At the Philly Pops: More concerts shelved, musicians file suit for back wages

The future of the Philly Pops has grown cloudier as the group postponed yet another set of concerts and the musicians of the Pops filed suit against their own management.

The Pops has been without a home venue since January, when it was evicted from the Kimmel Center in a dispute over back rent and other fees. Recent talks to settle the clash have so far failed to produce an agreement that would allow the Pops to finish out the season in Verizon Hall.

And so the Pops on Friday announced that it won’t present “Pops Rocks: The Music of Paul Simon, James Taylor & Billy Joel,” originally set for March 24-26.

Pops president and CEO Karen Corbin said she still hoped the group could strike a deal with Kimmel management that would allow the group back in Verizon Hall “so we can honor our obligations to ticket holders.”

She said a proposal for a payment plan was presented to the Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center, Inc. and the Pops has not received a counterproposal.

A POKC spokesperson said it had the proposal, “but it was not a credible, committed, or realistic plan to pay back the $1 million debt that is due to our organization.” Corbin said the Pops disputes that amount and that the group has asked for a clarification of how POKC arrived at the figure.

The musicians’ suit filed Friday cites breach of contract, with the union representing the players demanding compensation for broadcasts of the Pops’ Christmas program in December for which they have not been paid.

The suit filed in U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania seeks the payment of wages as well as late fees and contributions to pension plans, putting the total “economic injury” to musicians and their union at $313,472.55, while noting that late-payment penalties continue to accrue.

“It’s a pretty straightforward, factual case. They just simply haven’t been paid,” said American Federation of Musicians lawyer Jennifer P. Garner. “We want them to be paid.”

Corbin said she had not read the lawsuit, and had no comment. Local officers of the musicians union did not return calls.

Ray Hair, president of the AFM, said Saturday that the union sent a letter to the Pops at the end of January demanding payment by Feb. 14 for the broadcasts, shown locally on 6ABC and on the U.S. government’s American Forces Network, and that failure to do so would trigger legal action.

“Everyone, the musicians of the Pops, was relying on the Philly Pops organization to make payment,” said Hair.

The Pops announced in November that it would be shutting down at the end of the season after more than four decades, but quickly reversed course and said it would mount a save-the-Pops campaign.

That campaign raised a little over $100,000 in its first couple of weeks “and has been generally quiet” since, said Corbin. The goal is to raise $2 million by July.

The fate of the rest of the Pops subscription series remains unclear. In addition to the February and March concerts, which are listed as postponed, the Pops season as originally announced included a Sondheim program in April, “Pops Rocks Hollywood” in May, and a Star Wars program in June.

After the eviction of the Pops from the Kimmel forced postponement of the February shows, the Pops said it would move those concerts to the Met Philadelphia, and then pulled them at the last minute without explanation.

Musicians and management reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract in December, though the deal has not been ratified.

Said Corbin: “We have meetings on Monday to attempt to come to closure on that.”