‘One Night With Janis Joplin’ to hit Play House stage this summer

Janis Joplin died too soon in 1970, but her songs and legend live on in “One Night With Janis Joplin,” a new musical hitting the Cleveland Play House stage this summer.

With a few notable exceptions, the 96-year-old theater is usually dark during the hot-weather months. But the opportunity to kick off the North American tour of a show featuring performances of Joplin classics “Mercedes Benz,” “Piece of My Heart,” “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Cry Baby,” as well as other work the rock icon never formally recorded, was too good to pass up, said artistic director Michael Bloom.

“We thought it was really a perfect project for us for a lot of reasons,” Bloom said by phone from New York, where he is casting the fall shows “Lombardi” and “The Whipping Man.”

One of those reasons is “Love, Janis,” a musical about the late blues-rocker based on the book of the same title written by Joplin’s sister, Laura. The show premiered in March 1999 at the Drury Theatre — long before the company moved to PlayhouseSquare — featured three actresses sharing the role of Joplin and became one of the top-selling shows in Play House history, Bloom said.

Another reason is location, location, location. Though a version of “One Night” had its world premiere in Portland, Ore., in 2011, a new production that will go on the road is being built in Cleveland, an appropriate launch pad, given that the city is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. (Joplin was inducted in the Class of 1995.)

“The Joplin estate is really excited about starting it in Cleveland,” Bloom said.

Laura Joplin, who gave creator Randy Johnson “unprecedented access” to Joplin family archives to build the show, visited Cleveland in 2009 to accept an American Music Masters Award on her sister’s behalf.

After its run at the Allen Theatre in PlayhouseSquare, “One Night” will travel to the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., “and that will open their season,” Bloom said.

“To have an opportunity to start a production that’s going to tour? You don’t get that very often.”

When You’re Strange

Nearly 40 years after Jim Morrison’s death in a Paris bathtub, Doors fans were blown away by much of the new and rarely seen footage in Tom DiCillo’s 2009 documentary ‘When You’re Strange’. Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek described the film as everything the 1991 Oliver Stone film wasn’t, namely less Hollywood and much more real. Using nothing but archive footage, including a host of groundbreaking musical performances by the band, the documentary captures in 86 captivating minutes the full raging glory of The Doors story. The only weak point is Johnny Depp’s unnecessary dramatic and hammy narration. That aside however, and you have a documentary which is tellingly evocative of the 1960s. Through intimate and behind the scenes footage it also paints a portrait of Jim Morrison as a talented and troubled man rather than a monstrous and magical myth. Although it does fall into the deadly romantic trap of opening with Jimbo cruising along in the car listening to his own death being broadcast on the radio. But hey man, that’s rock n’ roll.

Full article: http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/five-music-documentaries-watch-120500393.html

The Global Manager’s Forum “In The Driver’s Seat” at MUSEXPO Los Angeles. Pictured (l-r) are: Bruce Flohr – Partner, ATO Records / Red Light Management; Jordan Berliant Partner, The Collective Music Group; Andy Gould – Founder, Spectacle Group; Jonathan Shalit – Chairman, ROAR Global (UK); Tim Clark – Founding Partner, ie:music, and Panel Moderator Jeff Jampol – President, JAM, Inc.

In the turbulent waters of digital music royalties, there’s uncertainty … and there’s opportunity.

With artists, labels and new platforms fighting to establish a broad precedent for what rights-holders should be paid for their tunes in the burgeoning realm of downloads and ringtones, it’s the lawyers, not surprisingly, who are at the forefront.

Most pressingly, an ever-growing roster of legacy artists have filed a variety of similar lawsuits against the major label groups, alleging massive underpayment of digital royalties.

“We’re being contacted on a weekly if not daily basis by artists who have an interest in determining whether they have a similar claim,” says Nashville-based attorney Richard Busch, who repped FBT Prods. in the September 2010 decision that paved the way for the current wave of litigation.

Jeff Jampol, whose L.A.-based firm manages the musical legacy of Rick James and other heritage acts, says he weighed a lawsuit against Universal Music Group over the late funk performer’s digital royalties for four or five years.

“We’re tied into these deals which in some cases are decades old,” says Jampol. “I think some of the deals are a little bit egregious in nature.”

The James estate’s class action against UMG a year ago represented the opening shot in a fusillade of litigation against the major labels.

More than a dozen suits have been lodged over the issue to date. The plaintiffs, some with careers stretching back to the ’60s and ’70s, include Motown vocal group the Temptations, country star Kenny Rogers, rocker Rob Zombie, rapper Chuck D and musical parodist “Weird Al” Yankovic, to name a few.

The flow of litigation is unlikely to end soon.

Busch’s firm represented FBT Prods. in the case that launched the surge of suits. In September 2010, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a jury verdict that favored the label in a suit brought by FBT, which handled rapper Eminem in the early days of his career; the company had alleged it was shortchanged on digital royalties by UMG imprint Aftermath.

The appellate court ruled that royalties for downloads and ringtones should be computed at the higher rate granted for licenses, and not as sales. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the decision.

Contractually, the discrepancy between money paid for licenses and sales is vast. Santa Monica-based music attorney Jay Cooper notes that a license is typically worth “at least three times (more than a sale), but that would depend on the definition of each contract.”

Heritage artists are now seeking what they believe they’re due based on the so-called “Eminem case.”

San Francisco-based attorney David Given, co-counsel in the actions brought by the James estate and Zombie, says, “The fundamental finding … that we’re going to rely upon in a large part is the finding that UMG’s dealings with third-party Internet music providers were licenses.”

Cooper notes, “One case will not apply to all contracts … (but) a lot of contracts that I’ve seen over the years have had language that was in the Eminem case.”

Litigators have taken two different tacks in dealing with the issue. Some of the suits have been filed as class actions, which allow like-situated artists to join.

Given’s co-counsel, class action lawyer Michael Sobol, says, “We certainly think it should proceed as a class case. The issues are uniform enough among different artists. Some of the contract language differs here and there, but fundamentally, in the important respects, for purposes of this claim, they’re pretty much the same.”

A class action against Sony Music Entertainment over digital royalties, filed by the Allman Brothers, Cheap Trick and others years before the FBT appellate decision, was settled for $8 million in March. “I would venture to guess that the FBT case loomed fairly large in the briefing (in that case),” Given says.

Busch, who has filed individual suits for five acts — including actions against Sony by Yankovic and the group Toto — has an opposite opinion about how to proceed.

“My personal view is that the individual cases are better for the artists, because they don’t have to worry about other claims diminishing their claims,” he says. “They’re in control of the litigation completely, and their contract stands on its own.”

The major labels — Sony, Warner Music Group and EMI Music — have remained largely mute on the matter, consistently declining to comment. UMG, defendant in the James class action and four others, has said the claims are not appropriate for class treatment, and that the FBT case did not establish a legal precedent.

For now, the issue of precedence remains untried in court. But one moment of truth is swiftly approaching. The long-delayed damages phase of the FBT trial — which will decide the presumably large monetary awards due the plaintiffs in that key case — is set to begin April 24.

Original article here: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118052406?refCatId=16#.T4jlGWc1sWg.facebook

Date & Time: April 14th, 2012, 9:30am
Location: Bergamot Station / Building i
Address: 2519 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90404
Hosted By: METal International

There is a nexus between art & commerce, between artists & brands, between legacy & the future, and between mass & niche/social media. Artists in any popular medium – be it music, film, fine art, writing, sculpture, painting or other media – are essentially pop culture brands.

What does that mean exactly? What is art, what is a brand?

What are the differences and similarities as it pertains to messaging, marketing, promoting, advertising or utilizing popular art in pop culture media?

How does one best serve true art, “the message,” and artistic relevance in the pop culture universe of film, television, recordings, merchandise, advertisements, co-branding, sponsorship, social media platforms, etc.?

How does one ensure that the purity of the art, the message and the ethos of the artist are protected, promoted and enhanced at the same time?

These and other topics will be discussed, using case studies and real-world scenarios, with noted pop culture marketing and branding expert Jeff Jampol, President of JAM, Inc.

More details here: http://bit.ly/wDhRXy

LOS ANGELES, April 2, 2012 — Jampol Artist Management, Inc. (JAM) is pleased to announce that it has completed an agreement with the Otis Redding Estate to represent the soul-music legend’s catalog, publishing, likeness and brand worldwide.

“Otis Redding possessed one of the most powerful, expressive and influential voices in modern music,” declares JAM CEO Jeff Jampol, who also manages The Doors, the Estates of Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Peter Tosh and Rick James, and serves as a consultant to the estate of Michael Jackson. “But Otis was also a brilliant songwriter, producer and arranger. We’re ecstatic to be involved in bringing this icon’s extraordinary work and life to audiences in a host of new ways.”

A Georgia native, Redding released his debut album on Memphis’ Stax Records in 1964, scoring the hit “These Arms of Mine.” His subsequent smashes included “Respect” (also a barnstorming anthem for Aretha Franklin), “Hard to Handle” (later a chartbuster for the Black Crowes), “Try a Little Tenderness,” “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” “Mr. Pitiful,” “Shake,” “Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)” and the meditative classic “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay.” His incendiary set at 1967’s Monterey Pop Festival moved critic Jon Landau to declare, “Otis Redding is rock & roll.”

Tragically, Redding died in a plane crash, mere months after that epochal Monterey Pop showcase. But his star never stopped shining – and his influence has only grown. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989; during that ceremony his name was proclaimed to be “synonymous with the term ‘soul.’” The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame also enshrined three of Redding’s hits on its list of “The 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.” The Songwriters Hall of Fame, meanwhile, drafted Redding into its ranks in 1994, and he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Grammy® Award in 1999. In a retrospective, Entertainment Weekly dubbed him the “Undisputed King of Soul.”

Over the years he has appeared at or near the top of countless “best of” lists, including Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Singers of All Time (at #8) and 100 Greatest Artists of All Time (at #21), and Q’s 100 Greatest Singers (at #4, after Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley). His visage has graced a U.S. postage stamp and a statue in Gateway Park in his hometown of Macon, GA. In memory of Redding’s philanthropy and commitment to education, The Big “O” Youth Educational Dream Foundation was established in 2007.

Visit www.otisredding.com for more information on Otis Redding and the Big “O” Foundation.

Visit www.wemanagelegends.com for more information on JAM, Inc.

When big music stars die, renewed interest in their careers can instantly be worth tons of money. And beyond a short-term enterprise, the business of departed artists can – if managed well – be lucrative for years, feeding off the artists’ legacies, work and marketable images. But who gets the money? And who gets to decide what to sell?

Those are complex questions, usually involving months of legal proceedings and business negotiations. In some cases, as with Johnny Cash’s estate, for which the singer and his wife, June Carter, spelled out everything beforehand, the process can be relatively painless. In others, such as Ray Charles’ estate, which is still being hashed out in court, family fights seem endless. And as reported this week, Amy Winehouse’s parents will inherit her wealth by default, as the singer did not leave a will – how the estate will operate moving forward is to be determined. But after the legal issues end, most estates come to a sort of day-to-day equilibrium, handling as many as dozens of requests per week to use music or images, then rejecting the most absurd ones (Jimi Hendrix toilet paper!).

“We practice the Hippocratic Oath of rock, which is, ‘First, do no harm,’” says Jeff Jampol, president of Jam Inc., which manages Janis Joplin’s estate and consults with Michael Jackson’s estate. “In my eyes, these artists lived and died for their legacies, and their legacies belong to them – not movie directors, not record labels, not book publishers.” Here’s a run-down of some of the most active, sought-after or evolving rocker estates.

Click here to read the full article.

Post it, share it & spread to the world…

http://youtu.be/T0oUDdRYwAM

41 years ago this month, Columbia Records unleashed Pearl, the final musical statement of Janis Lyn Joplin, on the world. A firebrand till her untimely death at the age of 27, Joplin didn’t live to see the release of Pearl, but the album summed up her deep blend of soul, psychedelia, rock and country, even touching on jazz and pop. Joplin honed her style in a brief but intense period of impassioned live performances and recording. She had a penchant for living life on the edge; in her recent memoir Sweet Judy Blue Eyes, Judy Collins recalled attending a 1968 performance by Paul Williams at Los Angeles’ Troubadour with Joplin, and the singer confiding in Collins, “You know, one of us is going to make it. And it’s not going to be me.” Joplin had already made it by that point, an incendiary set the previous year at the Monterey Pop Festival among her accomplishments. Collins intuited that Joplin was talking about making it, as in simply surviving. But for all her demons, Joplin came to life in front of the microphone, and thanks to the visionary Owsley “Bear” Stanley and Legacy Recordings, a previously-unreleased live performance of Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company will come to light on March 13.

Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968 was recorded over two nights by Stanley at the San Francisco venue that would soon be rechristened the Fillmore West by Bill Graham. It will include fourteen tracks of full-tilt Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company from Stanley’s “sonic journals.” UPDATE: But that’s not all. On January 19, Legacy announced the April 17 release of The Pearl Sessions, a definitive 2-CD expansion of the artist’s galvanic farewell.

Though born in Texas, Joplin made her mark when she joined Big Brother and the Holding Company, a San Francisco aggregation formed in 1965. Big Brother was part of the same burgeoning Haight-Ashbury scene as Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead, among so many others, and it wasn’t a surprise that the band’s path would cross with that of Owsley Stanley. Equally renowned for his skills as a visionary sound engineer and his fervent advocacy of a certain mind-altering substance (he was eulogized by The New York Times as the “artisan of acid,” having manufactured literally millions of doses of LSD), Bear manned the sound board at the Carousel Ballroom, the short-lived venue operated jointly by the Dead, the Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Big Brother in 1968. A pioneer of the modern-day rock show sound system, Bear began mixing live sound with the Dead in 1966, and had a knack for capturing both the energy of a performance and the essence of a performer.

Hit the jump for more on both of these long-awaited releases, including the full track listings and pre-order links!

Thirteen of the album’s tracks are taken from the June 23, 1968 gig at the Carousel, while one bonus track comes from the June 22 performance. Joplin, guitarist Sam Andrew, guitarist James Gurley, bassist Peter Albin and drummer Dave Getz storm their way through some of the band’s most familiar repertoire, including every track from Side One of 1968’s Columbia debut Cheap Thrills: the originals “Combination of the Two” and “I Need a Man to Love,” the dynamically reinvented Gershwin classic “Summertime” and of course, Bert Berns and Jerry Ragovoy’s “Piece of My Heart.” (“Ball and Chain” from Cheap Thrills also appears.) The band reached back to its debut album for “Light is Faster than Sound,” “Call on Me,” “Down on Me” and “Coo Coo,” the latter of which was originally a single release before being added to the Columbia reissue of the original Mainstream LP.

Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968 celebrates both the scorching talent of Janis Joplin and the ahead-of-its-time audio preservation work of Owsley “Bear” Stanley, to whom the release is dedicated. (Bear supervised mastering of the album before his death on March 12, 2011, the victim of a tragic car accident.) His widow Sheilah Stanley and son Starfinder Stanley both have contributed to its liner notes. It should make a terrific companion to the previously-released Live at Winterland 1968, which was recorded at that San Francisco venue just a couple of months earlier, in April 1968. It also is a tasty appetizer for The Pearl Sessions, first promised on a sticker affixed to the Record Store Day-exclusive Move Over! vinyl collection, and now officially announced!

The Pearl Sessions expands the original 10-track album produced by Paul Rothchild (The Doors) with a whopping 25 bonus tracks, nine of which are unreleased. This should be the most illuminating look yet at the seminal recording by Joplin and the Full Tilt Boogie Band. The original LP, on Disc One, is augmented by the six mono single mixes of “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Half Moon,” “Cry Baby,” “Get It While You Can,” “Move Over” and “A Woman Left Lonely.” Disc Two, then, is dedicated to the album’s recording sessions. This fly-on-the-wall look takes in studio chatter, demos and alternate takes over its 19 selections, including three stabs at “Get It While You Can” and “Move Over,” two of “My Baby,” and alternates of “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Cry Baby” and “A Woman Left Lonely.” A live performance of “Tell Mama,” recorded in Toronto on June 28, 1970, rounds out the set.

Starting today, musicians can download the individual vocal, guitar, bass, drum, and piano tracks for “Move Over” from the Indaba website, then create their own remix. One Grand Prize Winner, as selected from all entries by Sony Music Entertainment A&R, will have their track premiered on and be interviewed by Relix.com and Jambands.com. The Grand Prize Winner will receive a $1,000 cash prize, gear from Sony Electronics, a copy of The Pearl Sessions on limited edition vinyl as well as the expanded CD, and a Janis Joplin merch bundle. Five Honorable Mentions, as selected by the judges from the 10 most popular entries, will receive a copy of The Pearl Sessions and a special Janis Joplin gift package.

Musicians will have until 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 30, to submit their tracks. Fans will then be able to vote for their favorites through Thursday, April 13, at 5 p.m. For more information or to make a submission, visit www.indabamusic.com/opportunities/janis-joplin-the-pearl-sessions-remix-contest.

Full article here: http://www.mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=151776