News

Controversy cancels rap concert, date auction

By Katie Curley
Staff writer
Published: January 9, 2009

NEWBURYPORT — A benefit rap concert scheduled for tonight at the Elks Club was abruptly canceled yesterday when managers of the venue learned of a "date auction" being advertised on a flier handed out to high school students, prompting calls to the club from angry parents.

The event, planned at the Elks Club on Low Street by Proficient Records of Haverhill, was billed as a benefit for The Salvation Army and was to include 13 different rap and hip-hop acts. The small recording label is run by Reginald Cummings, a 2005 Newburyport High School graduate whose stage name is R.E Clipz, and includes a number of local aspiring artists.

At issue was a postcard flier designed to promote the event, which included pictures of the artists, one of whom is wearing a bandana with marijuana leaves pictured on it, and reference to "female date auctions for the fellas" written near two Salvation Army logos. The fliers were distributed to stores around the area and handed out one day in front of Newburyport High School, Cummings said. They also went out online via the label's MySpace page.

Cummings said he's run similar shows before with no problem, but Elks Lodge manager Michelle Pimental said when she saw the contract and the flier, she immediately canceled the event.

"The female date auction seemed to really set people off, as well as the pot leaves," Pimental said. "I have to agree with parents. We don't want to promote those things under the Elks name. We give out scholarships; we are benevolent."

Pimental said she booked the event because it was a Salvation Army benefit.

Major Kathryn Purvis of the Newburyport Salvation Army chapter said the nonprofit organization had "no idea what was going to be on the flier."

"Proficient Records called us to say they wanted to have a benefit with this rap guy and wanted to know if the proceeds could go to the Salvation Army," Purvis said. "We said, 'Sure, we'll take it.'"

From there, Purvis said The Salvation Army did not ask to look at any of the publicity materials and didn't know anything about the event or the rapper featured.

"It looks like we support this concert, but we are not in support of it," Purvis said. "We are just the benefactors of the proceeds. We never saw a flier and did not give them our logo to use; they copied and pasted it from online."

Cummings said all he was trying to do was give back.

"I told the Elks Club what was going to happen, all about the raffles, and it was no problem. But as soon as the flier comes out, they don't like it," said Cummings, who runs the record label with his partner Twan Hill. "I'm not trying to pull the race card because that's out of style, but at the end of the day I know the neighborhood."

Cummings and a number of the label's other artists are black.

As for the "female date auction," which was promised as part of tonight's events, Cummings said it is not a cause for controversy.

"We've done it before," Cummings said. "It's nothing sexual, it just a conversation for an hour for the concert and another way to get money for the benefit."

The females scheduled to be auctioned off were members of Proficient Record's promotions department, Cummings said.

"It wasn't a bad thing," Cummings said, noting he had secured appropriate liability insurance and had security guards. "No one was going to leave with a girl."

Cummings said his company spent $1,500 promoting the show, which included graphic design costs for the fliers, and is planning to file a lawsuit against the Elks Club.

"To tell us the day before the show we put so much time and money into is not right," Cummings said. "It ruins our reputation because now for the next show people are going to wonder if we show up or not."

A similar show was put on in July in Amesbury, he said. Cummings said they have never had complaints.

"We called The Salvation Army to apologize, but they don't want anything to do with us now," Cummings said. "The thing is we told them it would be a hip-hop crowd with some language so we would do a parental advisory. The Salvation Army said we know the crowd, and it was going to be completely fine.

"I was just tying to help a good cause. I grew up on Spofford Street, opened my own business in Haverhill and was trying to give back to the community."

Cummings said he had received word fans from New Hampshire to Boston were planning on attending the event.

"We were all coming together for a good cause."