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Brian K
Advanced Member
United States
8,663 posts
Joined: Sep, 2001
528 hardcore releases
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 Posted - 2006/12/01 : 04:47:35
nice story about what promoting is all about these days taken from kf forums:
The following contents will not be pleasant to read, and they may even appear to be shocking. However, I feel it's within everyone's best interest that you read this so you will not get burned in the future.
To Whom It May Concern :
This is John (Prophet) from Tiny Recordings. I would like to put the real story up there for those who are interested in preserving some integrity in the scene, and are interested in knowing who should and who should not be trusted and or worked with. I will post the full story which will and has gone out to all rave message boards, All booking agencies, and all legal parties for the pending litigation that will take place. So please excuse me in advance for the long post. On October 2nd 2006 I was contacted by Edgar Mendoza on behalf of Zapatista productions to book the good, the bad and the ugly tour which consisted of : Luna-C, Delirium, and myself. The contract was sent that same day, it was not signed, faxed and received by me until October 17th, 2007. The compensation was set to be x dollars (I can not list the amount at this time due to the pending litigation that will be filed.) 3 flights, and 2 hotel rooms. We agreed to have 2 of the artists share a room to save Edgar a bit of money. The money for the flights was sent to me by Edgar on October 19th which was already in breech of contract since it stated he had 7 days from the date of the contract to send the money. The flights at this time had went up in price and I had to lay out $20.00 for the flights which while it isnt much, It is not my responsibility to have done. He also only sent that money and no deposit for the artist fees to which his response was I have been burned by artists such as Monk and others so Im only sending ½ the money which was now twenty dollars short of even covering the plane tickets. As a professional courtesy we agreed to come and perform. Edgar told me on the phone the balance of monies owed, plus the twenty dollars extra would be paid upon our arrival AT THE AIRPORT , A statement which he later recanted when there was no money there. So the 3 of us arrive in SF to no money, Daniel picked us up from the airport and took us to the hotel . The accommodations that were made for us were unacceptable, It was a 1.5 star hotel (another breech in contract) in an area where the hotel owner wouldnt even let us in to talk, we had to speak to him through a bullet proof glass window. We all decided we would not stay there, Daniel agreed the place was unacceptable and took us to another hotel closer to the airport. We got to the new hotel and checked in when leaving Daniel, I said to him again Please have your brother call me about the balance of monies owed. He agreed to have him do that and now we had something to eat since we no longer had time to go out before we needed to go to the venue, Took a shower and headed over to the venue. (might I add we only got to the venue as a courtesy of Jen and Second Base.) Thanks a lot guys! You rock. If they were not there we were left without a ride even to the venue. Upon arrival Edgar was not there to greet us so once we passed security I went in to find him about the balance of monies we needed to clear up. After being introduced to Edgar I said to him Hey im set to go on in 30 minutes can we clear up the balance before myself and my guys perform and the run around began. The response was I told you I do not pay any DJS until after they perform this is unheard of. In my 11 years of spinning, throwing events and 5 years of traveling gigs across the US the format has always been : Deposit, Arrival, Balance, Performance. Not to mention he had already told me prior payment would be arranged for me when I got to the AIRPORT. Wanting to believe he was a good guy, I performed. After me, Tronic was set to go on, followed by Luna-C then Delirium. Once I finished up I found Edgar again after a 20 minute search told him I needed to be paid for myself and my guys he agreed and told me to follow him to the front door. Myself and Delirium followed and were ignored for over 30 minutes while he spoke to his Partner in the event. They walked off to the side, leaving us standing there while they spoke in secret. Now 45 minutes later, Edgar comes back to me and says My partner is bugging about the police presence give him 1 hour and you will be paid in full Again being a nice guy I agreed. An hour came and went, and it was another 20 minute search mission to find Edgar. At this time police had now gathered in the parking lot of the event. Now Luna-C is set to go on, being a nice guy and not wanting to disappoint fans who were there to see him perform he went on, in the meantime Edgar tells me Let this shit blow over with the cops and you will be paid in full Now I was more then worried so I ask What happens if the police shut the event down He tells me No worries we collected over 7k at the door already you will be paid, and if not I have about 4k in MY NAME at skills which you can be paid from . In come the cops, on go the lights and the event is shut down. For the 6th time now I approach Edgar he says Let me handle this with the police, and you will be paid. At this juncture in time Edgar and his Partner later identified by Edgar as Andy Tai walk away and only Edgar comes back. Once the cops leave I ask now for the 7th time a bit more firm (notice firm came at the 7th time of asking) and here comes the punch line to this disgusting joke& My partner walked off with all the money, sorry homey we cannot pay better luck next time Now im 2,100 miles from home with 2 artists and we were out and out ****ed. The next day I call Edgar figuring maybe he was beat by his partner and he could obtain the ticket money which he told me was in his name from Skills and make good on the deal. He picks up the phone screaming telling me I was harassing him and there was nothing he could do since the ticket money was in HIS and ANDYS name and he couldnt pick it up without Andy who had just supposedly beat him for 7k Imagine that Im HARASSING HIM& I ask what he expects me to do at this point and he says well you have flights home dont you?! So I guess its not a total loss In essence telling me to **** off and go home. Now a friend wired us some money to take care of the incidentals (which were supposed to be paid by Edgar as stated in the contract) for a hot meal and other things not to mention we were just ****ed out of a considerable sum of money, not to mention we were 2,100 miles from home and were being told out and out **** you dont hassle me . This has been the most outrageous, obnoxious, and pathetic excuse for a robbery in the history of my 11 years in this business. At that point there was nothing left to do but return home. Upon arrival I had messages from Edgar telling me **** the NY djs, **** the headliners, we all had no draw, we shouldnt be paid and if we didnt bring this out to the public we had a chance but now there was none He also told me We were all banned from San Fran, and Reno and that if we did get a booking in San Fran, we had better Bring backup with us This guy is not a promoter, he is a money hungry ******* who robs the kids by using non permitted venues, A scam artists who does not pay his talent, and someone who believes the best business tactic is attempted intimidation. He is an embarrassment to promoters and the scene alike and to all people who strive to put on and attend quality shows for the love of this scene, culture, and music. The following actions have been taken some good, some not so good. Edgar has effective immediately been taken off any and all NY shows. Myself and the Tiny Recordings roster which include luna-c, and many more which can be found at www.tinyrecordings.com , Delirium and Versatile Groove Management which can be found at www.VersatileGroove.com and Luna-C and Kniteforce Records which can be found at www.kniteforce.co.uk and anyone involved with him will no longer work with nor support Edgar, or anything he is involved with. At this point Luna-C will not ever even consider returning to San Fran. We are sorry to all the fans who show us love, the promoters who support us, and the people who will be disappointed due to these events. Further litigation is in talks already with our entertainment lawyer to seek restoration for lost wages and damages. We are all very sorry to the public and the loyal and stand up people in San Fran, We absolutely love the crowd and the atmosphere, but we cannot be involved in a place where shady business practices, robbery, lies, and physical threats are a part of the work ethnic. Perhaps in the future when people like this are weeded out we can do some business. Until then on behalf of myself, Tiny Recordings, Delirium, Versatile Groove, Luna-C, and Kniteforce Records and all aforementioned individuals and parties we wish you all the best and would like to say be careful who you support and chose to involve yourself with, and ask do they really have your best interests in mind or are they scum looking to bleed the scene and culture we have all grown to love.
So to sum it all up, We were brought 2100 miles away from home, ****ed out of wages, lost 2 days worth of time that could have been given to any number of things, insulted, threatened, lied to, made fools of, stuck with incidental bills, and were told we were nobodies. A great time for all.
Very Respectfully Yours,
John Prophet, Jeremy Delirium, and Chris Luna-C
*** to all : please forward this message on to any promoter, agent, or person you think will benefit from this information.***
For a recent update, here's a continuation of this fiasco by the UK's very own Luna-C:
http://www.brproductions.net/index.php?showtopic=7491
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charlieee
Advanced Member
Australia
1,422 posts
Joined: Dec, 2005
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Posted - 2006/12/01 : 07:47:27
man that is crap man, hope edgar gets fcuk on man. i still can't beleived wat happened, that sucks man.
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Rapter
Starting Member
United States
13 posts
Joined: Nov, 2005
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Posted - 2006/12/01 : 07:58:24
like i said on the delusionz forums: WTF!? That ****ing sucks, the fake "promoters" better get their asses kicked, because really, wtf?
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reenz
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Australia
928 posts
Joined: Sep, 2005
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Posted - 2006/12/01 : 08:44:46
well thats sucks.... i hate scammers
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Da Cunney Bugz
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United Kingdom
2,222 posts
Joined: Oct, 2005
25 hardcore releases
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Posted - 2006/12/01 : 11:20:48
wish you would of mentioned the shorter version along the bottom before i read it!
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clarke101
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
3,839 posts
Joined: Jun, 2003
185 hardcore releases
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Posted - 2006/12/01 : 12:38:32
I spy a time machine.
Shocking treatment of punters and performers.
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bulby_g
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
7,205 posts
Joined: Apr, 2004
430 hardcore releases
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Posted - 2006/12/01 : 13:02:51
That's just shit. I can't believe some of the "SF scene" are backing these jokers up!
A promoter should always have enough money in the bank to cover all outgoing expenses in case the need arises. Having you money stolen is not a valid excuse to not pay DJ's. I doubt the money was even stolen.
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Xenochrome
Advanced Member
United States
2,645 posts
Joined: Aug, 2002
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 Posted - 2006/12/01 : 16:48:00
Typical tactics of the shady promoter. I coudn't even begin to tell you how many times that I have seen it before.
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Mad Max
Advanced Member
United Kingdom
1,019 posts
Joined: Dec, 2005
281 hardcore releases
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Posted - 2006/12/01 : 17:06:19
i am rather disgusted by that retrobates behaviour. I have heard a few stories about shinnaigans by promotors and alike. Sometimes people lack of honesty and morals makes me very sad :-(
Still it happened in america sue everybody hahahaha
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Brian K
Advanced Member
United States
8,663 posts
Joined: Sep, 2001
528 hardcore releases
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Posted - 2006/12/01 : 23:25:43
quote:
Originally posted by Xenochrome:
Typical tactics of the shady promoter. I coudn't even begin to tell you how many times that I have seen it before.
ditto, but I kind of expect shit like that for being a local...but not when you hire someone to come across from the UK
heh I acted like a current promoter at my wedding since I knew the dj, told him we didn't get enough people through the door so I wasn't going to pay him =P
there are uk promoters that do stuff like this as well so don't just think it's based here
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Xenochrome
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United States
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Joined: Aug, 2002
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Posted - 2006/12/01 : 23:42:36
quote:
Originally posted by Brian K:
heh I acted like a current promoter at my wedding since I knew the dj, told him we didn't get enough people through the door so I wasn't going to pay him =P
Did you offer him drugs instead? 
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