'Game' over for local promoters

A concert featuring hip-hop artist The Game, which would have been held during Little 500 week, has been canceled, and some local businesses say they won't work with its promoters again.\nThe Game was advertised to perform on April 19, with tickets on sale at www.mitickets.net and at Tracks, 415 E. Kirkwood Ave.\nTracks will give full refunds for the nearly 60 tickets it has sold, said manager Brett Hayden. The online policy of www.mitickets.net states that it will give refunds for the face value of the tickets -- $20 -- but will keep the processing and shipping fees -- $1.50 for each ticket -- to cover "the expenses already incurred."\nAntawan Brown of Indianapolis is the owner of www.mitickets.net and co-founder of promotion company Mizuma Entertainment, which planned the concert. He said the event was canceled because The Game demanded additional luxuries. \n"He wanted a private jet, and we never agreed to that," Brown said. "And they wanted more money."\nAll people who purchased tickets through the Web site will be refunded within 30 days, Brown said, adding that more than 500 tickets had been sold online.\nHayden confirmed that the promoters told him Tuesday the concert had been canceled because The Game raised his original asking price and demanded a private jet. \nHowever, www.mitickets.net, which posted a cancellation notice late Wednesday night, now states the show was nixed because not enough tickets were sold.\nJunior Kevin Donahue bought two tickets at Tracks for $22 apiece. He said when he heard the concert was officially canceled, he became skeptical. \n"I thought it would be an actual concert," Donahue said. "Now that I look back on it, it is sketchy." He also said a recent ad claiming Ron Artest would be at the show brought about his skepticism.\nThe Game is scheduled to perform in Wichita, Kan., April 19, during a tour with Snoop Dogg, according to an announcement on The Game's official Web site, www.comptongame.com. That message was posted March 17. Representatives for The Game could not be reached by press time.\nThe Bloomington concert was scheduled to take place at Pic-A-Chic farms, 6949 S. Rockport Rd. But Dennis Grubb, who handles contracts for Pic-A-Chic, said Brown contacted him to cancel the concert Tuesday, just three days before the final contract was to be signed.\n"He called me several times and he was all gung-ho about it," Grubb said. "Then he called me and just abruptly said they were having some problems."\nGrubb said he also was told the concert was scrapped because of the private jet demand. Brown originally contacted Pic-A-Chic in January, Grubb said, and continued to be optimistic about the concert until Tuesday. \nPic-A-Chic was only going to sign a contract with Brown if the Mizuma representative agreed to pay a deposit with a check that cleared five days before the concert. Mizuma arranged a show with Pic-A-Chic in late 2003 that featured the music group Naughty By Nature and brought a smaller-than-expected audience. Pic-A-Chic received a $1,500 deposit from Mizuma, but not the total cost of the venue, which was a few thousand more dollars, Grubb said.\n"I don't have any personal problems with them, other than we didn't get paid," Grubb said.\nMizuma Entertainment promoted a Little 500 concert last year for 50 Cent, which was cancelled in nearly identical circumstances to this year's event.\n"All I know is it has been a pain in the ass for me," Hayden said. "I probably will never do a show for these guys ever again."\nHayden said the promoters told him The Game had already signed a contract when Hayden agreed to help them sell tickets.\n"Who knows what's really going on," he said. "Maybe they got too far in, and he got bigger than they thought."\nPromotion for the concert began even before The Game's album "The Documentary" was released. The album debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard's Top 200 Chart in January.\nThe concert for 50 Cent was also promoted in the months before the release of his debut album "Get Rich Or Die Tryin'."\n"It seems like the same thing with this one," Hayden said. "They haven't had any luck."\nThe Web site, www.mitickets.net, states that the decision on whether to refund tickets is made by the venue or promoter and that the Web site assumes "no responsibility for making any such decision."\nHowever, the promotion and the ticket sales were both handled by Brown.\nMizuma had also offered free tickets to The Game with the purchase of an album by Midwest hip-hop artist "Desperado," with which Mizuma Entertainment closely works.\nThe Web site appears to sell tickets on its site to more than 30 concerts and sporting events, including Ashlee Simpson, Cher, Chingy, the Indianapolis Colts and the Indiana Pacers. However, only tickets to The Game could be purchased directly through the site. The remaining links go to an Indianapolis Star ticket-purchasing site.\nIU Auditorium Director Doug Booher said that fact "presented a red flag." He said he was concerned about the concert's advertisements. \n"I would suggest ticket buyers be very careful," Booher said. "It's very easy to put up a Web site and purport to sell tickets and not end up presenting the show."\nHayden said he agreed to sell tickets at Tracks, for cash only, because he wanted to support efforts to bring musical acts to the community. He also wanted to help buyers avoid extra fees charged from buying tickets online. \n"I hate it too because it makes it look like us who canceled the show," he said. "We have nothing to do with it."\n-- Contact Senior Writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu and General Assignments Editor Adam VanOsdol at avanosdo@indiana.edu .