny loans (as small as $25) that can help people who are trying to lift themselves out of impossibly bleak circumstances by doing something that our buddy Rich doesn\u2019t seem to understand, working.<\/p>\n

With as little as $25, you can actually help change an entire family\u2019s life by loaning them money to buy cows, pigs or chickens or a piece of farm equipment for their farm, or perhaps a sewing machine so a single mother can start a tailoring business for her village, or whatever the case may be. I had already set my sites on Kiva, a fine organization that passes all scrutiny and is recommended by major media outlets like CNN, etc. (yes, charities have their own Bernie Madoff\u2019s who do the same thing so do your homework).<\/p>\n

I knew I\u2019d have to document every bullshit email exchange, facebook encounter and telephone call where the guy said one thing and did another time after time and I\u2019d have to try and keep my cool and not call him a scumbag loser and liar. It was exhausting and the only thing that kept me going was that I could allocate that money, borne in such a negative, shitty circumstance of one person trying to con money out of another (some rob you with a pistol, others with a pen), and give it to someone who genuinely needed it. Someone who\u2019s life would literally change overnight. Out of the cracks of the sand in the desert the most beautiful and colorful flowers so often grow, that was my optimistic and obviously unrealistic hope in this situation.<\/p>\n

But alas after chasing the guy down Friday night at the Pre-Valentine\u2019s Ball party where he said \u201cwhatever your thinking is happening, put it out of your mind, it\u2019s not\u201d, after numerous emails and promises that I\u2019d for sure get paid back all my money the night of the concert \u201cif not before\u201d (can\u2019t tell you how many times I heard that one), from \u201cnice guy\u201d Rich of Black Cat, I was ultimately made painfully aware that if I were to get my money, I\u2019d be standing behind a long line of people, many who probably need it much worse than me.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a shame that one person can cause so much pain, negativity and misery. One buddy told me a story about how on another occasion of the guy stiffing artists, one poor soul from Europe, this big, intimidating psychobilly musician with a Mohawk was literally crying in his hotel room lamenting \u201cI don\u2019t understand why we can\u2019t get paid, this never happens in Europe. Why do people do business this way?\u201d Good question.<\/p>\n

Well, I could be cynical and say welcome to Los Angeles, the music industry or the psychobilly scene my friend\u2026 but that would not be right. There are many good promoters in the music industry and in the psychobilly scene in LA.\u00a0 I guess it\u2019s welcome to the land of Black Cat Entertainment, a parallel universe where a guy who rarely pays anyone, keeps a promise or\u00a0apparently\u00a0tells the truth, still is able to keep promoting concerts and people still go and bands still perform and suckers like me are still born every minute. \u00a0I say that madness has to stop and I hope it stops with me and anyone reading this blog.\u00a0See you in court Rich.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re reading this post and especially if Black Cat screwed you over, I invite you to visit Kiva<\/strong><\/em> <\/a>and offer a microloan for $25 or $50 or whatever you can afford whenever you get to where you can afford it again. I know it sounds weird to lose money and then give some more away, but I think maybe we can help offset the miserable karma put out by people like Black Cat and the ilk by doing some actual, real good in the world.<\/p>\n

See the video from after the show HERE:<\/strong><\/em> <\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Has Black Cat or another promoter screwed you over? Then shoot us an email at info@punkoutlawrecords.com<\/a> or leave us a comment. Our new site www.Scumbagpromoter.com<\/a> will be up soon and we\u2019ll tell your story and publicly out some of these shady promoters and maybe, who knows,\u00a0 we can even\u00a0 help clean up the scene a bit.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There were near riots in downtown Los Angeles this past Sunday night at the Mayan Theater. No, Occupy LA didn\u2019t gear back up, but Rich Vreede of Black Cat Entertainment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[22,20,21,23],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n