DEWEY BEACH — A Dewey Beach concert featuring 2006 "American Idol" champion Taylor Hicks has been canceled.

Hicks was booked to play the Bottle & Cork nightclub July 3 and several hundred tickets had been sold. Cork booking agent Vikki Walls said Hicks' representatives informed her Monday that the date would need to be shifted, and the show was tentatively switched to Aug. 15.

Walls said she was told today that Hicks would not be able to perform in Dewey at all this summer. "I asked them what the official reason is, and they said it's because 'his manager is scheduling various promotional opportunities'," Walls said. "We're disappointed to say the least. Our date is still listed on his Web site. I called in a lot of favors to get him to play the Cork and it was the only bar he was going to play during his tour."

Ticket refunds are available at point of purchase.

Last summer Walls persuaded Robert Randolph & the Family Band to play the Cork on a night off from their amphitheater tour with the Black Crowes. Randolph had such a good time he vowed to come back; he's booked to return Aug. 10.

Walls said it isn't entirely surprising that an act of Hicks' stature would be tough to retain.

"The bigger they are, the harder it is to get them to commit," Walls said. "You watch their albums get bigger and bigger and you hope they aren't going to call and say, 'We're going to appear on Good Morning America that day instead.' On the other hand, when we book big acts, it seems to attract other big acts."

Hicks is in the midst of a grueling tour which runs through October and includes an average of four or five concerts per week. He has also authored a book called "Heart Full of Soul," which will be released July 10; he has seven book signings scheduled in late July.

The Cork had sold 210 tickets to the Hicks show during the first 48 hours they were on sale, Walls said. Another concert was canceled because of the opposite reaction; a July 1 concert by the Beach Boys at the Cork's sister venue, the Baycenter, was canned due to sluggish sales, Walls said. Another mega-act which won't be appearing this summer is the White Stripes; negotiations for a Cork appearance were never finalized because the duo opted to play an all-ages show at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington instead, Walls said.

There are still plenty of Cork concerts set for July and August, however. Walls said Celtic-punk band the Dropkick Murphys has sold a ton of tickets to its Aug. 8 concert. One of Hicks' competitors from the 2006 season of "Idol," Bucky Covington, will perform Aug. 12. Other shows include Buddy Guy on July 15, Miranda Lambert on July 20 and Pete Yorn on July 29.

E-mail Roger Hillis at rhillis@dmg.gannett.com