The Chicagoist will be launching later but in the meantime please enjoy our archives.

The Love of Money Is the Root of All Evil

By Jocelyn Geboy in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 2, 2007 8:35PM

We're gonna keep it real. We are not young or thin or rich enough to go to all of those clubs on Lake Street or anywhere else they are — we don't know where they are 'cause we just don't do that sort of thing. Our days of the potential for crazy sex and good blow in the bathroom are LOONNG over, and we never were cool enough to swing bottle service, anyway. So, the news that the boys over at Pure Entertainment (President Jay Prasad, VP John Curley, and events director Lucas King) got completely busted last week isn't going to impact our nightlife.

2007_02JayPrasad.jpgIt wasn't sex, drugs, and rock and roll. It was the same old thing that gets everyone. Money. They would get book DJs for clubs like Vision and Crobar, and set up the contracts with the prices. Only the rate the DJ was getting and the rate the club was paying were different. The extra amount the clubs were paying was going right into the triad's bank account. They got approximately $100,000 before the Duke boys got 'em — uh, we mean the Cook County State's Attorney's office.

We know hindsight is 20/20 and all, but we saw Jay Prasad this October on a panel which was the second part of an ongoing series geared to helping musicians and artists do-it-yourself. This particular one was focused on promoting and marketing, and Chicagoist's Tankboy was also a panel member. As we recall, Jay did a lot of the talking that night, and now all we can think is, "DIY, ey?"

2007_02money.jpgWe tried to get some more information about this, which is why we took so long to get this up. We are still awaiting a call from Vision's corporate office and will update this if/when we get some more detail. It seems that Jay and John were supposed to have a DJ gig at Vision on February 24. Checking Vision's website, it doesn't say a thing about it. Yeah, probably not. Especially if they're in jail for felony theft.

What's even more creepy/laughable is this line from Prasad's bio from his appearance at the NetIp Conference this year in Chicago: "He is very focused on building a network of partnerships and a strong team that will deliver highest level of content to consumers and clients." Ouch.

Images via netipconference.org and circletelevision.