Wayne Kramer/MC5 news

[Chrome]

I know there are some fans here ... this is from www.dkt-mc5.com via the Disinfo site:

April 1, 2004

An Open Letter from Wayne Kramer

Re: Future/Now Films & Rebecca Derminer (Tyner)

There have been vicious attacks directed at me in the last few days and I will tell you why I am protecting my rights -- and those of the MC5 -- from Future/Now Films.

Last month Dave Thomas, Laurel Legler and Rebecca Derminer (Tyner) entered a motion in court to strip me of my MC5 songs. Now, I must now defend myself both in federal court and in the court of public opinion. This is an effort on their part to coerce me to relinquish my rights to my work and my story.

Up to the day I was served with the court papers, I held out hope that they would do the right thing. They are doing this to me solely because I insisted they honor an agreement that was made between them and me at the start of this movie.

This is a great disappointment for all of us who worked so hard supporting a film we all believed in.

Dave Thomas and Laurel Legler should be explaining their actions to all of you. They are at the core of these attacks and have enlisted many, including Rebecca Derminer (Tyner), to help them.

For people who throw the word “righteous” around a lot, they should know that it means right thinking and right conduct.

They have demonstrated neither.

Around 1996, Dave Thomas and Laurel Legler approached me. They wanted to make a film about the MC5. They said my participation was vital. They also said they had never made a full-length film before. I told them I would assist in whatever way I could under one condition: That I would be the music producer for the film and that I would share in any profits from my story. They assured me, without hesitation, that we had an agreement. We could both benefit from the fruits of our efforts. I would do the music and they would get their movie made.

In 1997 I worked with them in Chicago filming in Lincoln Park. The seven-minute trailer-with my interview-was completed and it won them the Roy W. Dean Film Grant award.

Through the whole of 1998 and 1999, our office arranged vital interviews for the documentary with people who had never agreed to be interviewed on camera about the MC5. These interviews were granted on the basis of my vouching for the filmmakers.

By fall 1999, I came to Detroit to be interviewed at length for the documentary. These interviews proved to be the backbone narrative for the entire film. I worked hard on the interviews and was committed to telling the story as honestly as I could: The good and the bad.

We moved ahead with our mutual plans for a companion soundtrack album with some great bands covering MC5 songs. Laurel Legler encouraged us to go into the marketplace to find a home for the soundtrack. We had commitments and even recorded tracks from major artists. Laurel Legler introduced us to third parties as the "music people" on the film. She sent us recommendations for our soundtrack project. We acquired distribution offers from credible music business companies. We even wrote a letter for Dave Thomas and Laurel Legler to their bank illustrating the nature of our agreement so that they could ask for money to get the film produced.

We endorsed their project to many companies here on the West Coast, including Warner-Chappell Music Publishing. We attended the initial meetings with Warner-Chappell so that, as prospective partners, Warner/Chappell could see that I was in support of the project. I was referred to during these meetings as the "music producer." We were making great progress and we had substantial offers on the table.

After working with Dave and Laurel for four years bringing the film into production, we felt it was well past time to contract our agreement. We wanted what we had agreed on in the beginning of our work together. I made it clear to Dave Thomas that I had created my own job on the film and that we didn't want what was theirs, only what we had worked for ourselves. I didn't want their money, or their credit. In fact, we were creating income for Future/Now Films and their investors and the other members of the band and the widows, whose support we had also encouraged. Dave Thomas refused to discuss this with me.

In 2001, after much prodding, Dave and Laurel showed us 20 minutes of the film and it was clear that they had eliminated me from the music production work. We saw 20 minutes of a film with the music finished. I was extremely disappointed. Not by what they had done with the music, but that I had been lied to and used. We wanted answers. The more we reached out, the more they avoided us.

I signed their partnership agreement. Their lawyers told us that their agreement was not binding until I also signed an image and publicity release that I found to be egregious. I have not signed the release/waiver. It's excessive.

They got what they wanted from me and kicked me to the curb without even a mention of our original agreement. I knew it was binding. I did business based upon it. I committed myself, and all my resources to their film. It was my work and it's the story of my youth. It's also my music. And apparently, it was my mistake in trusting them.

By April 2002, with the music work completed without my participation and all discussion of the accompanying soundtrack unresolved, the film was screened in Chicago. I was asked to attend, still with no explanation offered as to why my job was taken from me. Later, Dave told us that they would not be meeting with us to discuss our outstanding business.

We considered withdrawing our endorsement. We discussed it with Dennis Thompson and Michael Davis. We called the investors. We reached out to Dave and Laurel and their attorneys--personally and through our attorneys--by telephone, fax, email and by letter and they ignored our attempts to resolve matters.

Warner-Chappell asked us if matters had been resolved. They had not, but we still did not stand in the way of F/NF's efforts to find distribution for the film. Perhaps there was still hope for resolution? We had worked hard on it and spent a great deal of our own money. We agreed to a festival-only license. Warner/Chappell issued a one year-limited gratis license to the filmmakers, which expired in early Fall 2003.

They continued to screen the film after the license expired.

Still, we remained open-minded. We even offered them the job as the production company on our own performance DVD and event in London last year and we offered--as an olive branch--to host a screening of their film to students in London. To all of this we have been denied consideration. As a thank you, they bullied and threatened our partners on the project.

At one point later, Dave Thomas called me and asked what I wanted. Again I gave him my request that he honor our original agreement. He refused.

We requested that W/C withhold a license to the music. They honored the request of Dennis Thompson, Michael Davis and me. They continue to do so.

F/NF continues to screen the unlicensed film in cities across the country for profit, making it, officially, a bootleg film.

The soundtrack album is lost forever and I am being demonized for demanding what was promised to me from the beginning. Am I expected to throw away the rights to my music and my story because the filmmakers have made a "righteous" movie about a "righteous" band? Horseshit. I did all that was asked of me, and much more. All we expected was an opportunity to earn a living doing what could be done with my own music and my own story.

If my partners in the MC5 and the widows and friends wanted to tell their story and contribute to this film for their own reasons, or-not, that's perfectly fine with me. I have no quarrel with them. But that is not the reason I became involved. I wanted to work. That's all I ever wanted. I didn't want anyone to give me anything. I do music for film and television for a living. I was willing and able to generate my own paycheck, but Dave Thomas and Laurel Legler took that away from me. Even after they assured us time and again that we were their full partners.

W/C is protecting their copyrights, as is their legal responsibility. Their attorneys have sent a cease-and-desist letter to all involved with Future/Now Films, who have brought this upon themselves.

Future/Now Films have responded to my right to protect my body of work and my image by filing a motion against me in federal bankruptcy court. They are attempting to blackmail me into agreeing to their license. It's an onerous maneuver. They hold a metaphorical gun to my head and then ask if I'm willing to help them with their "license problems." They have enlisted Rebecca Derminer (Tyner) as their emotional enforcer. She has co-signed their motion.

They reveal their contempt for me by having their attorney call with the promise that they want to "make Wayne a star." As if I'm a naïve teenager with rock star fantasy.

Dave Thomas has told a professional associate that they will "take Wayne's publishing from him in 30 days." I have also been told that they will "write a book called I Killed Wayne Kramer," and that they are "taking this to the press. We will make Wayne Kramer look like a fucking idiot, the asshole that he is" is soon to begin. This is ugly stuff coming from folks who "sob to journalists" over their troubles. Where is your dignity?

Because I required them to be honorable in their dealings with me, and after years of restraint, I've had enough. We have waited a long time to work this out. We have been patient. They've had years to talk to me. I am not an unreasonable man. I was willing to talk right up to the day I was served with their motion to invade my personal life. Now there is nothing in this for me but the expense of defending myself in court and the use of my time writing essays like this one. I don't need their film to make my life complete. I have a good life. I have been telling the story of the MC5 all my life. It belongs to me and my partners in the band, not Future/Now Films.

Sadly, my relationship with Rebecca Derminer (Tyner) and her family, that I have worked so hard to mend since Rob's death, has been utterly destroyed.

I'm no saint. I've been to prison, I've been to skid row, I've been homeless and in rehab and have known some shady characters in my day, but rarely have I come across people whose actions have been as cowardly, unprincipled, duplicitous and fundamentally dishonest as Dave Thomas, Laurel Legler and their attorneys Bob Labate and Peter Strand.

Wayne Kramer

[randissimo]

Chrome,

I somehow missed this post.... I have since 1968 been a big fan of the MC5. I used to go to a lot of their shows and thought at the time that they were the baddest rock n roll band in the US!

That is a sad but interesting letter... I know Wayne Kramer has payed a lot of dues over the years... There's a great book on the history of the MC5 and the White Panther party written by John Sinclair. It's entitled, "Guitar Army"...

[Chrome]

Thanks for the tip on that book ...

Regarding Kramer's letter: I wonder what it is about mixing music and business that so rarely seems to work out ... I mean, it's amazing that musicians (and other artists) still seem to be getting ripped off as much today as they were decades ago.

[Upright Bill]

I have three of Wayne's newest CDs and, when in the right mood, enjoy them very much.

The problem with mixing business with music is, IMHO, that most musicians are very trusting people and never expect another human to take advantage of them. Many business people see those types of folks as an easy mark.

[randissimo]

  Upright Bill said:

I have three of Wayne's newest CDs and, when in the right mood, enjoy them very much.

The problem with mixing business with music is, IMHO, that most musicians are very trusting people and never expect another human to take advantage of them. Many business people see those types of folks as an easy mark.

Word

[Werf]

I think Wayne and the filmmakers must have reached some sort of agreement. Up until a week ago there was an injunction on the film's distribution or showing. It was to have been at UICA Film Theater in Grand Rapids, but Vincent Jefchek, the program manager there was told he could not project it. But abruptly things changed, he was alerted that it was premiering in NYC and so it played, not at UICA, but at Morningstar Cafe (the old Ten Weston Gallery) last weekend in G.R.

I saw a screener of the flick and Wayne was pretty much the star of it. From his letter it does sound like he was screwed, but probably, he now has some bread in his pocket or a deal for a soundtrack.

[Upright Bill]

  R.Wilder said:

he was alerted that it was premiering in NYC and so it played, not at UICA, but at Morningstar Cafe (the old Ten Weston Gallery) last weekend in G.R.

It would have been nice to know that it was playing locally! Any chance it will be shown at UICA?

[jamn]

  Upright Bill said:

  R.Wilder said:

he was alerted that it was premiering in NYC and so it played, not at UICA, but at Morningstar Cafe (the old Ten Weston Gallery) last weekend in G.R.

It would have been nice to know that it was playing locally! Any chance it will be shown at UICA?

I am interested as well.

[BFrank]

I saw the film about a month ago. It was a good documentary on the history of the band. Some great footage, too. Supposedly the DVD will have complete songs. A "must-have" for sure.