When Rock Bands Forget Fans: Rocks Biggest Bite

Music is about birth and rebirth and the tours that go with them. Nowhere is it written that singers are supposed to love songwriters and producers win "All Access Passes" to a lifetime of free limelight. The rise of the compact disc disconnected future fans from storylines that once drew purpose from bent cardboard corners. Inside sleeves fed the backfields of impression while irrigating temptation to the point of impersonating before finding your own star. Today the MP3 or ITunes digital download freakishly resembles a faceless beast. You know the music but find no reason to know the singer, songwriter and or producer still wondering why his "All Access Pass" doesn't get him past the front door of a Krispy Kreme. Even if you did grasp the grass that makes up the banks of a creative river the artists honestly don't care about you either. Case in point: J Geils versus The J Geils Band Rollingstone Magazine reports the founder has filed a lawsuit against the other members currently on the road playing under the name J Geils Band. Let me modernize it... Let's say Dave Matthews whips from the strip and says, "I quit." but the others find no shame and continue playing under the same name. Would you cough up the bucks to try your luck on what might sound like but never truly evolves into the vibration that tickled your fancy? But wait! There's a twist on the list. Peter Wolf is the famous voice or the man behind the microphone not J Geils and Peter is part of the lineup headed to court. The others include Richard Salwitz, Danny Klein and Seth Justman. According to the lawsuit filed in Boston Superior Court, it claims the J Geil-less Band, "planned and conspired" to exclude J from a tour and are unlawfully using the group's trademarked name. Why didn't this happen to Journey when Steve Perry opted to never come back? What about Dennis Deyoung in Styx? Both stories are totally worth the Google search. I promise no test at the end! Back to the lawsuit! Rollingstone continues to explain that "Together they're the J. Geils Band, but separately they're Mr. Wolf, Mr. Salwitz , Mr. Klein and Mr. Justman," said Geils' lawyer, Charles Grimes. "They do not have the right to take his name and use it, and try to deny him the right to use his own name." "We will address the claims in the lawsuit including our own claims against John Geils and Francesca Records at the appropriate time," said James Weinberger, who is representing the band's other members. The J. Geils Band had scheduled an 11-show tour without Geils, kicking off in Syracuse, New York on August 25th. Geils is seeking full rights to the trademarked name and prohibition of the defendants' use of the band name, plus damages.