U2: Lawsuit against them tossed
A suit filed against U2 claiming they copied parts of his song to use in "The Fly" has been dismissed.
Paul Rose claimed that the band used his 1989 instrumental "Nae Slappin" after he sent a demo tape to Island Records. He alleged that a 12-second segment of "The Fly" infringed on a 13-second segment of "Nae Slappin," especially the guitar line, the use of tambourine, and the drum, percussion and bass lines.
Billboard reports that U.S. District Judge Denise Cote ruled that the 13-second segment of "Nae Slappin" is not "quantitatively significant" to the song, amounting to only six percent of the track. And even though Rose argued that the segment was an "important foundation" to the structure and sound of the track, she ruled that he'd failed to prove that.
Cote wrote, "The fragment appears only once near the beginning of the recording; it is not repeated. It is one of multiple, at times seemingly random, guitar lines and styles strung together over the course of the composition."
JOURNEY: Jonathan Cain's memoir is coming this spring
Jonathan Cain's memoir will go on sale May 1st. The Journey keyboard player calls Don't Stop Believin' a story "of perseverance. It's about dealing with the setbacks of the music business -- the ups and downs, the dedications, the rejection, dealing with everybody that says 'You're not good enough' and carrying on." (Billboard)
The biggest break of his career came when he met John Waite, who invited him to join The Babys in 1979 -- a year before he replaced Greg Rolie in Journey.
Jonathan Cain was a struggling musician in Los Angeles before that meeting:
"Meeting John Waite and The Babys, and getting that opportunity. When I met John and he showed me the swagger, you know, 'This is how you do it, this is rock and roll, mate... Wear this, don't say that. Don't walk like this, don't walk like that. Don't do this onstage -- all that stuff. So, he really opened a huge door and I wouldn't be in Journey without John, you know, taking a chance on me."
The book was co-written by Travis Thrasher and is being published by a Christian imprint that mainly puts out Bibles. According to the press release, "Cain takes us on a spiritual odyssey from center stage with Journey when all America was listening to his life-changing faith today."
THE MONKEES: Nesmith and Dolenz may tour
Micky Dolenz and Mike Nesmith are reportedly "deep into talks with promoters" for a tour this summer.
While that might seem a surprise after Nesmith's 2016 claim that he'd done his last Monkees show, he tells Rolling Stone, "This isn't Monkee Michael and Monkee Micky going out." While the two would use the band's branding and logo, he promises "it will be very different than a Monkees show... Monkees music but no pretense about Micky and I being The Monkees. We're not. We're the remnants."
Asked why he didn't mention Peter Tork, Nez said he was afraid to "betray a confidence if I said more than, 'This is not a right time for him'."
Nesmith just finished a series of West Coast shows with a new edition of his post-Monkees group The First National Band.