KID LAW CAUSES CONCERT TROUBLE

Amber Alert Holds Liability Surprise

A new law slipped into last month's Amber Alert bill is threatening concert
promoters and club owners in Denver with huge civil and criminal liability.

As a result, KTCL's Rave on the Rocks, one of the highest-profile electronic
music shows in the nation, is on shaky legal ground.

What used to be called the RAVE Act was renamed the Illicit Drug
Anti-Proliferation Act of 2003. The bill is similar to legislation that made
it possible for cities to shut down crack houses as public nuisances.

The difference here is that a concert promoter or club owner could be liable
- - and could have the club seized in some cases - for criminal activity at a
show, including drunkenness, drug use or fistfights. Under the law, the
promoter could be criminally liable for any illegal act by anyone in the
crowd.

Sponsored by Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., the law was tacked on to the Amber
Alert bill by a subcommittee. To stop the RAVE Act from passing, legislators
would have had to vote against the larger bill to help find missing
children.

Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., went on Denver radio this week and said "she
does not support the RAVE Act and was disappointed that the RAVE Act was
rolled into that, especially at the last minute with so little opportunity
for consideration," said her spokesman, Josh Freed.

Some Denver club bookers wouldn't even talk about the act, fearful of
drawing attention to electronic music in their clubs.

The name for KTCL's Rave on the Rocks is now up for a listener vote so as to
keep it out of the cross hairs of the new law. Winning at the moment is
Party on the Rocks.

"We must adhere to the law, and we're going to do that," says Mike O'Connor,
KTCL program director.

"This event is nothing more than a typical concert at Red Rocks with one
difference: the instrument that's played involves mixing vinyl on turntables
as opposed to actually playing instruments."

"Short of strip-searching every patron, we have no idea if people are going
to slip something in and ruin it for the rest of us," O'Connor continued.
"We have the same, if not more, security than for any other Red Rocks event.
What we won't do is use the R-word. The RAVE Act definitely draws a
distinction between a normal show and a performance involving the R-word."

Actually, it doesn't, which opponents say is the problem. The law is so
vague, said Bill Piper, associate director of national affairs for the Drug
Policy Alliance, that "it doesn't matter if you're playing electronic music
or hip-hop or jazz or any music. It doesn't have to be a rave or a music
concert. It could be a motel room, your home."

"The law is so neutral and so broad it would apply to any property and any
person controlling that property as an owner or event organizer," Piper
said. "A lot of members (of Congress), we're finding, aren't even aware of
this provision."

Brandon Daviet of TuTone Entertainment is organizing a benefit concert
Friday at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom to help the Drug Policy Alliance
challenge the law.

"The law is unfair. They can confiscate clubs for something that's not their
fault," he said. "They snuck it through with no public hearings."

Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., who was a co-sponsor of the original Amber Alert
bill, was traveling in Prague, Czech Republic, and was unavailable for
comment.