The entertainment industry has always been plagued by lawsuits. Artist suing other artists, artists suing their managers and record companies. Artists being sued by their record companies. Many are well known due to the stature of the artists. For example: Prince’s well publicized battles and who can forget John Fogerty vs John Fogerty.
One of the craziest lawsuits ever, and one you likely never heard of, was launched today in 1990, in a German court. Death Metal Polka group “Glocke die Katze” instructed their lawyer to commence a legal action against a staggering list of defendants that included: Ted Nugent, Andrew Lloyd Weber, Yusaf Islam, Bob Seeger, legendary Canadian children’s entertainer Fred Penner and the estate of Harry Chapin. By no means a complete list, the total number of defendants would approach 100.
“Glocke die Katze” got their start playing Oktoberfest stages in the 60’s in Munich. Brothers Fritz and Morris soon tired of playing folksy German standards, like many European artists, they were inspired by American Blues music and soon were creating music more inline with “modern” music, though critics would repeatedly say that the accordion was unlikely to have much impact on music that would appeal to young adults. At that time no one could have foreseen the impact Weird Al would have on popular music.
Not to be deterred, Fritz and Morris continued to try their talents on any opportunity they could talk someone into giving them. There was a short lived music variety show called “Katze aus dem Sack” however it was overshadowed by much better received offerings such as “Sonny and Cher” or “The Monkees”. Following the failure of their show, the brothers formed a Punk band called “Haut die Katze ab”. Their first American show saw the end of the band as members were beaten by group of PETA supporters who took offense with the name of the band. Always flirting with success but never really achieving it, by 1980, after a failed attempt at New Wave under the name “eine Herde Katzen”, Fritz and Morris finally gave up on dreams of success and opened a pet store named “Katzen im Haus”
So how does a pair on never truly successful brothers wind up suing a large portion of the entertainment industry? Chalk that up to a greedy lawyer with big ideas. Garland “Garfield” Davis, convinced the brothers that their long term use of feline related names meant a case could be made that they had influenced other artists to use feline themes and therefore they should be paid royalties. He convinced the brothers to pay him an initial retainer of 1 million dollars, which they did by taking out a high risk loan against the value of the pet store. Sadly, the brother’s luck,never that good outside the pet store caught up with them again as the case was thrown out of court before Garfield could even finish the filing. He disappeared with the brother’s money. Last seen the brothers were penniless and trying to flog their story to VH1.
Also on this day:
1880 – Joseph Merrick records “Born this Way”. A century will pass before Lady GaGa will make it a hit of her own.
1967 – Stanley Kubrik signs a production contract with NASA.
1975 – A tragic and somewhat Ironic parachuting accident claims a brilliant song writer who penned a song later made famous by a Mr. Tom Petty.
1985 – Plans are drawn up to take a young British singer’s work and turn it into one of the most enduring practical jokes of all time.
Born on this day:
1947 – The artist known as “Gleam”, famously wrote the jingle for Scrubbin’ Bubbles
1951 – John “Fingers” Johnson, afflicted with a rare disorder that caused his hands to grow 5x the size of normal. Famous for collaborating with Leo Fender to produce a now rare instrument called the StretchOCaster, which features 30 strings, takes an hour to tune and unless you suffer the same affliction as “Fingers”, impossible to play.
Died on this day
1495 – Ned Goffo, Italian Harp player, died when his instrument fell on him and sliced him up like a stack of tomatoes at Subway.
1955 - Corcad Gearr, Irish guitarist, dies while performing “American Pie” and sadly the levy was not dry.
On the Menu:
Fool your friends, who needs real chicken when you can have Mock Chicken?
Quote of the Day:
A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. —Roald Dahl
Cultural Contribution:
Cartoon of the Day:
Inspirobot:
Check out this towering Spark from Yesterday from @jimender2 Spark! Pro series - 31st March 2022
