HonestMan13 said:

This couldn't possibly be Prince's fault. He's currently inciting riots in Egypt!

hell i laughed...thanks!

so one thing we do know for sure is that prince does not have a publicist or if he has one they suck...

oh and he needs a management partner.

a partner that he trusts and that isn't afraid to be honest with him, plays nice with others and takes care of business.

so if prince exits some half-a**ed gig that his gemini sounds-good-to-me-run-with-it-for-now nature signed his butt up for

that he's long since banished from his thought processes; it'll happen either under the radar as most of these things do or

with the spin in his favor. i say this having worked in hollywood for both a major p.r. firm and an independent management company.

so prince give it some thought...call me. i can help...i'm just saying...

sterling said:

HonestMan13 said:

This couldn't possibly be Prince's fault. He's currently inciting riots in Egypt!

hell i laughed...thanks!

so one thing we do know for sure is that prince does not have a publicist or if he has one they suck...

oh and he needs a management partner.

a partner that he trusts and that isn't afraid to be honest with him, plays nice with others and takes care of business.

so if prince exits some half-a**ed gig that his gemini sounds-good-to-me-run-with-it-for-now nature signed his butt up for

that he's long since banished from his thought processes; it'll happen either under the radar as most of these things do or

with the spin in his favor. i say this having worked in hollywood for both a major p.r. firm and an independent management company.

so prince give it some thought...call me. i can help...i'm just saying...

I wonder what goes through Prince's mind when he is driving in the limo from outside the hotel back to the airport to catch a flight to wherever he goes. I wonder what it would take for at least part of his thought processes afterward to be devoted towards the idea of having better organizational skills via the expertise of a professional.

Surely he thinks he has been in the business long enough and cultivated his own brand (big enough to summon $1.5-1.7m for a one off performance) that he should have his affairs managed by people who are interested in maximizing his interests. It totally amazes me that he allows himself to get entangled into so much crap circumstance that he doesn't somehow think, "I'm tired of having to deal with this, I need to get someone to take care of this crap so I can focus on better things."

Yes Indeed!

Poor old Prince. He doesn't have much luck.

Wherever he goes we find a trail of boken promises and fans left in the dark.....

THE BAD NEWS!

Prince cancelled Super Bowl show.

THE GOOD NEWS!

I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico.

this is just unprofessional. sounds like highschool band behavior.

Spinlight said:

sterling said:

hell i laughed...thanks!

so one thing we do know for sure is that prince does not have a publicist or if he has one they suck...

oh and he needs a management partner.

a partner that he trusts and that isn't afraid to be honest with him, plays nice with others and takes care of business.

so if prince exits some half-a**ed gig that his gemini sounds-good-to-me-run-with-it-for-now nature signed his butt up for

that he's long since banished from his thought processes; it'll happen either under the radar as most of these things do or

with the spin in his favor. i say this having worked in hollywood for both a major p.r. firm and an independent management company.

so prince give it some thought...call me. i can help...i'm just saying...

I wonder what goes through Prince's mind when he is driving in the limo from outside the hotel back to the airport to catch a flight to wherever he goes. I wonder what it would take for at least part of his thought processes afterward to be devoted towards the idea of having better organizational skills via the expertise of a professional.

Surely he thinks he has been in the business long enough and cultivated his own brand (big enough to summon $1.5-1.7m for a one off performance) that he should have his affairs managed by people who are interested in maximizing his interests. It totally amazes me that he allows himself to get entangled into so much crap circumstance that he doesn't somehow think, "I'm tired of having to deal with this, I need to get someone to take care of this crap so I can focus on better things."

Tragically, I'm sorry to say...I don't think he thinks that at all. Because he's never held accountable...for anything! Since 1978, he's had nothing but yes men and an army of enablers... agreeing with, rationalizing and making excuses...for his every bad business decision.

It's always someone else's fault and poor Prince is always just a victim of circumstance.

When it's concerning him...somehow it becomes completely believable and totally understandable that someone who's been in the music business for 30+ years...would somehow be naive enough to have made a multimillion dollar deal with an upstart, incompetent promoter. For a charity event that was to take place during one of the most media infested weekends of the entire year. Without having gotten paid up-front, nor cancelling the event ahead of time, when things were obviously starting to unravel weeks ago. Was reportedly sitting in a limo waiting for his money.

Bailed on the charity and on some children's dreams of a lifetime. (Did I mention...during one of the most media infested weekends of the entire year?) Oh yeah.

Then had/allowed/watched someone from his camp, saying they were his manager...issue a statement to the press that "he was never in Dallas".

Yet...none of this...is in any way, shape, form or fashion...Prince's fault nor responsibility.

Poor Princey...mean ol' Hatrina just doesn't get it. She doesn't like him now anyway...(even though I spent 20 years of my life adoring and enabling him, also)...so she's not supposed to pay attention to any of this.

electricberet said:

2elijah said:

You know, considering that so many flights had been cancelled and delayed because of the weather in Dallas at the time, there was a possibility the show would have been cancelled because of that, other than the reason that the organizers just did a bad job organizing the entire event.

[Edited 2/6/11 17:36pm]

If the show had been cancelled due to weather, and everyone given appropriate notice, I don't think many people would be upset. The scholarship recipients who were supposed to perform are upset because they were treated as insignificant and no one bothered to keep them informed. Watch the video in this link:

http://www.wfaa.com/sport...99269.html

I'm also wondering whether Chris Arnold was the key culprit here. Watching him in this video, he doesn't seem like the sort of person who could have come up with this scheme on his own. But this is the most troubling sentence for me:

"Arnold said ticket holders should start getting their money back next week."

Start? What does that mean?

Rooty poot

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

SCNDLS said:

And what's wrong with that? He agreed to do a show for a certain price. He held up his end of the bargain and appeared. He didn't agree to work for free.

In contrast, this "group" used a charitable foundation as their front in all communications, never letting concertgoers know another entity was running everything and handling the money and only giving the foundation a SMALL amount (I'm hearing 10%) of the proceeds. The first time we heard about this RAG and the REAL relationship with the foundation was the day of the show. That's tantamount to deceptive practices IMO. P wasn't deceptive, the promoter was.

And like I said earlier, EVEN if P and EB wanted to perform, which I know SHE did, the hotel wouldn't allow it because they had not been paid.

[Edited 2/6/11 14:35pm]

Nothing, apparently.

Though, it does make me wonder, what percentage of the proceeds, was to go to the guy waiting in the limo, going...

[img:$uid]http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e70/SexyBeautifulOne/BBHM-1.jpg[/img:$uid]

And if this...

They woulda needed to sell at least 666 tix @ 1500 to get P's million, not to mention a whole lot more to pay the expenses. This is what happens when you have an amateur trynna do big things.

is somehow the case.

How is it not, at the very least...questionable...that Pimpin' and his lawyers, apparently weren't all over and handling that...BEFORE the day of?

.

[Edited 2/6/11 19:19pm]

1. You's a fool!

2. The part of this that I don't believe is that P's expenses weren't covered up front. That's standard practice when booking talent. You have to send plane tix, hotel accommodations, and deposits way in advance of the show. I don't see P paying for his own private plane. I DO, however see, the "Bitch Betta Have My Money" limo guy saying, "Where da plane at? Where da muthafuckin' plane at????"

laurarichardson said:

SCNDLS said:

And I'm not buying that the weather had ANY impact on this. If they hadn't sold more that a few 100 tix by Monday, when they changed the location, there's no way in hell they woulda sold significantly more in four days before the show, even with good weather. They woulda needed to sell at least 666 tix @ 1500 to get P's million, not to mention a whole lot more to pay the expenses. This is what happens when you have an amateur trynna do big things.

Another thing, there were several events that went on just fine in tents despite the weather. Even the one at fair park where the tent was torn down on Wednesday in the storm.

[Edited 2/6/11 14:45pm]

Do you know how to read? The lighting and sound people refused to set up because they had not been paid and the hotel had not been paid and the promoters made no travel arrangements for the performers.

The promoters fucked up and no show anywhere was going to take place.

Oh, I forgot about you being in these parts.

If YOU could read, you'd understand that my post was specifically regarding when the organizers moved the show FROM the tent TO the hotel on MONDAY. They should have cancelled at that time because on MONDAY they hadn't sold enough tix to even pay P, much less pay for the tent and rentals PLUS the newly added hotel expenses.

But glad to see you still lead with the insults instead of ASKING for clarification.

electricberet said:

I have actually found the reporting on WFAA to be pretty balanced. It's the random commenters who jump in and slam Prince as a "has-been" without knowing all the facts. New facts are still emerging. Chris Arnold is acting as the public face of the "River Alexander Group" but there were others involved. For example, email messages sent to princedallas.com got an automatic reply from someone named Eric Dunn.

If the ticket holders aren't reimbursed next week, I expect we'll be finding out a lot more about what happened, and I will be surprised if anyone comes out of this looking good, other than the kids who were invited to perform.

Chris is the main manager tho. It's HIS home address that's listed on the incorporation papers filed with the state on 12/27/10. So, if you don't get yo money, you know where to go.

SCNDLS said:

electricberet said:

I have actually found the reporting on WFAA to be pretty balanced. It's the random commenters who jump in and slam Prince as a "has-been" without knowing all the facts. New facts are still emerging. Chris Arnold is acting as the public face of the "River Alexander Group" but there were others involved. For example, email messages sent to princedallas.com got an automatic reply from someone named Eric Dunn.

If the ticket holders aren't reimbursed next week, I expect we'll be finding out a lot more about what happened, and I will be surprised if anyone comes out of this looking good, other than the kids who were invited to perform.

Chris is the main manager tho. It's HIS home address that's listed on the incorporation papers filed with the state on 12/27/10. So, if you don't get yo money, you know where to go.

If I don't get my money, I'm suing Anheuser-Busch for acting as a sponsor. Apparently they were the key to this whole deal. And they can actually afford to pay the ticketholders back.

electricberet said:

HonestMan13 said:

Not one mention of Erykah Badu having to make gestures of any kind. So is she not expected to do anything to minimize the public relations fallout. The media are simply using Prince's name to sell papers and get airtime. Since that's what they do it's not unexpected but it's inaccurate to make this a story about Prince. So if people feel the need to be mad at someone there's a long list it seems and Prince may be on it but he's not on it alone.

Do you think anyone paid $1,500 or more to go to that concert to see Erykah Badu? I didn't even know who she was until she made the news recently for stripping naked in downtown Dallas while making a music video. She may be a wonderful soul singer but she wasn't the draw for this incredibly expensive concert. If you don't believe me, just go to the website, which is tellingly named www.princedallas.com, and you will see a big photo of Prince with his guitar.

I hope that Erykah does do something for the scholarship recipients as someone suggested. That would be very nice of her. And I agree that, like Prince, she could have smelled a rat here. Perhaps even more so because she is from Dallas. But the concert would not have been a possibility without Prince.

[Edited 2/6/11 20:21pm]

I'm sure she will. Erykah is VERY active in the arts community in Dallas and often does events/performances for TBAAL where she was in the children's program as a kid, and her own kids are enrolled as well. Plus, a lot of the kids involved went to her alma mater, Booker T Washington High School of Performings Arts, where Norah Jones also went.

electricberet said:

2elijah said:

(blue part) I agree. Controversy sells. (no pun intended) and by making that cancellation look like it was all Prince's fault, the media sources took advantage of his name to get their readers/viewers' attention and to sell a story. I wonder if the same media sources would have given that event, this much attention had the event happened, and Prince and Erykah performed.

[Edited 2/6/11 20:21pm]

I don't think the media made this "look like it was all Prince's fault." If anything, WFAA pointed the finger at the concert organizers, as did the Dallas Observer. Should they have edited the story to omit any references to Prince?

I think the national media is tho. The local media is actually speaking to people involved and in the know. That initial Yahoo story didn't.

Spinlight said:

Cracks me up Prince commands over a million dollars a performance...

And GETS it. . . well usually.

electricberet said:

SCNDLS said:

Chris is the main manager tho. It's HIS home address that's listed on the incorporation papers filed with the state on 12/27/10. So, if you don't get yo money, you know where to go.

If I don't get my money, I'm suing Anheuser-Busch for acting as a sponsor. Apparently they were the key to this whole deal. And they can actually afford to pay the ticketholders back.

Okay, honey, I really hope that you and all the ticketbuyers get your money back. But given that these fools were broke, what IF, the funds generated from the tix were used to pay for the upfront deposits and expenses? And if they couldn't pay the hotel on the night of, I'm inclined to think they're brokety-broke-broke and spent all the money at their disposal. I hope that's not the case, but it's possible.

SCNDLS said:

electricberet said:

If I don't get my money, I'm suing Anheuser-Busch for acting as a sponsor. Apparently they were the key to this whole deal. And they can actually afford to pay the ticketholders back.

Okay, honey, I really hope that you and all the ticketbuyers get your money back. But given that these fools were broke, what IF, the funds generated from the tix were used to pay for the upfront deposits and expenses? And if they couldn't pay the hotel on the night of, I'm inclined to think they're brokety-broke-broke and spent all the money at their disposal. I hope that's not the case, but it's possible.

In that case I will have bought my right to be a self-righteous Prince hater forever. Not much of a consolation, though. The ticket sales were handled through a third company, Elevate, so I'm holding out hope that the money never got to Chris and his buddies.

electricberet said:

SCNDLS said:

Okay, honey, I really hope that you and all the ticketbuyers get your money back. But given that these fools were broke, what IF, the funds generated from the tix were used to pay for the upfront deposits and expenses? And if they couldn't pay the hotel on the night of, I'm inclined to think they're brokety-broke-broke and spent all the money at their disposal. I hope that's not the case, but it's possible.

In that case I will have bought my right to be a self-righteous Prince hater forever. Not much of a consolation, though. The ticket sales were handled through a third company, Elevate, so I'm holding out hope that the money never got to Chris and his buddies.

Sorry to hear that but I'd be pissed too.

electricberet said:

SCNDLS said:

Okay, honey, I really hope that you and all the ticketbuyers get your money back. But given that these fools were broke, what IF, the funds generated from the tix were used to pay for the upfront deposits and expenses? And if they couldn't pay the hotel on the night of, I'm inclined to think they're brokety-broke-broke and spent all the money at their disposal. I hope that's not the case, but it's possible.

In that case I will have bought my right to be a self-righteous Prince hater forever. Not much of a consolation, though. The ticket sales were handled through a third company, Elevate, so I'm holding out hope that the money never got to Chris and his buddies.

Man this club is getting big. At the rate of Prince's cluster fucks, we're gonna have to start making Charters.

I'm only teasing.

Hopefully, you and all the other ticket holders, get full and expedient refunds.

Though, I don't think for the kids that were supposed to perform, that's going to be enough. I think I'll get started on their membership cards.

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

electricberet said:

In that case I will have bought my right to be a self-righteous Prince hater forever. Not much of a consolation, though. The ticket sales were handled through a third company, Elevate, so I'm holding out hope that the money never got to Chris and his buddies.

Man this club is getting big. At the rate of Prince's cluster fucks, we're gonna have to start making Charters.

I'm only teasing.

Hopefully, you and all the other ticket holders, get full and expedient refunds.

Though, I don't think for the kids that were supposed to perform, that's going to be enough. I think I'll get started on their membership cards.

In all seriousness, if the ticketholders don't get paid there will be a lawsuit. I will bring it if no one else does. But that doesn't mean the ticketholders will end up getting anything. Those who have money will claim that they have no responsibility, and those who admit responsibility will claim to have no money. What's certain to come of that? More bad publicity, whether deserved or not, for Prince, Erykah, and the foundation.

electricberet said:

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

Man this club is getting big. At the rate of Prince's cluster fucks, we're gonna have to start making Charters.

I'm only teasing.

Hopefully, you and all the other ticket holders, get full and expedient refunds.

Though, I don't think for the kids that were supposed to perform, that's going to be enough. I think I'll get started on their membership cards.

In all seriousness, if the ticketholders don't get paid there will be a lawsuit. I will bring it if no one else does. But that doesn't mean the ticketholders will end up getting anything. Those who have money will claim that they have no responsibility, and those who admit responsibility will claim to have no money. What's certain to come of that? More bad publicity, whether deserved or not, for Prince, Erykah, and the foundation.

That's the truly messed up part.

electricberet said:

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

Man this club is getting big. At the rate of Prince's cluster fucks, we're gonna have to start making Charters.

I'm only teasing.

Hopefully, you and all the other ticket holders, get full and expedient refunds.

Though, I don't think for the kids that were supposed to perform, that's going to be enough. I think I'll get started on their membership cards.

In all seriousness, if the ticketholders don't get paid there will be a lawsuit. I will bring it if no one else does. But that doesn't mean the ticketholders will end up getting anything. Those who have money will claim that they have no responsibility, and those who admit responsibility will claim to have no money. What's certain to come of that? More bad publicity, whether deserved or not, for Prince, Erykah, and the foundation.

If you sue the newly formed RAG which obviously doesn't have any assets all they'd have to do is file bankruptcy. Plus, Chris set it up as an LLC which protects his personal assets. I hope it doesn't come to this tho.

SCNDLS said:

electricberet said:

In all seriousness, if the ticketholders don't get paid there will be a lawsuit. I will bring it if no one else does. But that doesn't mean the ticketholders will end up getting anything. Those who have money will claim that they have no responsibility, and those who admit responsibility will claim to have no money. What's certain to come of that? More bad publicity, whether deserved or not, for Prince, Erykah, and the foundation.

If you sue the newly formed RAG which obviously doesn't have any assets all they'd have to do is file bankruptcy. Plus, Chris set it up as an LLC which protects his personal assets. I hope it doesn't come to this tho.

I can envision all kinds of problems. But I would have nothing to lose by suing, other than my time, and my wife would insist on it just on principle. This is depressing. I hope I get my money back.

SCNDLS said:

electricberet said:

If the show had been cancelled due to weather, and everyone given appropriate notice, I don't think many people would be upset. The scholarship recipients who were supposed to perform are upset because they were treated as insignificant and no one bothered to keep them informed. Watch the video in this link:

http://www.wfaa.com/sport...99269.html

I'm also wondering whether Chris Arnold was the key culprit here. Watching him in this video, he doesn't seem like the sort of person who could have come up with this scheme on his own. But this is the most troubling sentence for me:

"Arnold said ticket holders should start getting their money back next week."

Start? What does that mean?

Rooty poot

I still have to wonder...if this Chris Arnold person is such the "Rooty poot"

HOW is it...that he got so many people who SHOULD be way savvy...to go along with any of this...in the first place? I'm not talking about just the entertainers either.

HOW is it...that Anheuser-Busch, the other two investors that pulled out three weeks ago and the Goss-Michael Foundation...didn't have this guy, his business, his partners/associates and their financial stability, checked out thoroughly...on day one?

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

SCNDLS said:

Rooty poot

I still have to wonder...if this Chris Arnold person is such the "Rooty poot"

HOW is it...that he got so many people who SHOULD be way savvy...to go along with any of this...in the first place? I'm not talking about just the entertainers either.

HOW is it...that Anheuser-Busch, the other two investors that pulled out three weeks ago and the Goss-Michael Foundation...didn't have this guy, his business, his partners/associates and their financial stability, checked out thoroughly...on day one?

That's why I suspect that there were more people involved whose names have not surfaced yet. If so, they had better hope that the ticketholders get paid back soon and that the various vendors who may be owed money conclude that it's not worth bringing a lawsuit. The River Alexander Group may be broke but it wasn't the only organization that attached its name to this thing. The Dallas media are good at exposing corrupt deals--see the recent ESPN documentary on the SMU football scandal many years ago.

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

SCNDLS said:

Rooty poot

I still have to wonder...if this Chris Arnold person is such the "Rooty poot"

HOW is it...that he got so many people who SHOULD be way savvy...to go along with any of this...in the first place? I'm not talking about just the entertainers either.

HOW is it...that Anheuser-Busch, the other two investors that pulled out three weeks ago and the Goss-Michael Foundation...didn't have this guy, his business, his partners/associates and their financial stability, checked out thoroughly...on day one?

Well, he's very well known in Dallas due to his radio and tv background, plus he's got the gift of gab. I think folks just assumed he was on the up and up because of his high profile in the community and figured that he was well-connected and could get it done. Part of me thinks he was prolly over-eager at the prospect of working with P and maybe penetrating the inner sanctum or some shit.

But not checking him out in advance was ridiculous. Or maybe given the short window, these sponsors pulled out after realizing he wasn't about shit. Could be that the "sponsors" agreed to participate, he used their names/logos on marketing materials, but they didn't give up the money cuz the rootypootishness became evident.

When I've spoken/dealt with him my "rooty poot" meter goes off.

[Edited 2/7/11 8:44am]

This whole thing kind of reminds me of Enron. When people think they are going to make millions they start to act nuts. The thought of all this money flowing into DFW thanks to the Super Bowl seems to have made certain people lose their minds. The weather wasn't our fault, but a lot of businesses suffered, and the sales tax revenue that the cities expected to get will not be there. That may have consequences that will reverberate for years. For example, was DART counting on a lot of Super Bowl money to fund the planned light-rail extension to DFW airport? The out-of-towners are moving on to the next party but we will be dealing with the fallout from this for a while to come.

hollywooddove said:

this is just unprofessional. sounds like highschool band behavior.

in his 30+ years in the business the one thing that i think...and i SAID think that most orgers will agree on that when prince does a show (even if they hate the setlist) he goes to work! i saw gig of his once where the sound in the house was muddy one moment and then a guitar solo transfixed me. i swear i left my body! so for him to walk away from a gig that was not properly marketed and produced is a good thing. not having his name attached in the first place...even better.

when i entered this thread there were 9 pages of comments about a cancelled appearance and prince's level of culpability in the face of conflicting information. would this servers crashing be collateral damage to the verbal fisticuffs that would ensue if he actually performed at a poorly produced gig as you tube's goes into overdrive(along with their lawyers) to handle all the downloads? those who were to benefit from the concerts proceeds could benefit quietly from prince or not. it will be what it will be. for now somebody dropped the ball and no matter, there's enough blame to go around and the truth as to where it began to breakdown may never come to light. personally my greatest wish where prince is concerned is that he hold on to the guitar and PLAY. no secret i'm a moth to that flame. the other stuff... history has proven,; he is lightening in a bottle and his business sense- mercurial at best; destructive at it's worst.

so prince i meant what i said...and there are perks: i'd keep bubblicious on my desk for a blast from the past, promise to work on my potty mouth, laugh heartily wth ease and would even throw in some vegetarian recipes that'll rock you as hard as one of your smokin' guitar solos. i'm just saying....call me and maybe we can work on that egypt thing.

Sad thing is, I think Prince will die broke. In a few years time, he won't be able the pull the audiences in like he used to, partly because of age, partly because of reputation.

The fan base is dwindling at a pace now, even a lot of die hards are walking away. When he keeps pulling his stunts, he only fuels the problem.

But his ego would never let him behave modestly, and he'll end up signing his catalogue away to pay the bills.

Just got this email from tickets@elevate.com:

Order Cancellation

Continually changing circumstances, including in-climate weather, resulted in the inability of performers to travel, and in the cancellation of "the Event", originally scheduled for February 4, 2011. Event production equipment, Prince and musicians were unable to make it to Dallas in a timely manner.

To obtain a refund: if you purchased with a credit card, your card will be "credited" within 72 hours. All others can return to their point of purchase to receive a refund.

All performers and organizers put forth their best efforts, and like the guests, are disappointed it could not take place. Thank you for your understanding and your desire to continue the support of music and arts education.

Your order with the Event has been cancelled. Below is a summary of the items that have been removed from your shopping cart.

This is reassuring. I hadn't heard of Elevate before this fiasco but they seem to be a company that handles ticket sales for a variety of events. That suggests to me that they might be able to take the hit here even if some of the money has already disappeared. Sounds like they sold very few tickets anyway, so there shouldn't be many refunds to make.