False FLAG case dropped

Hey, nothing says hardcore punk like running to the lawyers to sort out a spat over trademark ownership, right?

The battle between two zombie versions of Black Flag is over, with Black Flag's Greg Ginn losing an attempt to slap an injunction on Keith Morris' FLAG.

There was a side-spat, too, over whether Henry Rollins had any right to royalties on the Black Flag tshirts bought by children everywhere these days.

Some poor judge had to come to conclusions:

(1) the court found that SST had no rights in the trademarks;
(2) Ginn seemed to have no individual rights in the Black Flag trademarks;
(3) even if either had had any rights in those marks, they had abandoned those rights through a failure to police the mark for nearly 30 years;
(4) the defendants’ claim that the Black Flag assets were owned by a statutory partnership comprised of various former band members – even if these members only consisted of Henry and Ginn, based on (a) accepting Ginn’s argument that he never quit and given that there is no evidence or allegation that Henry ever quit – has merit;
(5) that even if the plaintiffs had some trademark claim in the marks, there was no likelihood of consumer confusion between Black Flag and Flag given the ample press coverage over the dispute; and
(6) the trademark application and registration that Henry and Keith made was done in good faith (e.g. not fraudulently) – and is thus not necessarily subject to cancellation – given that they understood their actions to have been done on the part of the Black Flag partnership (see No. 4, above).

Yeah, the most interesting part of that is the discovery that, legally, Henry Rollins is still a member of Black Flag. If this sets a precedent, it'll no longer be enough to quit a band by sneaking out a backdoor when the touring group stops over at a Village Inn, or by sleeping with the bassist's husband. It's going to be in writing, with 28 day's notice.

I think, legally, this means that The Beatles are still going and Yoko, as representative of Lennon's estate, is a member.

Black Flag rises again

Black Flag are reuniting to play Hevy Fest this summer.

"Blimey", you might be wondering, "how did they persuade Henry Rollins?"

They used the simple trick of not telling him:

Black Flag are reuniting for a performance at British rock event Hevy Fest in August, but former member Ron Reyes will be taking on vocal duties.

They were more fun before he turned up, to be fair.

Bookmarks - internet stuff: Glenn Danzig

The Daily Cross Hatch talks to Tom Neely, creator of that Henry Rollins/Glenn Danzug comic:

Knowing what you know about Danzig as a person, did you really expect him to be excited about that book?
No, no. I didn’t know what to expect. When Jay was on his way to interview him, we were speculating. He’s either really gonna be pissed or he won’t give a shit. But it was something weird and in-between. He was like, ‘I don’t give a shit,’ and he wouldn’t even look at it, and then he went on this weird rant, calling us “stupid Internet hipsters.”

Bookmarks - Internet stuff: Henry Rollins

Dirtfarm goes to see the now FIFTY YEAR OLD Henry Rollins kick off his spoken word tour and reports back in comic form:

Henry and Glenn sitting in a tree

There's somethings which, however intriguing they might sound, you really don't want to look directly at. A comic depicting a gay romance between Henry Rollins and Glenn Danzig is probably one of them.

I mean, where would they even live, LA Weekly West Coast Sound blog?

Oh, their neighbors are Hall & Oates, who are just your average neighborhood Satanists with a penchant for D&D.

Actually, that makes sense.

Rollins prepares to pulse neck muscles once more

Henry Rollins is currently deciding "hmm... shall I mention about my friend being shot again?" as he prepares one of his not-exactly-Jello-Biafran spoken word tours of the UK and Ireland:

26 January London Hammersmith Apollo
27 Bristol Colston Hall
28 Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall
29 Dublin Vicar Street
30 Manchester Academy
31 Newcastle Academy
2 February Aberdeen Music Hall
3 Glasgow Theatre Royal

When Rollins met Manson

There are few more meetings of minds more finely matched than that of Henry Rollins and Marilyn Manson, respectively the late 1980s and late 1990s mainstream idea of what the counterculture looked like.

The appearance of Manson on The Henry Rollins Show is something of a treat for seasoned Manson watchers, as he touches on the aftermath of Columbine. Or, as Manson puts it:

After surviving Columbine I went over the hill of what you can tolerate because that was the worst.

We thought we'd heard quite a lot of the coverage of what happened in the Colorado high school that day; we hadn't realised that Brian had been there. Because surely he wouldn't use a phrase like "after surviving Columbine" to mean "after twisting in the wind to save my career", as suggesting that he somehow survived a mass murder is a little bit insulting to people like Marjorie Lindholm, who actually did survive the Columbine shootings.

Those of you with long memories will recall that after Columbine, the (admittedly ridiculous) claims that Manson somehow caused the slaughter presented him with a choice: he could either maintain the closest thing he could manage to a dignified silence - after all, his schtick was built around being an edgy suburban nightmare, and in the face of attacks from media looking for someone to blame, wading into the argument would only prolong the agonies. Or, he could wipe off his make-up and admit he was only playing.

Manson remembers the time like this:

Hollywood and people were giving me dirty looks like I did something wrong like, "What the fuck? What are you doing?" I just learned to deal with it. I had to move out of L.A. I moved to Chatsworth. I didn't do any press. I refused to.

Really? You didn't do any press and kept your counsel, did you, Marilyn?

We know Rolling Stone doesn't have quite the kudos it did thirty years ago, but writing a big 'don't blame me' piece hardly constitutes not doing press, even when it's full of protestations about how you're not doing any press.
It's interesting comparing the Rolling Stone piece and the Rollins interview - both show Manson's unquestionable skill at framing arguments and finding the right words (if only he set out to do something more than superserving Shopping Mall goths), both show Manson unable to resist a preen:

I have assumed the role of Antichrist; I am the Nineties voice of individuality [Rolling Stone]

f I got paid for every time someone came up to me in an airport or anywhere saying "I saw you in 'Bowling for Columbine'," the most common thing I get is, "I didn't know you're so intelligent." And I'm like, "I didn't know you're so fucking stupid but I don't know you, you know, so…" It's a backhanded compliment. [Rollins]

Did I mention that people think I'm clever?

Then, Manson reveals he thought he was going to die:

I came back to Denver for the first time since then where I was in Ozzfest at Mile High Stadium. We had hundreds, hundreds of death threats so I'm thinking, if I'm going to die it's going to be today because it's Mile High Stadium, they're not going to be able to stop it if someone wants to shoot so when I went onstage I just had to decide, I can't live without doing what I do so I have to accept the fact I'm going to die for it if its going to be today and…it was a great show. Obviously I didn't die.

We're not entirely sure why, simply because it was Mile High Stadium, it would make it impossible to stop an attempt on his life? Because at that altitude security doesn't work?

Is he really suggesting that someone who seriously believed he was responsible for Columbine, who seriously sent death threats, and who intended to extract a blood revenge would wait for Manson to come to them? "I thought you were going to kill Manson to avenge our son's death" "Yeah, but I've not had a chance - he ain't come nearer than Seattle on tour since..."

Or maybe Manson had in mind someone intent on revenge but who was a really poor traveller?

And is Manson trying to claim that all or most of the death threats came from Denver? Or only the plausible ones?

For a self-proclaimed smart guy, whenever Manson tries to cast himself at the centre of global dramas, he always winds up making himself sound more and more puffed-up. Trying to pretend that his life was at risk when he played an Ozzfest gig in Denver is as implausible as the claims of those who blamed him for the Columbine killings. It's a little sickening, though, to see him still enjoying living off the notoriety years later.