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Re: Axl Rose lawsuit gets off to a touchy start
Dueling lawsuits involving Guns N' Roses front man Axl Rose and his former manager began on a sour note, so a judge said today she may appoint a third party help them strike a more pleasant chord.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rita Miller blamed attorneys for Rose and Irving Azoff for problems during a recent deposition that Azoff's attorneys suspended before it was over.
Rose's lawyer, Sasha Frid, said the questions he asked got Azoff so upset that the manager threw a copy of the Wall Street Journal at the attorney.
Azoff's counsel, Steve Rothschild, said he was present at the deposition and denies that happened.
"It sounds like you guys are going to be in a knockdown, dragged out war," Miller said. "If both sides take extreme positions, it ends up costing both sides a ton of money."
Miller said she will wait and see if the lawyers can resolve their differences before she appoints a referee, a move supported by Azoff's legal team, but opposed by Rose's lawyers as too costly.
"You guys can try and fix this thing before it becomes a nightmare for all concerned," Miller said.
Azoff sued Rose March 25, claiming the musician owes his company, Front Line Management, more than $1.8 million and broke a verbal agreement to pay the company a 15 percent commission for performances by the band in Taipei, Seoul, Japan, Canada and South America.
Axl countersued May 17, claiming the manager tried to force him to reunite with the original Guns N' Roses band members and failed to properly promote the band's "Chinese Democracy" CD. The suit also claims Azoff lied about a prospective Van Halen super tour and mishandled the band's tour dates.
The countersuit refers to the U.S. Justice Department's recent antitrust lawsuit that sought to stop Ticketmaster and Live Nation from merging over concerns the new entity would have too much control over artists and venues. Afterwards, Ticketmaster entered into a consent decree with government regulators that allowed the merger to go forward under certain operating provisions.
Rothschild said Azoff's deposition was suspended after Frid began asking the manager questions about his role as chairman of Ticketmaster and Live Nation after the 2008 merger of the companies and Ticketmaster's acquisition of a majority share of Front Line.
Rothschild said the questions were not relevant, were designed to harass his client and that the final straw was when Frid gave a copy of the Wall Street Journal to Azoff and asked him about his stature in the music industry.
But Frid said the inquiries were an attempt to probe whether Azoff has any conflicts of interest in promoting tours while also managing artists.
Miller set trial for April 26.
Re: Axl Rose lawsuit gets off to a touchy start
Oh shits...
Rothschild said Azoff's deposition was suspended after Frid began asking the manager questions about his role as chairman of Ticketmaster and Live Nation after the 2008 merger of the companies and Ticketmaster's acquisition of a majority share of Front Line.
I can see why he's upset. I don't think Azoff's going to come out too good on this subject and, imo, is absolutely the reason he wants a third party to mediate. If this becomes big news in the press I think Azoff is going to be under some serious scrutiny, possibly at a federal level. Axl could get some big name support in his corner...
The VH thing is iffy. Azoff did talk about the VH stadium tour in the press, so that's not a lie and can be easily proven. But I'm sure there weren't any contracts or writing on the subject. It could be shown as something Azoff used to get Axl to sign with him... Possibly, Azoff was planning it to be a VH/GNR-reunion tour and that's why it really didn't happen... Hmmm.
The BB thing is the most interesting. I think it could be shown Azoff was a big reason why CD was finally released in the first place, at least that's what it looks like. (Dexter, if you're reading this, you can jump in say yay or nay on this, dude 
) We all agree CD was mishandled and cost them some album sales. But if Axl did sit back in protest, or whatever, and didn't do anything himself to promote the album, that's going to look bad on him.
If the legal bills start rolling in we might be getting some more shows and possibly another album to help pay for it. See, there's always a bright spot. 
Re: Axl Rose lawsuit gets off to a touchy start
I fuckin' love Axl. He's won so many points with me again on going after this guy.
No one on his caliber has went head-to-head with this guy. Azoff is a total ego case. Axl Rose vs. Irving Azoff will be a war that will cause the space time continuum to collapse in on itself.
This is gonna be great. I got my popcorn ready.
Re: Axl Rose lawsuit gets off to a touchy start
I fuckin' love Axl. He's won so many points with me again on going after this guy.
This is gonna be great. I got my popcorn ready.
+1
& on that note, TWAT has just came on & u gotta hand it to axl he lives his lyrics. whatever u think has gone wrong he's always true to his art. suppose he doesn't knw any other way.. but the first part of TWAT sounds an awful lot like what's going on right now.
think the last GnR song i heard was IRS.. his life never seems to get any easier, huh?
Re: Axl Rose lawsuit gets off to a touchy start
Axl could make his life easier any time he wants to. He keeps choosing the hard road.
So Axl screws over his manager, but you guys want to make him into a hero because you think the manager is a bad guy not for anything to do with Axl, but because of his other business dealings that you don't like? WTF?
Azoff is just smarter than everybody else and always has put himself ahead of the curve. He's always been one move ahead - that's why he is where he is. There's no reason to think he isn't still one step ahead.
It's perfectly fine not to like Azoff and to love Axl, but don't let that blind you from the facts of the case. Axl's countersuit has little to do with Azoff's lawsuit and everything to do with attacking a person that is just going after what he deserves. There's no chance in hell that Axl's lawsuit ruins Azoff. Axl is a spoiled brat that thinks anybody that doesn't do exactly what he says doesn't deserve anything they earned for what they did do. Even if Azoff tried to get Axl to reunite (which any good manager would do btw), he still deserves to get paid for what he did do. That is how the business world works. That is why Axl will lose this lawsuit battle. This lawsuit isn't going to destroy Azoff's "empire" in any way, shape, or form. It will further solidify it.
- emcitymisfit
- Rep: 28
Re: Axl Rose lawsuit gets off to a touchy start
Axl could make his life easier any time he wants to. He keeps choosing the hard road.
So Axl screws over his manager, but you guys want to make him into a hero because you think the manager is a bad guy not for anything to do with Axl, but because of his other business dealings that you don't like? WTF?
Azoff is just smarter than everybody else and always has put himself ahead of the curve. He's always been one move ahead - that's why he is where he is. There's no reason to think he isn't still one step ahead.
It's perfectly fine not to like Azoff and to love Axl, but don't let that blind you from the facts of the case. Axl's countersuit has little to do with Azoff's lawsuit and everything to do with attacking a person that is just going after what he deserves. There's no chance in hell that Axl's lawsuit ruins Azoff. Axl is a spoiled brat that thinks anybody that doesn't do exactly what he says doesn't deserve anything they earned for what they did do. Even if Azoff tried to get Axl to reunite (which any good manager would do btw), he still deserves to get paid for what he did do. That is how the business world works. That is why Axl will lose this lawsuit battle. This lawsuit isn't going to destroy Azoff's "empire" in any way, shape, or form. It will further solidify it.
Disagree. I think it's easy to make that judgment, but Axl's allegations about a conflict of interest (sabotaging CD in favor of a reunion) go right to the heart of some of the biggest concerns about Azoff's merger.
Assuming the claims are valid (and provable in court), and not just Axl's ranting/passing the buck on his own failures, which can never be ruled out, this could have huge implications for the entire industry. At this point, I wouldn't put money on Axl, but to say that this is just Axl being a brat, which it very may well be, it a bit of a rush to judgment.
A lot of what Axl has said in the past was derided as crazy, but turned out to be true. His track record isn't complete BS, just stained with it.
Re: Axl Rose lawsuit gets off to a touchy start
Disagree. I think it's easy to make that judgment, but Axl's allegations about a conflict of interest (sabotaging CD in favor of a reunion) go right to the heart of some of the biggest concerns about Azoff's merger.
Assuming the claims are valid (and provable in court), and not just Axl's ranting/passing the buck on his own failures, which can never be ruled out, this could have huge implications for the entire industry. At this point, I wouldn't put money on Axl, but to say that this is just Axl being a brat, which it very may well be, it a bit of a rush to judgment.
A lot of what Axl has said in the past was derided as crazy, but turned out to be true. His track record isn't complete BS, just stained with it.
I'm sorry. We all knew Azoff's reputation...are you saying Axl and his entire team of cronies didn't? He hired a manager known for reuniting huge bands...what exactly did he think was going to happen?
Regardless of that, Azoff set up the tour. That's his job and he did it. He deserves to get paid for it. End of story. The rest of it may be grounds for firing the guy (I guess), but Azoff is going to get paid.
I predict Axl's suit will be dismissed and Axl will go into a hole again thinking "poor me...I can't believe Azoff did that to me. If Azoff had just promoted CD...it would have been huge."
- emcitymisfit
- Rep: 28
Re: Axl Rose lawsuit gets off to a touchy start
I predict Axl's suit will be dismissed and Axl will go into a hole again thinking "poor me...I can't believe Azoff did that to me. If Azoff had just promoted CD...it would have been huge."
Very possible. Likely, even. I think the jury is still out on that one, though. We'll see.
Wonder if they settled with that German electronic "music" making guy.
