THE EYE OF THE TIGER
Goes To Washington
In
the wild sixties, the flower children”
believed that a singer with a guitar
could march up Capitol Hill and change
things. In the Twenty-First Century,
Jim Peterik and his fellow hit songwriters
are doing exactly that.
Peterik, who’s
music career spans over forty years
(from the Ides Of March “Vehicle”
to Survivor’s “Eye Of
The Tiger” to name a few) is
an unlikely lobbyist, at first sight;
but considering the issues, a more
passionate voice is hard to imagine.
The Nashville Songwriter’s
Association International (NSAI),
an activist group dedicated to the
protection of songwriter’s rights,
and putting songwriters on par with
the rest of the business world. Under
their auspices, Jim Peterik, and a
slew of fellow hitmakers descended
on Congress and right into the offices
of lawmakers who received personal
“micro-concerts” and all
the information about the NSAI’s
mission.
That mission is the
reform of laws governing songwriter’s
issues, specifically, taxation, copyright,
and licensing. One such issue concerns
the songwriter’s primary asset-their
“catalogs” or groups of
songs. This is analogous to a business’s
hard assets, or material goods. Previously,
if a songwriter sold a catalog, the
income was treated as “personal
income” and thus subject to
self-employment taxes, social security,
and other liabilities. Songwriters
lost nearly half of their catalog’s
value to Uncle Sam. Why shouldn’t
songwriters come under the rules of
Capital Gains like the rest of the
business world? Through the efforts
of the NSAI, President Bush signed
into law a bill that made the desired
change that songwriters asked for
Other issues revolve
around new technologies such as the
imminent release of digital recording
equipment attachments for satellite
radio, HD radio, and the proliferation
of peer-to peer networks like Lime
Wire and Grokster. The legal mechanisms
are not in place to track download
sales so songwriters may receive their
fair royalties, like they do for CD’s,
and conventional broadcast.
For two days, Peterik
and his colleagues criss-crossed the
American Headquarters. This group
consisted many of Nashville’s
songwriting elite, each with hits
currently or recently at the pinnacle
of the charts. The writers (besides
Jim) involved were: Steve Bogard,
Bob Regan, Danny Wells, Lynn Gillespie
Chater, Monty Powell, Rebekah Powell,
Anna Wilson, Lee Miller, Brad Parker,
Suzanna Spring, Roger Brown, Rick
Carnes, and Marvin Etzione. (More
on Marvin in a bit…)
The NSAI staffers led
by Bart Herbison scheduled meetings
on the fly, practically turning the
domed landmark into the “Grand
Ole Opry- Eastern division”.
The singers (and, more importantly,
their message)
were warmly received, receiving near-unanimous
bi-partisan support,
“It was like trick
or treating” Jim said, “only
it was the other way around, we were
giving out the candy” It’s
an apt description how they brought
a joyous noise to the solemn grind
of those we’ve elected to care
for our country The young pages were
wide eyed-and smiling as the artists
entered each office, giving a further
boost of goodwill and energy.
On July 25th, Rep. Marsha
Blackburn (R-TN) and Rep. Lloyd Doggett
(D- Tx) in conjunction with the NSAI
hosted a special event called “Guitar
Pull” for the House songwriting
caucus. All of the songwriters convened
with the lawmakers for an evening
of performances, cocktails and hors
d’oeuvres. For a while it seemed
that the cocktails and hors d’oeuvres
were more on the minds of the congressmen
than the singers, until Marvin Etzione
(who is responsible for #1 hits by
Lone Justice and The Williams Brothers,
among others) went to the middle of
the floor toting just an unamplified
mandolin, and began softly singing
his song “You Are The Light”.
Gradually, the attention
shifted to Marvin, and everyone made
a circle around him. Others joined
in, and before long it was “like
a revival meeting” as described
by Jim. As the excitement built, Jim
took the example from Marvin, and
“parted the seas” with
“Hold On Loosely”. Rep.
Blackburn boogied and danced with
Jim as he sang and jammed on the guitar,
in a scene usually observed when Jim
hops into the audience at Ides Of
March shows.
Jim’s wife, Karen,
who was at Jim’s side throughout
the entire adventure, saw it in a
different light. “The whole
scene looked like great lost footage
from the movie An American President-
with all the idealism and can-do spirit
that defines America".”
The motto for The NSAI is “It
all begins with a song”. It
became a reality at the Guitar Pull
event.
It may be too soon to
speak of “Boogie Diplomacy”,
but it is clear that good will begets
good will. Jim Peterik brought “The
Eye Of The Tiger” to Capitol
Hill. An American song sung by an
American artist in what might be defined
as the most American of places, honorably,
respectfully and (significantly) peacefully
asking for (and receiving) change.
The
new Pride Of Lions DVD and companion
CD are now released by Frontiers Records
world wide. The DVD was filmed last
August in Belgium and features songs
from our first and second POL albums
as well as Black Ribbons from our
tribute single. We also include a
few songs which I co- wrote and performed
in my Survivor days as well as a whacked
out version of Vehicle by the Ides
Of March. Toby Hitchcock is brilliant
on this disk establishing himself
once and for all as one of the worlds
best vocalists and performers, Klem,
Ed, Christian and Mike are all captured
well on this 12 camera, 48 track presentation.
Larry Millas did a great job mixing
this DVD for 5.1 sound. It was
a magical night in Belgium for us
and the 17,000 people in attendance.
You can order this DVD and the audio
CD version with bonus disk right
here or from our official importer
at Collector’s
Choice .
My solo album "Above
The Storm" is now released and
selling well in Europe and Japan.
Sales figures are at about 7,000 sold
so far. Reviews overall have been
excellent and there have been many
articles in the overseas press and
on various fanzines and websites.
Live Life seems to be emerging as
the key cut- and the Ides are even
considering making it our opening
number soon. You can get this disk
right here on this site or from our
official importer at Collector’s
Choice
I have now started work
on the next Pride Of Lions studio
album called "The Roaring Of
Dreams". It is slated for a first
quarter 07 release. It will be a very
upbeat and positive album going back
more toward the first Pride Of Lions
album with a little Vital Signs influence
as well. We are also stoked to be
playing our first headline concert
in America with Pride Of Lions on
Oct 7th at Moraine Valley College
in Palos Hills. We will feature songs
from both POL albums as well as a
few from the Survivor catalogue and
maybe even road test a new one from
the 07 release.
I am also putting together
the roster for World Stage 07 which
will take place on May 18th at the
Hemmens Center in Elgin ILL. I guarantee
it will be the best show yet- with
some new faces as well as many of
the World Stage Allstars.
Well I’m off to
the studio- (it isn’t such a
long walk- it’s over my garage!)
To finish the mixes on Kelly Keagy's
new solo album to be released on Frontiers
in the fall. This album kicks butt
believe me! Then I will finalize the
mixes on a great new country rock
band that I’m producing called
the Drew Davis Band. These boys rock!
Stay tuned and keep rocking!
Jim