Irateshow promoters in St Lucia and Guyana are planning to sue dancehallartiste Vybz Kartel for a series of no-shows over the weekend.

Kartel and members of his Portmore Empire were reportedly booked for a concertin Guyana on Saturday night, after which they should have moved on to St Lucia to perform on the last evening of a three-day event calledLove Fest.

Reports are, however, that while some members of the Empire turned up,Kartel missed his flight to Guyana, not once, but twice, after whichthe promoter was asked to send a charter. According to one report, thiswas done, but the plane sat on the tarmac on Saturday and the deejayrefused to leave Jamaica. Conscious Minds Promotions in Guyanareportedly suffered tremendous losses when they were forced to cancelthe show. The Sunday Stabroek in Guyana noted that "a press releaseadvised that persons who purchased tickets for the show will receivefull refunds beginning Tuesday at all ticketing locations".

The promoters are quoted as saying, "We again express our deep regretat the disappointment that our supporters must feel and pledge that we will make good with other promotions."

Meanwhile,the St Lucia promoter Andrew Hayles, in an interview last evening withthe Observer, said that he had spent over US$20,000.00 on plane fare just to ensure that Kartel would be present for his show, Love Fest,which has built up a solid reputation during its eight years.

"Naturally, the Guyana promoter and myself have been communicating,since I was supposed to bring Kartel in from there. So those tickets went down the drain. Then I made direct contact with Kartel and he toldme to send two first-class tickets for him and Jahvinci to travel from Jamaica. At 11:00 pm on Saturday we got the travel agent to open up her business place so we could purchase the tickets. Then plans changed and we were asked to get a charter and this was done. Then the next thing we know we hear on Sunday that Kartel had posted a statement on YouTubesaying that he was not attending Love Fest in St Lucia and it was notthe promoter's fault," Hayle said, still sounding bemused at all thathad transpired.

A quick look at YouTube shows a 33-second clip with Vybz Kartel whoidentifies himself and then goes on to say "we a mek the people demknow from now that we won't be attending Love Fest in St Lucia ... butit's no fault of the promoters or the promotion which is Hot FM ...it's just circumstances beyond our control."