Field of screams? Justin Bieber's Newark stadium show may be stranded at 3rd

The press release promised Newark the teenaged prince of pop. Justin Bieber, it announced, would sing at the Stadium of Screams event at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium on Oct. 28 — the Sunday before Halloween.
Bears owner Danielle Dronet had signed a contract with SkyIsland Productions, a California management company that offered to deliver Justin Bieber to the banks of the Passaic. Dronet said that SkyIsland had ties to the Raymond Braun Media Group, the heavy-hitting label and promotions company that has directed Bieber’s career since its outset.
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Elated at the prospect of the Bieber appearance, the Bears announced a raffle that would guarantee entrance to a few lucky attendees.

Yet like much about teen pop, this promised concert may be nothing but an illusion.

Bieber is touring in the Midwest that weekend. Reached through e-mail, Bieber’s longtime publicist Melissa Victor called the show announcement "pure fiction."
Tickets weren’t made available. But through yesterday’s press release, the Bears offered fans several chances to win entry to the the show. Prospective attendees could enter the raffle by donating a Halloween costume to the Newark Bears That Care Foundation, buying a ticket to the Stadium of Screams haunted house event, or purchasing season tickets for the 2013 Bears.

The team has played in the independent Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball since 2010. The Bears have struggled to stay financially stable during the past few seasons. Official records from the Can-Am League show that attendance dropped more than 35 percent from 2011 to 2012.

Dronet, who once ran a showgirls marketing agency in New Orleans, was taken by surprise early yesterday afternoon by Bieber’s publicist’s denial. She had already sent out the news through Facebook and Twitter, even adding the popular hashtags #beliebers and #bieberfever to the message.

Dronet said the deal was brokered by Rene Lujan, who, according to his LinkedIn profile, is vice president of operations at SkyIsland Productions and owner of Luna Bay Productions. When reached at a phone number provided by Dronet, Lujan said he was confused and waiting for confirmation from his business partner.
Later tonight, Lujan said, "It’s 100 percent on. This is not a hoax."

He said that some contract details got messed up because of the Columbus Day holiday.

"We shall see," she said. "I’m knocking on wood and doing the sign of the cross. We’ve been burned so many times."

Dronet said she recently wired the group money, but declined to reveal the dollar amount or share the terms of the contract.

"We did this through the right channels," she said. "We are protected. If it ends up being an ugly situation, we are prepared for that."

Should the concert fail to happen, it wouldn’t be the first high-profile controversy for the Bears. At the end of last season, Dronet promoted a beer-pong tournament on the same night that the team honored pitching coach Jim Leyritz, the former Yankees player who was tried and acquitted for DUI manslaughter. He was convicted of a misdemeanor DUI charge.

Bieber has been on the road with "Call Me Maybe" singer Carly Rae Jepsen (another Raymond Braun Media Group signee) since the end of the summer. He is promoting "Believe," his second full-length album, which has already sold more than a half-million copies, and Bieber remains one of the most sought-after concert attractions in the world. He and Jepsen will be at the Izod Center on Nov. 9.
Star-Ledger reporter Amy Brittain contributed to this story.