Go to this link: http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-419-215-5465
There are pages and pages of complaints about this scam artist on his other cell phone number. 310-482-1104 is the number he uses as Jason Whitmire, Entertainment Management Services, and thebizofmusic.com
The following post and many others are on this site.
AKA Jason Rashley. Jason Whitmire is his most recent incarnation. He is now in Nashville - his latest website is www.thebizofmusic.com and his company name is Entertainment Management Services. If you read the website it is a bunch of [***] - in fact, you can't really even tell what they actually say they will do; or figure out who they will do it for! On the one hand it says that they "search only for the ultimate talent," and on the other hand it says "consider using our services." So, I guess that even if you suck but have a lot of money - Jason will work with you!
A month or so ago, around the same time you report having Jason Rashley at your store, a friend of a friend was telling me a story about their son's band and this guy who was going to manage them, blah blah blah. I have friends who actually really ARE in the music business, and this all sounded fishy to me so I tried to do a little bit of due diligence on Jason Whitmire. He did not come up in any searches, and my contacts in Nashville never heard of him.
Then my friend forwarded me an email from Jason that had come from a completely different address -instead of jason@thebizofmusic which is what he uses now, it had come from
[email protected]. A new Google search on JRAgency literally exploded with information about Jason Rashley - and he and Jason Whitmire are one and the same. This guy has balls the size of Texas and his namedropping is not to be believed. He claimed to be moving from Nashville from Los Angeles, and that he had worked for the William Morris Agency for 12 years for Mark Roeder. The thing is, Mark Roeder never heard of him - and Mark Roeder has never worked at the Los Angeles office - he has always been at Wm Morris in Nashville. I guess Jason is slipping a little bit on the details. He also told my friends that he used to be Jessica Simpson's booking agent. And on and on and on.
Apparently he trolls MySpace for young bands and artists, and fast-talks their families into handing over significant coin; promising them record deals with major labels and access to top producers. And, if you check out Mackerel Sky's MySpace page you will see that they have no gigs at all and the the poor girl who sings with them apparently has quit her job at Wal-Mart because she is on her way to the top!
The reason I am so frosted about this guy is because he has set himself up as a legitimate business - yet delivers nothing. On the one hand, I guess you could say that if people are stupid enough to give him money, then it's their tough luck. On the other hand, there is a certain amount of trust involved when artists are first starting out - as far as getting gigs, making contacts, etc. And I will bet that the Mackerel Sky band members have no idea you were stiffed for the bread - in fact, they are probably ecstatic that they even had one gig. But you really got off easy, my brother - $250 compared to the $2500 or even $25,000 that some have paid him. And, btw, the phone number you have for Jason RASHLEY (310) 482-1104 is the same as Jason WHITMIRE's phone number.
So people... be afraid ... be very afraid... and keep your children and your wallets away from this creep.