Rock Harvest promoter to issue refunds? “Please send me your address so we can send you a check for your refund. We will be cutting them the week of 11/11/13.” John Guarnieri

 

 

Comments from Ron Keel, Love/Hate, Mitch Malloy, Femme Fatale, London, Silent Rage, Lynam & More.

UPDATE: A e-mail is being circulated to fans upset and asking for a REFUND for ROCK HARVEST! See it below.

Act now. Demand your refund if in fact – YOU bought a ticket to see one of the previously advertised bands who is NO longer on the bill!

John Guarnieri @  twistednailproductions@gmail.com

Welcome to open letter #2 Rock Harvest.

Rock Harvest is a concert that was to feature roughly40 artists. Many, Nationally recognized names with an International history of touring, releasing music, MTV videos and more. Now roughly 2 dozen of them are no longer on the ‘Rock Harvest’ bill!

Who Is To Blame?

Rock Harvest seems to think I (Stevie Rachelle) and Metal Sludge are to blame.

The truth is, the promoters themselves have greatly mishandled this event and the related artists contracts, online promotions and ticket sales for nearly 1 full year.

Rock Harvest has continually pushed to sell tickets, with related materials noting “Confirmed Acts” that have featured the following artists:

King Kobra, Hurricane, Love/Hate, Flotsam & Jetsam, Leatherwolf, Mitch Malloy, Ron Keel (Keel), Silent Rage, Russ Dwarf (Killer Dwarfs). Femme Fatale, Jetboy, Neil Turbin (Deathriders), Tuff, Every Mother’s Nightmare, London, Circle II Circle, Dc4, Liberty N’ Justice, Benedictum, Cage, Stonebreed,  Tango Down, Mystic Force, Line Of Fire & Seven Kingdoms.

These names were not promoted on one poster. And not two. There are, and were several versions of the Rock Harvest 2 poster in circulation since early 2013. All that have featured at one time or another, the above mentioned groups.

Leatherwolf

Did Rock Harvest set out to scam the fans? I don’t think so.

But, and yes there is a but.

But however, Rock Harvest did advertise King Kobra, Mitch Malloy, Ron Keel & Hurricane among others (link HERE) way back on February 5th 2013. Rock Harvest also promoted a similar poster on March 1st 2013 (linked HERE) that also included the above named bands, along with Russ Dwarf of the Killer Dwarfs, Silent Rage, Leatherwolf & London. (See screen cap below)

Don’t worry, if the links magically disappear (which we expect will happen) – we have screen captured and saved EVERY poster, EVERY advertisement and EVERY related post from Rock Harvest pushing their $ 75.00 VIP tickets.

Now let me start to address their October 28th 2013 ‘press release’ from their publicist Suzanne Penley found HERE.

I see that Mitch Malloy had dropped off according to Rock Harvest (and an e-mail exchange with John Guarnieri) on April 8th 2013.

That’s all great to know.

However, even though Mitch had dropped off on April 8th, another poster went up on May 1st  (link HERE) with all the bands listed including Mitch Malloy. It appears that roughly 15 of the now ‘cancelled’ bands had been promoted for months and months on these Rock Harvest posters as far back as February 2013.  Including the repeated advertisement of ‘Mitch Malloy’ even though Rock Harvest admits he had dropped off weeks and/or months before hand.

Mitch himself says “I dropped out what seems like 2 years ago” (see screen cap – also noted further down with additional content)

Mitch also is heard in an online interview with Rock Eyes found HERE from August 2013 and says he dropped off this event a year earlier in the fall of 2012

Moving along.

Once the first wave of these bands magically disappeared from the Rock Harvest online radar – Rock Harvest made a new poster in June.

The new one  now featured Love/Hate, Tuff & Femme Fatale. That poster is found HERE in our first article. These ‘3’ bands all had signed contracts, guarantees and flights. In time, Rock Harvest breached ALL of these contracts and these bands withdrew from the event.

Yes, Rock Harvest breached their signed, legal binding contracts with the bands respective agencies. All signed by John Guarineri care of Twisted Nail Productions for Rock Harvest.

Upon the withdrawal (due to breach of contract) of these 3 bands (Love/Hate, Tuff & Femme Fatale),  Rock Harvest added another set of bands with the addition of Jetboy, Lynam & Every Mother’s Nightmare on yet an even newer poster. And now, all of these bands have pulled their respective name from the bill as well.

Is this all a coincidence?

Are all these because of bad timing for touring?

Or because the event staff, and related representatives dropped the ball. Repeatedly.

I firmly believe it is the later.

Regardless of charity or not. Sponsor money or not. Who is at fault for promoting an event, over an 11 month span – with continued posts, promotions and headlines reading:  “Hurry up and get your tickets fast before they sell out”  when it all falls to pieces?

I firmly feel it is the responsibility of the promoter, and/or person(s) whom took on these contracts, agreed to the conditions and advertised the event as such – naming those bands/artists – and in the end, now cannot deliver the advertised, promised and contracted goods.

Simply put, Rock Harvest can’t seem to accept their part here in creating a virtual mess for the bands, and many of the fans who bought tickets.

Is this my fault?

The fans fault?

Maybe the bands who are no longer going to appear. Is it their fault?

Or, should some – or all of this blame fall squarely on the shoulders of Rock Harvest?

I again, firmly believe Rock Harvest is solely to blame.

Read on, as I have only begun to dissect this mess.

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As I continue, I have decided instead of using a quick cut and paste technique – to screen capture exact posts, e-mails and quotes so there is no misunderstanding of who said what, where, and to ensure the facts.

Please bare with me as I am a big fan of details and long winded too.

I will leave no stone unturned.

Speaking of leaving no stone unturned – if you wish to fast forward to our list of contacts regarding pursuing a ‘refund’ or inquiring to the related contacts, representatives, establishments or the charity and the events representatives – we’ll tell you here – the whole list is at the bottom of this article.

Moving along.

Rock Harvest have claimed that I (Stevie Rachelle) started a smear campaign against them. This is in fact – the exact opposite as individuals who are – and were in control of the “Rock Harvest” Show Clix Tix Buy page, and the Rock Harvest related Facebook pages – all had singled me (Stevie Rachelle) out as the culprit of their downfall in recent months.

The Rock Harvest related representatives actually typed my name and continued to point fingers at me online publicly for other bands dropping off their event.

You will see first hand examples of this further down in this article, including below.

 

Make note, the above post is from Rock Harvest. They themselves, are noting here, that 22 of their bands (all listed) are not appearing and also claim that these bands were ‘not swindled’ by Rock Harvest.

The Rock Harvest representatives typed all the related ‘notes’ in parenthesis after each artist detailing ‘why that artist’ won’t appear.

Also make note that this “Thanks to Stevie Rachelle from Tuff” finger pointing was up since September – all courtesy of Rock Harvest.

Back to their claim of a smear campaign.

I in fact, never mentioned any person or persons names publicly – until my open letter posted last week (October 24th 2013). I also posted it as me, first and last name, and take full responsibility for all I have said.

There are no fictitious ‘first name only’ legal counsel or any bits of misinformation. I have written only the facts and pure truth.

Rock Harvest has continued to lie about sending deposits to my band (Tuff). None were sent. The event President, John Guarineri paid for online promotional advertisements on Metal Sludge.  A ad campaign that was agreed to by John himself in e-mail on Wednesday, July 17, 2013 at 6:57 PM (PST).

Note the portion of their press release (above) and the subsequent email from John Gurarnieri (below)  that totally contradicts what John claims were ‘band’ deposits. John in fact acknowledges in the e-mail below –  in a reply from my e-mail detailing payments for the Metal Sludge ad campaign. Ironically John’s date of August 12th is correct and matches my e-mail – but clearly it was John who had ‘forgotten’ what these payments were for.

Also note. Even if deposits were sent – John Guarineri, Twisted Nail Productions and Rock Harvest all breached the respective legal binding contract with my agency – and therefore would have forfeited any deposits for breach of contract and failure to deliver.

In addition, if we wanted to, we have a legal right to pursue Guraineri, TNP & RH for the FULL contract. (see a excerpt below from the signed document dated May 15th 2013)

 

 

“””””If the Purchaser elects to advertise proposed engagement prior to Agency’s receipt of signed contracts and deposit, Purchaser will be liable for payment of full contracted price. By signing this agreement, Purchaser is responsible for the entire Artist guarantee. If Purchaser cancels show for any reason, Artist shall be paid in full and any outstanding balance shall be immediately due and payable upon such cancellation.””””

 

We have considered this to be a total wash and have not asked for, nor will we pursue anything further as it relates to John Guraineri and his clear breach of contract in relation to our November 9th 2013 appearance at Rock Harvest.

To date, we (Tuff) have not received 1 penny of the agreed contract. Even though we are legally entitled to all of it.

Moving along.

Over the month of July and into August, myself and my agent were in constant contact with John in regards to the flights for our bands. I even went online and sought out exact flights, times, options and more and forwarded these to John for consideration. John continued to extend the window to buy them.

We gave him days, weeks and months to do so.

For the record, John Guarineri of Rock Harvest signed our (Tuff) contract May 15th 2013 as noted above.

After 90 days had passed, with no deposit and no flights we turned up the heat to make the event happen.

By the end of August we asked again about the flights. John replied on Sat, August 24, 2013 4:03 pm (PST) and stated that all other bands flights were already purchased for Rock Harvest and he was as I quote here:   “On it. Thank you Stevie. I’m down to the last 4 bands.”

See email screen cap below.

We wrote back and asked to confirm what “last 4 bands” meant.

John himself replied, “Meaning 4 bands left including Tuff & Love/Hate, that I have to cover airfare.”

See screen cap of email below.

This above would lead one to believe that the following part of the Rock Harvest press release below (dated Mon Oct. 28th 2013) is not entirely based on truth or facts.

See screen capture below.

If John and Rock Harvest had in fact, bought all but ‘4’ bands flights as of August 24th 2013 (per John’s email above) then why would it be necessary to ‘rescind’ offers and contracts for ‘8’ of the bands.

The numbers do not add up.

Additionally Rock Harvest seemed to leave out some other bands who were also guaranteed flights and had contracts,

Those include, Jetboy, London & Femme Fatale. This would put their number above at 11, not 8. Add in the additional 7 that Rock Harvest noted in their press release – but claimed their dropping off was not contractual – yet the bands own doings. That brings the number up to 18.

Then we add others, that their recent press release has also left out – or they simply forgot to mention. Off the top of my head, King Kobra and Russ Dwarf (The Killer Dwarfs) will also no longer appear at Rock Harvest. That makes 20.

Scroll back to the top and you can do the math, and figure out the other half dozen or so that Suzanne Penley seemed to have left off (or forgotten about) her recent ‘press release’ for Rock Harvest.

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I’m not done yet.

Let me tell you about Rock Harvest 2014 now.

After my initial Rock Harvest article found HERE from last week hit the wire, the response was huge. Websites re-posted the article and fans everywhere chimed in with their opinions.

Since Rock Harvest 2013 looks to be a disaster at best (from many fans perspective) – we found it unbelievable that the same promoters were already pushing Rock Harvest 2014.

Yes, 2014 has an event page, ticket buy link and more.

Rock Harvest is naming bands, and selling $ 250.00 VIP tickets to boot.

See SHOW CLIX link which is live right HERE to buy tickets to see Helix, Nitro, Banshee, Shok Paris, Brighton Rock & many other acts. 17 artists to be exact. See all of it below in the screen captures of their current ticket buy link from Show Clix as found on Facebook.

After we saw this, we simply reached out to some of  the artists who are currently listed as ‘appearing’ at ROCK HARVEST 2014.

We pointed out the promotion and ticket buy link and asked if they were in fact booked and/or would appear.

Here are the bands and their replies.

 

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For starters.

Nitro (Jim Gillette)

Jim Gillette replied and wrote:

“This email is odd. NITRO is not playing. The promoters have no right whatsoever to claim otherwise”

 

Helix (Brian Vollmer)

Brian Vollmer replied and wrote:

“My agent needs to have a 50%  deposit plus two more dates to go with that one before I will confirm. “

 

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We’re patiently awaiting the reply of others, as they come in – we will add their comments.

Now, if the Rock Harvest promoters are not in the wrong for 2013, what does it make them for 2014?

Who sells $ 250.00 VIP tickets to a concert with no venue, and artists listed who don’t even know they’re appearing or have yet to confirm they will appear?

By the first replies above, it looks like Rock Harvest is starting to do all over again for 2014, what they have done for the last year in promoting 2013.

That is, promote name bands, advertise and sell tickets,  when in fact  they do not have the approval or contracts to do so.

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 Ron Keel on Rock Harvest “I was forced to pull out due to breach of contract”

 

My first article named many artists who will not appear at Rock Harvest 2013 and some of them have now come forward and commented in regards to their ‘one time’  involvement in this year’s event and subsequent ‘cancelling’ ‘dropping off’ or other.

Note that in the last week, several more bands have dropped from the bill putting the new total over 25 bands.

Ron Keel of KEEL posted the following.

 

Leatherwolf frontman Michael Olivieri on Rock Harvest

Love/Hate frontman Jizzy Pearl adds this:

Jizzy here.

Yes I was supposed to do Rock Harvest, yes there was no deposit given, and no there were no flights provided. I read Stevie’s article and back him all the way.

 

 

Every Mother’s Nightmare says: (see screen capture)

I wrote EMN last week and asked if they were in fact still playing.

Their reply is below.

 

Killer Dwarfs leader Russ Dwarf have posted the following:

Note: Twisted Nail Productions (TNP) is John Guarnieri.

Lynam singer Jacob Bunton posted the following:

It has been brought to our attention that the Rock Harvest show we were scheduled to play on November 9th in White Marsh, MD is running false advertisement. We dropped off the show due to our record being pushed back, but we are hearing from bands and agents that 29 of the listed bands have dropped off of the event due to not being paid.

We noticed we are still listed on the site, but just to confirm, we are not playing the show. To any of our fans that were planning on seeing us there, we apologize. We are scheduling a tour for after the album is released. As always, thank you for your support.

Love, Lynam

 

 

London singer Nadir D’Priest said the following on The Classic Metal radio show back in early October

“We pulled out. We didn’t cancel.  We pulled out, because Rock Harvest was suppose to pay all our flights and expenses months ago. We booked this thing over a year ago. And they had promised flights for all the artists, and all this stuff – we waited til the last minute for our shit to be taken care of.   Then everybody pulled out. We were one of the last bands to pull out.”  Nadir D’Priest – London

 

The Classic Metal Show’s segment with Nadir D’Preist (London) listen @ the 33 min mark HERE

 

 

Femme Fatale singer Lorraine Lewis sent us the following:

This was her reply in regards to Rock Harvest claiming they “dropped off a long time ago” from the event.

 

Femme Fatale via our booking agent confirmed and contracted with John Guarnieri on June 11^th. At Mr. Guarnieri’s request the due date of the fifty percent deposit was listed on the signed contract for July 1^st. When July 1^st rolled around there was no deposit received. Over the next five weeks (between July 1^st and August 6^th) there were about a half dozen emails from Mr. Guarnieri with a variety of excuses and reasons as to why the deposit was not sent but always assuring that it would be received.

After waiting five weeks, on August 6^th we notified Mr. Guarnieri that we could no longer wait as several members of Femme Fatale had other opportunities for the same weekend of Rock Harvest and without the fifty percent deposit (which was 37 days overdue as per the terms of the contract Mr. Guarnieri signed) that Femme Fatale would cancel for breach of contract as by that point we had completely lost confidence in Mr. Guarnieri’s promises and financial viability to fulfill the contracted terms he agreed to.

Did I mention that he had agreed as part of our deal, which was in the contract, to buy seven roundtrip flights from Los Angeles as well as provide hotel accommodations for two nights, ground transportation, backline and hospitality on top of the guarantee?

We held on as long as we could as we didn’t want to disappoint the east coast fans who had expressed such excitement in Femme Fatale performing at Rock Harvest however it became clear to us that John Guarnieri and Rock Harvest were in way over their heads.

So while it is true that we “dropped off a longtime ago” that statement is only a very small part of the story. Yes we dropped off the show but it was due to Mr. Guarnieri / Twisted Nail Productions and their total breach of the contracted terms that was agreed to back on June 11^th.

We love & respect our fans & don’t like it when they’re messed with.
Lorraine Lewis
Femme Fatale

 

 

Mitch Malloy who Rock Harvest claimed “retired”

I wrote Mitch and asked him myself.

See his reply below.

 

 

Silent Rage bassist EJ Curse also posted a message for their fans in regards to Rock Harvest.

 

Circle II Circle has went public with a lengthy statement about Rock Harvest.

After sitting back silently on the issue, we in Circle II Circle feel it is time to clear the air regarding our non-appearance at the Rock Harvest II Festival in White Marsh, MD, on November 7th, 2013. The promoters have stated that “our tour changed”, and that it is the band’s issue, not the promoters’. They have also said, “You will see soon, not our issue”. Too many of our fans and friends, and too many other bands (like the 23 other bands that have withdrawn from playing, MANY of whom are our friends), are being deceived and thrown under the bus for us to remain silent.

Regarding the first statement that “our tour changed”, the question is, “What tour”? We’ve already completed two full international tours this year, as well as a handful of US festival dates. There was never a tour to speak of in November for Circle II Circle. We looked to book a handful of regional dates around the fest, but it just wasn’t practical, and the promoters knew that months ago. “The tour” never changed because it didn’t exist. From Day One, this festival was a one-off show for Circle II Circle.

As for it being “not our issue”, this is flat-out untrue. We are not a “nuclear” band; we don’t live anywhere near each other. We live in California, Minnesota, Brazil, Mississippi, Germany, and South Carolina. We can’t exactly hop in the band van and road trip to the festival. As a standard business practice, we asked the promoters for a 50% deposit of our guarantee to pay for our flights, and for two nights’ worth of hotel rooms (since we have international travel involved we have to arrive the day before we play). They said no to both of these basic, standard business requests. SO…the promoters 1) refused to honor our contract and give us money to fly to their festival, and 2) apparently expected us to sleep on the street, because they would not get us two nights’ of hotels. As much as we were looking forward to playing this festival, not having plane tickets to get there and not having a place to sleep or store our gear makes it impossible to do so.

Circle II Circle notified the promoters over 6 weeks ago that due to their refusal to honor our contract we had no choice but to cancel. The band explored every possible avenue to make it work, including paying for our own flights in full out of our own pockets. We were going to remain silent on the issue, but after seeing our name repeatedly bashed and blamed, and after the immense backlash that has been building up towards this event, we felt it necessary to clear the air and let our fans, family, and friends know. We don’t take canceling a show lightly, especially having members on 3 continents, but in the end the promoters’ lack of basic business integrity and honesty with you, the fans, left us no choice. Thank you all for your understanding and support!

 

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John Guarineri & Lyle Desplaines-Hawkins the co-Founders of Rock Harvest

 

How long have the promoters John Guarineri and Lyle Desplaines-Hawkins been pushing the fans to buy tickets to Rock Harvest events?

Well for the 2013 event it looks to be almost a full year.

We found facebook posts pushing tickets since December 2012. You will see those below.

We have grabbed  over 50, that’s FIVE ZERO screen captures from Facebook and posted them for all to see. No cut and paste but the actual posts from the Rock Harvest promoters themselves and the fans who started off as elated, and now seem to be angry and feel cheated.

See what the fans said 5, 6 and 1o months ago when their excitement hit the roof about this concert.

Many fans even booked flights to fly across the country for this show. See their replies about buying tickets, VIP packages and booking travel arrangements and motel rooms. Then read what the same fans have said in the recent weeks or months when they realized the bands they paid to see are NOT appearing at Rock Harvest 2013.

You will also see countless posts from Rock Harvest pushing their promo, what bands they just booked, who is confirmed, what great VIP packages are ‘almost sold out’ and more.

You’ll see things like “We just sold 32 tickets in 10 minutes. Better get yours before they’re all gone.”

The exaggerated hype to try and sell tickets and expensive VIP packages is just endless. It’s all here.

Let’s start with some of the disgruntled fans and work our way back to 2012.

 

London’s manager Elena Hernandez seems to think RH have something to hide.

Katherine selling a tix for $ 10. 00
Further down, you’ll see her selling it for $ 35.00 back in September








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Now the hype from Rock Harvest of how many tickets are left.

The following post below from Rock Harvest is dated March 1st 2013.
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Their message is “Grab your tickets now!”
The artists noted with a yellow X do not appear to be on the event any longer.
Advertised are King Kobra, Hurricane, London, Leatherwolf, Silent Rage, Mitch Malloy & others.

It’s almost here Margarita, are you still excited?


Too bad Circle II Circle are one of the bands not appearing now.

That means 1 tix every 18 seconds. Really?

Wow, Lauren went out of pocket January 4th, wonder how she feels today?


So, last December 28th, nearly 11 months before the show there were ONLY 3 VIP tickets left?

 

In closing, this event is not about me, not about Tuff or Metal Sludge.

This event, and it’s questionable advertisements and related promotions – are more about the fans who are being asked to support it by them purchasing tickets. And of course its related charity, Fallen Blue . org. The organizers of Rock Harvest may have had good intentions for starters – but somehow along the way, the good has gotten lost in a plethora of bad press. For this, they have no one to blame but themselves.

For the fans sake, we have made notes of some related companies of whom you may care to contact in regards to your experience with Rock Harvest and Fallen Blue. Whether those be good, bad or indifferent – we leave it in your hands.

Contact information for SHOW CLIX offices 1-888-718-4253 and on the web at http://ticketing.showclix.com/contact

One fan wrote us about their ‘refund’ experience and asked to pass this along to others.

Contact information for House of Rock – White Marsh Maryland. The venue that is hosting Rock Harvest, their phone is 1-443-317-8980

Contact for Rock Harvest Publicist Suzzane Penley suzanne@suzannepenley.com

 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS FOR FALLEN BLUE ORGANIZATION, INC.
Last Updated on 29.05.13 Written by John Guarnieri

President—John Guarnieri

Vice-President—Rachael Guarnieri

Secretary—Scott Dombo

Treasurer—Tyler Avery-Miller

Public Relations Director—John Vrana FallenBluePR@nirvrana.com

Gift-Giving Director—Izvor Zivkovic

National Spokesperson—A.J. Pero

To contact anyone on the Board of Directors, please email fallenbluepolice@gmail.com. You will be directed to the corresponding director for assistance.

If you are a police family, police officer, artist, band, or looking to help out, please contact our assistant, Diane Dombo: cxm13@hotmail.com.

For questions in regards to our social media sites, contact our Social Media Promoter, Lyle Desplaines-Hawkins: lyledhawkins@bellsouth.net or Rob Nozeika: rnozeika@gmail.com.

To contact our National event cordinators, please reach out to Vince Anderson: vince@shockwavemagazine.com.

If you are an artist or supporter that wants to donate to Fallen Blue; an auction item, etc., please reach out to Wayne aka ‘Sarge’ : waynesusan@verizon.net

Fallen Blue is not a registered charity in Maryland. According the national database, they are not a tax-exempt charity.

A  link to report your concerns about a charity is found here http://www.sos.state.md.us/Charity/Concern.aspx

We wish all the bands, fans and related the best of luck with their experience going forward.

Metal Sludge
Sludge Harvest