Wolfgang's Vault, Who's at fault?

If you’re a big fan of live music, I mean really raw and loud concert music from legendary bands and performers of the psychedelic era such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Grateful Dead, The Doors, The Eagles,Pink Floyd, America etc. to the metal and grunge years like Metallica, Van Halen, April Wine, Nirvana, Guns n' Roses and surprise even Madonna!--

Then all you need to do is go to Wolfgang’s Vault, register for free and you can listen to lots of rare live performances by these legends of the music world from the collections of the late Concert Promoter Bill Graham whose real name is Wolfgang Grajonca who was born in Germany but escaped the Nazis in the 1930's and migrated to America and made the Bronx his home in the Big Apple wherein he Anglicized his name to you bet, Bill Graham; then moved to the Bay Area in the West Coast and there at the Fillmore Auditorium (Fillmore West) and Winterland in San Francisco ( then later in Fillmore East in New York City) revolutionized the concert scene in the United States from the 1960s onwards and lived the American Dream.


His untimely death in a helicopter crash in 1991 cut short his legendary love of promoting concerts and left thousands of taped live performances from the more than 35,000 shows that his company Bill Graham Presents (BGP) produced which is now made available to us, music lover through the website. The site also added the archives of thousands of performances and interviews of the nationally-syndicated radio shows like the King Biscuit Music Hour and Silver Eagle Cross Country.

The site is a music enthusiast’s haven where you can appreciate the “live“ and raw music of the artists and performers; you can say it’s a real manna from heaven courtesy of the departed promoter and the website owner William Sagan who acquired the assets of Mr. Graham for a “cheap” $5 million three years ago and took a gamble in its potential and is now reaping the fruits of his venture.



Although some groups like Led Zeppelin, Santana and the surviving members of The Doors and Grateful Dead are not quite happy anout it and are now suing him not for the music though where the website claims they’re paying royalties to the artists through companies/organizations like BMI, ASCAP and SESAC but for something else; that the website is allegedly offering free music to illegally benefit from the sales of other stuffs like T- Shirts, vintage concert posters and tickets who obviously does not belong to them but to the late concert promoter.



Just read between the lines…

“Sagan simply doesn't have the legal rights to exploit and profit from the extraordinary success of these musicians," Jeff Reeves, who represents the artists, said in a statement.

If you ask me Mr. Sagan is nothing but an enterprising man like everyone else in this capitalist world of ours (Hello, Uncle Sam?) and got lucky but obviously the dirty hands of some unscrupulous lawyers of the plaintiffs (who I don't think they really need this kind of gimmickry and green envy for they are literally and figuratively rolling in bales and bales of green monies for the rest of their lives unlike you and me) can be seen in this law suit and they will run the show to the ground for their own gain by finding loopholes that they could exploit to have a share of the ever growing potpie.

I wonder if they will have the nerve to sue Mr. Sagan if his venture was a flop and his cool $5 million went down the drain?

So what do you think?


If you love Rock & Roll visit:

Wolfgang's Vault

[All pics nicked from Wolfgang's Vault]

A Rose by any other name...

“Do you know where the “xxxx” you are? “, hollered Axl Rose when he finally appeared on stage amid the backdrop of smoke and lights as the opening notes of the GNR’s classic “Welcome to the Jungle” teared into the Palace of Auburn Hills, Michigan for the start of the November 25, 2006 show by one of the rock world’s most enigmatic and controversial showman.



Of course the crowd of more than 7,500, including this writer, although sparse by GNR’s standards, knew better--

“We’re in the jungle, alright!"

And here we are, still around and hanging out even if it was way past 11:30 in the evening (although quite early by Mr. Rose’s standard) despite the processions of unworthy “acts” hours earlier by some local bands culminating into the opening act by former Skidrow front man Sebastian Bach’s wild performance--



--that only made the crowd crying for some real hardcore, vintage rock and roll and Axl did what he always does best as he wowed us with songs from the Guns ’N Roses’ Appetite for Destruction and Use your Illusion years when he and Slash and company were on top of the world as they ruled the Rock Kingdom in the late 80’s to the early 90s plus some new tracks from the much anticipated epic album, Chinese Democracy which may or may never see the light of day because of several factors that may or maybe attributed to Axl‘s eccentricity, fickle- mindedness or overflowing musical creativity.



For more than two hours, he single- handedly put the audience transfixed and under his spell as he dominated them with his superb and airtight renditions of 19 of the best old and new Guns N’ Roses songs- Night Train, Outa Get Me, Sweet Child of Mine, Mr. Brownstone, It’s so Easy, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, Live and Let Die, You Could Be Mine, IRS, Better, The Blues, etc, etc.

He showed his piano- playing prowess with a beautiful rendition of November Rain and hushed them with his whistling and singing in the acoustic Patience.

His signature moves were still there; arms- outstretched, feet shuffling across the stage, dashing at full speed and stopping suddenly while hitting those ear- splitting notes without dropping a beat, it was vintage Axl at his best minus the notorious “crab dance” though.


Axl Rose was once and still is a monster performer, from his powerful vocals to his hardnosed presence on the stage to his wardrobe peculiarities (he had red leather boots at one time) and off- stage antics down to his notoriously harsh and trashy vocabulary, and he is still arguably rock kingdom’s most exciting showman and performer

He was atop the two speakers in front of the stage when he ended the show with “Night Train” and said his “Thank you, goodnight” to the game and sweaty audience and went to the exits but not for long for he was back again for an encore with some songs from the much-awaited but much-delayed “Chinese Democracy” album, like the title track, Chinese Democracy, followed by the future classic Madagascar, and then ended the show with a bang with Paradise City, punctuated with the flying and swirling confetti overhead!

A GNR concert would not be complete without some drunken fans heckling him and Axl giving them back with his trademark venomous “F”- word laced tongue as well as some drunks whose idea of fun is getting into a fight with another drunk, but the security is always on top of the situation and very quick to the draw as they dragged them out of the venue in a flash.

In spite of these minor glitches and interruptions, the show could only be described in Axl Rose’s own words--

“I think it's been a good night, don't you think?" Axl Rose said to the audience at the end as he and the new GNR bandmates bowed and were applauded by a wild and grateful audience for a well -deserved evening performance at the Palace from one of Rock World’s royalty.

It was a good night indeed.

But the question still remains in the minds of the GNR fanatics: when’s the much anticipated “Chinese Democracy” album gonna be released?



Only Axl Rose knows...


[Video Clips:FieldingFowler- 2006]