MR

Wow this board is really dead - LOL

Here's Tommy's latest note. So Tommy, JY and Chuck were there because A&M, hmmmmmmm very interesting.........


Hello From New York,

Last night we attended the 21st annual induction ceremony at the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame in New York. It was a night to remember. First of all, the men who founded A&M Records, Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss were inducted. Johnnie Johnson was remembered Wilson Picket was honored with a tribute by Solomon Burke, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Black Sabbath were inducted among others which included Blondie, Miles Davis and of course the Sex Pistols.

It was an action packed evening which began with a cocktail party that was more like a class reunion with scores of some of our favorite people in the music industry in attendance.

Metallica inducted Black Sabbath and performed two Sabbath Tunes, at a level of volume which had to be the highest ever in the Rock Hall's 21 years. YES!!!

Sting inducted Herb and Jerry, Jan Wenner read a letter from the Sex Pistols which let everyone know how uninterested they were in attending and excepting. Classic! Blondie refused to allow her former band mates to perform with her (they had sued her to prevent her from using the name) and instead performed with her new band. Dramatic. Skynyrd had every living member, including Ed King, Artimus Pyle, Bob Burns and every Honkette past and present, missing only Michael Cartellone who sat it out so that Burns and Pyle could play. It was Skynyrd, old school style and though it might have been a little rough around the edges, the spirit of the band shone through in a way that had the audience spellbound.

It was worth the trip from the West coast, for Jeanne and me, from South Florida for Chuck, Chicago for JY and Atlanta for Charlie and Cindy. What a night!!!

TS

Tommy, Tommy, Tommy!!!

Another spelling error in your letter has been found.

It's spelled, "accepting" not "excepting."

I hope you can get chance and change it soon

Tommy should have asked Yawn why Styx was never inducted.
Then they could refuse to let Dennis sing with them because he attempted to sue. Must be something with long blond hair. Seriously, can't understand by DH refused to let her old bandmates play. All the LK guys have sued one another and ronny van zandt's widow as well.

If Styx gets inducted into the hall of fame, the River Styx had definitely frozen over allowing Dennis to cross onto the dark side and play with them again.

I'm so sick of idiots in this world, I really am!!

They (Blondie) were inducted as a group, they should have all been able to accept the award and perform as a group together. Can't these adults just grow up one night and let it go. OMG, I mean really!!

Most of the remaining members of Styx will probably be in their late 70's if they even get nominated. I doubt they'll be able to perform, except for Tommy that little Energizer Bunny, gotta love Tommy. They'll have the newer younger members of Styx perform - LOL

I'm telling you, JY better let this jealous BS go soon, I just can't take much more - LOL Tommy's gotten better in the last 2 years, that's a no brainer.

Life is way too short!!

actually

the river Styx line is used more by peeps like us than JY does. He just keeps getting credit for it like he said it yesterday

the stupid thing about blondie is they refused to play with the other members yet they are going to retire after the new cars tour anyway

I won't pretend to know much about "Blondie", but from seeing one of the old "Behind The Music" episodes(I miss those), didn't she date or wasn't she at least extremely close to one of her band members? If so, was that one also not allowed to play with the new band?

That whole thing is just crazy, like when John Fogerty wouldn't play with the other members of Creedence. I can understand if there is bad blood, but it is for just one night. In his case, though, he did write both words and music for every hit single, so I'm not actually sure how much of a hand the other guys had.. You'd still think the decent thing to do would be to take the stage with your old band mates, but..

BlackWall wrote:I won't pretend to know much about "Blondie", but from seeing one of the old "Behind The Music" episodes(I miss those), didn't she date or wasn't she at least extremely close to one of her band members? If so, was that one also not allowed to play with the new band?

That whole thing is just crazy, like when John Fogerty wouldn't play with the other members of Creedence. I can understand if there is bad blood, but it is for just one night. In his case, though, he did write both words and music for every hit single, so I'm not actually sure how much of a hand the other guys had.. You'd still think the decent thing to do would be to take the stage with your old band mates, but..

The guys in CCR not only sold out John Fogerty, they sold out all his music for a fast buck. This is why John Fogerty now has to pay to play his own songs in concert. John Fogerty is bitter - it almost drove him from the music business because he got NOTHING for the music he created. The other jerks in his band got money for selling him out.

Under those circumstances, I'd not play with them ever again either.

Towards the end, I think fogerty was playing all the instruments himself. JF said when he went to visit his brother on his deathbed, that one of the last things he told John was something about how their old manager was his friend and that he was upset that John wrote that song off his solo album, Vantz can't dance but he'll steal your money. Pretty intense stuff to say the least.

LordofDaRing wrote:Towards the end, I think fogerty was playing all the instruments himself. JF said when he went to visit his brother on his deathbed, that one of the last things he told John was something about how their old manager was his friend and that he was upset that John wrote that song off his solo album, Vantz can't dance but he'll steal your money. Pretty intense stuff to say the least.

Yah... the song was called "Zanz Canz Danz"... not a real great song... about a "boy with a pig and a radio".... the pig dances to songs. Kinda weird really. A forgettable song. That was on the same album as "Old Man Down The Road", "Rock and Roll Girl" and the song that likely still pays John well "Centerfield".

Not sure how we segued to CCR on this, but I think the most surreal part of the whole CCR/Fogerty saga was when the record company sued John Fogerty for "sounding too much like Creedence," i.e., himself. Sheesh!!

Bugsy

I never really understood exactly what happened. Was the issue that when John was attempting to put out his first solo record(I think the project was titled "Blue Ridge Rangers"), the old label put out compilations of old Creedence hits, and even a single "I Heard It Through The Grapevine", and the other guys backed this decision, and somehow John was shafted out of the royalties? If anyone has more info, please elaborate..

Ash wrote:

LordofDaRing wrote:Towards the end, I think fogerty was playing all the instruments himself. JF said when he went to visit his brother on his deathbed, that one of the last things he told John was something about how their old manager was his friend and that he was upset that John wrote that song off his solo album, Vantz can't dance but he'll steal your money. Pretty intense stuff to say the least.

Yah... the song was called "Zanz Canz Danz"... not a real great song... about a "boy with a pig and a radio".... the pig dances to songs. Kinda weird really. A forgettable song. That was on the same album as "Old Man Down The Road", "Rock and Roll Girl" and the song that likely still pays John well "Centerfield".

yep- zanz can't dance was the title on the first pressing of centerfield (which i have), and was then changed on subsequent releases to vanz can't dance. saul zaentz was ccr's manager, and he also was responsible for purchasing the rights to Lord of the Rings from JRRT. (interesting little tidbit.. so love him, hate him, but thank him and Peter Jackson for LOTR!!!

I just went looking through my record collection..... I had this... but put it in goodwill when I sold my house last year...

::sigh::

Oh well...... it wasn't exactly in mint condition so it doesn't bother me too much.

The good news is that Saul Zaentz just sold Fantasy and retired. The new owners asked John Fogerty to REJOIN the label which he did. They were even able to work out a deal to give him his publishing(and record royalties too, I believe) back! Fogerty also inquired about getting his master recordings back as well but the label was not ready to do that now having paid what they did to buy the company. Fogerty, as you might imagine, is very happy over getting his publishing and royalties back.
The CCR story is pretty wrought with many underhanded business goings on and ALOT of bad blood. There was the Castle Bank scandal in the late 70s/early 80s where CCR and Fantasy had had money invested as a tax shelter in this particular bank in the Bahamas only to see it disappear when the bank was under investigation for suspected money laundering for the Syndicate. Then there was the big feud between Fogerty and Zaentz that's been well documented. Reportedly, John's late brother, Tom, and the two others were trying to remain on good terms with Zaentz so he wouldn't cut off their royalty money altogether or tie them up in litigation for years and years. John saw them as being traitors for not supporting him in his differences with Zaentz. That's the main reason why he refused to perform with them at the RRHOF. SAD SITUATION!

Black Wall, it was guitarist Chris Stein who Debbie was involved with back in the band's hey day. She and Chris co-founded the group in 1974. Even though the romance is over they remain good friends. It was Frank Infante and Nigel Harrison who sued over being let go from the band. I believe Infante sued twice. Both times he attempted to force them to reinstate him to the band.