BATTLE CREEK, MI — The Michigan Liquor Control Commission (MLCC) has opened an inquiry into activities which took place during a February 17th concert as part of the Girls Gone Wild Rocks America Tour.The concert, which was hosted by a venue called Planet Rock in Battle Creek, also included wet T-shirt and thong contests, according to reports published in the Battle Creek Enquirer.
Jody Michels, a Lansing-based investigator with the MLCC, told the Enquirer that it’s not yet clear if anything which took place the concert violated any liquor license codes.
Michels added that in order for any topless activity to be allowable, Keaton would have needed a “topless activity permit,” which he did not have. In Michigan, wet T-shirt contests can qualify as nudity, according to the Enquirer.
The owner of Planet Rock, Ted Keaton, said he is cooperating with the MLCC’s investigation.
“I want to move on and put this behind me,” Keaton said. “It definitely hurts me that people are saying that I am damaging the community, because that was never my intent. My plan is to keep bringing in great bands and have great shows.”
As for possible violations, Michels said “It is hard to prove anything, as far as the nudity that may have occurred inside; but in this case we had several witnesses that we are talking with who saw nudity.”
Michels said that the investigation would not affect renewal of Planet Rock’s liquor license, but Keaton could be required to pay some fines. According to Michels, fine amounts vary and the sums are set after citations have been issued.
The investigation is very unlikely to produce any criminal charges, Michels said, noting that the MLCC generally seeks criminal charges against establishments and liquor vendors that sell alcohol to minors.
Keaton’s bigger problem could come from community pressure, as many residents were none too pleased about a Girls Gone Wild event taking place in their vicinity.
Joan Colder, a resident of nearby Dewitt, told the Enquirer that she found the fact that any girl appeared seminude on stage to be filmed deeply disturbing.
Colder added that she was not aware of the Girls Gone Wild video line until after reading an article about the event in Battle Creek, but now she is spearheading an effort to stop the company that produces the videos from “taking advantage of young girls.”
Colder said she has called Governor Jennifer Granholm’s office and contacted Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox in order to find out what can be done to stop Girls Gone Wild from filming girls in Michigan.
“I think the fact that they take girls on the bus and film them doing sexual things with each other is just disgusting,” Colder said. “If these girls have had alcohol to drink, then they don’t clearly know what they are doing.”
Bill Horn, a spokesman for Mantra Films, the company that distributes the Girls Gone Wild line, said that cameramen are instructed not to film “visibly intoxicated” girls and that footage of girls who appear drunk is not used in the final cut.
Horn added that every girl who the company films must provide photo identification to prove she is at least 18-years-old, that everyone who is filmed is asked if they understand that they are being filmed for a Girls Gone Wild video, and that they are required to sign a model release form.
“We don’t want anyone to be on our videos who doesn’t want to be,” said Horn. “That would just cause a lot of trouble for us.”
