Columnist Spencer Patterson: For ibiza owner, cancellation costs more than 50 Cent

Spencer Patterson

Friday, March 7, 2003 | 9:24 a.m.

Spencer Patterson covers music for the Sun. His music notes column appears Fridays. Reach him at spencer@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-2309.

John Teichman never figured 50 Cent would cost him 14 grand.

The owner of new Las Vegas nightclub ibiza USA tried to stage a live performance by the chart-busting New York City rapper in the wee hours of the morning Sunday. The show was intended to be an afterparty to the heavyweight boxing match between Roy Jones Jr. and John Ruiz at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Instead, Teichman got a tough lesson in hip-hop hard knocks. Tensions between 50 Cent and a rival forced the event's cancellation just six hours before showtime. Making matters worse, a shady promoter skipped town with the night's cash receipts, according to Teichman.

The ibiza owner said he paid $14,000 of his own money to cover ticket refunds for disappointed fans.

"We tried to mend the fence as best we could," Teichman said. "I just hope people understand we're a high-energy (dance) club and this was a one-time deal.

"No matter what the circumstances, we won't be doing hip-hop shows again."

Teichman made his exception for a rapper whose debut album, "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," has spent its first four weeks at No. 1 or No. 2 in Billboard's Top 200. Fifty Cent's latest single, "In Da Club," is No. 1 on this week's Billboard Hot 100 and its video is in heavy MTV rotation.

"If he wasn't the hottest ticket around we never would have even attempted this," Teichman said.

The doomed show was arranged last week, when Los Angeles promoter Jerry Campbell called Teichman to see if ibiza would be interested in the post-fight event. The plan called for 50 Cent to fly to Las Vegas after a Saturday night concert in Birmingham, Ala., for a 2 a.m. start at ibiza, which is located at the spot vacated by Blue Note Las Vegas on Harmon Avenue and the Strip.

By Friday a second promoter -- Atlanta's Adonis Adams -- had begun pre-selling $40 and $100 tickets at the club. Cash was the only accepted form of payment.

Unbeknownst to ibiza's management team, however, 50 Cent's appearance was in jeopardy even before Adams collected his first dollar. The hang-up? Bad blood between 50 Cent and fellow Queens, N.Y., native Ja Rule.

On Feb. 26, as details were being finalized for 50 Cent's Las Vegas visit, another set of promoters stopped by ibiza. They were looking for a venue to host another weekend performance on short notice, this one by R&B singer Ashanti, Ja Rule's Murder Inc. labelmate.

Teichman declined to stage a second show, and Ashanti instead played at Club C2K Saturday night. But word of Murder Inc.'s presence in Las Vegas got back to 50 Cent's label, Shady Records, which began pushing the rapper to cancel his trip to Las Vegas.

"Safety became an issue," Campbell said. "There's a big industry thing going on now. Murder Inc. isn't exactly friendly toward 50 Cent and his people. We even received a few threatening phone calls, and at that point you start looking at what's important."

Concerns over 50 Cent's safety are hardly surprising, considering he was shot nine times during a failed attempt on his life and was also stabbed in separate incidents three years ago in New York City.

Teichman said he was informed the show was off around 8 p.m. on Saturday, one hour before the doors were slated to open. But when Teichman attempted to get ticket money back from Adams to facilitate refunds, the promoter left the club.

Teichman and his staff have not seen or heard from Adams since.

"We said, 'Look, before this goes any further, we need the money you've collected. The public is not getting scammed at the expense of our name,' " said Jeff Gibbs, director of entertainment and marketing at ibiza. "(Adams) said he was going to get the money from his hotel safe.

"We knew what was probably going to happen at that point, but short of having an armed guard go along with him, there was nothing we could do."

Attempts to reach Adams on his cellular phone for comment were unsuccessful.

After refunding all ticket money, Teichman opened ibiza for the night without a cover charge.

"At least we found out when we did," Gibbs said. "If we'd had 2,000 people in here at 2 a.m. and announced that 50 Cent wasn't going to show up, you could have had the third nightclub disaster in three weeks on your hands.

"They would have torn this place apart."

On sale

Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. for Pearl Jam's June 6 concert at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Tickets are $35 and will be available at the MGM box office, at all TicketMaster outlets, by phone at 474-4000 and online at mgmgrand.com or cc.com.

Fresh off last Friday's sold-out performance at Boulder Station's Railhead, country star Dwight Yoakam has announced an April 5 return date to the venue. Tickets for the acoustic show are $22.50-$55 and are on sale at the Thomas & Mack Center box office, at all Station casinos and by phone at 547-5300.

The House of Blues at Mandalay Bay has added country-bluesman Keb' Mo' to its eclectic schedule of upcoming shows. Tickets to the April 18 event went on sale today at noon at the House of Blues box office, through TicketMaster, by phone at 632-7600 and online at hob.com.

Kelly Osbourne, daughter of heavy metal great Ozzy Osbourne and star of MTV reality show "The Osbournes," has rescheduled her postponed visit to the Huntridge Theatre for April 11. Tickets are $12.50 and go on sale Saturday through TicketMaster and at Balcony Lights records, 4800 South Maryland Parkway.

Other upcoming Huntridge shows on sale Saturday: Trust Co. with 30 Seconds to Mars, Pacifier and Fingertight on March 30 ($12) and A Static Lullaby with Scarlet on April 13 ($8-$10).