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LN Out As BottleRock Suitor
Live Nation lost interest in taking over the embattled BottleRock festival in Napa, Calif., more than a month ago and a second, unnamed investor walked away just as contract discussions for next year’s event were to get under way, according to a Napa Valley Expo exec.
So instead of discussing next year’s BottleRock, the Expo board of directors decided in an Oct. 22 closed session to pursue collections on more than $310,000 owed it by BottleRock for hosting the five-day event in May, according to the Napa Valley Register.
Expo COE Joe Anderson told the paper he was contacted by the latest potential investor’s attorney just hours before the board of directors was to discuss a contract for a return of BottleRock to the site in 2014.
Tickets for the event have been on sale for months, even as creditors began clamoring (and suing, in some cases) for payment of unpaid bills totaling at least $2.5 million.
BottleRock co-founder Bob Vogt reportedly called Anderson about one hour before the scheduled meeting and informed him there would be no presentation.
Anderson told the Register it was “too soon” to say what kind of collections process the board would pursue, but that it would confer with the California Attorney General’s and Controller’s offices as well as Expo legal counsel on how best to seek payment.
A settlement proposal offer dependent on an angel investor coming forward by Oct. 15 is dead in the water, it seems.
The City of Napa and Napa Expo are known to have received settlement letters from BottleRock attorneys, but those are moot now that there is no apparent savior stepping up.
The unidentified investor, which was believed in error by local observers to be Live Nation, “made it very clear that it will only move forward … when all creditors have signed off and been paid,” the settlement letter reportedly stated.
City attorney Michel Barrett reportedly rejected BottleRock’s offer, investor or no investor.
“Your client owes $106,729 to the city,” the Register quoted an email from Barrett to BottleRock attorney Matt Eisenberg. “The city is not willing to accept a $14,296.75 settlement offer.”
Anderson accepted BottleRock’s offer of 100 percent of its outstanding debt, but that money was promised by Oct. 15 – which came and went with “no indication of when a check would arrive.”
Checks didn’t arrive, but more lawsuits were filed against BottleRock the same day.
The owner of a company that provided helicopter services at the festival filed suits totaling $16,000 against the festival.