The Blogging Vacation Is Over...

... and J.D. is coming out swinging.

Uber-suck concert promoters Vegas VIP Group have continued to tick the vast majority of the known universe off, including me, several of you, and their own performers.

First, my beef: After my first time ripping them to itty bitty shreds, the Vegas VIP guys tried to recoup by offering me an interview with none other than Ruben Studdard. I even went so far as to submit a set of questions that were supposedly sent to his management. Weeks have gone by. Crickets are chirping in the background. I assume, at first, that this is normal, so I send a short email inquiring the status of the interview. Nothing. I send another email. Nada. I send another email. Zip. Zilch. Zero. The level of respect this brings me for them is somewhere in the vicinity of the respect I feel for fire ants at this point.

Second, a fan's beef. This fan also happens to be administrator over at the entirely wonderful Anthony Fedorov fan forum at www.anthonyfanclub.com. For those of you who aren't regulars there, the excitement over Anthony's participation in this tour has been extremely heated. We're talking rabid fans who are chomping at the bit to buy plane tickets to go see him sing four or five songs. Not that I'm putting that down; I think that's great. But we're talking about some paying customers here. She was ready to go, but the idiots at Vegas VIP Group didn't respond to her until plane fare to Texas had already doubled. Troubled by this, she emailed the snot nosed punks. She managed to get a nasty email in response, telling her she was an idiot for not pestering them to get her tickets. And the worst part of it is that she was trying to book for herself PLUS six children. At between $50 to $90 per ticket, that adds up to a nice chunk of change.

Third, an Idol's beef. What follows is a letter from Justin Guarini, apologizing to his fans:

It has come to my attention, too late (unfortunately) that I’ve been lied to, or misled at best.

I was told by the promoters of my Texas mini-tour that William Hung would not be performing in our show...merely signing autographs, in 2 cities then going on with his own affairs.

I was told wrong, and it wasn't a mistake, I made sure to have my agent ask the booking agent specifically about the Hung issue.

I would like to apologize to all of you who have supported me over the years. I have always sought maintain a high level of professionalism and respect for my craft...from the simplest of impromptu performances, to the arenas and other fine performance venues around the world. I have been misled by the people I trusted to also maintain that standard, and so I feel as though I have misled you as well.

Some of you wrote to me when you heard about William's participation in the shows, reminding me of the duty I had to you all and how disappointed you would be to see me share the stage with a kind and seemingly gentle soul who is made to look a fool before the audience. I responded with the information that I was given in return...unfortunately that information was wrong. Had I known the real nature of the situation, I would have declined, as would other Idols participating in the tour. I can see why the information was withheld from my agent and the rest of the Idols reps.

I have nothing but respect and admiration for the person William Hung. He seems like a genuinely nice person, and an intelligent individual. I love that he is using what he’s got to get what he needs (Berkeley is not a cheap college), and no one has been able to duplicate his act before or since in regards to Idol contestants. However, I do not condone or have any desire to participate in his humiliation or the degradation of music and performance as a whole that is his show. He seems a gentle and kind spirit and it feels awful to see people laugh at him. I am contractually bound to continue this tour and will do so with great pleasure, however I am truly sorry to the fans if they feel let down by the lack of professionalism that may occur due to the inclusion of William Hung.


Peace & Blessings,


Justin

I don't think there's much more that I need to say. Except for this one piece of information: Although there were 500 people at the first concert, there were only FORTY in attendance at the Laredo event. That's right. Four with only one zero behind it. I don't care who's performing, that's a lousy turnout. That would be disappointing in even a small nightclub. Most of the venues have had front row seating available the very day of the concert. Horrific. But that's indicative of how horrible these guys are.

Idols: avoid the Vegas VIP Group. And music lovers, if you hear of anything being promoted by them, boycott it, and warn others to do the same. These guys are the piranhas of the music world...nothing but half rate poseur promoters who feed off of young, inexperienced talent to turn a quick buck.