RAGINPIT MAGAZINE

Let’s say that you lost your child to cancer. You have to deal with the unimaginable loss and grief that accompanies such an event and you are only left with the cherished memories. If you are like most people, even having adequate insurance coverage, you are saddled with quite a bit of debt because there was no way in hell you were going to miss the last days of your child's life so you could be at work. A tragedy like this happened to Keith Regan and his wife when their son Cole passed away.

Being a metal lover to the core Keith organized the “Thrash against Cancer” benefit so that the proceeds would go to help his family recover financially. (Go to the show review archives to read my review about it, as we were the only webzine I know of that reported about the sound and other problems that occurred at that show.)

After getting off to a shaky start due to low advanced ticket sales for the show and despite problems with the outside sound production crew for most of the evening the show turned out to be a success. The walk up crowds made for decent attendance of around one thousand people and the sound was fixed prior to the Testament set.

Now word has gotten back to me, which is causing quite a buzz in the various metal forums all over the net, that the venue (The Pound) is withholding all the proceeds of the show due to some sort of dispute between the Keith and Tony, the owner of the Pound. Oh yes there is more, I found out that the production company that was responsible for outside sound is suing Keith for $5000.00. I thought that this was supposed to be a benefit so I am wondering - what the fuck? I have tried to contact all involved parties of this dispute to hear their side of the story. Here are the statement's I was able to obtain from the people involved.

Keith Regan: Can things get any worse for me? First Tony Carracci, owner of the Pound SF decides that after allowing me to hold an awesome show at their, in my opinion, a sweet and desirable outdoor amphitheater he was going to keep the pre-sale tickets sales because one individual who was given permission went to the Pound's office to put away personal property, fell down the stairs and hurt his back and hands. Tony made it very clear to me that if I did not take care of this guy and get him to not seek medical or legal actions against the Pound he would use the money from the sales toward the claims so his insurance premiums would not go up.

To quote Tony, "I don't give a fuck Keith how you do it, you get this guy to go away or you won't see any of this money, you are dealing with a lawyer here so I don't give a fuck how you do it, just get rid of this guy, OK?"

I contacted the person who fell and asked him if he could call Tony and tell him about his situation and his intentions to which he stated he would contact his lawyer to see if that was a viable solution and then never got back to me. I approached an attorney out of San Francisco and we proceeded on Thursday the 21st of July a demand for payment letters of the funds owed and that the person who fell on his stairs in his club was not our problem, he called my cell phone and left a very disturbing voice mail in which he states and I am paraphrasing, "you could have made this easy Keith, all you had to do was get this guy to call me, but no, you want to get lawyers involved. It will be a cold day in hell before I give you this fucking money, I will make you go the ends of the earth before I give you this money. So just go ahead and start this man because it will be a cold MF day in hell before I give you that money, ok?"

So my lawyer will be filing a suit against Tony Carracci and the Pound in the next few days. Anyone who reads this, I hope will understand that this is my perspective, Tony has not made any comments other than the ones he left on my voice mail and he said she said phone conversations.

For the comments I have seen from public forums, Tony is known for actions like this so I leave it up for your judgment. Maybe you can call or write the Pound and ask to speak with Tony directly as to his side of the story.

To make matters worse, the sound company, Renegade Productions has chosen to file a lawsuit against me because I refused to pay them the remaining balance of the bill. I contend that the sound, lights and drum set ups we paid for were less then desirable and did not perform in the manor agreed to us by Renegade. There have been numerous testimonials on Earth-Dog, Powerslave and other forums stating as to how horrible the sound was for every band performing outside.

The bands suffered as well. According the owner of Renegade, TAC staff failed to instruct them on what sounds should have come through the monitors so they either blasted what sounds they could feed into the monitors or they turned the sound off all together leaving the bands to fend for themselves. Thankfully the bands that played the show were awesome musicians and their professionalism and pure talent took over and compensated for the horrible sounds from the stage and into the crowd.

Renegade is not just suing for the remaining balance, no, they want to strive for the most they can, $5000 and claim that the long hours and no food made for horrible working conditions and they should be compensated for it. I believe the reasons they did not eat was because of how unreliable and incompetent his staff was and that in between 30 minuet sets, they were scrambling to get the sound problems and wiring problems under control. Again, if it not for the band’s sound techs, the sound would have been so poor that the show may have been postponed and that would have been devastating.

For those of you who helped us out the day of the show, you guys kicked major ass and we all worked very well as a team. Without your efforts, the show would have been noticeably poor. The music and the fans that showed up were so awesome that there was not one fight or major disruption and the security staff at the Pound said it was one of the best shows they had ever seen from the security stand point and the music stand point. It sucks that I have to go through so much more crap with these two companies because before this show, both owners are and were considered friends.

The Pound has chosen not responded to any of my inquiries. So we don't know their side of this story.

Renegade Productions: I think that a lot of what is going on is between Keith (aka Cole's Cure) and Renegade Productions... is not for the general public... I am not about slandering others... Keith is a respectable person and his cause is noble. My reasons for taking this to court is specifically to collect a balance due on an invoice... it seems to me that he is looking for a way out of paying what’s due because of what is happening with the Pound... I believe that if the event brought more people and he was paid… this would have never been an issue... the deposit was paid and the balance was due long ago...

This story is changing faster than I can get it typed up. As of today I have been informed by Mr. Regan that the Pound is paying Mr. Regan the money owed to them.

The courts will have to settle the dispute between Renegade vs. Keith Regan.

So what can we take from this mess as a lesson? Well in my opinion - The Pound needs to work hard on improving their reputation in dealing with promoters, I have long heard unsubstantiated rumblings about short head counts, but no promoter would go on record to confirm if that is indeed true or even reply with more than a no comment. Something else that I think that the Pound needs to work on is finding a way to get people in at a better pace for their outdoor shows. People are still griping over missing 1/3 of the acts that opened for the King Diamond show while waiting in line to get in.

Mr. Regan needs to take all the lessons he has learned from this show and apply it to the next one he puts on. He also in my opinion needs to pay Renegade productions in full, regardless how lousy the sound was for the outdoor stage. In addition he should make sure that the sound guys and everyone else working the show for him are taken care of as far as seeing to it that they get fed and have all the info they need to do their jobs.

Renegade Productions needs to have a better result for their efforts in whatever upcoming shows they do, I would like to add that everyone I talked to about them had nothing, but good things to say about Renegade and the work they have done prior to this show.

So, if there is anything else you readers want me to get to the bottom of. Let me know and I'll try look into it.