CALIFORNIA FEDERAL JUDGE RULES IN FAVOR OF FUTURE/NOW FILMS
"It's good to remember the 60's, but some say if you remember the 60's you weren't there. Perhaps to assist all of us in remembering the 60's, Defendants David Thomas and Laurel Legler made a film on the MC5, a 60's Detroit Rock and Roll band that made its mark on American history with loud rock and roll and radical perceptions positing an imperialistic and materialistic America. This lawsuit teaches that materialism remains with us, as Plaintiffs vigorously seek money from Defendants. Although the MC5 faded away largely due to drugs, the band lingers on in the memory of many, and would be known to many other but for pending legal feuds..."
"The MC5 is historically significant and its music and story merit being heard today. The film had and still has the potential to spread the music and story of the MC5. Plaintiffs persisted in continuing to encourage Thomas and Legler to complete the film. Thomas and Legler took action in reliance on that encouragement. Further, no terms specific enough to form an enforceable contract were ever agreed upon between any plaintiff and any defendant, and no defendant made any actionable false representations to any plaintiff."
(signed) The Honorable Andrew J Guilford, United States District Judge
Findings Of Fact And Conclusions Of Law, issued March 31, 2007
Could this blockbuster ruling finally clear the remaining obstacles and enable the long-overdue release of the brilliant MC5 - A True Testimonial film?
Detroit Free Press: Vincent Cox, the attorney for David Thomas and Laurel Legler of Future/Now, said the decision lays the groundwork for the film's release, but licensing still must be negotiated. Kramer's representatives declined to comment.
Detroit News: "We're hopeful," said Thomas and Legler's attorney, Vincent Cox. "There are still some problems because the deal with the DVD distributor was damaged by the actions of Warner Chappell in refusing to issue the license. In order for there to be a release, that question has to be cleared up."
E-mail message from Margaret Saadi, 4 September 2001
Exhibit 348 - USDC Case Number CV 05-8381 AG (CTx):
i write to let you know that i also received the zenta LLC film paperwork and at first pass, it reflects exactly what wayne, dennis and michael (as well as becky tyner) agreed to many years ago when this idea was in it's conception phase. now that the film has (miraculously and righteously!) entered its post-production phase, the film makers appear to be attending to all business points... i am happy to tell you that all parties involved with the MC5 on my end are completely in support of future/now films undertaking thus far. dave and laurel have shown themselves to be quite talented, and in the last five years i have developed a great trust in them as people and as devoted storytellers....
VINCENT COX, FUTURE/NOW ATTORNEY: When did you first learn that Warner/Chappell would refuse to license a composition for use in a film if a songwriter objected?
WAYNE KRAMER: "I heard a story over there about sometimes a filmmaker wants to use a musician's song in his movie, but, for whatever reason, the musician doesn't want the song in the movie. It happens from time to time. The filmmaker, then, usually buys the songwriter a Cadillac or offers him a great deal of money. They never attack the songwriter."
"It's a shame," says Patti Smith, who had two children with the guitarist [Fred "Sonic" Smith].
"I understand from my son [Jackson] that it's a wonderful movie, and I support it. It's being blocked by Wayne Kramer, and I think that's unfortunate. My son is one of the true guardians of his father's name, and he felt that the movie served his father well, and he was hoping that it would come out. These things are always a shame, when someone is trying to do something good and it gets tainted by greed."
Once More With Feeling by Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune -
May 30, 2004
“I said to Laurel and David all along, their journey has so paralleled that of the MC5,” says Tyner’s widow Becky. “Now we’re at the breakup of the MC5. The bully tactics, the pressure. It’s almost cosmic...”
Jackson Smith, the Detroit-based musician son of Fred and Patti Smith, is also disappointed that release of “A True Testimonial” is being held up. “It’s a travesty that it would be blocked,” Smith says. “It’s a great .. of the band, it’s a great .. of life, and it’s a great .. of things ... far and beyond the band...”
Famed Grande Ballroom poster artist Gary Grimshaw, who recently moved back to Detroit from San Francisco, is “disturbed” by Kramer’s opposition to the film. Grimshaw did the cover graphics for the “True Testimonial” film, as well as for Kramer’s film. “I had no idea when I did that for him that there was going to be any problem, that Wayne would set it up as the only authorized MC5 movie as opposed to ‘A True Testimonial.’ If I’d known, I don’t think I would have done the cover for him.”
MC5 In Turmoil Yet Again by Susan Whitall, Detroit News - March 31, 2004
"Sometimes we don't see ourselves as we really are, sometimes we need an outsider to cut through the bullshit and portray the truth. Sometimes there is no truth, all you have is what's in the moment. Maybe the parties involved are too close to it. Because the end was painful. The end of the band was painful, and the end of the movie is painful because it shows the truth. And the truth is not grand or pretty or triumphant. The end is sad. The end is about drugs and desperation and falling apart.
But it is what happened. And there is a certain dignity in letting the truth be what it is and telling the past simply, without embellishment. While watching the movie, I thought to myself: no matter where any of you guys are now, you can look at yourself in the mirror every single day and say, I was in the MC5. I made history. I changed rock and roll. End of story. No matter what you wanted to have happened, no matter if the band crashed and burned before its time, no matter if you didnt achieve what you thought the band had the potential of achieving. You were still the fucking MC5 and YOU CHANGED THE WORLD. I realize that doesn't solve arguments or doesn't pay the bills, but I wish it could provide them with some kind of inner peace or tranquility or resolve or at least smug satisfaction."
The MC5: A True Testimonial
by Caryn Rose, jukeboxgraduate.com
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