Asheville News

Message boards light up with reports of Loki Festival promoter’s arrest in Arizona

Jason Sandford January 17, 2011

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

Various music message boards lit up recently with news that the promoter of the Loki Festival music fest held at Deerfields back in 2008 has been arrested in Arizona.

The message boards link to this mug shot of John Wright Ballard, who was arrest Dec. 14 on one felony county of being a fugitive from justice. The promoter of the Loki Festival was known locally as Jack Ballard. I want to confirm that it’s the same guy.

Two years ago, the Loki Festival had lots of music lovers excited. It brought top notch performers such as George Clinton, Cake and The Roots to the beautiful Deerfields outdoor venue. But bands, artists and performers all reported that they received only partial payments, or no payment at all, for their work on the event, and a nonprofit that was to benefit reportedly never received the money it was promised. The whole incident riled lots of folks in the local music industry.

Anyone know anything more?

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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10 Comments

Anonymous January 21, 2011

Someone is pressing charges, that's why he was arrested. To make the case stronger, you should all get together for one large case. I think its the guy from Stewart Sound who is taking him to court.

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Concert Photos Magazine January 20, 2011

WLOS Channel 13 News is wanting to run a story on this but they need people who were ripped off by Jack Ballard to go on camera for them to run the story so contact them if you were given a bad check by Jack Ballard – arrested under name John Wright Ballard.

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Anonymous January 20, 2011

https://www.vinelink.com/vinelink/detailsAction.do?siteId=34003&agency=46&id=1101043&searchType=offender
I am with 2 cents, that guy has hurt a lot of people and he is not going to stop until someone stops him. If he stole from you, press charges.

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2 cent$ January 19, 2011

To Corwyn…I would sue that d-bag if I were you. I'm a desiner too and not only did you go unpaid for your work but he actually made money from you work. insulting. This guys' image is torn to shreds so it seems you'd have a pretty cut and dry suit. Get yo money 🙂

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Anonymous January 19, 2011

There is a link somewhere stating that he was on the ashville news WLOS 13. Does anybody have a link to this?

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Corwyn January 18, 2011

I designed the poster and t-shirt for which there was supposedly a 5,000 dollar grand prize and never saw a dime! Apparently hat didn't stop them from still selling posters and t-shirts with my design on them. What a crook!

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Concert Photos Magazine January 18, 2011

That is Jack "Bounced Check" Ballard – he did a very bad thing to a lot of good people.

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Anonymous January 18, 2011

Yes that is him. He was, however, recently released.

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Devon T January 18, 2011

One thing that I do know is that Cake was billed as a "super secret headliner," but for no apparent reason they never actually performed. I know I'm not the only one out there who finally decided to buy a ticket after Cake was announced, and I'm sure I wasn't the only person who was extremely disappointed when they didn't play for whatever reason. I've always wondered if that was just a ploy to get ticket sales.

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One of the Many Burned January 18, 2011

Oh yeah, that's him alright.

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