During the closing minutes of a newly-released audio interview, Music Row's "divorce lawyer to the stars" ROSARY (a/k/a ROSE) PALERMO references MIKE WALLACE interviewing the attorney for 60 Minutes some 45 years ago. Then-Record World columnist (and Nashville Banner entertainment reporter) FRANCIS XAVIER "RED" O'DONNELL wrote in the music trade's January 20, 1979 issue "In my opinion, the 60 Minutes 'exposè'... of Music Row's rip-off operation didn't live up to advance billing...  Local music and trade reporters over the past decade or so have written hundreds of stories warning would-be songwriters not to pay anybody who offers to 'make you a star' or 'get your song published.'"

Of course, many if not most of the victims of these scams did not call Nashville, let alone Tennessee, home.  They did not read Nashville's daily newspapers nor the music trades.  They did read the ads in the back of otherwise trusted sources like Country Song Roundup placed by the those frauds  making the very subsequently unfulfilled promised to which O'Donnell referred.  

Those same closing minutes of the Palermo interview stream capture the audio of Wallace's confrontational exchange with "Colonel" TOM ANTHONY, one of the fraudsters whose contracts, Palermo told O'Donnell were "technically not illegal." 

If the reprised Banner team wants to know what PAUL HARVEY would call "the Rest of the Story," I will recall my own victimization by the man who not only masqueraded as a colonel, but whose real name was JOHN CALVIN BECK.    (Spoiler alert: A bucket of what was then known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, as opposed to the more recently officially adopted acronym, is one "ingredient" of the complete narrative.)            

My interactions with Beck came not long after I moved to Nashville in 1973.  I had no reason to believe he wasn't legit because I assumed he had been thoroughly vetted by the JANE JONES Temporary Agency.  The temp agency thought I would be an ideal fit for Colonel Tom's opening for a talent scout. 

So did I at a time, new to the industry, I had never heard of the colonel nor his Chart Records and Destiny Records labels.  I liked the idea of visiting clubs and getting paid to give my recommendations, my "expertise"being I was of the demographic Anthony said he was trying to reach.  My naivete extended to an incident of, in the #MeToo era, what would be termed sexual assault, though I didn't process it that way at the time when Beck and I met what was supposed to be for the purpose of sealing the (employment) deal.  Believing at the time, as most women were culturally conditioned to, that rape must involve penetration, it didn't even occur to me to alert Jane Jones, let alone the police. Based on subsequent unwelcome advances, nonconsensual touching or groping from other music industry "respectables" in similar executive positions I would occasionally receive in the years to come, that I not only reported to law enforcement but eventually went public about to the extent of naming names, it wouldn't have done much good. 

It was just my luck to not have known of Billboard's August 4, 1973 article detailing Nashville's FBI agents' arresting Beck and returning him to federal prison for violating parole: "Beck, a four time loser, had been involved in promotions and business dealings here.  He told agents he owed more than $50,000 to Nashville banks and additional thousands of dollars to other individuals in the industry." 

I also missed the trade's September 22, 1973 follow-up report noting that Beck's release from the Texarkana, Texas federal prison, three weeks after his parole violation return, due to "congressional intervention."  Incredibly, the con man convinced backers that he "had worked diligently during his year" on Music Row, so, in return, "certain individuals and institutions asked area congressmen to seek his release.  Letter were sent... and he has voiced intention to return to the music industry and repay his debts."  (I don't know if BILL BONER and/or FATE THOMAS were involved, but each eventually got his comeuppance when Nashville voters finally got sick of machine-style politics.)

Had I been so informed, I might not have been surprised by the February 1, 1980 edition of my mentor BIFF COLLIE's  Radio & Records column in which Biff revealed Beck was newly-charged with "using the telephone to further an extortion scheme.  He was charged last month in Macon, Georgia with attempting to extort $200,000 from Bassett Furniture there in 1975."

****

All aboard the TAYLOR SWIFT Express this fall and/or a Swift-themed cruise that sets sail in October, 2024.

****

It will be a lucky day for KEITH URBAN fans when Keith is featured on TODAY's Friday (September, 2024) the 13th Summer Concert Series segment.

****

The July/August 2024 issue of The Advocate celebrates WILLIE NELSON.  Citing a 2013 Texas Monthly interview in which Nelson opined about same-sex marriages ("It's about human rights.  As humanity, we've come through so many problems from the beginning to here... This is just another situation, another problem.  We'll work it out and move on."), the update notes Willie's collaboration with ORVILLE PECK  on a cover of "the very gay country country classic "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other", originally by NED SUBLETTE" and covered by Nelson in 2006. 

As TOMÀS MIER quotes Peck in Rolling Stone's April 5, 2024 issue, "Willie kept talking about how the subject matter in this song was more important than ever.  He wanted it to have a new life with the two of us."

Thanks to FIA KAMINSKI for the offer to add me to the press list to catch the GASLIGHT ANTHEM's August 14, 2024 performance at Marathon Music Works

... and to NIK SOELTER for an invitation to SLEATER-KINNEY's July 25, 2024 showcase at The Brooklyn Bowl.

****

The historical link between country music and patriotism, as most recently addressed by my fellow author and historian JOSEPH THOMPSON, is explored in detail here.

****

LAINEY WILSON dishes with HODA KOTB here.

The evolution of MIKE HUCKABEE's TBN flagship weekly broadcast has been an interesting one.  Prior to Huckabee's tiff with the Country Music Foundation, "the (former Arkansas) governor"  sought out guests with divergent views from his own.  That balance, subsequently scrapped along with a short-lived segment titled "My Two Cents Worth" featuring viewer mail, resulted in  Huckabee becoming increasingly partisan and divisive in his monologues and irresponsible in his goading of featured guests.

While Huckabee's house band, TREY CORLEY and THE MUSIC CITY CONNECTION and "your announcer" KEITH BILBREY have had an apparent tacit (if not contractual) agreement with the show's producers that they not appear to be political partisans and religious zealots themselves, a viewing of the show's July 6, 2024 telecast at one point called into question whether or not Bilbrey was doing a cold reading of his script.

Leading into a commercial break, Bilbrey intoned: "Coming up next: STANLEY RIDGLEY sheds light into some of the terrifying left-wing brainwashing in our universities today."  

Granted, the bumper referenced the subtitle of the college professor's new book, but did Keith want to appear to be expressing agreement with Ridgley, the husband, according to Mike Huckabee, of a Moms for Liberty activist, however misleadingly patriotic and innocuous-sounding the group's name?

(Though Mike referred to me during one of his 2018 broadcasts, I don't imagine he'll invite me on his show to further discuss any of the above, let alone our shared history with the CMF, any time soon.)

Column's best wishes to T.G. SHEPPARD for a speedy recovery following the singer's knee replacement surgery.

To the best of my knowledge, my fellow Creative Community for Peace member SCOOTER BRAUN and I continue to be the lone voices of the Music Row community (famous for bestowing "humanitarian awards" upon those who lend their names to charitable fundraisers so long as they get the credit) speaking out about Hamas' war crimes.

"No known connection," as PAUL HARVEY used to say, but after soliciting panel submission proposals for consideration in advance of its AMERICANAFEST 2024, the Americana Music Association, as is its right, has chosen to exclude a panel pitch titled "'Jew Hatred' a/k/a Antisemitism, Music Row and America's last 'Acceptable' Form of Discrimination" from its series of panel discussion.

A panel pitch submitted the previous year (based on what would have been an industry assessment in the aftermath of the monumental and unprecedented dissolution of KIRT WEBSTER PR) for the 2023 Americana Fest roundtable also failed to make the cut. (By contrast, the AMA reports its 2023 submissions that made the cut are now available to its members for streaming.)

The unsigned 2024 proposal rejection indicated "although we regret we are not able to offer you a panel opportunity, we want you to know how much we appreciate your interest in AMERICANAFEST and your participation in our community."

 

MILEY CYRUS, "cover girl" for W magazine's 2024 summer issue, whose Cowboy Carter duet with BEYONCÉ is Cyrus 13th Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 hit, is especially touched by a fax that her godmother (famous for faxing in the age of texting) DOLLY PARTON sent her "two Mother's Days ago."   Miley calls Dolly's faxing "100 percent part of my 9 to 5 fantasy.

"No one else faxes.  I literally have to access my lawyer's office, because my lawyer is the only person who can still receive a fax."

Cyrus adds "Last Christmas [Parton] gave me a whole mannequin, done in her proportions and wearing her outfit.  It's so major."


Charity Navigator's updated ratings reveal that the charitable giving watchdog is unable to evaluate the Country Music Association's use of its donors' contributions using Charity Navigator's four-category methodology, because the CMA is "not a 501(c)(3) IRS registered nonprofit."  
(In other news you're reading here first, the CMA and the Metropolitan Government of Nashville Davidson County are defendants in a damage/tort lawsuit filed in Davidson County Circuit Court by MARIANNE PETERS and TIMOTHY PETERS.)

While Leadership Music receives three out of four stars from Charity Navigator, the fourth star is apparently withheld from the "mean girls" organization for its failure to disclose its conflict-of-interest and whistleblowers policies, if any, to the Internal Revenue Service.


I'm told Swifties are continuing to celebrate the release of The Tortured Poets Department by cornering the market on centuries' old French notarized documents to use in scrapbooks, memory boards et al.

Meanwhile, Arrington, Tennessee's Castle Gwynn, featured in TAYLOR SWIFT's "Fearless" music video, will soon become a destination for weddings with the further expansion of a newlywed suite.

Castle owner/studio photographer MIKE FREEMAN, who once sold a linen fold design antique (1475) chest some five centuries later to DIXIE HALL for $3,000 has been trying to track down the chest in the wake of Dixie's widower Tom's passing.

Though I was present at the October 22, 2016 Northgate Gallery "living" estate sale for the Halls' collected property, eight years later I don't remember if that particular piece of furniture was up for bid.  I've referred Mike to Northgate and also to Report reader DEAN HALL.