Heated words between Greenwood, concert organizers

Rocky Mountain News

Published September 21, 2007 at midnight

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The war of words between country singer Lee Greenwood and organizers of the Denver concert where he walked out last weekend grew fiery Thursday, with angry fingers pointing in both directions.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Greenwood blamed organizer Frank Young for the problem.

Young took to Denver airwaves to castigate Greenwood's management but held back from blaming the singer for the disappointment.

While both sides claimed to be right, one point is not in dispute. The performance was canceled at the last minute over a $2,000 check that made up the last 10 percent of Greenwood's $20,000 fee to perform for a private, hand-picked crowd of veterans, firefighters and others Saturday night.

Fourteen-thousand dollars was wired to Greenwood's bank before the show, and at the show, Young had $4,000 cash and a $2,000 check from the Knights of Columbus.

The contract with Greenwood, however, specified cash or a cashier's check.

Young acknowledged that he was technically in violation of the signed deal. But with a check from the Knights of Columbus making up the difference, he believes that Greenwood should have gone on.

Greenwood disagreed. "I'd say they shouldn't be angry at me - they should be angry at the man who put on the show," Greenwood said of the 800 to 900 disappointed concertgoers who paid $20 each to hear him sing.

Young decried Greenwood's management's "rude, obnoxious and vulgar attitude" in refusing to budge an inch over the $2,000 after he came up with $18,000.

"We don't wish Mr. Greenwood any harm," Young said. "If Mr. Greenwood's management team was any kind of professional, they would not have canceled a concert in this venue for these people over a $2,000 check from the Knights of Columbus."

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