The Bay area's dance music scene has seen its fair share of disappointments when it comes to the promise of international DJ talent. Electronic music tours such as Mekka have canceled due to a lack of market support, and smaller dance parties suffer whenever a headliner backs out unexpectedly. Recent fliers and ads for a three-day dance music party called E'var list a lineup of DJs that may be too good to be true.

The list includes such big-name DJs as Paul Oakenfold, Fat Boy Slim (an apparent misspelling of Fatboy Slim), Sasha, Keoki, Carl Cox, Rich Hawtin (an apparent abbreviation of Richie Hawtin) and Paul Van Dyk. These promotional materials don't say whether these DJs will be making live appearances or not.

Phatty Cat Productions Inc., the Largo-based company promoting the event, would not confirm which DJs would perform live.

The E'var fliers and ads show that the event is scheduled to take place Nov. 22, 23 and 24, at Joyland in Pinellas Park, and state that advance tickets are available at Phatty Cat's Web site, www.phattycat.com, ($63 for a three-day pass), purchasable by credit card only.

Local DJs such as Duggy (spelled on the promotional materials as Duggie), Chris Lee, Major and DJ Bobby are also on the E'var promotional materials. Duggy has said he intends to spin, per a deal he made with Phatty Cat, and has spoken with several other local DJs who likewise intend to make their scheduled appearances and spin at E'var.

Philip R. Pancoast, the president of Phatty Cat Productions, in speaking with Weekly Planet about which artists promoted in the E'var fliers and ads have been contracted to perform at E'var, said, "I got permission from all of 'em," but did not name specific names.

The Phatty Cat Web site reads: "The hottest DJ's from around the world appearing live at each event. You will see live audio and video feeds from Brazil, England, Germany, Italy and Checz (sic) Republic so you can experience clubs from around the globe mixing live music at this event."

Pancoast declined to present proof that he had contracts booking any of the aforementioned DJs to appear either live or by audio and video feed.

"I don't have any repercussions or justifications to anybody on this event," Pancoast said. "My butt's covered. I ain't worried about it."

Sasha's agent, Garrett Chau of United Talent Agency, said, "Sasha will not be participating in the E'var event in any way, shape or form." Sasha is in fact booked to perform with John Digweed at Hard Rock Live in Orlando on Nov. 23 (See Planet Picks).

Kekoa of the Gangemi Group, who is Keoki's brother and one of his two booking agents, said that Keoki is not scheduled to perform at any events in Florida in the month of November either live or via satellite feed.

Paul Oakenfold's Web site (www.pauloak enfold.com) shows him booked in New York, Cleveland and Minneapolis on Nov. 22-24. Fatboy Slim's Web site (www.gut terandstars.com) shows his only November dates to be Nov. 11, at Type in London, and Nov. 30, at Electraglide in Tokyo.

Also on the promotional materials is a line denoted by an asterisk that highlights the "Special Guest Invitation" of Rabbit in the Moon, Rose of WiLD-98.7, Matt the Brat of 93.3-WFLZ and lists the "Master of Ceremony" as Alli That Girl of WiLD-98.7. Small print at the bottom of the materials reads: "*Does Not Confirm Appearance."

Drew Fleming, promotion director at WiLD 98.7, said that neither Rose nor Alli would be taking part in E'var and that the station refused to take money to advertise the event. Shannon Wray, the marketing and promotions director at 93.3-WFLZ could not verify that Matt the Brat was taking part in E'var.

As for Rabbit In The Moon (RITM), Phatty Cat's effort to involve the group in the event was sending them an invitation via certified mail, dated Oct. 15, which reads: "This shall serve as your Special Guest Invitation for the above referenced. This original letter may be presented at the door for free admission for yourself only. I look forward to seeing you at our event. Meow, Philip R. Pancoast."

Monk, the CEO of Hallucination Records, acting as spokesperson for his group Rabbit in the Moon, said that he signed for the letter not knowing what it was and disregarded it; he was later upset to find RITM listed on the event's promotional materials.

"There's some people who're into dance music who may not be as educated on the process of booking to understand that it would be really hard to get that many big names in one place," Monk said.

When asked if he thought his approach to promoting E'var was misleading, Pancoast answered, "No, not at all. I'm duplicating exactly what some other people have done. Have you ever seen any of the porn awards? The porn awards, all the special guest appearances are never confirmed."

When asked how people were supposed to interpret the flier or the ad when they read the names of the DJs listed, Pancoast said, "I have no idea."

Two half-page ads for E'var were run in Weekly Planet Vol. 14 No. 33 and 34, per a signed agreement with Phatty Cat Productions that allowed them to use our logo on all Phatty material. A similar deal was struck with Groove Magazine, who ran an E'var ad in their November issue. Both E'var ads in the Planet were supposed to be full-color. Phatty Cat stopped payment on a $500 check, the second half of the amount due to the Planet, after the second ad was mistakenly printed in black and white. The two parties were negotiating final payment at press time.

This article appears in Nov 22-28, 2001.