The Smiley Smile Message Board

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2013/09/beach_boys_jeff_beck_unite_for.php

But Mike Love, who owns the rights to the band's name, booked later shows with his version of the group (which also includes Bruce Johnston). So far, he doesn't seem interested in extending the life of the reunion tour lineup, despite obvious commercial and artistic benefits.

And though publicists for Wilson and Jardine gently warn that they cannot answer questions about Love "due to pending litigation" (or, more accurately, the latest litigation among Wilson/Love/Jardine), Jardine opens up a bit on his own and unprodded.

"I kept telling everybody the [reunion tour] would happen, and it did," Jardine offers. "All the naysayers from Mike and Brian's camps got together, because it was such a great tour. But I was...disappointed... when Mike decided to pull up stakes and leave."

--

Well, that explains Brian's "no comment."

So... what do you 'spose THIS is all about?

I don't know what it means, but I prefer to hear Al say "no comment" than anything else he could possibly utter.

Still, it's so beautifully, typically Beach Boys that their joyous reunion ends in... pending litigation.

Everybody pretty much knows where I stand, but it just hit me:

They really should have discussed/negotiated the status of the name before any C50 activity started. Because what it seems like to me is that maybe Brian and Al thought things would be a bit more open-ended after the set number of dates and recording, whereas obviously Mike wanted to get back on the road with his small group and fondle women that he just met.

Absolutely. Not only negotiated (past tense) but are negotiating (present tense). If Al really believes in what he has been espousing, then put your money - literally, with your attorneys - where your mouth is. So you wanna be "The Beach Boys", fine, do something about it, instead of dropping snide remarks in the press.

I'm guessing, from a previous Al interview, that Brian, Al and David want to bill themselves as " Original Beach Boy members Brian ..." and that Mike is legally objecting.

Yeah, but that also mighte be some kind of tactic (althoug a very obvious one). It's not just Al who's doing that. Joe Thomas did it in a much more subtle way in a recent interview.

"He likes being in a band, and right now, it doesn't look like it's possible that he can have his band [the Beach Boys]," Thomas says.

PEEENDING LITIGATION
BAAAAAD VIBRATION
NOT GOOD WEATHER
WE'RE NOT TOGETHER
LOOOOSS OF MONEY
IIIIIT'S NOT FUNNY
MIKE'S GONNA SUE YA
AL SAID "SCRE-HOO-HEW YA"

I'm just guessing the obvious...that Brain.....oops...Brian, Al and David didn't believe Mike and Bruce would be so eager to get back to their faux Beach Boys band. But we shouldn't be surprised, I mean, when was the last time these guys didn't anything intelligent on the business side of things?

Runners, I think I love you.

Legendary.  :lol

Do I need to ? Nah, thought not.  ;D

boo.

Not that I think their decisions should be made on money at this stage in the game but aren't Mike and Bruce making more money touring in the stripped down version than from C50? I thought it had been said somewhere that Mike at least actually made less in 2012 then he would have doing his shows because of the high costs of that touring production, Brian's entourage, more beach boys etc.

My point: isn't he actually doing something intelligent on the business side of things?

HADTA SUUUE YA
HADTA SCRUUUEW YA, JUST FOR KICKS

HADTA SUUUE YA
YEA I DID IT CUZ IM SUCH A DIK

I VISUALIZE WHAT YA GOT IS SOOO FINE
FEELS SO GOOOD WHEN WHAT WAS YOURS IS NOW MINE!

Perhaps The Real Beach Boy can weigh in and educate us about the facts here.

"But clearly buzzed by the experience, Wilson, Jardine, and Marks saw no reason not to continue the beach party."

I think that Al and David had a taste of what they had been missing all this time.  Brian wants to write music and be revered for his talents and rightfully so. He is no performer. Ideally BW should use his vast talents in arranging and composing and let others perform.

I thing that more litigation will drive the two camps further apart if that is possible; however, if what's at stake is ML keeping the BB name, so be it. He's the one that has kept it alive for 50 years.

Oregon River Rider is probably right, but what damages would the Mike Love version of the Beach Boys have?  They sell a lot of tickets, so it doesn't seem like they've lost much of anything.  Maybe Mike will sue for defamation.  It's all a ridiculous waste of time, as Al and Brian seem to have tempered their comments about the use of the band's name.

Mike will end up suing himself in a tragic clerical error.

 :lol

sad but true

It would be an interesting court date... Michael Edward Love v. Michael Edward Love. He'd hold court on the steps afterwards and give a furious press conference alternating between spitting at the mouth rage and maudlin weeping. That's when I ask Mike to autograph this.

(http://arkhonia.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/bw_gv_mailonsunday_500.jpg?w=500&h=510)

He'd probably have Bruce pistol-whip me, tho.

AS fer da past
It's not behind us
Happier when
It's just me on the tour bus

Singin my songs
Kissin my rings and
My money boys
Is what I believe in

I said it
Wouldn't last
All I can say is
You can kiss Bruce's aaaassss

We got lawsuits in mind
Man, it's been too much time
in a suit and a tie is how I like to preen
With my lawyers sandbagging Al Jardine.

Nah, we're not gonna beat runners.

I wonder if Mike Love will go on The O'Reilly Factor again to discuss the litigation.

If it wasn't for the Beach Boys drama I wouldn't have the pleasure of reading threads like this one. 


(for Banana and Louie)

The legal teams of Al and Mike
So much drama, what's not to like
No one knows just why we care
We see their lawsuits everywhere
The strangest story you ever knew
The many ways Beach Boys can sue.

you already did. brill stuff! ;D

Alan already did that.  ;D

Not to piss on anybody's parade, but I don't find a single ounce of anything even remotely funny about this. Every single Beach Boys fan loses out in one way or another in the end. Mike may have stopped any future plans for albums or concerts, but Al just sent us back 15 or so years. Let's just hope it doesn't take them another 20 years to remember why they still make music together.

Nah. SOP for the Boys. What were you expecting? A C60 in 2024?  ;D

That is weird. I hear a song in my head, to be precise: a chimera existing of two songs. It's 'I Was Made To Love Her' (the WH one) into: 'Had To Phone Ya'.

 :o

Why don't you sue us Mike and send us off to court?
On this summer's day
There's nowhere else I'd rather be

Why don't we sue the way we used to anymore?
There's a name I'd like to use
That maybe you would hate
And send a letter to my lawyer

You've been thinking 'bout some things we used to do
Thinkin' 'bout when cases were still in front of you
Back where you belong, our favorite court
Won't you listen?

Don't you understand the words
Are singing in the jury?
I wish that you would sue from here to back again

The clouds are breaking
It's a beautiful day
For a wonderful Los Angeles District Court

The sun is shining, can we just find a way?
If you just call, just call, just call
My lawyers

Through our compromise, paradise is
Just another place up on the stand

Through the common sense of it all
You had a lot to sue, you sued us all
Through the consequence of our name
Another case in time

Want to hear something really weird? I can hear it to.

Get. out. of. my. head.  :ahh

If I didn't laugh about it, I'd surely cry about it. ;(

Also, you're (again) talking like Al is the only one to say something not cool, here. I don't get it.

dittoes.

Really? Im more like picking up the chorus to "A Thing or Two" for runnerz bit.
I guess it could depend on which BB album you listened to recently.  ;)

Had to Phone Ya is exactly what I had in mind, figured it would be obvious.

My reading of the situation is like this:

The original C50 tour was agreed by all parties to be something like 50 dates. Then during the early stages of the tour Brian agreed to some more dates including the final gigs in London. At this point Brian was having his back pain and still getting into things and he is known to have agreed to those extra dates "and no more".

Meanwhile, M+B had already booked some post-C50 dates for their own band, as per the agreement that after Wembley the C50 celebration would be over.

However, everyone including Brian was having a great time by the time the tour ended that the non-touring Beach Boys (Brian, Al, David and Brian's band) were perfectly happy to continue longer or to do some more dates in 2013. However, crucially the last communication Mike was aware of was "A few more dates including London and no more". So he went and pushed ahead with the pre-existing M+B band.

It's all rather a sad misunderstanding.

Now, why Mike might be suing anyone at this point is conjecture. It's been established that Brian and co can call themselves former or erstwhile Beach Boys in their publicity and can mention that they play Beach Boys songs. What they cannot do is put the phrase "Beach Boys" in the name of their band. After the Daily Mail fiasco where Mike was laughed out of court I doubt he'd try that on again. He's fond of his lawyers but he's not actually stupid.

Is Mike suing anyone ?  Suppose - and I grant it's a radical idea, involving considering the available evidence in isolation without any spin or bias, but indulge me - it's Brian et al bringing the suit ? The wording of the piece gives no clues as to who is suing who. In fact, if anything, the author appears to imply that the litigation isn't pending but actually in progress.

to be fair AGD, we don't know who's suing who. Just an assumption going on prior behaviour. You are quite correct that there is no identification of who might be suing who.

In one of his previous recent interviews, Al commented that they were wanting to refer to themselves as Beach Boys in some way, but were pretty sure of a resulting lawsuit. The assumption was that Mike would sue to stop it, but it's always possible that Brian et al would need to sue to gain that right. The link was posted here. I'd look it up, but I'm headed out to work.

As I understand it, and AGD would be the oracle here, BRI licences the rights to "The Beach Boys" name to 'The Mike & Bruce' show. Brian Douglas Wilson is a voting member of BRI and therefore a part of the decision to grant that license.

If he, Al and Dave now wish to use the moniker "The Beach Boys" they could await the next time the license is up, or they could presumably launch legal action. I am unsure what grounds they might do so. You could argue there are more "original" Beach Boys in in Brian's band as it is currently touring and recording but that's not really the point, legally speaking. The license is owned or leased to Mike.

Reminds me of Yes and ABWH.....

If Brian & Co. tried to refer to themselves as "The Beach Boys", or used the Double-B phrase in the prime advertising, they would most certainly be sued.

By Brother Records Inc., who hold the trademark. Contrary to what has been stated in reviews of the recent BBAD gigs, Mike doesn't own the name: it's licensed to him by BRI (yeah, we all know that here but a wee reminder of the facts never hurts). If they wanted to 'regain' the right to use the marquee name (an act they've not apparently contemplated for some 15 years), they wouldn't have to resort to lawsuits - just call an emergency meeting of the voting members of BRI and table a motion to revoke the license.

Except, they won't do that: there's no point, because Mike won't vote against himself, and Carl's estate won't kiss goodbye to a nice six-figure annual income on a point of (questionable) artistic integrity. So, vote tied at 2-2, status quo remains.

Mike & Bruce have the BB name for touring only - they cannot release anything as by The Beach Boys (nor can Brian or Alan).

Oh, bring it on. Popcorn, anyone?  ;D

What's the difference. There are no 'reunion' projects on the horizon that we know about.

Most involved are millionaires many times over. I'm sure Carl's estate will be taken care of no matter what the outcome over the naming rights. David is the new (old) guy in. I'm sure he'll benefit as well. Maybe Blondie, too.

All I want is all involved to keep recording albums as 'The Beach Boys'. I'm sure Capitol records would like to see that, too. That's not happening right now. I like Mike and Bruce but I've got to side with Brian's camp here.

Share the name! At least let Brian's group use 'original Beach Boys members' or something. 'Founding members' is more like it. Unless Blondie gets more involved.  ;)

Yep.

If they can get together (every year or so) and record a new Beach Boys album, there's really nothing else that concerns me with regard to their current situation.  They can sue each other all day -- it's their business.  I really don't care if there's two, three or four different camps touring playing "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "Barbara Ann."  Sure... it's silly, confusing and underscores their wacky legacy -- but whatever they need to do to enjoy themselves, have-at-it.

Just give me some new albums.  We've got a LOT of missed opportunities and lost decades.  This was a pretty decent record -- I would like a few more before it's all over.

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d5/The_Beach_Boys_-_That's_Why_God_Made_the_Radio_Album_Cover.jpg)

I know nothing of the corporate stuff, but would a 2-2 tie ensure the status quo remaining? Does Mike have the license in perpetuity, barring a vote to take it away, or do they renew it every so often. Because if it does come up for renewal, it would seem as though a tie would benefit those who don't want him to keep using the name.

And....we're making (or maybe not) a big assumption that Brian even wants the Beach Boys' name. I don't think so, not at this stage of his physical and emotional life, but I wouldn't put anything past Melinda, and I don't mean that in a critical way.

However, it is a bit odd that for this recent "Brian Wilson Show", there was not a single Brian Wilson solo song performed, all Beach Boys' songs. I wonder what that tells you about how Brianandhiswifeandmanagers feel about his solo material? Just saying....

It's weird that on a joint tour with Jeff Beck and featuring 3 other Beach Boys who have to do some leads on BB songs, the setlists sometimes get a bit too tight to include Your Imagination and Goin' Home? I betcha some come back into the set anyway. BW mentioned it in an interview today.
  
Then someone can say: "I went to this show to see Brian, Al, David, and Blondie sing Beach Boys songs! Why is Melinda forcing them to sing solo Brian Wilson songs? People want to hear the hits! They should've given another song to Blondie or David! She's trying to big up Brian Wilson at the expense of the Beach Boys legacy -- I wouldn't put anything past her!"
 

Which I'm sure most people would agree is a good thing.

But makes me wonder: if M&B were legally allowed under the contract to release recorded product as being "by The Beach Boys", would they have released any new "BB" albums during the '98-'11 period? Would "Santa's Going to Kokomo" have been a "Beach Boys" song? My guess is yes.

2-2 means there's no  majority in favor of change. Thus, there is none. Bit like a championship boxing match that's scored a tie: the champ wasn't beaten, ergo remains the champ.

The BBs should be all group members or no BBs at this point. Enough with Mike's group touring with less BBs than in Brian's solo group.

Coming to a stage near you...."Mike Love and the Kokomo Krusaders + Bruce"

First reference to "legal" issues:

http://www.wmmr.com/music/news/story.aspx?ID=2025029

Previously discussed in this thread:  http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,16165.0.html

WORD UP.

I just read that interview link with quotes from Mike and Al.

Here's a question: according to what I've read here, Al's main problem in touring as BB Family and Friends was that he refused to pay the same licensing fee to BRI that Mike's Beach Boys does. If Al had done that, he could have secured a touring license. So what is to stop Brian from paying the agreed-upon licensing fee in exchange for using a Beach Boys type of name or using it in advertising?  Why would he want to do an end run around that requirement, seeing that Al already lost that suit? Brian doesn't seem to be averse to losing money on his tours, since he carries a large band and hasn't sold out in all markets or particular tours. So, what's another expense for him since he tours for the art or for pride or whatever and not to make lots of money? Part of the licensing fee money would go back to him and Al as members of BRI.

The terms of the license changed a good few years ago (1999, I think) and it became exclusive: prior to that, had they all so wished, and had they complied with the terms (which Alan didn't), we could have had three bands touring as "The Beach Boys".  ;D

The thing to remember here is that all this was decided upon by a BRI member vote, which had to be at least 3-1. I'll not insult anyone here by pointing out the very obvious implications of that.

If Al has made reference to a desire to tour as "The Original Beach Boys" then he, Brian & co would have to launch a lawsuit to gain entitlement to use the phrase "Beach Boys" in the title of their band or in their promotional material.

From what AGD says, and I have no reason to doubt him, Carl's estate would vote to retain the status quo. Therefore calling a meeting of BRI and tabling a motion to change the licence agreement would be futile. So it could be that the legal action mentioned is wresting the Beach Boys moniker from Mike & Bruce.

If so (remember we still don't know who's suing who for what)...that would pretty much kill Mike  & Bruce's show dead unless there was an arrangement that both parties could use the title. I can see this getting nasty :(

I wonder how much Joe Thomas has to do with this? I've read quotes from him referring to his belief that Brian wants to be in a band, but his band was taken away from him, or something to that effect.  How can it be the band was taken away from him when Brian voted to take his own band away from himself, or the name at least, several years ago? Also, last I looked, Brian has had a band for a long time now, a very good band. Brian seemed to be happy with that band until recently. Mike has alluded to the difficulty of working with Brian's people during the reunion and since Joe Thomas held all the cards, and is on Brian's side, it seems that Joe has something to do with it. Maybe Joe is cheerleading or leading whatever is now going on behind the scenes. I could be wrong, but it will be interesting if it ever comes out. Joe is no stranger himself to litigation with Brian, albeit on the other side.

Good point, Brian said that his band was better than the Beach Boys in at least one interview.  I think Mike Love wants to stay with his efficient, slimmed down version of the BB's, as the shows cost less to produce, hence they make more money.

Even if legally Al and Brian can't refer to themselves as original members of the BB's and in advertising shows, every article I have read about any member refers to them in that way.  I wonder if the market can support two bands playing basically the same music.

I wonder about Carl's estate though, it is the one whose idea it was to take back an exclusive license to Mike and give non-exclusive licenses to all three. Then Al blew it up in their faces, so maybe they are set against trying it again. Good question, Cam.

Kind of weird to call someone else Cam, Cam. Did you forget what account you were logged in as?

No, I'm self-encouraging.

That's at least 30% less weird!

I wonder when we'll find out what this whole brouhaha is about.

Joe Thomas took Mike's t-bird away.

Mike.."I did not fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. I cannot fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. I am not his employer. I do not have such authority,
And even if I did, I would never fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. I love Brian Wilson."



If Brian wants a band he still has one it seems. Wouldn't it be great if one day he just turns up?

It could be Bill is suing Sue.........

There may not be any actual litigation pending, but perhaps BRI issued a warning to stop talking negatively about Mike's Beach Boys (yes, you, Al).  It may be BRI interpreted it as being potentially harmful to Beach Boys' revenue, and BRI has a fiduciary duty to make sure that doesn't happen. I know that's offensive to some folks, but that may be what's happening. If there is no lawsuit or other court action eventually filed, that could be it.

If it's more than that, then a lawsuit and/or countersuit will be filed and details will come out. Unless they negotiate and settle in some other venue, but that might come out in due time, too. Wait and see. If Joe Thomas is involved, there may also be pressure from Capitol to try to bring Mike back around for a reunion, since they may feel any potential projects would sell better if it goes by the Beach Boys name.

As fans I think it's hard for us to get inside these guys heads.  To us it seems so crazy that they would be fighting all the time, but to them it's not that big of a deal.  They're crazy rock stars, by the way.

In Brian's case, artistically he can do whatever he wants and his NAME is enough to get him respect.  He doesn't give a sh*t about what's legal or who owns the name or whatever... so if he's in lawsuits or suing people or whatever, he doesn't care one way or the other.  It's something his managers and lawyers do.

Mike is a right fighter, he's usually right, and will fight to the end to make sure that everybody knows it.  If that means suing people, even his own family, he thinks it's worth it.  He doesn't have the generosity or the grace to just let sh*t go when he feels like he's been wronged.  I'm a similar person, I fight to be right and it burns me in the end.  He'd be much smarter, and probably much richer which he seems to be concerned about, if he would just let things slide sometimes.   What tiny, tiny bit of conscience he has about all this, he excuses by claiming that he's really not fighting Brian, just Brian's handlers.  Which as usual, is right.

Everybody else is hanging on.  Their opinions don't matter much and they seem to be pretty agreeable people who could get along if Mike and Brian could get along. 

Mike wasn't right when he sued Brian in '05 and got his ass kicked by the judge. You'd think he woulda learned.....

And I almost agree. But Al does have a big card to play along with Brian and Mike in that he has one of the four votes in BRI. So while I definitely think that although Brian and Mike (and their people) getting along is very important, if Mike and Al's relationship (or at least a truce) is necessary for The Beach Boys to function in one way or another.

I'd disagree... I think Al would ignore whatever Mike did if Brian joined up.  If Brian joined the Beach Boys, Al would join and be the better man, and forget whatever Mike was doing or saying.  MIKE wouldn't, but Al would. 

I think Mike and Brian are the only two hard to get along with personalities in the group.  Brian's a much more shrewd businessman than anybody in the group, because he's shirked that responsiblity off to people who can be ruthless if they want, since Brian has a condition.  How many times have we heard the reason Brian absolutely just won't do anything with Mike or Al or whoever, is because he's ill and it'd be bad for his health?  How do you negotiate with that?  ... essentially, Brian holds all the power in this, and Mike is trying his best to be just as hard-ass as Brian is.  Brian has all the talent and respect so it's easy to side with him for me. 

All this boils down to, Brian is the genius.  The entire band is lopsided and always has been... the reason Brian isn't going to PAY for the right to use the name is because he feels he shouldn't have to.  He will NOt take it back exclusively and pay for it.  He sat at home for years and still got a paycheck.  Why?  ... because he *IS* the Beach Boys.  The whole license thing was just an excuse to get a reason to make his paycheck valid in some way, when he wasn't doing anything.  This is the same Brian that screwed Mike out of royalties, knowingly, for 30 years. 

There will never be a scenario where Brian Wilson is paying somebody to call himself a Beach Boy.  If he ever ends up calling himself the Beach Boys, it'll be because the entire situation was reworked so that they just split the profit or something.  In the end this isn't even important to Brian, he makes his music and does his art and they call it whatever they're going to call it.  People still go see him and he still gets paid, he lets his managers and lawyers fight Mike or whoever needs to be fought.  He's probably asleep right now. 

As far as “non-exclusive” licenses to use the BB name, it does seem as though that was only briefly in force in the 1998-1999 timeframe, and that seemed to be more due to the shuffling and uncertainty among the various factions. More importantly, whomever you believe should or shouldn’t morally get to use the name, I don’t think handing out non-exclusive licenses would have worked long-term. There is simply no way literally having two (or potentially three in theory) bands touring specifically as “The Beach Boys” would have worked. There are other examples of bands splintering with different “versions” of a band, but in most of those cases some sort of variant on the band’s name is used. You know, “Joey Molland’s Badfinger” or something. This has shaky results even in those cases. But two bands booking shows and selling tickets as “The Beach Boys”, with no modifiers in the name, would never work logistically or financially. Promoters and venues would be beyond confused, not to mention ticket buyers. Both shows would be diluted. The only good thing that could have come from continued use of a non-exclusive license is that I suppose theoretically it could have forced the various factions back together sooner to reunite, simply to avoid diluting the trademark by splintering.

As far as the current situation with “BAD” being billed as “original Beach Boys”, I would have to guess any potential litigation would involve promoting themselves with descriptors, NOT literally billing their concert under the name “The Original Beach Boys.” I would highly doubt that was ever considered or attempted. They would all know from the “Beach Boys Family & Friends” debacle that any use of the trademark within the actual band title is almost always going to violate the exclusive license. On the other hand, simply advertising that band members are “original Beach Boys” is a more grey area. In general, it is allowed as it is descriptive. This is where it gets muddy though, as promoters and venues may take those descriptors and start advertising shows with those words too prominently featured. But ultimately, I think Mike (and/or BRI) would have a hard time keeping any or all of Brian, Al, and David from stating that they are “original Beach Boys” in tour promotional materials and the like. Even amidst Al’s fail-status legal maneuvering in the 2000’s, where he was apparently temporarily barred from even calling himself a “Beach Boy”, he eventually regained that right.

It’s obviously not as simple as that. The definition of what “Beach Boys” we’re talking about alone is questionable. Mike didn’t “fire” Brian from the corporate “Beach Boys.” Brian is and has always been a Beach Boy.

But Mike holds the exclusive license to the band’s name. While the C50 tour was a unique arrangement apparently basically outside of that license, Mike did choose to move back to his own band sans Brian, Al, and David. As he holds the exclusive license to the name, one could argue that, aside from potential future moves by BRI members to change the licensing arrangements, that in the immediate, Mike’s moves essentially precluded Brian, Al, and David from being in the currently-touring configuration of the “Beach Boys.”

All Mike has said is that he would like to work with Brian, and he apparently is not ruling out more reunions in the future. I see no evidence of an open invitation to all the other Beach Boys to join his band. It’s all kind of useless guessing, as it’s not viable that they would all join Mike’s band or want to. But I’m not convinced Mike would agree to bring both Brian and Al into his touring band and let them share in the proceeds off the top like he does. Again, all useless conjecture regarding an unrealistic possibility, but if Brian, Al, and David all decided “hey, for the sake of keeping us all together, we’ll all just join Mike’s band”, I don’t believe Mike would agree to bring them on with David salaried and Brian and Al getting a cut off the top. So I don’t buy that Brian has a band “waiting for him.” If he wants to turn up and play for free or something, I would guess Mike would love that. He might even agree to give Brian a cut. But would he give Al an equal cut too, and pay to add David, all while playing these “smaller markets” that simply “can’t afford” the C50 lineup?

As far as I’m concerned, this idea that Mike’s band is ready and sitting there waiting to take in all stray Beach Boys if they’re willing, is bogus.

So when Brian was "fired" in the early 80s until he went back with Landy, was that just a suspension from the touring band?

My understanding from various posts here and elsewhere is that Mike doesn't make proceeds off the top. He pays a set percentage to BRI members off the gross, not the net.

That doesn't make a lot of sense does it.

Mike HAS SAID MANY TIMES THAT "others" planned him out of what was supposed to be the next BB album and intimated or directly stated that his ambition to work with BW has been hijacked and thwarted by "others."  What is Mike talking about? This is a distinctly different perspective from Jon's that Mike walked away from further shows and a second album.  If I were Mike and they told me I could "add lyrics" to a JT/BW song as long as I wrote them in the next 15 minutes in some corner of the studio and that any hope to be alone and write with BW is off limits, then I might not want to be part of such a project either.  To what extend was Mike mistreated, alienated and sectioned off during TWGMTR? My guess is that it was to a rather great extent.