Rocks Off has good news and bad news about Sunday's Wu-Tang Clan show. First, the bad news: We have heard reports of people who bought tickets when the show was scheduled for Meridian calling and going down to that venue looking for refunds, as have people with tickets to David Allan Coe, Smile Empty Soul and Doomsday Wrestling. Unfortunately, it looks like they're out of luck.
An agent with Philadelphia-based ticketing company Ticketleap said they were unable to refund any money because it had gone straight to the organizer's account, in this case Meridian owner Gary Katz. Reported to be in New Jersey, Katz has not been in touch since Rocks Off briefly spoke with him yesterday - very briefly, as in he hung up before we could ask a question. We called back a few minutes ago; this time it went straight to voicemail and the mailbox was full.
It sounds like Katz has not been in touch with anyone else, either. Gerroy Jermaine, who signed a lease with Katz Monday and plans to reopen the venue as The Capitol on New Year's Eve, said he had not heard from Katz since the paperwork was finalized, and was at a loss what to tell the people calling him "every five minutes" about the Wu-Tang show.
Now for the good news: Mike Kelly of My Onstage Events assures Rocks Off that the show is still happening, at Numbers, and that there are "hundreds" of tickets left. Kelly stressed that the only valid tickets for Sunday's show are tickets purchased from My Onstage Events' Web site since Monday.
Kelly said he was unable to offer a discount to people with the now-worthless Meridian tickets because the ticket price had already been set by the band's agent. Jermaine said he was likewise unable to do anything about the Wu-Tang tickets, but was offering tickets to his New Year's Eve show with Scarface and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony as a good-faith gesture.
Jermaine did say he had Wu-Tang's Method Man and his longtime buddy Redman coming to the Capitol in January.
As for the show itself, Fat Tony, Nosaprise, and Ill Liad have been lined up as openers, with Tony coming out directly before the Killer Bees.
We'll have more on the Clan in just a bit. And more on this whole Meridian mess soon enough, we're sure.
