I was looking for the Taj Mahal shows at Yoshi's in Oakland, on their website. I noticed that one day before Taj comes in for a three day run, Iron Butterfly is there.
So I googled them and found the above website. If you click on "band", to my knowledge there is not ONE single original member.
Does anyone in the biz have any idea how they can get away with doing this? How can you use the name? Shouldn't it be called "A Tribute To Iron Butterfly"? Maybe because the website says that the guitar player "toured with the original Iron Butterfly"?
If more than 10 people show up for this, that will be the biggest joke of all. You'd have to pay ME to go to this one.
[Edited on 3/9/2016 by robslob]
It's an Iron Butterfly cover band, but they apparently can't admit it.
You gotta be diligent these days. I mean you have to know who is in the band you're shellin' out that earned $$ to see. Pretty easy these days, the internet knows all....But this?.....that's just wrong man....
I saw them listed for an upcoming show at a local venue recently. I'd never seen them before and figured I'd check them out if there were at least a couple of the original members still in the band. I had to laugh and shake my head when I checked the band's website and discovered that there isn't even one original member in the current lineup. Needless to say, I opted to keep my money in my pocket.
That's a tribute band in my book.
Brings to mind the Ink Spots...
Non-original Ink Spots groups
Disputes over the rights to use the Ink Spots name began in the late 1940s, resulting in many court cases. Starting in 1954, groups calling themselves "The Ink Spots" sprang up all around the United States. Some groups contained original members Charlie Fuqua, Adriel McDonald, Billy Bowen or Deek Watson, but most had no ties to the original group whatsoever. Many groups claimed to have the rights to the name, but no one did. Still, lawsuits were filed between various groups and there was great confusion as to who owned the naming rights. Some groups avoided lawsuits by naming themselves "The Fabulous Ink Spots", "The Famous Ink Spots", "The Amazing Ink Spots", "The Sensational Ink Spots", "The Dynamic Ink Spots" and more.
According to writer Marv Goldberg: "The original group was a partnership, not a corporation, and that influenced [Judge Isidore Wasservogel] to say, in 1955, that when Hoppy Jones died in 1944, it effectively served to terminate the partnership and that no one could truthfully use the name after that." From 1954 to the present, more than 100 groups have used the name "The Ink Spots". In 1967 US federal judge Emmett C. Chaote ruled that since so many groups had been using the name "Ink Spots" that it had become "public domain" and was free for anyone to use.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ink_Spots#Non-original_Ink_Spots_groups
