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Post by OldFred on Mar 10, 2010 21:55:57 GMT -5
Tommy James has just put out a book of his career titled 'Me, The Mob and the Music. The book documents James career and his hits like 'Hanky Panky', 'Mony Mony', 'Crimson & Clover', etc., released by Roulette Records which was run by the notorious Morris Levy, Roulette being a front operation run by the mob. One chapter of the book briefly covers John Lennon's involvement with Levy over the infamous 'Roots/Rock & Roll' saga. According to James, while he was in the process of severing business ties with Morris Levy, Levy had surprisingly become friends with Lennon during the lawsuit over the 'Come Together'-'You Can't Catch Me' incident, and made the arrangements with John to record three songs he owned the copyright on for Lennon's 'Rock & Roll' album to settle the suit. James speculates that Levy was trying to woo John to Roulette but was squelched by Capitol, leading to the issuing of the 'Roots' album, and the birth of another lawsuit. While the John Lennon story is a small part of the book, the rest is a fascinating behind the scenes look at the underside of the Record industry. Tommy James is already negotiating for the book to become either another Broadway show like 'Jersey Boys' or a major movie. If you want an inside peek at another side of the Music business, this book is definitely worth checking out. www.amazon.com/Me-Mob-Music-Helluva-Shondells/dp/1439128650
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Post by acebackwords on Mar 12, 2010 13:29:16 GMT -5
Tommy James was the guest d.j. on KFRC yesterday, the oldie's channel. And he told some great stories. Including turning down an offer to appear at Woodstock because he was told it was just going to be a bunch of people on a "pig's farm."
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Post by acebackwords on Mar 12, 2010 13:37:35 GMT -5
According to May Pang's book, the suit with Levy started when he sued Lennon for plagarizing a Chuck Berry song he owned the copyrights to on the song "Come Together." To resolve the suit, Lennon agreed to record several Levy-owned songs for his next album, the "Rocknroll" album. But then that nut Phil Spector stole the master tapes, so the "Rocknroll" album was postponed half way through, and Lennon recorded and released the "Walls and Bridges" album instead. This, of course, was a breach in his agreement with Levy, so Levy threatened to sue again. To placate Levy, Lennon poured on the charm, and even took Levy up on his offer to have him and his band rehearse their rocknroll songs at his upstate New York farm. Lennon even gave Levy a rough tape of the songs they were working on, as a show of good faith. But finally Levy got tired of waiting for the "Rocknroll" album and used those tapes to put out his own crude version of a Lennon album. Lennon counter-sued and won.
I've read several true crime books about the mafia where Levy shows up as a character. And he was heavy duty all the way. Tommy James said that he had to wait until 2005 to publish his book, because he wanted to make sure all the thugs who ran his record label were dead before he wrote about them. "And the ones that are still alive are probably in walkers, so I could probably out-run them," said Tommy.
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Post by acebackwords on Mar 12, 2010 15:01:25 GMT -5
Lennon's lawyer at the Levy trial, by the way, said that Lennon was the best witness on the stand that he had ever seen. At one point, Levy's lawyer is grilling Lennon, accusing him of cutting his hair just so he could present a clean-cut image to the court. To which Lennon shot back: "No. I always get my hair cut every 18 months." The whole courtroom burst out laughing. Even the judge was laughing, wiping tears from his eyes. And Lennon just sat there, sort of smirking at the lawyer, knowing he had completely bombed the guy.
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Post by ursamajor on Mar 12, 2010 16:18:15 GMT -5
Lennon's lawyer at the Levy trial, by the way, said that Lennon was the best witness on the stand that he had ever seen. At one point, Levy's lawyer is grilling Lennon, accusing him of cutting his hair just so he could present a clean-cut image to the court. To which Lennon shot back: "No. I always get my hair cut every 18 months." The whole courtroom burst out laughing. Even the judge was laughing, wiping tears from his eyes. And Lennon just sat there, sort of smirking at the lawyer, knowing he had completely bombed the guy. Love it !!
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Post by acebackwords on May 26, 2010 17:55:32 GMT -5
Yeah. No one ever said Lennon wasn't quick with the quip.
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