Wilco ex-member sues frontman Tweedy

[ginandcigarettes]

Yes, as I said, if it's commercially released, they do have to pay royalties. But this lawsuit technically doesn't (or shouldn't) affect regular, non Ashes/KT Wilco concerts. Artists can play whatever they want in concert, without worrying about royalties. If it was any different, shitty bar bands would cease to exist.

 

Yeah, the venue owner has to pay for the songs performed that aren't owned by the performers. I think there's a deal where they just pay into a fund and it gets distributed to songwriters based on the relative popularity of the songs (or something like that).

[Duck-Billed Catechist]

Oh man, I remember the plagiarism thread.

 

I remember it being a huge deal, but wasn't it only like 4 pages total?

 

Here it is:

 

http://archive.viachicago.org/index.php?showtopic=4490

 

There was an new thread opened up to discuss whether it was really Jeff (yep) who posted.

 

(ATTN: Wandering web reporters. The acccusations in the above thread are mostly false/a joke (Maytag jingle, etc.)/debunked. Please don't mention the accusations in some article about the lawsuit. Thank you for your attention).

 

Laura Downey, Robert Ash are froniters of the poetic war that raged through early America, drunk on ambition pure as an italian wine, somehow just sick enough to be totally confident. I advise everyone here to embrace the revolution that awaits at your door.

 

"Words are truth and truth is freedom, I will not fail as the dim light fades therefore I will welcome another day"---Robert Ash

You just do not find quality trolling like that any more.

[The High Heat]

There's always only been one name on the Wilco contracts: Jeff Tweedy.

Jay Bennett claims he was paid 15% of the band's income while he was in it.

After Tweedy's large(est) share, 15% for a 4/5 man band is a large chunk for one guy.

Perhaps he wasted his money on all that blow in Amsterdam.

[WaronWar]

The timing is peculiar, though. If he was getting screwed all these years, why wait until now? He's fishing for some kind of settlement. Sad, yes, but desperate.

 

ditto.

[mountain bed]

Here it is:

 

http://archive.viachicago.org/index.php?showtopic=4490

 

There was an new thread opened up to discuss whether it was really Jeff (yep) who posted.

 

(ATTN: Wandering web reporters. The acccusations in the above thread are mostly false/a joke (Maytag jingle, etc.)/debunked. Please don't mention the accusations in some article about the lawsuit. Thank you for your attention).

 

 

You just do not find quality trolling like that any more.

Nice find, Norbs. I thought Crow knocked it out of the park, along with many others.

[mpolak21]

Now friends as with any thread on Via Chicago about Jay Bennett, the truth tends to get distorted by well-meaning, but ultimately Godless posters with an anti-mellotron agenda. Thankfully those in search of the truth, have fine upstanding board members like myself, to set the record straight . For I am the both the Woodward and the Bernstein of the Jay Bennett saga. So here's what's really going with this lawsuit.

 

This drama goes all the way back to December of 2000, on an icy winter evening the actual Jay Bennett crashed his Saturn into an egg truck in the Wendy's Parking Lot in Detroit and has been in a coma ever since. Going into the filming of I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, the heart-broken band decided to hire Philip Seymour Hoffman's unknown twin-brother, Theodore, to play Bennett in the documentary in tribute to their injured comrade. Theodore is/was a decent musician in his own right, but is slightly tone-deaf as evidenced by his solo acoustic performance of My Darling in the film. All of the songs credited to Tweedy-Bennett on Yankee were written by Jeff and Jay pre-Jay's accident, though the Bennett family denies any involvement by Jay on Heavy Metal Drummer, claiming it was all Theodore Hoffman.

 

During the first few months, Theodore work out well with the band. Much like his brother Philip Seymour, Theodore was a master character actor and actually managed to pick up most of Bennett's mannerisms and quirks rather quickly. All you have to do is watch the keyboard buying spree he goes on in the special director's cut bootleg of I am Trying To Break Your Heart which is currently only available on BluRay, to see that he really mastered the kind, simple, and Chamberlin loving man that was pre-coma Jay Bennett.

 

Sadly within a few months, Theodore got a little too big for his britches. He pushed the band in a more expiermental direction, encouraging them to play "rockers" and add more "sonic-weight" to their material. Not as talented at mixing as the actual Jay Bennett, Theodore constantly lost tapes, and couldn't understand where Jeff wanted him to cut the orchestra going into Heavy Metal Drummer. Things got even worse when Theodore accidentally sent a burned copy of the Conet Box Set to Reprise Records which he had mislabeled as the final mix of YHF, which caused Reprise to drop the band.

 

Now realizing he had a great David vs. Goliath/Nigel Tuffnel vs. David St. Hubbins story on his hands, Jones suggested to Tweedy the band can Theodore. Theodore was fired in August, but signed a hush agreement with the band so that the truth of their arrangement never got out. A few months ago Tony Margherita accidentally wrote the monthly stipend check-- the band had been sending to Theodore-- out in Jay Bennett's name instead of Theodore Hoffman's, and Theodore was unable to cash it, hence the lawsuit. The writing credits Theodore is actually seeking deal with the film, I am Trying To Break Your Heart. Despite it's label as a documentary, Theodore claims he actually wrote most of the script and in the deep archives of Glorious Noise you can find Theodore's line-by-line breakdown of the film, in which he claims all of the lines and situations he wrote in the movie. "I totally gave Armisen that Spielberg story."

 

Several hints of about the true story have been dropped in the last Wilco albums. The cover of AGIB, is naturally an allusion to the truck Bennett crashed into. Spiders deals with the odd Weekend at Bernie's esque trip to a private beach in Lake Michigan, Jeff took with comatose Jay in the summer of 2001. Translated into English: "Illitterati lumen fidei" means "watch out for that egg truck," and if you listen to the drone section of Less Than You Think of the Vinyl version of A Ghost is Born backwards you can Leroy discussing Jay's last supper which consisted of 15 Big Bacon Classics. Bennett's family claimed that if Jay had been driving a Volkswagen instead of a Saturn, he would have likely walked away from the accident unscathed, which resulted in the band's deal with Volkswagen.

 

The band has supported the actual Bennett and his family throughout his long coma, he has remained unresponsive, though rumor has it that he has twice sleepwalked out of his hospital room in Michigan and played melodies on a piano, which were written down by his nurses and became the foundation for Hummingbird and On and On and On, arguably two of the finest post-Bennett songs the band has released. In fact, Leroy Bach actually quit the band after Mike took a "Even when he's in a coma, Jay plays piano better than you do" joke a little too far.

 

If you ask any of the band or the management or Theodore Hoffman as Jay Bennett they have all been trained to look at you like you're on drugs, and ask for a security guard to escort you away from them, but now, gentle readers, you know the truth, the whole truth, and several things I just made up.

 

--Mike

[mountain bed]

 

That was beautiful, man.

[Wendy]

 

Things got even worse when Theodore accidentally sent a burned copy of the Conet Box Set to Reprise Records which he had mislabeled as the final mix of YHF, which caused Reprise to drop the band.

[50footqueenie]

Just brilliant - well done on that post!!

 

On a sober note - I can't believe he's only looking for 50K (I presume that how much a hip replacement costs these days) - with the profile Wilco has now they probably earn that for a couple of reasonably sized venue gigs now. I predict the new album will give them a #1 in the states this year - surely Bennet's argument would be that he has contributed to the profile of the band in that period and his lost income is in lieu of that?

 

It's a shame - the guy is obviously desperate to get this op done and paid for. It'll probably cost him 50K to drag it through the courts, so it's potentially a risky strategy.

[Gobias Industries]

I feel like Bennett is only doing this to raise money for his hip surgery or whatnot. It's probably the most dickish way to do it, though. He could call and be like "yo, old band, play a charity for me. Cool." And yeah, everything would be cool. Maybe.

[Doug C]

I don't know how I would feel if I were one of the principals but as me, I feel that he shouldn't have to call...

[J_Lefty]

Can't wait for Jay's next album: "Whatever Happened, I'll Sue Your Ass Off."

[MattZ]

There's no way for me to know what the heck happened or why they couldn't agree to put this matter behind them privately, but I am sad to see that it has come to this. I say that without any knowledge of whether Jeff/Wilco are right or Jay is right. My guess is that, like most things in life, they are both a little right and both a little wrong.

 

In the grand scheme of lawsuits and headaches, $50,000 is not that much money. So this may be about principle. But I am going to avoid speculating.

[caliber66]

There's no way for me to know what the heck happened or why they couldn't agree to put this matter behind them privately, but I am sad to see that it has come to this. I say that without any knowledge of whether Jeff/Wilco are right or Jay is right. My guess is that, like most things in life, they are both a little right and both a little wrong.

 

In the grand scheme of lawsuits and headaches, $50,000 is not that much money. So this may be about principle. But I am going to avoid speculating.

This.

[Sir Stewart]

I feel like Bennett is only doing this to raise money for his hip surgery or whatnot. It's probably the most dickish way to do it, though. He could call and be like "yo, old band, play a charity for me."

Maybe he did.

[rhino4evr]

This.

 

$50,000? Wilco probably makes that within a show or two. I can't imagine this is really going to hurt the band financially. If anything it will just further burn the bridge between Jay and the band. Still I don't see how any of this is Jeff's fault. I am positive he didn't personally write the contract on the DVD sales. Im also pretty positive that Jay would have had to sign off somewhere to appear in the film. Maybe he thinks the new Blu-Ray release entitles him to a new deal? Jeff's name shouldn't even be on the suit. I doubt Jeff is stealing Jay's checks and stuffing them under his mattress.

 

It will probably be more expensive to go to court over this then to spend the $50,000. Pretty good chance they will settle for something lower. It's messed up, but that's how are system works. It's always cheaper to give up then to fight.

[caliber66]

$50,000? Wilco probably makes that within a show or two. I can't imagine this is really going to hurt the band financially. If anything it will just further burn the bridge between Jay and the band. Still I don't see how any of this is Jeff's fault.

How do you know this?

 

I am positive he didn't personally write the contract on the DVD sales.

Probably true, but irrelevant.

 

Im also pretty positive that Jay would have had to sign off somewhere to appear in the film.

Also true, but how do you know that Jay did sign off somewhere?

 

Maybe he thinks the new Blu-Ray release entitles him to a new deal?

Maybe he thinks he farts cotton candy.

 

Jeff's name shouldn't even be on the suit.

How do you know this?

 

I doubt Jeff is stealing Jay's checks and stuffing them under his mattress.

Also probably true, but irrelevant.

 

It will probably be more expensive to go to court over this then to spend the $50,000. Pretty good chance they will settle for something lower. It's messed up, but that's how are system works. It's always cheaper to give up then to fight.

[Moss]

I feel bad for Jay and have no idea what I would do in his position. I like to think I would not starting filing lawsuits but damn. Hip surgery with no health care, probably not a lot of money coming in for the guy. I don't necessarily think they owe Jay anything but it would be nice if they could help him out. However, somebody sues me, I'm not going to be inclined to want to help.

[lost highway]

$50,000? Wilco probably makes that within a show or two.

 

 

It will probably be more expensive to go to court over this then to spend the $50,000. Pretty good chance they will settle for something lower. It's messed up, but that's how are system works. It's always cheaper to give up then to fight.

 

I think your first idea is dead wrong. I think the band does really well when they play out, but I don't think they make any where near that kind of money after you factor in crew, bus, the venue cut etc.

 

I think your second idea is probably exactly right. I think Bennett set it at 50 grand because he thought it was a number that he could actually get. I can imagine an out of court settlement where Tony M. gives him 30 grand and says "Get out of my sight you piece of....."

 

But I don't really know. Wilco will endure this little mess.

[Central Scrutinizer]

In the grand scheme of lawsuits and headaches, $50,000 is not that much money. So this may be about principle. But I am going to avoid speculating.

$50,000 here and $50,000 there and pretty soon you're talking some real money.

 

Now friends as with any thread on Via Chicago about Jay Bennett, the truth tends to get distorted by well-meaning, but ultimately Godless posters with an anti-mellotron agenda. Thankfully those in search of the truth, have fine upstanding board members like myself, to set the record straight . For I am the both the Woodward and the Bernstein of the Jay Bennett saga. So here's what's really going with this lawsuit.

 

...

Weekly World News called. You got the gig.

[shoesgetcold3]

Some posters have said they have heard Jay complain over the years. Maybe this time his complaining was to a friend/acquaintance who is also a lawyer who said, "Why not sue them, we have nothing to lose." The lawyer works on contingency and files a suit which being about Wilco will get plenty of publicity (thank you Greg Kot) and for only $50,000, which is really not that much money to anyone with money. Sure it is a jerky thing to do, but this is America and who really cares about reputation anyways? It reeks of desperation but so do many many lawsuits filed. It seems like not that big of a deal, and something Jeff will probably deal very little with. And except for Jeff being a man of principle (Bennett is iced out forever) fans will never see anything come of this.

[myboyblue]

There is no such thing as 'bad press'.

[Lukestar]

But I don't really know. Wilco will endure this little mess.

 

 

They will get by.....

 

 

[Guest Jules]

Jeff should just give him a couple of his fancy guitars. And, they should still cut off his balls whilst repairing the hip.

[remphish1]

The timing is starnge but before everyone goes bad mouthing Jay I think it needs to be stated Wilco would not be who they were without Jay. That being said it would have been nice not to file a lawsuit and instead ask for a benefit concert but oh well.. If he was getting screwed he definatley should have brought this up years ago but I have no idea what the details and deals that were going on between Jay and Jeff.