The Daily Advertiser (www.theadvertiser.com) has issued the following report from Nick Pittman:

On Friday afternoon, 307 Downtown had GUNS N' ROSES' 'Welcome To The Jungle' cranked on the stereo and at least one employee was doing frontman Axl Rose's signature snake dance. That day, venue managers sent in a deposit for a solo Rose gig on May 26th and felt certain they had booked the biggest show ever at the club.

By Saturday afternoon, the song and dance came to a halt: Following a front-page story in Saturday's edition of The Daily Advertiser, Rose's booking and management company e-mailed the club's management, asking why they were disseminating false information.

"We both came to the conclusion that it (the booking) was fraudulent," said Chad Fouquier, 307's entertainment coordinator.

The representative said it was the victim in a scam in which a booker not affiliated with Rose signed them up for a show and tried to take their money. The fact is, Axl Rose will not make a Lafayette stop.

The venue's management chalks up their naiveté to the high they were on after being contacted by big names following their April 1 Dr. John show and hearing about a promotional tour Rose was planning to repair his image.

To secure the performance, 307 had to send in a deposit. Fouquier is hesitant to give names but said the money went to a Chicago-based company. While Fouquier called it a significant amount, he would not divulge the actual dollar amount. However, 307 lucked out by sending it on Friday.

"The good news is they might have gotten a little sloppy when they had us deliver the deposit on Good Friday," Fouquier said. "(It) hasn't been cashed, and we stopped payment on it. We ended up walking away scott-free on the whole deal."

Looking back, Fouquier said the booking should have caused suspicion. An online schedule reveals Guns N' Roses are slated to play Lisbon, Portugal, on May 27. But the booker was very convincing, Fouquier said, using terms familiar to the contract process and names from Rose's agency.

"It didn't seem too far fetched at first," Fouquier said. "Now, of course, you go back and look in retrospect and it's like, maybe it was a little too good to be true. Usually if it is - it is too good to be true."

Following the scam, 307 contacted authorities in Chicago, Orlando and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and expects legal action to be taken.

To make matters worse, the club used the tickets for Rose's appearance as a co-promotion of the Honeytribe featuring Devon Allman performance Monday. Tickets to Rose's show could be bought on that night. If there were any left, fans would have to wait until May 6 to purchase them. Luckily for the club - despite getting calls for them across the Gulf South - no advance tickets to Rose's show were sold. However, interest and tickets sales to Allman's show spiked. Fouquier fears the community might see it as a ploy to boost sales to the Monday show, but promises there was no impropriety on the club's part. At last night's show, he said the staff worked hard to let patrons know there would be no Rose tickets.

"We do not want anyone to come in and pay for a show they are not willing to see," Fouquier said.

Although the incident was a let-down for the club, Fouquier said it has opened the door to Rose's agency, and 307 gave them an open invitation to a crawfish boil. He also said it has been a hard business lesson, but it will not deter them from pursuing big-name acts in the future.

"We have since figured out some more security measures as to how to prevent that from happening," Fouquier said. "We will raise eyebrows probably a little bit more and be a little bit more thorough.