HE teamed up with nightclub Thumper to stage a two-night concert featuring local jazz singer Jacintha Abisheganaden and a jazz quartet last October.
Now, event manager Johnson Ong and Thumper's management, T Entertainment, have had a falling-out over $22,000.
Mr Ong said he has been chasing T Entertainment for the past six months for the money, which he says is 50 per cent of the fees and costs for the concert staged by his company, Big Kid Productions and Communications.
He said that after his 'countless numbers' of phone calls, faxes and e-mail messages were ignored, he has engaged a lawyer and sent a letter to T Entertainment asking for the money.
T Entertainment, which reopened Thumper last August, has argued that it was given empty assurances by Big Kid Productions.
Mr Ong, 33, said that the concert cost about $48,000 to stage. That included the fees, air fares and hotel stay of three world-renowned US jazz musicians.
When the contract was signed last August, T Entertainment paid him 50 per cent of the total costs.
Under the contract, he was supposed to receive the remaining 50 per cent within seven days of the concerts, which were on 1 and 2 Oct.
The concerts were held to support Jacintha's new album, which had already been launched worldwide by that time, he said.
Mr Ong, a lawyer-turned-event organiser, said: 'For small businesses like mine, every dollar counts.
'My only recourse is legal action but legal fees are hefty, and every day that I am deprived of that money is a loss of business opportunity for me.'
When contacted for comment, T Entertainment's general manager, Mr Che Pereira, claimed that Thumper was not given any demo reels or sample tracks of Jacintha's performance when they signed the contract.
He said: 'We were simply promised an amazing concert with 'world class' performances by internationally-renowned musicians.'
He said that based on that, they were asked to pay a 'high' cost of some $50,000.
He said that he did not know what to expect of the concert.
But he had 'looked forward to collaborating with Big Kid Productions in making this a 'world-class' jazz vocal performance a 'sell-out' as assured and an upbeat jazz performance in keeping with Thumper's style'.
But, he said, during its first preview of Jacintha's new album at a press conference about a month before the concerts, Thumper found out that the songs were all 'sultry and slow-tempo'.
He added: 'They were totally not in keeping with Thumper's upbeat entertainment brand-promise nor to our expectations.
'We were sorely disappointed, but upheld our enthusiasm as we had hoped to have a good turn-out with Jacintha's following.'
At that point, he said, they were 'in too deep to make any changes'.
He claimed that, later, ticket sales were poor and 'we eventually had to give away free tickets to help ensure that there was enough (of an) audience in the house'.
Mr Ong said T Entertainment had approached Big Kid Productions to stage the shows and should have been aware of what the concerts would be like.
He added that the nightclub was in charge of marketing the concert and selling the tickets.
NO ASSURANCES
He said he was not to blame for the poor ticket sales and that up till last month, when he sent the lawyer's letter, T Entertainment had not complained about the concert, or the quality of his company's services.
Mr Ong said: 'There were no assurances from me that the show would be a sell-out. It was never brought up at that time.'
Mr Pereira said: 'We wish only to sit with Mr Ong to explore an amicable resolution.
'We have never stated that we would not pay. We merely ask for a face-to-face discussion to explore resolution.'
Mr Ong noted that after he had sent the lawyer's letter, the other party replied with a proposal to pay him the money in instalments over six months.
'But that's too long' he said.
He has asked them instead to pay 25 per cent of what they owe before he agrees to meet with them as a show of their good faith.
This article was first published by The New Paper on Mar 24, 2008.
