July '10 Entertainment—Little Anthony's This and That Column

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Somewhere Over The Rainbow
You Can Reclaim Your Royalty
W
ho doesn’t love “The Wizard Of Oz” and its defining song, “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”? For all we know, maybe, just maybe, there is a rainbow pot of gold there. Hey, if you don’t believe in “fairy tales” you are kind of depriving yourself of the magic of fantasy or “a modern day pot of gold.” Where am I going with this? Well, a very important event happened awhile back. I didn’t mention it at the time in “This And That” for a number of reasons.

First, I wanted to make sure it was legitimate and without due diligence, you really don’t know what’s what nowadays. I did some investigation into the “situation” and now, I am convinced that a proposal sent to us is for real—one that would pay us where payment is long overdue.

Let me digress for a moment—for many years, in this business we call the “music biz,” it is more than common knowledge that recording artists of the ’50s and ’60s (and a bunch of artists today), were not paid their earned royalties. With our newfound insight and laws, this “oversight” still exists and in a way, it is hard to believe that fact. Here’s where it gets good though.

We were contacted by an LA law firm about how we, meaning Little Anthony & The Imperials, are owed royalties covering decades. The representatives of the law firm did an initial search of LA&TIs royalties due. The amount was large—held in a trust or a reserve account by record company after record company. It’s like when you read a listing (in a daily newspaper) from a bank concerning monies still held in customers’ names—please claim. Well, the record companies don’t do that—the money just sits there for years—eventually, the record companies pay the artists but not until discovery.

Pat Boone

The law firm’s representatives, Joel B. Kellum, Esq., a copyrights attorney, and Robert S. Hamilton, business analyst with Artist Reprieve impressed me and they showed Clarence (Collins) and I how they represented three previous artists successfully: the late great “Big Bopper,” The Olympics and our good friend Pat Boone. In fact, Pat Boone referred them to us. Thanks Pat and from the looks of things, we appreciate it already, in more ways than one. Recovered money we are owed held in record company escrow accounts—it is almost too good to be true.

It is true and they made sure we, meaning Clarence and I, were fully informed as to their game plan. That was very important to me. The “Little Anthony” name is on the line and you have to make sure it is protected. I believe a man is only as good as his word. It’s one of those things I live by.

For artists like LA&TIs there are a number of misconceptions about us. Many people in the general public seem to think just because you had a string of classic hit records, that you are rollin’ in cash. We have tons of money invested living the good life—just the contrary. Many artists were woefully underpaid their contractual royalties in every conceivable way. When you think of greats like Elvis Presley, Pat Boone, Chuck Berry to name a few—were never paid anywhere near what we should have been compensated.

I believe we could be successful in this royalty pursuit and the men representing us are more than capable. Ironic that we have to retrieve monies we are owed but if we do, The Imperials and I leave a legacy to our children of worth. We can bequeath funds to our children and grandchildren. That is the sole purpose really because the guys and I “aren’t gonna be around forever.”

That brings me to the issue of how this all came about: the late Congressman Sonny Bono. You may say, why Sonny Bono? Well, Sonny Bono, bless his heart made sure that entertainers were “looked after.” I want to thank Sonny for introducing a bill, back in the ’90s and campaigned so it passed into law. It insured that artists of specific eras be compensated for their work and performances. Let’s face it today you have downloads, DVDs, cable performances and music, Internet radio, etc.

I hope and I pray that we who have survived these “uncompensated years” can set an example. This way other performers and singers will step forward to collect what they are due. Google the law team and see what I am talking about—“reclaim your royalty.” I kind of like that—“reclaim your royalty.”

The representatives of “Artist Retrieve” offered us the “fairest of deals I have ever come upon in 54 years of show business. I doubt there are former recording artists out there who are not owed money. I hope they read this column and seek out their “proper royalties.” I’ll vouch for them and I intend to keep you all posted on the whole process. I don’t want to upset anyone’s applecart but complete disclosure has its merits.

Rock Con 2010—Sheraton Meadowlands July 30th–August 1st

You have heard me talk about this huge gathering of some of the biggest singing/rock stars of the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. There are some new artists too. In fact, there are three former contestants from “American Idol” and somewhat well-known LA rockers whom I am not at liberty to mention. There will also be 9 Rock Hall Of Famer inductees—Clarence, Mary Wilson and I are a third (see my previous column) of them. There will be a “Girl Group Reunion,” “The Lennon Legacy,” screenings and a whole slew of New York rockers. Click on NationalRockCon.com for a complete list of “guest artists.”

I understand that one of the Go-Gos—Jane Weidlin—was going to attend but she fell off a cliff—plummeting 25 feet and she has to get surgery on Aug. 2nd in LA. The unfortunate accident meant the whole summer Go-Gos tour was canceled. Get well Jane and maybe we’ll see you at next year’s Rock Con. All of us affiliated with Rock Con 2010 wish you a speedy recovery.

Rock Con will be held for three days and the Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel—E. Rutherford, NJ—7/30 through 8/1 weekend. I’m looking forward to meeting fans, talk to old friends, celebrate rock ’n’ roll.

By the way, I will be live on WFAN—9 a.m. Thursday morning the 29th of July. I was asked by the hosts: Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton and I can’t

wait to get on there and talk about my beloved Mets.

WFAN in case you don’t know, is one of the best sports radio stations in the country. I also think that those sports fans who listen to WFAN would love to attend Rock Con 2010.

I’m also taping an interview with CBS-FM. Yes, that CBS-FM—the #1 stations in the greater New York tri-state area. The recent radio ratings announced oh about two weeks ago, CBS-FM was now #1.

Maybe I was too hasty to comment that CBS-FM doesn’t play our ’60s hits. All good things come in their own time and I am delighted to be CBS’ guest interview again—airs Friday, July 30th. I’ll see if I can sneak on a few of our hits.

Slow Concert Summer—New LA&TIs Concert Dates
Man, I’ve been reading an online music industry column by Bob Lefsetz lately and according to him, the summer concert season this year is one of the worst. Major shows are not selling and scalpers are losing their ticketed T-shirts selling stadium seats (night of) for $10—groups like The Eagles. I hate to be the one to say this, but the audiences are getting smarter. Bargains count now more than ever

This has been a weak summer for LA&TIs too but our audiences are losing on their concerts due to cutbacks—plain and simple. Our tickets aren’t pricey at all. The country is broke city-by-city and town-by-town. It’s not healthy for a country like ours and it is hitting everyone—rich and poor.

No firework displays, DJs and economically booking cover bands (Bon Jovi, Springsteen cover bands top the lot) was the reoccurring theme to the 4th of July coast-to-coast. County fairs, town celebrations, summer concerts in the park have all been cancelled or down-scaled dramatically. We grin and bear it my friends and all is not lost—read on.

With that said, The Imperials and I will be doing some “special summertime concerts”:

August 28th–29th—Hollywood, FL, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

Sept. 4th—Wildwood, NJ, Wildwood Convention Center

Join me and The Imperials as we kiss the summer 2010 good-bye. Man, where did the summer go? I, for one, am glad to put summer 2010 behind me. Just let me tell you, 2011 is sure lookin’ a whole lot better than 2010. Can the trickle down economics finally be getting to Main Street. Slowly, very slowing, I think so. What a difference a year makes.