HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY, ROY AMES (part 3 of 3)
Eric LeBlanc-CISTI
Here's an article taken from the BLUES ACCESS Web site. Since not everyone on
BLUES-L has a Web browser, I've taken the liberty of posting this interesting
story. I've divided the story into 3 parts. Blues fans, beware!
I would like to thank Cary Wolfson for allowing me to post this. It was
originally written by Jim Sherman & published in the Houston Press.
For more info about BLUES ACCESS, e-mail Cary Wolfson <Roost...@aol.com> or
visit their Web site <http://www.interactive.line.com:80/blues/bluesaccess/>.
eRIC
PART 3 OF 3 :
TEXAS RIP-OFF: IT'S THE ROY AMES WAY
by Jim Sherman
THE ROCKEFELLERS RIP-OFF
The Duke/Peacock find was a boon for Ames, but it wasn't his main focus. While
he built his reputation as the international source for authentic Houston blues
recordings and photos, Ames continued to add to his stash of audio and video
recordings. About three years after his release from prison, he persuaded a
number of Houston artists to perform at a showcase at a nightclub called
Rockefellers. The artists were told the purpose of the event was to shoot a
concert video that would establish Houston as the blues capitol of the world.
What eventually came of the project was Saturday Night at Rockefellers, a
compact disc whose contents have been widely anthologized on Home Cooking
compilations. Several noted Houston artists appear on the CD, and all insist
they were unaware of the recording until it appeared in stores.
"We were told it was for a video," says harp player "Sonny Boy Terry" Jerome,
who was there. "Nobody knew it was going to be on a CD, and nobody signed a
release form or anything. He had some little two-tracker backstage. The next
thing we know, the guy's putting out CDs left and right on everybody.
"The original songs is what really pisses people off. Getting original music
published is heinous. And when you do a live version of a cover, you're
supposed to sign a release form or he can't put it out."
A version of what Jerome calls "an original instrumental that I'd been playing
around town for years" appears as "Mr. Rockefeller," published by the
Ames-owned Clarity Music, on Texas Harmonica Greats, one of the Home Cooking
discs to use the Rockefellers material. Jerome says, "I had never published it.
It was just a blues instrumental, but he didn't have my permission."
Another tune published by Clarity that appears on Saturday Night at
Rockefellers is "Wigs & Pigfeet." According to Kenny Abair, another of the
Rockefellers performers, that is actually "Wig Song," written by the
near-deified Sam "Lightnin' " Hopkins.
When asked about the Rockefellers album, Ames dismissed complaints about his
business practices as "grumbling." His memories of the arrangements for the
evening are much different from the those of the artists. "What I did there was
simply hire musicians to come and put on a show," Ames says. "And I informed
them that we were going to make a CD and a video of it. Anyone that tells you
otherwise, they weren't listening because everybody was there.
"I paid everybody at the session." he adds. "There would be no royalties on
that, because of the enormous number of people. How would you pay royalties? I
sat back there at the back. They certainly knew I was cutting a CD at the same
time because I had a portable recording studio there. I mean it was expensive.
I sat back there and paid everybody by check. I wrote checks back there for
over an hour after the show." Ames was unsure if the artists had signed
contracts. "Maybe I just wrote a little something on the check."
When asked if the appearance fee he paid the artists also purchased the
publishing rights to the songs they performed, he responded "Oh, boy, are you
asking a technical question." When the issue was raised again a few minutes
later he this time responded "No, the publishing rights are completely
different." When he was informed that one source of "grumbling" was Sonny Boy
Terry, upset over the Clarity Publishing on his original song, he said, "Then
he needs to come in and sign a writer's contract."
QUALITY CONTROL
What upsets many artists more than even the question of royalties is the
question of quality. Among the 8,000 master tapes reportedly in Ames'
possession there is thought to be some truly awful stuff, tapes that would have
been wiped clean with a magnet if the artist or his heirs had any say in the
matter. And even when everything clicks, any recording is going to need some
polishing, dubbing or engineering somewhere to make it the best it can be. But
all that costs money.
In 1955, vocalist Jimmy "T-99" Nelson decided to get serious about being
married and just dabble with music. In 1965, Ames asked Nelson to do some
recording just to see what happened. Since the session would feature Arnett
Cobb on sax, Calvin Owens on trumpet, and Spooky Dancer on organ } an all-star
Houston lineup } Nelson agreed to lay down a few sides without a contract.
Although Nelson signed a one-year contract in 1970 with Ames, he assumed the
material was dead. "I did these things for Ames, and then he went off to prison
for so many years," Nelson explains. 'That was stuff I was sure would hit the
big time again. This guy had it under wraps."
When Ames was released from prison, Nelson had hopes that the sessions might be
resurrected. As it happens, they were, though not in the manner Nelson might
have wanted. Shortly after his release, Ames began shopping the T-99 sessions
he had under wraps for so long. And when he found a buyer } Ace Records in
England } Nelson finally lost faith in Ames.
According to Nelson, it wasn't because he wasn't paid. "Roy sold the thing like
it was. One of the cuts the drummer drops the stick on the cuff. The trumpet's
too close to the mike, and some places it wasn't close enough. They could have
fixed all that."
The album was released as Hot Tamale Man, named for an original song which
Nelson says he holds the copyright on. Nelson was aware that the album had been
released by P-Vine and Ace. What he didn't know, at least until recently, was
that the album was available on Home Cooking, and that that ver sion said all
the songs were the property of Clarity Music.
When informed of Nelson's surprise at the album, Ames said, "I wouldn't know
where he is or how to find him. Is he still alive?" (As it happens, Jimmy
"T-99" Nelson's phone number is the same as it was the day he first cut "Hot
Tamale Man.")
Holly Bullamore, manager for Johnny "Clyde" Copeland, is another who reports
constant surprise at what's available on Home Cooking. She says that every time
she visits her favorite Chicago record store she finds more Home Cooking
reissues from sessions Copeland cut both decades ago } and fairly recently.
Somehow, as independent studios opened and closed and merged, dubs of
forgettable sessions found their way to Ames.
Like many people in the industry, Bullamore seemed absolutely baffled by Ames'
audacity. Copeland, who appears on many Home Cooking CDs, was once hired to do
a commercial for Miller Lite. On Home Cooking's The Three Sides of Johnny Clyde
Copeland is a song titled "Commercial." Bullamore marveled, "He took the audio
track from a television commercial, put it on a recording and put publishing on
a song that's owned by Miller Brewing."
Ames' audacity may come back to haunt him. If he had stayed with putting out
records by people that are either deceased or too poor to follow up on their
complaints, he might have spent his life being the gossip of the music
community.
But now an attempt to profit from his best-known connection could cause serious
problems. Roy Ames' claim to fame, his credentials when questioned, is that he
was Johnny Winter's manager and producer back when Winter was an unknown.
But allegations have surfaced that Ames might have sold rights to Johnny Winter
recordings that he didn't own in the first place to Relix Records in New York,
which specializes in archival reissues.
Other squabbles are appearing on the horizon. Jim Bateman, manager for Clarence
"Gatemouth" Brown, says he has an attorney looking into issues related to
Ames.Paul Verbernie, a Houston lawyer with an interest in entertainment law,
says he's heard that a move is afoot to track down performers with complaints
about Ames to see if a joint action of some kind might be possible. And George
O. Jacobs, a B.B. King fan who prosecuted Ames when he was with the Harris
County District Attorney's office in the mid-'70s, was curious how someone with
federal felony convictions could legally be involved in an import and export
business.
Meanwhile, Ames continues operating Home Cooking and Clarity, getting notice in
the blues magazines, fielding complaints from Houston musicians, filling mail
orders for CDs and collectibles, and saying that he's done nothing illegal,
that misunderstandings happen.
But there are lawyers from New York to San Francisco circling around Home
Cooking and Clarity Publishing. A record company with tentacles around the
globe has messed with everyone from the Institute of Texas Culture, whose Bowie
Street Blues Festival turned up as Saturday Night in San Antonio, to Sony and
Miller Lite and Elvis Presley Inc.
As the lawyers begin to circle, Roy Ames may well consider everything that's
happening to be a big mistake. If so, he could well be right. Only this time,
the mistake would have been his.
EPILOGUE
This article first appeared in a somewhat lengthier version in the Houston
Press, a New Times publication, on April 28, 1994. On August 2, 1994, a
multi-million dollar suit naming Roy Ames and Jerry and Nina Green of
Collectables Records (Home Cooking's distributor) as defendants was filed in
federal court in Houston by attorneys David Showalter and Suzanne Tomkies on
behalf of Leonard Brown, Walter Price, Pete Mayes, James Nelson, Clarence
Green, Clarence Parker, Lee Frazier, Joe Hughes, Rayfield Jackson and Freddie
Collins. That case, and others, is pending.
Jeff Seale
slime-bag and anything his Home-Cookin label has released. I'd
seen a few of these in the stores, and boy am I glad I didn't buy them
now.
-Jeff (no way that SOB is a Texan)
******************************************************************************
__ Jeff Seale
| |___ University of Texas Health Sciences Center @ San Antonio
___|* | EMail se...@bioc02.uthscsa.edu
\ |
\/\ / Vanity is your castle, built like a neon sign
\ / Those poor, lost souls in your shadow
\( You forget, they're friends of mine.
-Joe Ely
Bruce Pech
> Well, all this sure makes it easy to stay the hell away from this
> slime-bag and anything his Home-Cookin label has released. I'd
> seen a few of these in the stores, and boy am I glad I didn't buy them
> now.
>
> -Jeff (no way that SOB is a Texan)
>
> ******************************************************************************
Ditto for all the "Collectables" blues CDs that flooded the market a few
months ago.
BP Boulder, CO