Theater Says It Will End Free Concerts

Representatives of the Ventura Theatre have vowed to end all free concerts and concerts by gangsta rap artists in response to violence that forced police to stop a performance and close the venue over the weekend.

A show scheduled for Nov. 20 could be moved to another venue, said theater owner Robert Antonini.

“We can’t do shows like that--free shows or aggressive, harder-edge rap music,” theater manager Loanne Wulaert said Monday.

“For some reason, when you do a free show, you just get the meatheads out,” Antonini said. “People are not as appreciative of the music when it’s free.”

Three concert-goers attending the hip-hop and “old school” rap show at the Chestnut Street theater Friday were arrested after they allegedly fought with officers who asked them to leave the venue. Another was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving and evading police.

Witnesses said some of the rap artists fomented the violence and added to an already tense situation.

Meanwhile, Friday night’s events have sparked a dispute among Gold Coast Broadcasting’s Q104-7 FM radio station, the event’s sponsor, and Ventura Theatre staff over who is to blame for the ruckus.

Wulaert said Q104-7 blindsided the theater with harder-edged bands at the last minute.

But Chip Ehrhardt, general manager of Ventura-based Gold Coast Broadcasting, said theater management knew who was on the bill 30 days before the show.

He said the theater and its security didn’t know how to handle the large crowd, estimated at over a 1,000 people.

Replied theater manager Wulaert, “I guess this is war.”