Fans, City Scammed By Phony Earth, Wind & Fire Concert

04/30/2000 7:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(4/30/00, 7 a.m. ET) - Earth, Wind & Fire fans and city officials in Barstow, California, found out the hard way recently that the band wasn't booked to play in the town. A local promoter had arranged an Earth, Wind & Fire concert for April 22, charging the municipality $4,000 for the appearance. In addition, Barstow advertised the event, and between 1,500 and 2,000 fans turned out for the show, with tickets costing $10 in advance and $15 at the gate.

But there was one problem -- Earth, Wind & Fire was never booked to play that night. Lead singer Philip Bailey was in Japan at the time, playing a series of solo dates, and bassist Verdine White was completely unaware of the show. The group's publicist, Rick Scott, told LAUNCH that the $4,000 fee the promoter got from the town wouldn't be nearly enough money to bring the 15 musicians, their equipment, and their crew out for a live gig. In fact, the group only learned of the problem when their sax player brought in a copy of the Desert Dispatch newspaper, which detailed the saga in a series of articles this past week.

Aside from the promoter's fee, Barstow officials estimated that they lost an additional $7,000 in revenues and the money they spent on promotion. Barstow City Manager Paul Warner is considering legal action to recoup the town's money, and Mayor Katy Yslas-Yent said the city will never do business with Mayo again. She told the Desert Dispatch, "We will do what we have to do to get our money back and we will never deal with him again, period."

-- Bruce Simon, New York

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