Friday, March 17, 2006

Concert promoter CAL Productions out of business

POLLY HIGGINS

Tucson Citizen

Local concert promoter CAL Productions, which has brought such big-name acts as Snoop Dogg and Matchbox Twenty to Tucson, has closed, according to C.E.O. Brad Nozicka.

CAL Productions, LLC, is named in at least four lawsuits filed in Maricopa County. At issue are milllions of dollars allegedly not repaid to investors.

In all, more than $16 million is sought.

Maricopa County resident William "Jim" Galyon, owner of Enti Capital and a partner in CAL Productions, has filed a $25 million cross claim against CAL in which Nozicka is held accountable.

"Only Brad Nozicka is the licensed promoter," Galyon's attorney Shawn Aiken said. "Enti Capital lent money to CAL Productions and CAL Productions did not pay it back."

Nozicka, via a faxed statement, said, "Due to the wrongful actions and dishonestly (sic) of others, my one-time dream has come to an end.... I allowed myself to be entirely too trustful and generous to the point where I was taken advantage of."

Nozicka also owns the East Side nightclub City Limits, which "is not affected by these actions," according to the statement.

The impact of CAL's demise is negligible compared to what it might have been a year or more ago. Local venues, such as the downtown Rialto Theatre and Tucson Arena, formerly Tucson Convention Center Arena, in that time have come to rely on other promoters.

"Unfortunately, of late, they've not done anything with us, so we've kind of begun to fill that void, said TCC deputy director Tommy Obermaier, who said he was sorry a local company such as CAL is gone.

The promotion company used to book several concerts a year at the Tucson Arena, but the last show it brought there was Mariah Carey's in December 2003.

More recently, TCC has worked with out-of-town promoters such as Nashville, Tenn.,'s Outback Concerts, which booked Alison Krauss (that show was postponed because of illness), and Memphis, Tenn.,'s Beaver for Michael Bublé, Obermaier said.

Rialto Theatre booker Curtis McCrary, who sees an average of nine shows a month coming through the downtown venue, noted that after a run of four shows when the venue re-opened last summer, CAL didn't use it again until more recently.

"I got used to (CAL) not bringing shows to the Rialto," McCrary said. "It doesn't mean those shows won't come to Tucson. It just won't be them booking those shows."

Nozicka's attorney, identified in court documents as Richard Rollman, has advised him not to go into specifics, Nozicka's statement said.

Employees were notified of the closure on March 10, former CAL publicist Karyza Arce said.