I'm currently in the middle of George Jones's autobiography I Lived to Tell it All, and he tells about this awesome scheme a bunch of promoters cooked up during the height of the "No Show Jones" period. They'd announce a George Jones show at a club or bar without actually booking him, promote the hell out of it, on the night of the show sell tons of whiskey and keep putting the crowd off with promises that George would be there soon and then once everyone got good and loaded announce that George wouldn't be able to make it (all the while implying that he was too drunk to go on). They'd off to refund their money, but by then most everyone was so drunk and angry they'd just leave, so they got to keep most of the ticket receipts PLUS the money from the bar. It's a totally brilliant scam, and also a perfect illustration of just how shady the music industry used to be (well, it's still shady, just now it's white collar shady). God bless American ingenuity...