Burton Cummings is done f'ing around

[NeonKnite]

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/burton- ... ng-rights/

[rockker]

Won’t this limit Cummings playing his own songs in concert as well??

No doubt he’s sitting on more money than Kale or Peterson and can hold out forever

[ijwthstd]

Great interview with Lefsetz a few months ago. First question out the gate and Cummings rants about it 20-30 mins straight. It was started when he was handed a record to sign with all these autographs he didn't recognize.

[rubysdad]

Thank fuck for that!
Who is he?

[Dyslexicheart]

Thank fuck for that!
Who is he?

One of the great voices in rock and roll. Lots of great songs like American Woman, Laughing, ...

Speaking of which, The Guess Who should be in the R&R HoF. Canada needs more representation

[NeonKnite]

"These Eyes" and "No Time" among others.

Completely underrated vocalist and group.

It's a total joke what's touring and calling itself the Guess Who. Kudos to someone for trying to protect their legacy for once instead of being content to collect checks.

[Black Stuff]

"These Eyes" and "No Time" among others.

Completely underrated vocalist and group.

It's a total joke what's touring and calling itself the Guess Who. Kudos to someone for trying to protect their legacy for once instead of being content to collect checks.

sounds like the bogus deep purple in the 80s

[FreddyFender]

What took him so long?

My father managed a night club - he was booking the fake Guess Who even back in the 80s.

[parasite74]

I don't see what the problem is. There are 2 original members still in the band. That's more than some.bands out there. Burton Cummings is a cunt. Always has been.

[NeonKnite]

I posted this article on my Facebook page with the comment "This is epic" not realizing that Teddy Andreadis is in the current band and we are 'friends' on FB. Oops.

[NeonKnite]

I don't see what the problem is. There are 2 original members still in the band. That's more than some.bands out there. Burton Cummings is a cunt. Always has been.

Actually, there is only one original member (Garry Peterson) and even he doesn't perform at all appearances.

This would be akin to Peter Criss touring as KISS, except their drummer never contributed even the slightest fucking thing to make them famous.

[NeonKnite]

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/musi ... 235001408/

Highlights:

An attorney for the Guess Who didn’t respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment regarding the shows. In December, the band took to social media calling Cummings and Bachmans’ suit “meritless.” In a memorandum, the band argued that “there is no dispute that Defendants lawfully own ‘The Guess Who’ trademark,” and that Consumers who see an ad for a concert by the Guess Who would not reasonably assume that Bachman and Cummings are performing merely because they were in the band many years ago.” [ ]

The termination is the latest development in a decades-long dispute that bubbled over with last year’s lawsuit. The fight began when the band’s original bassist Jim Kale obtained the trademark to the Guess Who name in 1986 as the band hadn’t secured the trademark before then. From then on, Kale had organized several tours using the Guess Who name featuring a heavily rotating lineup.

By the late 1980s, the Guess Who’s original drummer Garry Peterson joined the band as well. Kale retired in 2016, leaving Peterson as the only original member left. But he doesn’t play every show, Bachman and Cummings alleged, meaning some shows feature no original members of their band.

Cummings also tells Rolling Stone that within the past month, the band’s lawyers said they’d “sue me if I ever even say I was ever in the Guess Who.” “You know how ridiculous this is? What next, can I not say I was born and raised in Winnipeg? That I’m Canadian?”

“How much is my life’s work worth? You can’t put it in dollars and cents,” he says. “It’s wrong what they’ve done and for years, nobody did anything about it. But we’re doing something now, and this may set some precedents because there are other acts out there that aren’t real either.

“This is about way more than just money, I wouldn’t have pulled the catalog if it wasn’t,” Cummings adds. “This is about the legacy of the songs and the fact that the cover band is doing anything they can to erase me and Bachman from the history of the group. I see advertisements for their shows, and it’s me singing ‘American Woman.’ What they’re doing is fraud because they’re using real songs from the real guys to push their fake band. I’m protecting the name of The Guess Who, I’m trying to protect what we did.”

[WOLF]

Greg Smith, who played in bands we discuss here, is the current bass player in the Guess Who. He has some great Sludge on his FB page, calling out Burton.

[NeonKnite]

Greg Smith, who played in bands we discuss here, is the current bass player in the Guess Who. He has some great Sludge on his FB page, calling out Burton.

I see a lot of self-serving nonsense on that page. This guy Greg is a hired hand who's collecting a check, nothing more. While I feel for him that he might be soon out looking for work, nothing is stopping them from continuing to perform as The Guess Who, they just can't perform Burton Cummings songs. They can certainly perform any Guess Who songs that Burton Cummings didn't write from both before and after he was in the band... even the two most recent "Guess Who" albums that they might actually have played a part in. The problem is, nobody gives a shit about any of that stuff. They're living off the hits of The Guess Who written by Bachman and Cummings. The promoters booking them are counting on those songs which is clear because otherwise they wouldn't have canceled the shows.

Here's the band last year... it consists of no original members and looks like a third rate hair metal cover band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwb_sK7eAUM

I'm in full support of Cummings here... anything that puts an end to these completely phony bands touring under monikers they have nothing to do with to pull in crowds is fine with me.

It's another reason the entire industry is heading into the toilet. It's just a commodity to too many.

[Bono Nettencourt]

What took him so long?

My father managed a night club - he was booking the fake Guess Who even back in the 80s.

I think that's who I saw...

[FreddyFender]

Greg Smith, who played in bands we discuss here, is the current bass player in the Guess Who. He has some great Sludge on his FB page, calling out Burton.

I see a lot of self-serving nonsense on that page. This guy Greg is a hired hand who's collecting a check, nothing more. While I feel for him that he might be soon out looking for work, nothing is stopping them from continuing to perform as The Guess Who, they just can't perform Burton Cummings songs. They can certainly perform any Guess Who songs that Burton Cummings didn't write from both before and after he was in the band... even the two most recent "Guess Who" albums that they might actually have played a part in. The problem is, nobody gives a shit about any of that stuff. They're living off the hits of The Guess Who written by Bachman and Cummings. The promoters booking them are counting on those songs which is clear because otherwise they wouldn't have canceled the shows.

Here's the band last year... it consists of no original members and looks like a third rate hair metal cover band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwb_sK7eAUM

I'm in full support of Cummings here... anything that puts an end to these completely phony bands touring under monikers they have nothing to do with to pull in crowds is fine with me.

It's another reason the entire industry is heading into the toilet. It's just a commodity to too many.

Yeah this is the first example we've seen of an artist going nuclear to stop a fake version from touring.

I can't imagine they're going to attempt to go onstage and not play any of those songs they didn't write. Pretty crazy.

[WOLF]

Greg Smith, who played in bands we discuss here, is the current bass player in the Guess Who. He has some great Sludge on his FB page, calling out Burton.

I see a lot of self-serving nonsense on that page. This guy Greg is a hired hand who's collecting a check, nothing more. While I feel for him that he might be soon out looking for work, nothing is stopping them from continuing to perform as The Guess Who, they just can't perform Burton Cummings songs. They can certainly perform any Guess Who songs that Burton Cummings didn't write from both before and after he was in the band... even the two most recent "Guess Who" albums that they might actually have played a part in. The problem is, nobody gives a shit about any of that stuff. They're living off the hits of The Guess Who written by Bachman and Cummings. The promoters booking them are counting on those songs which is clear because otherwise they wouldn't have canceled the shows.

Here's the band last year... it consists of no original members and looks like a third rate hair metal cover band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwb_sK7eAUM

I'm in full support of Cummings here... anything that puts an end to these completely phony bands touring under monikers they have nothing to do with to pull in crowds is fine with me.

It's another reason the entire industry is heading into the toilet. It's just a commodity to too many.

Yeah this is the first example we've seen of an artist going nuclear to stop a fake version from touring.

I can't imagine they're going to attempt to go onstage and not play any of those songs they didn't write. Pretty crazy.

They won’t even get the chance. Venues are cancelling the shows, as they know they will take a bath if the band only plays new material, and they will get sued if they allow an artist to play those songs… and they certainly don’t want their reporting and payments to publishing firms audited.

Say what you want about Burton, but he’s taking a personal financial hit to do this, so he’s certainly taking a stand for what he believes in. A lot of musicians I’m friends with are concerned - if this becomes a trend amongst guys with “fuck you money” then it’s a game changer in the touring industry.

[NeonKnite]

Now Teddy Andreadis is doing similar on his page. Mocking Burton and posting stuff that supports the fake band.

[CrankerBait]

Happy to see this. The bogus acts posing as the real thing - especially ones where the two main members are still alive, kicking and performing - should have been gone long, long ago.

[Ryan81]

I gotta be honest with ya...I have no clue who Mr. Cummings is, but when I read the title of this thread my heart felt like it skipped a beat and the room got cold. So much for a good night's sleep.

[Black Stuff]

Unfortunately, the.bogus act owns the name it sounds like.

[WOLF]

Unfortunately, the.bogus act owns the name it sounds like.

Owning the name doesn’t really help if you can’t play the old songs, which they no longer can since the publisher, Burton Cummings, pulled the performing rights license. It’s a precedent in the industry that can have far reaching ramifications if owners of catalogs decide to play hard ball and hold bands who don’t own their publishing hostage. Not everyone will take a financial hit to prove a point though - as Burton is.

[Black Stuff]

Unfortunately, the.bogus act owns the name it sounds like.

Owning the name doesn’t really help if you can’t play the old songs, which they no longer can since the publisher, Burton Cummings, pulled the performing rights license. It’s a precedent in the industry that can have far reaching ramifications if owners of catalogs decide to play hard ball and hold bands who don’t own their publishing hostage. Not everyone will take a financial hit to prove a point though - as Burton is.

very true! he should just try to buy the rights to the name back. Sleeping in the 80s and he let it go?

[PBFSUCKS]

Won’t this limit Cummings playing his own songs in concert as well??

No doubt he’s sitting on more money than Kale or Peterson and can hold out forever

He can play them, he owns the rights. He can also license them to people for money, (Lenny Kravitz) however no one is legally allowed to perform them in bars, clubs, theatres etc or they can be sued by him. Normally the licensing companies such as BMI and ASCAP that these venues pay a lot of money to would take care of that portion.

Now if your band plays American Woman at at bar this weekend, you won’t have an issue (although legally you could if anyone gave a shit) but where it is bad for the current Guess Who is, a lawyer will send a letter to every place they book and it’s definitely not worth the headache for any venue to deal with the nonsense that would come with booking them. They are fucked.

[FreddyFender]

I looked at Greg Smith's Facebook. Seriously delusional and entitled.

He plays bass for a guy that took the trademark through dishonest means - Cumming and Bachman are under no obligation to let him perform their songs.

All this stuff he's posting personally attacking Cummings is pretty pathetic. I get that it hurts to lose a good gig, but how can he tell himself that what he's doing isn't 100% bullshit??

[Venus Flytrap]

Rudy Sarzo got out at the right time.

[Dyslexicheart]

I don't see what the problem is. There are 2 original members still in the band. That's more than some.bands out there. Burton Cummings is a cunt. Always has been.

Yeah, the drummer and the bass player, neither of whom wrote a note or sang a song.

Good for Burton (and Randy)

[keyofgee]

this will happen as long as scab musicians will take any job. I couldn't go out as someone like that. They are even going further and dressing in 70's clothes. At least the singer/guitar player is. I would have to say before every show, Hey, I'm not the guy on the records but lets have a good time celebrating these songs. At least be honest and up front and maybe endorsed by the song owner.

[Dyslexicheart]

The good, old CBC - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba ... -1.7173104

There shouldn't be a Guess Who thread without a little music. From the classic Canadian show Wayne & Shuster on Dec 14, 1969, here's Burton looking like a young Eddie Vedder

https://youtu.be/5MyeHH5uJzY?si=OltuOXVUuKrDXMag

https://youtu.be/HOTpwEHf1rk?si=g_FBsel9aS2k4CpH

Second version of the band without Bachman, adding Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw on guitar, and a real slice of 1970 from the Johnny Cash Show:

https://youtu.be/M2Vv9sB2aMg?si=bgJlziBtNX5Cd3nh

From tv show Something Else in 1970

https://youtu.be/L_09T96ncaI?si=6eBc-sxAQRB2qFl0

And the #1 hit American Woman - it was hard finding video with Bachman in it, considering he wrote and performed the song - March 1970, right around the time he left the band

https://youtu.be/RGClIM2Pg44?si=QA3-T3meRlKhtcFF

[Lobo]

Burton Cummings is 76 years old. He's got homes in Canada and the US. He's got a mansion in Los Angeles with a wall covered in gold records (I know this because he arrogantly bragged about it at a show I was at).

He's got enough money to bury these half-assed pretenders in miles of legal paperwork and lawyers fees.

He didn't want anyone touring and playing under the name The Guess Who anymore and decided to do something about it. At some point a person has enough money and it becomes more about the name/legacy.

Cummings does solo tours regularly, he has for many years. He also does shows occasionally with Randy Bachman. They wrote and played the songs. I could see why they wouldn't want any confusion over the band name and if he or Randy were playing in it.