Glynis O’Hara
THE disastrous Melville 100th birthday party in Johannesburg two weeks ago has run into money troubles. A meeting between creditors and the Melville Organising Committee was held at a lawyer’s office last week but no one from the committee would talk to the press.
This week creditors were told the Melville Organising Committee had R30 000 in its bank account.
PJ Powers’s band leader Tagger Reunert said the committee’s full debt was R300 000. The band was given a deposit but awaits the balance of its fee. Reunert added: “This means creditors will be paid 10 cents of every rand they are owed.”
National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) conductor Richard Cock said the list of creditors was two pages long and included suppliers and musicians, the security company and Pro- Sound.
A 50% upfront deposit is the norm with music acts, the balance being paid after the performance. Some musicians have not been issued the balance payment at all while others, like Wendy Oldfield, found that the cheque for the full fee had bounced.
The NSO was given a 50% deposit cheque, which was refused by a bank because the wrong signatures were on it, said Cock. “We asked for it to be corrected and we got our deposit, but the second cheque, the balance of payment issued on the day we played, was refused by the bank.”
A manager who refused to sign her bands to the event said the organisers told her there was no money for deposits. “What right have any organisers got to place the risk on the band? They said they didn’t have a sponsor for the music and I refused to get involved on that basis. I felt there would be resistance from the public to the R20 entrance fee anyway.”