Jackson Browne Sues John McCain, Entire Rep Nat'l Committee

Liberal political activist Jackson Browne has filed a lawsuit against Senator John McCain and the whole Republican National Committee alleging that McCain's group used Browne's hit "Running On Empty" in a political ad without his permission.
The suit alleges that a license was never obtained and that it infringes upon the artist's right to publicity in the state of California. He's seeking permanent injunction of any Jackson Browne song AND damages (of course). I wonder how we're quantifying damages in dollar signs in this case.

Remember when Born In The USA was used by Reagan's camp? I ran across this on wikipedia and thought it was interesting and kind of funny...

Born in the U.S.A. album was selling very well, its songs were all over the radio, and the associated tour was drawing considerable press. Springsteen shows at the Capital Centre outside of Washington, D.C. thus attracted even more media attention, in particular from CBS Evening News correspondent Bernard Goldberg, who saw Springsteen as a modern-day Horatio Alger story. Yet more notably, the widely-read conservative columnist George Will, after attending a show, published on September 13, 1984 a piece entitled "A Yankee Doodle Springsteen" in which he praised Springsteen as an exemplar of classic American values. He wrote: "I have not got a clue about Springsteen's politics, if any, but flags get waved at his concerts while he sings songs about hard times. He is no whiner, and the recitation of closed factories and other problems always seems punctuated by a grand, cheerful affirmation: 'Born in the U.S.A.!'"[3] The 1984 presidential campaign was in full stride at the time, and Will had connections to President Ronald Reagan's re-election organization. Will thought that Springsteen might endorse Reagan, and got the notion pushed up to high-level Reagan advisor Michael Deaver's office. Those staffers made inquiries to Springsteen's management which were politely rebuffed.

Nevertheless, on September 19, 1984, at a campaign stop in Hammonton, New Jersey, Reagan added the following to his usual stump speech:

"America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts; it rests in the message of hope in songs so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make those dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about."

The campaign press immediately expressed skepticism that Reagan knew anything about Springsteen, and asked what his favorite Springsteen song was; "Born to Run" was the tardy response from staffers. Johnny Carson then joked on The Tonight Show, "If you believe that, I've got a couple of tickets to the Mondale-Ferraro inaugural ball I'd like to sell you."

During a September 22 concert in Pittsburgh, Springsteen responded negatively by introducing his song "Johnny 99", a song about an unemployed auto worker who turns to murder, "The President was mentioning my name the other day, and I kinda got to wondering what his favorite album musta been. I don't think it was the Nebraska album. I don't think he's been listening to this one."

A few days after that, presidential challenger Walter Mondale said, "Bruce Springsteen may have been born to run but he wasn't born yesterday," and then claimed to have been endorsed by Springsteen. Springsteen manager Jon Landau denied any such endorsement, and the Mondale campaign issued a correction.

-K

You Take Sally and I'll Take Sue: A Night with Jackson Browne

Photo courtesy of musiccitytexas.org


Monday night my friend and I went to see Jackson Browne perform at the VBC Concert Hall here in Huntsville. The hall quickly filled up with a pretty homogenous group of fans looking to rekindle that old feeling. For me, I have always had a soft spot for this singer/songwriter from California who always reminded me of some guy who could have been one of my brother's friends in high school.

The stage was set up with two persian rugs, a keyboard, and an impressive set-up of 14 acoustic guitars. At the number of guitars my friend and I were dumbfounded. As JB explained it, the number suggests versatility where there in fact is none. In fact, the number of guitars onstage was really so that he could perform efficiently without having to spend time before each song tuning the guitar.

JB's vocals were impeccable as was his playing, but he seemed to forget lyrics frequently. Indeed, before beginning one song he stopped and asked a woman up front if she could tell him the words to the second verse because he didn't want to have to stop later, haha. Sans setlist, he seemed to get a little lost amidst all the requests coming in from the crowd. See, with a southern crowd, if you’re going to admit that you don’t have a setlist they’ll take it upon themselves to tell you exactly what you need to play. Of course, the obligatory drunks were in the audience responding to everyone’s requests by saying “PLAY JAY-KSUN BRAY-AWN!” and “PLAY HWAT YEW HWANT!” In some way this made the performance seem very natural and intimate. On the other hand, it made it seem a little aimless and drag on a bit.

I think my friend and I would also have liked to hear more upbeat tunes like Boulevard to keep the energy going, but honestly I have to work at finding anything truly negative to say. JB is a legend and it was a great night. Well, except for the one woman who kept yelling “TELL IT!” and screaming “YEEEAAAAHHH!!!” behind me. Every time JB would begin introducing a song I was anticipating a banshee-like scream coming from behind so I spent a good portion of the night waiting for those moments.

Jackson played crowd favorites Rosie (to this request he stated that in his experience it’s best to not delay haha), Running on Empty, Cocaine, The Pretender and my personal favorite Somebody’s Baby. He also threw in new material as well as a cover of Take It Easy. He did not play Doctor My Eyes, which my concert mate was hoping for. I give this one an Unexpected. -K

Finally!

I finally have some shows to look forward to. This month my gentleman friend and I will be going to see Jackson Browne perform an acoustic set. Then I have Bon Jovi at the end of April, and then My Chemical Romance at Sloss Furnace in Birmingham and in St. Louis where my friends and fellow HIM fans L and C will be joining me at The Pageant. Thank you Jesus. We have overcome. -K