Grassroots Music Festival fallout; AZP announces “Fall Concert Series”; Photo coverage of Toasted Ponies, Every Time I Die

The drama continues to flow following an already controversial Grassroots Music Festival.

Kevin Coffey of the Omaha World-Herald reports that over the weekend, chief investor Eric Marsh filed a lawsuit against The Dom Group, the company that booked and organized the festival. Marsh provided more than $482,000 to Grassroots Music Festival in the hopes of taking ownership of the project with support from The Dom Group, Coffey reports.

Addtionally, Coffey writes that at least three vendors are pursuing repayment of deposits and restitution for lost revenue after festival organizers allegedly refused to honor their contracts. The Dom Group reportedly sold the rights to vending after signing contracts with a few area businesses. Jason Dick and Darik Opperman, partners at The Dom Group, maintain that the festival was a hit, and that they felt pressured to sell the vending rights to Marsh in order to keep his investment, Coffey reports.

There is still alot to be sorted out, but Coffey does an excellent job of detailing the initial lawsuits and allegations between The Dom Group, Marsh and area vendors who were left out. Read the Omaha World Herald article here.

We aim to avoid speculation until all of the details have been worked out, but suffice it to say that the situation — and the future of the festival — has become quite murky.

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AZP is finalizing dates for its “AZP Fall Concert Series,” which will find the Lincoln hip-hop/rock band at shows throughout the Midwest, starting in Lincoln and Omaha. Vocalist/keyboard player Zachary Watkins says that while Omaha is a focus for them, the tour will also feature mini-sprints to out-of-state destinations like Des Moines, Lawrence, Kan., and Topeka, Kan.

“With this concert series we really plan to keep nudging the knob to the right with more energy, more style, more musicianship,” Watkins says. “We don’t want to just get on stage and play our music. We want to give people an event, a show, a night to remember.”

The schedule is still being finalized, but AZP will kick things off tomorrow night with Minneapolis band Clementine at Duffy’s Tavern (RSVP here). Other scheduled dates include Aug. 28 at O’Leaver’s with John Klemmensen & the Party and Working Man (RSVP here), and an opening-act appearance before Kris Lager Band at The Waiting Room on Sept. 19.

Watkins says they look to have as many as 16 shows scheduled for their end-of-the-year run in an effort to make more connections with musicians in other cities and spread their own brand. He cites HN’s recent Good Living Tour as a kindred spirit of their upcoming tour efforts.

“It brought so much talent together, all focused on the uprise of homegrown art and culture,” Watkins says. “Whatever city or venue we’re in, we plan to apply that same focus.”

Stay tuned to AZP’s website here for future announcements on the complete tour schedule.

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Friday, The Good Life will release their first album since 2007’s Help Wanted Nights, and Vice’s Noisey blog is challenging readers to guess the album tracks against episode titles of a similar-sounding CBS drama.

Writer Dan Ozzi mixed song titles from Everybody’s Coming Down in 12 separate lists with three episodes apiece from legal drama The Good Wife in a punny preview of the forthcoming album. Try your luck at the quiz here. As we prep for the “On The Record” podcast review of the Omaha band’s fifth album (which comes later this week), we took the quiz without looking and got 100%.

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We start our expansive photo coverage of the weekend in shows with Friday afternoon, as bluegrass band Toasted Ponies played Hear Lincoln at 13th and P. HN intern Peter Barnes was on hand to capture the performance in photos.

This week, Hear Lincoln welcomes pop-punk band No Tide to the Tower Square stage. Read our recent feature here on the hard-touring band and its first full-length album. As always, Hear Lincoln is sponsored by the Cooper Foundation, presented by the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, with promotion from media sponsor KZUM. (RSVP here).

The Toasted Ponies at Hear Lincoln | 8-7-15The Toasted Ponies at Hear Lincoln | 8-7-15The Toasted Ponies at Hear Lincoln | 8-7-15The Toasted Ponies at Hear Lincoln | 8-7-15The Toasted Ponies at Hear Lincoln | 8-7-15The Toasted Ponies at Hear Lincoln | 8-7-15

photos by Peter Barnes

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The following evening, Barnes was on the beat at The Bourbon, and caught long-time metalcore Everytime I Die. The fivesome, formed in 1998 in Buffalo, N.Y., visited Lincoln for their Common Vision Tour, also featuring Real Friends, Counterparts, Brigades and Gatherers. See Barnes photos below:

Gatherers

Gatherers at The Bourbon | 8-8-15Gatherers at The Bourbon | 8-8-15

Brigades

Brigades at The Bourbon | 8-8-15Brigades at The Bourbon | 8-8-15

Counterparts

Counterparts at The Bourbon | 8-8-15Counterparts at The Bourbon | 8-8-15

Real Friends

Real Friends at The Bourbon | 8-8-15Real Friends at The Bourbon | 8-8-15

Every Time I Die

Every Time I Die at The Bourbon | 8-8-15Every Time I Die at The Bourbon | 8-8-15
Every Time I Die at The Bourbon | 8-8-15Every Time I Die at The Bourbon | 8-8-15

photos by Peter Barnes

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Saturday, HN contributor caught photos of Omaha’s Rock Paper Dynamite as they performed at The Waiting Room celebrating its new release Teeth. Omaha soul singer Rothsteen was in on the action.

Rock Paper Dynamite | The Waiting Room | 8.8.15Rock Paper Dynamite | The Waiting Room | 8.8.15Rock Paper Dynamite with Rothsteen | The Waiting Room | 8.8.15

photos by Jared Bakewell

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Bakewell was a busy man Saturday, and was also able to catch performances by Routine Escorts and Sam Martin over at The Waiting Room

Routine Escorts

Routine Escorts | Slowdown | 8.8.15Routine Escorts | Slowdown | 8.8.15

Sam Martin

Sam Martin | Slowdown | 8.8.15

photos by Jared Bakewell

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And last but not least, frequent HN contributor James Dean ventured to Omaha and caught CJ Mills performing with a full band at Harney Street Tavern.

CJ Mills | Harney Street Tavern | 8/7/2015

photo by James Dean

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It’s Monday, which means we’re spinning a new HN Radio playlist at the top of the Hear Nebraska homepage.

This week, we roll with a few submission songs from singer/songwritier Kody Harrison Holmes’s project The Brave Optimistic. An Arizona transplant, Holmes is set to release a full-length album, Oh, Odonata, next week.

Also playing are new tracks by CJ Mills and Sleep Sinatra, a cut from The Good Life’s new album (releasing later this week), an older cut from Both (in celebration of their EP release last Friday) and much more.

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Tonight, prolific Seattle singer/songwriter Rocky Votolato will play the front room of the Slowdown with Dave Hause and Chris Farren of Florida band Fake Problems. Votolato just recently released his ninth studio LP Hospital Handshakes on No Sleep Records, and has worked with producers Matt Bayles (Pearl Jam, Botch, Murder City Devils) and Chris Walla (formerly of Death Cab For Cutie). Farren released a 7-inch split with Tim Kasher earlier this year called You Be Me For Awhile, in which the two recorded renditions of each other’s songs. RSVP to the 8 p.m. show here.

Head to hearnebraska.org/events for a fuller listing of shows for tonight and the rest of the week. If you do not see your show or one you plan to attend, email us at news@hearnebraska.org. Have a news tip or story idea? Send it to editorial@hearnebraska.org.