THE OLYMPIC RECORD15/10/2011 05:46:00
The Olympic Record
Leo LaBranche
The Pro Se Litigant
Legal Dedications
Lewis M. Brown, the Father of Preventative Law
Ruth C. Tachna, Personal Attorney
Michael H. Gottesman, Supreme Court Counselor
Peter W. Rodino, Jr., House Judiciary Chairman
Alex Kozinski, Chief Judge, 9th Circuit U. S. Appeals Court
Personal Dedications
Lori, Amy, Leo, Elsa, Keira, and Chloe
Published by kokopelli books™
Smashwords Edition
© Copyright 2010 Leo LaBranche
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to others. If you would like to share this book with other persons, please purchase additional copies. Thank you for respecting the copyrighted property of this author.
PART I
Chapter 1 11300 Vanowen
Before Olympic Records
Start-up (1982)
Preproduction
Texas Instrument TI-99
Olympic Records search.
Chapter 2 Corporations
California no, New York yes
Chapter 3 Recording Sessions
For Your Inspiration Only, Kindra Koury
Chapter 4 Thomas Briccetti
Maestro and Mentor
Project with Omaha Symphony
RADIOLYMPIC
Radio Promotion with Stations playing
Major Market Ads
Chapter 5 Trademark Office
Registration Refusal; Idyllwild move
Trademark Administrative Court
C.B.S. Television program "Crossroads"
Charles Kuralt and Bill Moyers reporting
First summer from hell
Chapter 6 Washington, D.C. Federal Court
Federal offices closed except federal court
File Complaint; Transfer Motion granted
Chapter 7 Los Angeles federal court
First screw in the coffin
Case transferred to Olympic judge
Federal Agencies, States; Department of Justice
Amended Complaint
Bill Simon (William E.)
Chapter 8 Gay Olympic Games - San Francisco Arts & Athletics
International Olympic Committee
Dr. Thomas Waddell
My case decided by theirs; Meeting of the Parties
Chapter 9 You Lose, Mr. LaBranche
Pursuing the Impossible Dream
Second screw in the coffin
Don Coyote
PART II
Chapter 10 Appeals Court
Become Private Lobbyist
Take the Case to Congress
277 copies x 555 page record plus video and Petition
Congressional Replies and Committee referrals
Journalists, WSJ reporter
Chapter 11 Petition
Petition sent to 277 Members of Congress
Chapter 12 The Olympic Record
Newsletter of Olympic Records, Inc.
PART III
Chapter 13 Martian Rules of Procedure
Section 380; Footnotes and Remarks
Introductory Amendment to section 380
Chapter 14 President Jimmy Carter Appeal
He signed it. Carter Center
Steve Best, Judiciary Committee staff attorney
Chapter 15 Canada
Blunder Forward
Letter to Canadian Olympic/Olympique
Canada Olympic Businesses
Transcript from C.B.C. producer
Chapter 16 National Association of Olympic Businesses
NAOB Congressional and I.R.S. authorization
First letter of Solicitation for Members
Membership Companies
PART IV
Chapter 17 Dissenting Opinion
Honorable Judge Alex Kozinski
Three judge dissent; Full Opinion
Chapter 18 NAOB and HR-1988
United States Check-Off Act
Uncontroversial Legislation
Non-Profit Associations List
Chapter 19 Supreme Court takes SFAA
Martian Rules - The Wallaby court
AMICUS CURIAE Arguments
Chapter 20 Linguistic Theft
Hon. Gerry E. Studds
Good-Bye Dr. Waddell – Eulogy
Chapter 21 Michael H. Gottesman
Supreme Court counsel
Conference Transcript
PART V
Chapter 22 Washington, One More Time
Supreme Court pronouncement
Syllabus and Author's Dissent
Chapter 23 Peter W. Rodino, Jr.
Meeting at the Court
Chapter 24 Dear Owimpic
Last gasp of the pro se litigant
Appendix A Pro Se Litigant InformationWikipedia source
Appendix B First Amended Complaint
Appendix C Federal Court Evidence Record
Appendix D Legal Brief
Appendix E Tables of Statutes and Case Law
Appendix F Federal Rules of Evidence
Appendix G U. S. Olympic Businesses
Some people never quit. Senate Judiciary Committee correspondence.
EQUALITY
All Persons are created Equal unless you used the word Olympic and that’s where Equality ended. A music-man’s solitary battle against an international conspiracy attempting to deny all Americans the Right and Privilege to use the word Olympic any time, any place, for any reason under pain of destruction and financial ruin. Congress was not responsible for this extreme position espoused and enforced but the law was subject to interpretation with prejudicial and gratuitous support from the federal courts, all the way to the top. Royalty had truly visited our federal courts. With few exceptions, most jurists bowed or curtsied as the case may be. I’ve heard of star-struck but this was too sad not to be true.
The 99th & 100th Congress, the Department of Justice and Federal Agencies, and 46 states were bright spots in author’s Quixotic quest to use the word Olympic for his music label “Olympic Records” formed in Burbank, California 1982.
NOTE
The Olympic records of athletes are published every four (4) years by Bantam/Doubleday/Dell Books since 1964. “Guinness Book of Olympic Records” requires no permission from any Olympic committees to own and publish these statistics, now or ever. B/D/D owns the rights to the copyrighted compilation of facts in book or any other form of Media.
Follow the bouncing balls of fickle fate and bear witness to the “luck of the draw” in a fixed contest. Feel the intensity of fight or flight, a primal expression and powerful motivator. Author had an “obligation to capital” which made the conflict necessary leaving no personal choice. Some battles were won but to no avail. The war was lost in the Supreme Court (1988) and ten years later was “won” in the Congress (1998). The Epilogue reveals a closure of sorts. I submit the story is the only closure I get, if any.
My son at nine years old after observing me fight for three years asked, “Dad, are you going to be doing this the rest of your life?” Little did I know. Twenty-three years later the unhappy spirit rises from the dusty boxes.
Dedications
To the Lawyers, the Legislator, and the Judge I dedicated this compilation of facts and experiences. Without those particular Human Beings I could not have persevered, and without Mr. Brown I would not have written the story. He suggested it early on and emphasized the necessity of a chronology kept. The sub-title, The Pro Se Litigant, (as he named it) refers to the fact I was my own attorney until the U.S. court of appeals.
Self-Defense No Longer Allowed – Sorry
This may seem stupid but . . .
Say you were attacked and in defending your life you killed your attacker. There were witnesses and no question you were in mortal danger. It might have been a homicidal maniac or anyone bound to do you great harm. It is a basic human right to protect and defend yourself or your property and there could be no law denying it or penalty for doing so. The right to survive is basic human law, section 1, ad infinitum. It goes without saying. This law of survival is considered as true in business as it is in human relations.
One insurmountable difficulty encountered in this Odyssey was “self-defense” being taken off the table. Now if you kill someone in your own defense you’re guilty of homicide and it matters not you were about to be departed. Sound a little warped? Believe it or not.
The United States Olympic Committee dictated and pursued policy and position that it had a federal law prohibiting anyone, any time, anywhere from using the word Olympic (or Olympics, see story) in the U.S.A. for any reason and “no defenses” of any kind in historical law, time, or precedent for thousands of years would be entertained or allowed. In other words if you used the word Olympic for any profit or non-profit purpose you were guilty and go directly to jail, figuratively. “Do not pass go, do not collect $200.” You were NOT considered innocent until proven otherwise. You were guilty as charged arriving in court, and, after Supreme Court opinion in the Gay Olympic Games case, it was the Law of the Land (1987). Over time the law was amended (1998) and corrected or changed to conform with, of all things, the author’s positions claimed and asserted in Petitions filed with the Congress noted as received and referred in the Congressional Record.
Only the mythical Gods of Olympus had such deviated clout and they were a fiction. The original Olympic law was concocted in France in 1894 with the Olympic word borrowed from Greece. In 1978 Congress did a good deed and enacted the Amateur Sports Act, gave them $30 million, and as usual, “no good deed went unpunished.”
CLOSING
I am not an author except of a song or two. I’m reporting my experiences that created the Public Record that became The Olympic Record. I left the story in boxes for 23 years because I had no use for the experience and re-visiting disappointments is not an act of sanity. During the court time I amassed 100 pounds of documents and evidence stored in boxes cataloging the experience and events. The boxes followed me through the years. Some had records showing $300k in expenses from start-up in 1982 to Supreme Court opinion in 1988. I would not acknowledge the events except when I moved the boxes that for some reason I could not throw away, and I tried. I thought it must be penance, punishment or purgatory for standing up for myself. A great payback for being correct.
January 1, 2010 I woke early one cold Colorado morning and wondered how long I had to live. Three months later this story was completed. Snow outside and ten hour days. Something I had to do that had been in avoidance and denial for many, many years.
See what you think, after all, it might have been You.
Introduction We Are the Public
The reader may be entertained by this non-fiction or be disbelieving of it and possibly both. No matter your take on the story, the parties, or the author, we have one thing in common. We are members of the Public. Things I say are "mine" by being a public member are also "yours," unless you beg to differ. We have Public rights and privileges, Public laws, Public parks, Public records, Public protections. We have a Constitution enacted for the Public (people), and we have the Public Domain. Sometimes the words Public and National are interchangeable. A National Park is there for us, the Public. The entire U. S. Constitution and Bill of Rights is a public document, and it belongs to us. It is supposed to be Our contract with Our country. The laws therein are ours if we chose to know what they are and use them. This history is about the word Olympic which belongs to the Public and as a member of the Public it also belongs to me. We are, in fact, the "Olympic Public."
"A public domain was one of the Framers' (Constitution) most important gifts to our cultural traditions." Lawrence W. Lessig, Stanford Law Professor and author.
Code and the Laws of Cyberspace.
PART I
Chapter 1 11300 Vanowen Street, North Hollywood, California
Imagine a dark, windowless space with black and white (linoleum) squares on the floor likely not deep cleaned in 20 years. Two bath rooms, his and hers, and a small storage room at the back. The walls reflected the breathing, actions, and karma of local patrons over the years - I mean, this isn't Cheers. The space had been rented by an immigrant for the past 20 years. He moved and put his new version his bar, the Embers, less than 300 feet away in a separate building. The original Embers was the corner unit of old strip mall, front and back door only. In the 'mall' we have a Korean market, an adult bookstore, a laundry, and a suspicious never opened unit, and me in the ex-Embers bar. The owner of the mall is a nice guy from Beverly Hills, his zip is 90210, like the TV show. Across the street are heavy-duty aerospace companies and support technologies, in part, to support the Burbank Airport a few miles down the road. I marveled at the Rolls Royce right across the street. I could see it by looking through my peep hole.
This is before Olympic Records and I was driving a delivery truck at the time. In Southern California, like many large cities, businesses have difficulty disposing of large objects they don't need because it cost a fortune to get rid of them if required to pay someone to pick them up. When I would deliver to the backs of businesses there would be things worth thousands of dollars if someone were to come and get it. There were wealthy salvage barons who would make the rounds every few days. They were equipped with small cranes and lifts and could grab just about anything. The trouble with salvage is you must have a place to put it, and there is little space in southern California for anything or anybody, and this was then (1981). One day I started salvaging because I drove/had a truck, I was barely making a living, and I had some space since I had nothing in it but the Fender Rhodes piano, a salvaged recliner, and a cat. One day I saw 50 2-ply solid glass windows that had been removed from a hi-rise. Some of the sides were chipped. They were encased with rubber sealant that coated all edges. It must have been installed and removed for flaws. These were silver plated windows you see in the skyscrapers. Each piece was 38 by 56 and came in at 54 pounds. This I wanted, a treasure I guess, maybe sell some. I went back that night and picked up 40 windows, about a ton of 2-ply glass. They were absolutely beautiful (silver/steel grey glass with diffuser between the panes) and my rental unit could use a lift of any kind. I glassed in 1000 of the 1200 sq. ft.. When you walked in the room it was interesting. No outside light so when you lit the room right with a few small lights you could make the room look like heaven (subject to who was in it). It covered the ugly and was a one of a kind space. The future home of Olympic Records, not yet a tone in this musician's ear. After getting used to it you didn't see the mirrors at all. Thick glass is sound proof and it was quiet.
How Olympic Records came to be (1982)
We were going into business. Start-up capital has been established. In August 1982 we're sitting around the table at Vanowen discussing how to organize our new company and music release. Present are Sally, me, Doug, Joe, and ever present T.O.. I was producer and musician, Sally was finance and therapist, Doug was computers and musician, and Joe was promotions and musician. Still in the talking stage, what to call the company? In many ways it didn't matter what it's called as in the music business, to a large extent, it is just a handle for identification. A trade-name. You have A&M, RCA, ABC, Capital, Columbia, Motown, MCA, Arista, Planet, Capital, Atlantic, Pacific, Liberty, American, Virgin, Sun, Moon, Stars, BMG, BMW, your kids name or your dog's name, it doesn't really matter - but could it? The value of the name of a music company or record company is directly associated with its reputation and the value and popularity of the music and artists it owns and releases for public consumption. Like a song, no one really cares or knows, or even thinks about, who wrote the song. It makes no difference in their accepting of a recording. They only absorb who is singing the song and it doesn’t matter a 'hill of beans' who wrote it. (Everyone thinks Elvis songs are Elvis songs. Elvis wrote few of them). So, something germane would be the right name. The word Records prefaced by something. And soon there won’t be any more records 'cause records were vinyl and vinyl was leaving the building. PS: A good vinyl pressing (record) played on a record player with better than average needle going to a decent reproduction system (amp and speakers) is better than any music fidelity you will ever experience anywhere except for, or with, metal masters, which you would never hear. Aficionados still buy and special order vinyl records and sales are increasing exponentially.
Doug's Suggestion
After a few beers, Doug (our soon to be computer programmer when PC's were just arriving) suggested Olympic Records. We all laughed knowing full well it existed already. The name was so common and obvious we were sure it was in use. I would have lost everything (I little to lose) on the bet that Olympic Records was somewhere just around the corner in L.A. or New York. I would have bet my life on it, figuratively speaking. My experience in the music business made me more positive than anyone and more wrong than anyone. The meeting adjourned when we ran out of beer and I proceeded with normal start-up activities. Sally Singer, Doug Belli, Joseph Kelly, Kindra Koury, the singer, and I, were the principals. T.O. was climbing around in the rafters as always. Five people and cat became the core of the company.
Song Material
I began the process and searched for song material for Kindra who wanted to record a gospel music album. This was a good idea since that market is small compared to the general market and we would be able to handle it with our modest start-up resources. Religious radio stations, sometimes referred to as Christian radio stations, were nationwide so it would be possible to cover the country and see if we could make a mark in that genre with our first recording. Month to month we prepared for the first recording sessions that would begin in October with a release of the record to radio in the early Spring. The Vanowen studio space was just right for rehearsals and after locating and choosing the songs we got them ready for the recording sessions to follow.
TI-99 Texas Instrument
One of the first consumer PC's on the market was a Texas Instrument product called the TI-99. The only place you could buy one was Toy's R Us and they didn't seem to be selling like hot cakes. They were right next to GI Joe. It cost about $1,000 and was simply hardware that you had to assemble. If you wanted it to function you had to get the programming manual and program it yourself. If you wanted the CPU to do anything other than basic tasks you had to buy hardware plug-in modules and then program for that particular use. Thank God for Doug 'cause without him we were going to be using pencils, paper, and a typewriter. He spent many hours daily learning to program the box so we could have a rudimentary database with which we could make and keep records as well as print labels and letters. Radio station data was the main reason for needing it. Eventually for invoices and such. We had to be able to print mailing labels as well as keep track of things by state and by station. Doug worked many hours to experience what crashing was all about. I mean hours and days. Sometimes a week would go by and he would have nothing to show for it but a blank screen. A dedicated man and fine musician.
Go Find Olympic Records
I went about trying to locate Olympic Records. In the local Library I found recent business directory publications and I first searched in California, then New York, then Illinois and Tennessee presuming any record company using that name would be in one of the large metropolitan areas. I did not locate any company or corporation by that name. I later looked in all states and none there either. I did find one reference to a company named Olympic Records that had closed in 1978 in New York. On further investigation I found they were an American company exclusively importing Classical music from Italy. They had a logo of a guy throwing a discus. They were in no way involved in recording or producing music in America ands they were out of business.
This couldn't be true! How on earth could this fantastic and obvious trade name in the record business not be in use? Especially since we were collectively so sure.
- We later found 90% of all radio we contacted during the promotion period were equally sure that the company was, and had been, in existence forever and they believed we were that company - These radio stations were also adamant that they be put on our list of stations and that we provided them with all future products from our company. Quickly we stopped arguing with them. We apologized for not sending them records in the past. This happened every day during promotion cycle. Hey, "How you been and where you been so long and why haven't we heard from you in lately?" This is what we heard day after day. They thought we were 'somebody' and I assure you we were not who they thought because who they thought did not exist. This was the ever present mysterious myth, mystery or curse attached to the tradename.
OK, let me try to use it. I obtained, as required, 2 businesses licenses from Los Angeles County (wholesale and retail); a d/b/a from the state of California (notice published in the Tolucan); a re-sales tax permit from the state of California; the federal Employer Identification Number (E.I.N.) from the I.R.S. of the Treasury Department. A local business license was also required from North Hollywood. That was about it. What else can I do to legitimize my company? I now have local, city, county, state, and federal permission and authorization to be Olympic Records. I’m excited.
Chapter 2 California Department of Corporations
Since we are all working for no pay, just occasional expenses, there needed to be a way to legalize or make official our relationships with, and to, each other so we would know where we stood with respect to shares of the company and profits. No one was to get any salary of any kind. Capital needed to be protected and each of us needed some written documentation or proof as partners so to speak. Well, we need to incorporate. A logical next step and the only next step available. No problem. I telephone California Secretary of State Corporations Division and request a name reservation. I know we are the only one using the name so it should be an easy task as all licensing and permitting has previously been. Here comes my first shock. I am informed over the phone that the name is not available because of the Olympic Committee's federal statute prohibiting use of the word Olympic for the purposes of trade. I apply by mail to get a written refusal and do. There is reference to the federal law known as The Amateur Sports Act of 1978 and the specific prohibitive section is §380. I called and ordered a copy of the law from the Clerk of the House of Representatives and it arrives in about a month. There is no Internet so there is no instant gratification as far as collecting data goes.
The NEW YORK Corporation: Olympic Records, Inc. (01.05.83)
Now I need a lawyer. Though I was familiar with U.S. Copyright law, being a composer with numerous Copyrights, this did not seem correct. I knew nothing of any laws, statutes or regulations, pertaining to anything except copyright law. But I believe the law is in all of us and I know it was in me. What I believed in my gut at that instant in time was as true then as it is now, 28 years later. Olympic is already in the Public Domain and is in legal use all over the country for every class of goods and services that exist in our Country. That's what this story is about.
Sally says we will go see Ruth. Sally's acquaintance is Ruth C. Tachna, an attorney living in Marina del Rey. She was about 80 years old then and a semi-retired criminal prosecutor from New York State. Her New York office was in White Plains and she was partner with Cherry Krassner. Ruth was also a law professor and taught at Northrop University near LAX, a course she called, Space Law, as in outer space. I presumed satellite technology and things like that. I never asked. At the first meeting she advised incorporating in New York State. It hadn't occurred to me. Since she had an office in New York it would be considered Olympic Records location for service of process as is required by state and corporate law. She applied through Prentiss-Hall Corporation Service that very meeting and we were granted a reservation for the name and accomplish incorporation status 2 days later January 5th, 1983. Though incorporated in New York how do we manifest this corporation in California? It will not grant foreign corporation status due to the Olympic restriction now being applied. So Olympic Records, Inc. could not legally do business in California under, or using, it's own name. A few days after inking Ruth says, form a California Corporation under a different name and have Olympic Records, Inc. issue it a license to do business in California as Olympic Records. A great idea and solution (smart lawyers). Now what to call the California Corporation and have it connected in some way. I believe or recall Olympic had a connection to Mount Olympus so we formed the Mount Olympus Records Corporation. We file in California, which goes without a hitch and later issue ourselves a corporate license to do business in California from the NY Corporation as Olympic Records, effectively licensing our own name to ourselves. Now I feel like we're safe and sound for a while and we are, for a while. Now we are corporate legal.
I have to admit the original reason for the effort was to start a record label using Kindra as the first recording and product. Now my reason for the entire effort and present focus and soon to be obsession is now to adhere and conform to the federal trademark laws requirements, among which, you be in interstate commerce before you apply for a registered trademark in the Patent & Trademark Office (hereinafter "trademark office"). We were undoubtedly going to be in interstate commerce (you can't sell a record in just one state unless it is a state song or something local). The law is satisfied many times by a person seeking a trade mark simply selling a product over one state border (even once) and that is enough to satisfy that requirement of being in interstate commerce. The world is full of exceptions, loopholes, and circumvents.
My focus is on the trademark and I'm to be inducted into tunnel vision. Make money fine, sell some records fine, make a name, create goodwill, fine and all manner of these things necessary, but that is not my reason. I want ownership of the trademark. Let's put the record out, promote it, sell some and after doing so apply to the Trademark Office, register the trademark and logo design and go after capital investment for a run at competing with the bigger dogs. You need more capital than we were going to have to compete with even minor independent labels with promotion. Not to compete with Michael Jackson or Elton John and other superstars but some companies then, and surely now, invest 100's of thousands of dollars in promotion to get their recordings heard (radio play) and sold (distribution). Even when they didn't "need" to spend tons of cash this was a biggest part of business. Mega companies go head to head with million dollar promotion budgets and independent labels with deserving artists and products were somewhat foreclosed from competing in the game, at least in the game for the biggest radio markets. It's all radio then, no Internet. Radio play is advertising and the larger the metro-market the more listeners and the more exposure and sales. Autonomous radio promoters made one hell of a living calling their friends, programmers, and DJ's in major markets and telling them what songs they needed them to play. Thousands of dollars a week go to Harry to tell Joe which songs to push of the newest records. Even if your record and artist 'stinks' you can still promote the hell out of it and it will get airtime and sales will result. You are in competition with all things, good, bad, or mediocre, and the factor most in play is promotion money, not the merit of the recording, or the artist, or the song. Also, “stink” is in the ear of the beholder.
Olympic Records needed the registration and notice ® to begin to think it could raise money and protect the shareholders and investors. By virtue of owning the mark, company, and corporate stock this could be addressed. With no proof of ownership of the company and trade name there was going to be no Olympic Records. We need United States proof, authorization, and permission (sanction).
Chapter 3 The Recordings
The sessions begin at Monterey Sound in Glendale, engineered by Wayne Neuendorf and continue at Producers Workshop in Hollywood with Ben Rodgers, later mastered at the Mastering Lab by Ron Hitchcock, singles mastered by Arnie Acosta. The players are William "Smitty" Smith, on Piano and Hammond Organ (2 songs). Will Boulware on Piano (his song). Joe Kelly, Guitars and Doug Belli, Bass. Doane Perry, Drums and Novi, Viola and Synthesizer. I was on Fender Rhodes piano and Flugelhorn.
FYIO Album title:For Your Inspiration Only Kindra Koury
Two things were agreed between Kindra and I. One was that you need not Praise the Lord with every breathe in order to be singing a “spiritual” song and message. And we agreed 'subtle' was the idea for the main song that we would try to promote. You can praise the Lord and not even mention His name. What matters is in your heart. She picked two songs we agreed are inspirational but not overtly religious. Kindra's first choice was a great song by David Lasley & Alice Willis "Come What May" (I think she knew Alice). One of the most beautiful songs I ever heard. This would be the 'single.' Kindra's vocal was as good as anyone ever sang anything, and Amen. (sound like her producer?) Her soulful style came from early influences: Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dinah Washington were among the best female singers. Kindra is of Greek descent and this may add to the color of her voice. I asked her before she sang that first and final take on Come What May, "When you arrive at the last music note of the song, the word 'May,' add a smile to that word. You should hear it. The other song she chose was "Over the Rainbow" [Harold Arlen - E.Y. Harburg song] in a gospel style. She requested a specific musician to accompany her on this song and he was William "Smitty" Smith, a famous Hollywood pianist, singer, and writer. When he played you didn't need anybody else. Kindra also chose a song he wrote, "Saved by the Grace of Your Love." Another song was by, now famous jazz pianist and composer, Will Boulware, "Everyone Needs a Hiding Place" (go to his site). Kindra picked one of my songs I wrote with Joe Wilson called "Satisfied Mind.” Kindra and Joe Kelly penned two songs together, Don't Cry No More and Sweet Ride Jesus. Kindra also picked "You Must Not Fear It" by Rob Moitoza and "Precious Lord," her Mom's favorite hymn.
Chapter 4 Thomas Briccetti - Mentor and Maestro
At this time I am in the union (A.F.M. - 20 years) and my re-use checks come to the L.A. local. There are still occasions when membership is advantageous. If you were to play on television or films you want to be Union. If you're a big shot you make our own deals, but you're still in Union. Membership includes a monthly newspaper called "The International Musician." The back ten pages are ads mostly posting vacancies in Symphony Orchestras around the country and the world. I would sometimes read these ads wistfully wishing I could be in a secure position as a player in a symphony orchestra might be. So it was like reading the 'help wanted' for entertainment. In one issue I came across an ad for an opening in the Omaha Symphony Orchestra, and the music director-conductor was Thomas Briccetti who I saw last in '64' (Youth Symphony) before leaving for Denver for my short college education. I got together some tunes, put them on a cassette and sent it to him with a letter of gratitude for all he was back then for me. He knew me only as trumpet. I sent him songs. He was a fine composer and I wanted him to hear the 'product of my time' as it is called. You can't help loving your teacher. He called a week later and I heard his voice and had a system crash. He meant so much 'then' that when transported back to 'then' by his voice it was realization of how much I loved him.
We exchange pleasantries and he says, "that guy singing on the tape you sent ain't no Frank Sinatra" but he might sound good with the orchestra or chamber group. He was saying I would fit singing with the Symphony. You and I have dreams that we admit to no one (maybe) and this was one of those dreams and I'm hearing a dream come true from my mentor and maestro. And I can't seem do a thing about it. Recording an orchestra is no small proposition and the fees for 35 or 90 musicians are not small, though they are worth it. If Olympic was going to be "me only" then all funds available might be used for this debut of my performing with an orchestra. I missed the boat on this one, and it left without me. Olympic Records is starting up and all plans have been made for its capital. Maybe later after we start up and get going, sure. Got a spare 30 thousand? Mr. Briccetti mentioned his favorite of the songs I sent, excerpt below.
A Monkey's Broken Dreams © Eleo Music ASCAP
The song came after seeing an organ grinder, in early days (70's) of Underground Atlanta, with a monkey and being hopeful that I, we, were not chained to the organ grinder. We have a choice, the monkey doesn't. I'm now not so sure.
A Verse and Chorus below
A Monkey in the street is doing tricks to win a coin
The animal is leashed, he's in a club he didn't join
His employer feeds him often and he's visibly kind
But once in a while he loses his mind
And the Monkey feels his Broken Dreams
And as the Organ Grinds the world is spinning
People dying, people winning
On their way to somewhere called Unknown
And as the Organ Grinds try not to worry
No one has the time hurry
Choice sets us apart from Monkey's Broken Dreams
Later Mr. Briccetti writes and puts his proposal in print regarding a possible project between us. I will cherish that letter. We lose contact again as you will see what's coming does not bode well for close communications with almost anyone.
Fast Forward: In 2002 in locate Mr. Briccetti (email search) in Perugia, Italy teaching master classes. We communicate warmly back and forth several times (we had the same Mac Computer, Music Software, and the Kurzweil keyboard). My last mailing to Mr. Briccetti included CD's of my new musical (Truth & Justice). I received an answer from his partner and librettist, Robert Levin. Mr. Briccetti had passed away suddenly. A story on Bob Levin in Part VIII (autobiographical version of this book) and Briccetti's Opera, "The Contract."
Back to Olympic startup
RADIOLYMPIC
In these ancient times radio stations were still receiving and playing single 45 R.P.M. records. A company would send out what were called "singles" from the album to test the waters and see if a certain song was going to become popular. Sometimes if the first single didn't attract attention the company would send, release as it was called, a different single and see if it had a better response. People still bought 45's back then but that was soon to change and album sales (LP's) were what kept a company in business.
The Trademark design
Paul Roells fine engraving work. G & W Trophies in North Hollywood. I requested he use the torch on the Roosevelt dime as example, fatten it and give it different flames. Incredibly fine artistic engraving. Starting with a [one ounce] Canadian Maple Leaf he hammered it down to make a round wafer. I never saw gold look so good, I never saw gold before, not as in coin in hand. Go for the Gold (record).
Radio Promotion
We released "Come What May" first, it being the more sophisticated song on the record. Some love it and aired it right out of the mailer and others thought it was not religious enough for their demographic. So we sent those stations a single song from the album that was more to their audiences taste. Promotion means getting the station to locate your mailing, review it, see if they will play it (even once) and see how their audience responds. We would follow up and hear what happened. We would log the data and use it for promotions to other radio stations. Two guys were on the telephone several hours a day for several months. Joe Kelly was a natural at telephone radio promotions. He had a gift of gab, great sounding voice, and a fine musician (guitar). He could talk the talk. Kindra did telephone (on-air) interviews and I did my share of calling. I concentrated on the northeast and there were fewer non-profit religious stations but they were important and in the largest metro areas. Doug is stuck face to face with the computer.
The records are shipped and the radio stations begin playing and we find out we were already well known, mysteriously. But there's a problem. Some of the more conservative stations balk at her record cover where they submit she looks too provocative. I didn't put the record out to offend people with the artwork and she could look like a fallen angel to some. Too much attention paid to airbrushing and all that (tried to make color from a black and white), my fault. Some thought she looked like a hooker. The Mary Magdalen syndrome, I called it. I should have ignored it but my knee jerked and I designed a plain cover and re-released it. This was really unnecessary, but was an effort not to offend and had nothing to do with profit because there was not going to be any, sadly to some. We sold records and tapes but nothing to suggest any profit was going to erupt. We got the machine working. When you sent a record to a radio station they would seldom know it arrived until you called them about it. Hundreds of records a day could arrive, at the larger station, and no one would know, or care, about it unless you called about it. First step in radio promotion, "Did you get my record? What record? It's the one with the girl with overly made up face. Oh, yeah, "that one! Are you sure you sent this to the right place, you know we're a Christian station, don't you?” And so it would go. Some had no problem with the cover picture, but others thought we were based in the bad place or maybe had no Christian sense. I sinned, I'm sorry. I got the record aired all over the country, a good effort for a start-up. Some stations, no kidding, played her whole album once a day for weeks. Very small sales. Sales are seldom a start-up businesses main concern. You gotta be there first, spread some goodwill, get to know the people, that's the first goal. And it was working.
I thank the Radio Stations listed for being there at the beginning of Olympic Records. I also thank them for revealing the mysterious phenomena of the existence of Olympic Records, in their minds and memories - one or the other) which was the exact phenomena which had affected me and the other founders of Olympic Records. This trade name has value and good will attached to it, in the recognition sense for sure, and how can that be? Was this name just sitting around in the ethers waiting for someone to use it? Is it a trap or trick? How about a curse? I earlier investigated, everywhere, and found evidence of all prior Olympic Records companies going back to 1921. I researched the (foreboding) Library of Congress for this ancient information. The last O.R. closed in '78' and imported classical recordings from Italy. OK, I'm convinced. Something good this way may come. It's summer 1983 and Kindra and Olympic aired in 34 States.
RADIO - SOUTHERN REGION
WJHO, Opelika - HNDA, Huntsville - WRAG, Carrollton
WAGG, Birmingham - WCLS, Phenix City Alabama
WQCC, Charlotte - WHVN, Charlotte
WDJS, Mount Olive. North Carolina
WQTI, Greenville - WPJX, Goose Creek South Carolina
WFNE, Macon - WHGI, Augusta - WYNX, Smyrna
WLOR, Thomasville - WSOK, Savannah - WXLL, Decatur Georgia
WVCG, Coral Gables - WGLY, Miami - WVCF, Orlando - WEXY, Ft. Lauderdale
WAMF, Tallahassee - WCVC, Tallahassee - WPCF, Panama City Beach
WSST, Largo - WWBC, Cocoa - WMFJ, Daytona Beach Florida
KWAM, Memphis - WCOR, Lebanon - WDEB, Jamestown
WITA, Knoxville Tennessee
WSKY, Dallas - WJAK, Lubbock Texas
KWLV, Many - KDXI, Mansfield - KCIJ, Shreveport Louisiana
NORTHEAST REGION
WEZE, Milton Mass.
WTOW, Baltimore Maryland
WWWG, Rochester New York
WPIT, Pittsburgh - WPLW, Pittsburgh - WTIV, Titusville Pennsylvania
WKBA, Roanoke - WZAP, Bristol - WTTX, Appomattox
WNLR, Churchville - WQPO, Harrisonburg Virginia
WNNN, Salem New Jersey
WOTW, Nashua New Hampshire
WOXO, Norway - WLOB, Portland Maine
WYCB, Washington D.C.
CENTRAL REGION
WQBH, Detroit - WFUR, Grand Rapids - WDFP, Battle Creek
WKJR, Muskegon Heights Michigan
KNOF, St. Paul - WNCB, Duluth Minnesota
WPEO, Peoria - WIBI, Carlinville - WEIC, Charleston Illinois
WTOF, Cedar Rapids Iowa
WXLW, Indianapolis - WSLM, Salem Indiana
WFMW, Madisonville - WHKK, Erlanger Kentucky
WSUM, No. Royalton - WGIC, Xenia Ohio
KCNW, Shawnee Mission Kansas
WJJQ, Tomahawk - WGMO, Shell Lake Wisconsin
WESTERN REGION
KEST, San Francisco - KWSO, Wasco - KDAR, Oxnard
KJAY, Sacramento - KMAY, Riverside - KEWQ, Paradise
KMJC, San Diego - KRML, Carmel - KTED, Fresno California
KQXI, Denver - KWYD, Security - KPIK, Colorado Springs Colorado
KDAZ, Albuquerque New Mexico
KXEG, Phoenix - KRDS, Phoenix - KVOI, Tucson Arizona
KSWY, Cheyenne Wyoming
KURL, Billings Montana
KBBX, Salt Lake City Utah
KGDN, Seattle - KBLE, Seattle - KCKO, Spokane Washington
KICR, Coos Bay Oregon
Advertised on Radio in Major Markets
Radio spots four times a day for 10 days.
WPLW, Pittsburgh - WSLM, Salem, In., WGLY, Miami - WGCC, Charlotte
WPJX, Memphis, WEZE, Boston - WTOW, Baltimore
This was my last effort to get some company to raise its head and say, "Hey buddy, I'm Olympic Records." When you're advertising in major markets using the Olympic Records tradename on the radio someone will turn up if some is out there. No one appeared.
Instrumental Music Sessions
Shortly after Kindra's recording I went to a studio called, Sunset Sound Factory. I had long a desire to record a few of my instrumental songs featuring the trumpet and flugelhorn. I assembled the players, Carlos Vega and Lenny Castro on drums; Doug on Bass; Joe Kelly on guitars; myself on piano and trumpet/flugelhorn. We recorded three instrumentals and with time remaining I recorded a song written back in Vietnam days, lyric from 1972 and music added in 1983 called, "The Victors, The Victims."
We mix at Producers Workshop with Ben. We master at the Lab with Ron Hitchcock. Ron was well known and unknown in Hollywood. He was Neal Diamond's recording engineer and mixer for 15 years. Most of what you heard of Neal was Ron's work. He was also responsible for the (edits) making the song between Barbara Streisand and Neal, "You Don't Bring Me Flowers Anymore" possible. He was instrumental in the "Jazz Singer." He seldom had opportunity to work for other than Neal so few knew him. I had some great sessions with him. The instrumental recordings go on the shelf.
Chapter 5 The Patent & Trademark Office
By years end I made the application to the trademark office. The first application was returned because I included the wrong fee. It had gone up. Four months later after moving to a new location (less space/costs) on Wyoming Avenue in Burbank I received the first refusal. I was refused registration because of the Amateur Sports Act of 1978. The same reason California refused me the right to incorporate. It was a hellava day.
Trademark Registration Refusal
What to do now with this trademark office refusal. I re-read it and it says to 'appeal' this decision there is a six-month window within which you must respond. The trademark office had it's own administrative court (as most agencies) and that was where one would go to prosecute or defend any action taken in support of your application. Six months wasn't a long time. What to do now with the people of Olympic Records and the two new recordings we had which were soon to be released. It didn't take long to realize Olympic Records was dead, for now. Without the trademark registration there was no reason to continue. I could continue without the registration of the mark but that was my reason for living and also it would be circumventing the law. You don’t circumvent a law that is wrong. Remaining capital was needed to prosecute our rights, if any, and who knew how long or whether we could prevail. This will have to be a singular effort. I turn over the new singer/recording artist project to Doug and shelve the instrumental music project just completed. Tell Joe all is over, for now, and thanks and sorry for the journey to nowhere. I am devastated. One federal agency says you are OK and legal to be who you are, (Treasury Department), and in fact, tacitly authorizes you to be, and another agency says you are not supposed to exist. Doug takes over the office, gets financial support and goes on with life and forms Melody Marketing with the artist, Billy Milo, and they go about preparing to market and release his recordings. What am I to do, where am I to go, and how am I going to continue. And what is it that I am missing about all of this?
Move to Idyllwild, California
My friend and partner, Sally, had a mountain home seldom used except in summer. 24640 Upper Rim Rock Road, I was there once. It was built for summer and not insulated. Idyllwild was in the San Jacinto Mountains above Palm Springs and was between 5 and 7 thousand foot elevation. I called her and suggested that I go there and live while I sorted this trademark thing out. She relented and I will not forget the day I drove from Burbank in my ancient Oldsmobile 98, the tank, up the hill from Hollywood to Hemet to the Idyllwild house. This car got nine miles a gallon. Law enforcement stopped me for some reason, maybe I looked suspicious. My son Leo was sleeping under a sleeping bag on the front seat. While being questioned he woke up and came out from under the bag and startled the officer. All was well though and he let me go and I continued up the hill. Leo spent every summer with me since he was five until he was 17. Otherwise he was with his Mom in Hawaii where she lived on the Big Island.
Preparing for the Trademark Administrative court
On moving to Idyllwild, and three months before the C.B.S. Program "Crossroads" aired, I began trips to the Riverside County Law Library (RCLL) which was 60 miles away, up and down the hill to Banning and I-10 to Riverside.
One mistake on that road and you're not found unless you burst into flames. The road took many a life, especially in winter. Once someone disappeared and was found three years later, they thought he had skipped town. He skipped all right - right of the cliff. I would go to RCLL and locate materials to begin my education. I had successfully avoided education my entire life by being immersed in music. At least I can read and I can use the copier. I would make photocopies of all things pertinent to trademark law and administrative court rules and regulations and how to write a complaint in a federal forum. Photocopies at the Law Library were 15¢ and I was taking home $50 worth of photo paper each trip. I made about three trips weekly. The copier and I were great friends or enemies I'm not sure which. I would go home, build a fire and read until I was catatonic. Then would walk a few miles, as I still do, and back to read until no brain left. I never read anything in my life except music and science fiction. I would have to read many things five or more times just to understand 'part of it.' When I thought I understood it I was often wrong, as understanding is subjective. Eventually the pile and boxes weighed a hundred pounds. There was a lot more to learn but that comes later. I investigated origins of trademarks since it's a basic property right. I opened books that had not been opened in years, if ever, since they were put on the shelves. I read every case in Supreme Court digest and reports that was relative trademarks back to 1880's when it was a property right and there was no trademark law. I knew in my heart and soul I was right, but many a man has believed that on his way to oblivion, or worse. If you read forty hours a week you will eventually get it, what ever it is. And what's right got to do with it; not much. Though connected I could not face the music and play piano, sing, or play trumpet. The brain knew the condition and the heart wouldn't stand for it. A solitary existence was the order of the day, night, week, and year(s). I did get away with Sally every week or so. Jump in the car, drive down to Palm Desert to I-10 and then across the desert to Parker Dam and then anywhere you wanted along the Colorado lake chain. Get a cheap fishing boat and enjoy the break. We knew all the lakes. If you can't renew you can't work. In my case I needed not to read a few days. We went away during the week so not to be anywhere anyone was. I've always felt if you go somewhere and everyone is there you might as well be home.
The CBS Broadcast news program titled CROSSROADS
The TV program "Crossroads" with Charles Kuralt and Bill Moyers. My son Leo is flipping the channel changer in the other room while I'm in the kitchen fixing supper. Had he (now 6) not been sampling different stations and landed on that August CBS broadcast this whole ordeal could have ended in the administrative court of the trademark office in 1984 because that's where I was to go to pursue it. I overhear the program and shout from the kitchen Don't Change that Channel. I was mesmerized by what I was seeing and hearing. This was one of my first real experiences with the fight or flight syndrome. You know, like you’re standing there with a gun in your face. This was three months exactly into my preparation for the trademark office refusal. Three months remaining in the time frame for responding. Clear as day I can no longer go to the trademark court to pursue my beef, which is the rejection of my trademark application. Two years later during the third summer from hell Leo asks, "Are you going to do this the rest of your life?" Ouch, I've been doing this for three years now and that's a third of his life and the main part of his life he remembers. In retro I had no idea I'd be paying from then until now.
Federal Court
Back to RCLL. Oh God, please, no. Now I need to know 99 things that I don't know and don't even know what I don't know. But it's all down there at the RCLL. Three more months of sixty miles down, sixty miles back and watch the curves. I was their most frequent and best customer. They named the copier after me. It was like I worked there.
Earthquake
One morning at 4 AM that summer I was awakened by a loud roar that seemed far off, but not for long. A six pointer was upon us centered on the Banning Fault about 50 miles down elevation and underground, of course. The Idyllwild house was built on top of solid granite (all of it) and the house went up and down instead of side to side, as is the usual for quakes, and I never heard volume or sound like that in my life. It was as if a giant was upon us. It threw me out of bed to the floor. My only thought, once I had one, was that my son was in the finished basement and the night before we had built a fort out of containers of Olympic Records. Each pack had 25 LP’s each weighing about 15 pounds and we had an entire area, including a roof made from these containers. I couldn't even get to the door from the bedroom to the living room to go down the hall and down the stairs to the basement. The shaking stopped in about 30 seconds; it was the longest 30 seconds of my life. I go to the basement and the 'fort' of Olympic Records containers has collapsed on Leo. He wasn't hurt but had no idea what on earth had happened.
The First Summer from Hell (three more to go, good not to know)
Now I find I need to locate, photocopy, and study federal rules of procedure; local federal rules (D.C. court rules); the Judicial Codes (for jurisdictional); Constitutional law (eventually bought Chester Antieau, Modern Constitutional Law, 2 vols. and Federal Trial Handbook 2nd (Hunter)); case law re The Fifth, First, Fourteenth Amendments; Article IV; Copyright law; Trademark law; Sherman and Clayton antitrust acts; and Article I. I did not know I needed to know this array of laws but one law led to the next and I became familiar with all of them. I also had to read legislative intents. As familiar as possible with the three months of time I had left. Technology is catching up with us and I have a Macintosh computer for all things needed to be saved and printed, including my first complaint. This was the first Mac, 128k, with the humongous 8-inch screen and a noisy dot matrix printer. I thought I knew how to read and was proud of knowledge acquired during my first three months of intense study. It's a good thing I had practice reading because "now I'm reading with a vengeance." Leo went home to Hawaii as usual the end of August, always as an unaccompanied minor (he flew more by the time he was twelve than I did up to that time) and he had no short trips. LA to Kona over and over. One time he went Atlanta to L.A. to Kona, he and his skateboard. We would not look each other in the eye when he boarded because we knew it was gonna be a while till Christmas, he came for a month at Christmas too. A much longer separation when he went back after Christmas. He was my boy. My body lies over the ocean.
Now I have September and one week in October remaining before the statutory time clock lapses. This time period is a blur. Fight or flight equivalent to being on the edge of stroking out any minute. It's now or it's over. Ruth said in her quiet way, "fish or cut bait." The first three months had served me. I knew my way around RCLL so when I needed something it simply appeared. I could not read much while at the library, as I would have had to live there. Hundreds of Supreme Court digests and decisions were studied. In point of fact every case that existed in the books remotely pertaining to my issues, at least the synopsis or syllabus. I was an over-doer or over-duer and I have no life but this. As the judge later said, pursuing the "Impossible Dream." This isn't supposed to be impossible, and I'm wondering whether this is dream or nightmare. How about the "Impossible Curse?"