The Agora-Jigsaw quagmire has a big new lawsuit, and the Black Keys still don’t have their money.
In January, Akron’s Black Keys (pictured) sold out two shows at the Agora Theatre, moving a combined total of 3,800 tickets at $28.50 apiece. The band still hasn’t been paid. As of April, Terry Buckwalter, a partner in Euclid 5012 LLC. — that’s the corporation formed between Jigsaw Saloon and Stage partners Buckwalter and Phil Lara, plus Agora owner Hank Loconti, for purposes of running the Agora — had agreed to pay the Keys $5,000 a week. As of today, he hasn’t paid them anything.
“I’m in total disbelief,” says Keys drummer Patrick Carney, “that the venue where I saw my first show, that we’ve played many times, in our own back yard, would fuck us…. If I stole something that cost $400 from Wal-Mart, I’d be in jail. And they get to do this? The only thing that protects [them] is the $400 [it costs to form] an LLC [limited-liability corporation].”
This article appears in Apr 15-21, 2009.
Apparently, Lara and Buckwalter are unaware of the finer art of piercing the corporate veil. And they’re being sued personally. It is personal, not just corporate.