Wis. officials: Kids can perform at festivals


August 17, 2008

 

Tallan "T-Man" Latz performs at Summerfest in Milwaukee. A blues guitar prodigy, the 8-year-old has played in bars and clubs, including the House of Blues in Chicago, and even jammed with Les Paul and Jackson Browne. However, the state of Wisconsin says that Tallan cannot play in taverns and nightclubs because of state child labor laws.


MADISON - Rock on, T-Man.

The state Department of Workforce Development on Friday said kids clearly can perform at festivals. That's a different tune than the one the agency was singing Thursday when it said children can't dance, sing or act anywhere alcohol is served, raising questions of whether traditional child performances at county fairs, the state fair and Milwaukee's Summerfest were illegal.

At the heart of the controversy is 8-year-old blues prodigy Tallan "T-Man" Latz. T-Man had performed in taverns and bars until February, when Workforce Development barred him from such venues after getting a complaint that he was too young to play in such seedy establishments.

T-Man's father, Carl, turned to state Sen. Neal Kedzie for help. Kedzie asked the agency for an explanation of state child labor laws.

DWD Labor Standards Bureau director Robert Anderson told Kedzie's staff state law clearly prohibits children from performing in "a roadhouse, cabaret, dance hall, night club, tavern or other similar place."

The law doesn't define what might be similar to a tavern. Anderson told Kedzie's staff the agency interprets that phrase to mean any place alcohol is served.

advertisement

 

 

The statutes also say children can perform at festivals, creating a gray area on just where children can perform. For example, is the children's stage at Summerfest, where patrons can carry beer anywhere on the grounds, legal or not?

Agency spokesman Richard Jones on Thursday said DWD would investigate complaints on a case-by-case basis and he couldn't comment on hypothetical situations.

That left Carl Latz upset. He took that interpretation to mean his boy not only couldn't play in bars but was barred from festivals, too.

On Friday, though, DWD issued a two-paragraph statement saying minors can perform at Summerfest and other community festivals, but can't perform at taverns and similar places. The statement offered no rationale for the about-face from Anderson's stance.

Jones said Friday that Anderson isn't a lawyer. Agency attorneys reviewed the statutes Thursday after an Associated Press story raised questions about how the law applies. They decided the language that allows children to perform at festivals is clear, he said.

"The advice we had previously was not from an attorney," Jones said.

Kedzie, R-Elkhorn, said he's not satisfied. He wrote to DWD Secretary Roberta Gassman on Friday asking for an in-depth analysis of how the agency arrived at the new interpretation and what specifically separates a festival from a place similar to a tavern.

"There's not clarity among those enforcing these laws," Kedzie said. "There needs to be a paper trail to fall back on."

Carl Latz didn't immediately return messages Friday afternoon.

Kedzie said one thing's clear, at least:

"(It's) a big win for T-Man. I think he might have a fairly happy weekend."

 

Associated Press