Financial troubles ruin rock event

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, August 8, 2006

DARRINGTON – Aug. 4, 2006, may well be remembered as the day classic rock died in Darrington.

It was the first day of the seventh annual Darrington Rock Festival.

Cheap Trick, whose hits include “I Want You To Want Me” and “The Dream Police,” was there.

The stage was set.

The crowd was ready.

Cheap Trick didn’t play.

Two days later, on the final day of the concert, Randy Bachman, of Bachman Turner Overdrive, and Mark Farner, of Grand Funk Railroad, also refused to play.

All told, five of the nine headline acts didn’t perform, said Bothell engineer Jeff Dean, who paid $180 apiece for two concert tickets.

People involved in the concert say the promoter, Brian Burkel, couldn’t afford to pay the fees promised to the bands months earlier.

Most bands received half their money prior to the concert and were supposed to be paid the rest at the event, said Bob Conrad, who handled publicity for the show. When the bands learned they wouldn’t be paid, many walked away. Others opted to play for less.

Several phone numbers associated with Burkel have been disconnected. Messages seeking comment left on other numbers Monday and Tuesday were not returned.

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Rich Niebusch said investigators are not looking into the matter as of Tuesday because no one had filed a complaint.

It was unclear how many tickets were sold; tickets cost between $75 for one day and $150 for all three days, plus ticket handling fees.

Conrad said he didn’t have any inkling that the promoter was low on cash until Friday night – after he had flown from his Scottsdale, Ariz., office to Seattle for the show.

Conrad said he discovered that Burkel didn’t have enough funds in his account to cover a check he wrote Friday night for about $36,000, part of Conrad’s fee.

Duane Smith, vice president of the association that owns the amphitheater, said Burkel gave him a $3,500 “rubber check.”

He found out the check was bad after asking a banker to see if the money was there. He then went back to Burkel and demanded cash. Burkel paid, and Smith said he assumed the concert would continue as planned.

But Smith says Burkel called him about 10:15 p.m. Friday and said he was shutting down the concert. Then Burkel left the amphitheater.

However, other people working on the concert stayed behind and kept the music going.

“It was a nightmare for us, truly a nightmare,” said Farner’s booking agent, Bobby Roberts. “It ruined our weekend.”

He said Farner offered to play for less, but the promoter couldn’t come up with that amount, either.

“I flew out to Darrington last night from the East Coast knowing that there might be problems with the show promoter,” Farner said in a prepared statement.

“When my agent’s calls went unreturned from the promoter, my management and booking agency moved for a cancellation … we must hold our promoters accountable.”

Cheap Trick’s publicist, Ben-David Fenwick, said band members aren’t commenting on the show on advice from their lawyers.

Conrad said if his agency, Radicole Creative Media Partners, isn’t paid, he’ll consider legal action.

“If it wasn’t so sad for those of us who were basically stolen from, there’d almost be some bizarre humor in it,” he said. “But there’s nothing funny about it.”

Reporter Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292 or kmanry@heraldnet.com.