Reviews of "Got You On My mind"

Dear Smooth,

I will try to answer your questions as plainly as possible.

First of all, I do not feel that I am in a dark place. I am in a
painful, expensive, and tragic place but I feel no shame in
initiating the lawsuits.

I was attacked and I acted to defend myself, as you or any other
self-respecting person would do.

Specifically, Jeffrey Greenberg and Rounder threatened to
charge me with a federal crime if i did not surrender a CD that I
rightfully own, spent tens of thousands to make, and am
extremely proud of .

Greenberg also falsely accused me of physically abusing my
former girlfriend (Madi) and of "criminal harrassment" and sent
these accusations to influential members of the music
community, in which i have been making my living for the past
25 years.

He also threatened my business associates with criminal
prosecution if they sold GYOMM, causing them to cancel our
contract and withdraw GYOMM from the market.

I spoke at length by phone and exchanged and e-mails with
Ken Irwin, the owner of Rounder, imploring him to tell
Greenberg to withdraw the libelous statements and threats so
that I wouldn't have to take this matter to court. (I will be posting
these letters on the website.)

Irwin said it was in the hands of his legal department who he
trusted to do the ethical thing- , then Rounder moved to have a
"protective order" placed against me so that I could not contact
them (the judge angrilly rejected the motion as baseless).

As a very last resort, I filed a complaint. This has cost me many
thousands of dollars, dominated nearly two years of my life,
and has taken a serious toll on my health and peace of mind.

Still, I have no regrets, nor doubts that i am doing the right
thing, and i will pursue this case to the bitter end. Even if I lose
in court, i will have published the pertinent documents that
expose the outrageous injustice that has taken place.

You ask, "Do you think it is wise to discuss legal information on
the public web?" and :"Do you really intend to provide
documents....?" I sincerely hope that is not meant as a threat.
The answer to both questions is yes.

i have done everything I could to insulate Madeleine from the
consequences her colleagues have brought on themselves. I
even offered to release her 100% from the lawsuit with
guaranteed immunity if she would simply withdraw her
libelous statements and declassify her correspondence with
Greenberg. If Greenberg were guiltless, they both would have
walked away from the case free of consequences. Madeleine
refused. i wiil publish that offer as well.

Rounder and Greenberg may ultimately outspend and
outlawyer me, but they will soon be seen by the world for what
they are and for what they have done. If Madi chooses to align
herself with these parties, her complicity will also be exposed.
That would be a tragedy, and so i remain cautiously open to
conciliation with Madi at least,

To answer your other questions:

There were seven songs on the original version of GYOMM
because that was the number of songs we could finish before
travelling to Germany to perform with the Dresden
Philharmonic Orchestra. We sold many CD's at that concert as
affidavits will confirm.

There are eleven songs on the final version of GYOMM
because Madeleine and i both wanted to make GYOMM a full
length CD.

On 8/18 2003,- two weeks after she stopped performing with
me- Madeleine wrote to her manager Cynthia Herbst:
“Although I have not<

Dear Smooth,

I was looking forward to reading Higglety’s response to your
post, but he seems to be taking a time out from the fracus.
However, your post merits a response, so I’ll try to answer for
him. I hope Rich Hansen will be elegant and well-mannered
enough to not censor this response, as he has not censored
your posting.

To begin with, I am not afraid to discuss the lawsuit in public
and in writing, because I have nothing to hide. In fact I am
willing to answer any question from any fan who wishes to
contact me, personally or on this forum.

Regarding focusing on “music and joy”: this whole lawsuit
started in December 2003 when Madeleine’s lawyer was told I
would be selling GYOMM and accused me of marketing a
bootleged “demo” (which is now a felony in New York) and
threatened to charge any distributor or record company that
sold GYOMM with the same crime (copyright infringement).

The only way I could prove that these allegations were false
was to take Madeleine, her lawyer and Rounder Records to
Federal court, where Madeleine suddenly produced an affidavit
swearing that they had all been mistaken for the past five
months, and I that I was indeed the joint-owner of the seven
song GYOMM and the co-author of the song “Playin” (which
Madeleine had previously claimed to have written herself).

Had I not taken this action, I would not have found a distributor
and thousands of Madeleine’s fans would not be enjoying
GYOMM, not to mention prominent critics like the editor of
Downbeat, who seems to prefer GYOMM to Careless Love.

Madeleine’s lawyer was not focusing on music and joy when
he falsely accused me of physically abusing Madeleine, which
is the subject of a libel trial pending in New York Supreme
Court. Madeleine’s affectionate and apologetic letters to me,
(up to one month before the allegations were made and
months after I last saw her) will be posted on the internet soon.

Nor was Madeleine focusing on music and joy when she sued
me last week for a million dollars (plus legal expenses) for:

-using her name on the album cover of GYOMM. (After claiming
that seven songs from GYOMM were made as a demo of her
singing with me as an “accompanying musician” -who
happened to pay for 90% of the recording). Question for
Madeleine: Who's names should be on the CD?????

-Breaching a purely fictional “verbal agreement” (of which no
evidence exists) that allegedly prevented me from selling
GYOMM anywhere but at her shows, (which she barred me
from playing or attending a few months after the the CD was
recorded). Why in God's name would i agree to a deal like that?
And why didn't Madeleine make a deal in writing? Because no
sane person would ever have signed it! Why didn't
Madeleine's contract with Rounder stipulate that I was not
allowed to sell the CD? Because I am. Was Rounder
depending on a verbal agreement to give Madi a major
recording contract? .......Hello?

-And......ready? .... for not paying her royalties for GYOMM
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As soon as I am allowed to earn back my investment
of $80,000, I will joyously pay Madeleine. However this will be
much more difficult if I cannot use her name on the cover or
have to spend all my money paying legal bills and a million
dollar penalty. Otherwise, Madeleine will soon be receiving
many times as much per record sold as she gets from Rounder.

This whole mess originates from these documented facts:

Madeleine’s lawyer Jeff Greenberg falsely told Rounder that
GYOMM was a “demo” owned entirely b

I will get the reviews on the site in due course. Nothing sinister just have other demands on my time.

Here are some nice reviews of the CD, "Got You On My Mind"
featuring Madeleine Peyroux and me, William Galison. Rich
Hansonis going to post them in Madi's discography in the next
few days In the meantime, here they are for your perusal.

The colored ones are links. The black ones are not links, so
you have to copy and paste the addresses to your browser.

http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/g/galisonwilliam-
gotyou.shtml

http://www.musicbox-online.com/mp-care.html

http://www.jazznow.com/0205/0205NS/NSGalPey.html

http://
www.jazzpolice.com/content/view/5027/2/1/1/

http:/
/www.jazzitude.com/galisonpeyroux_mind.htm

http://www.bluesartstudio.at/NeueSeiten/2005CD01.html

http://blog.jazz-not-jazz.com/archives/2005/02/25/william-
galison-and-madeleine-peyroux-got-you-on-my-mind/

http://citypaper.net/articles/2004-09-02/music2.shtml

http://www.dallasobserver.com/issues/2004-09-02/music/
hearthere3.html

http://www.tollbooth.org/2005/reviews/wgmp.html

http://www.30music.com/rev.php?rev=971&action=searchRev&
term=peyroux#edit

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=14919


Thanks!

William

Edited by willgalison