[ASTRO] Re: Clones.... or ASTRO-VANILLI-MANIA?

[kepler@metro1.com (Michael Kepler)]

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Sorry to an argumentative ASTRO-heretic, but here I go again...

The owner of a trade name like "Man or ASTROMAN?" has every legal right
to represent that group both on record and in concert with whatever
personnel they choose.  Rock history, even ASTRO-history, is full of
personnel changes in bands.  It is up to the fans to decide if they
accept a particular lineup as the "real" band.

However, MOA? has indicated an intention to tour several "clone"
bands simultaneously.  If they actually get this off the ground,
they could be headed for trouble.  Even a "band" as fake as
Milli-Vanilli never had the audacity to book themselves in more
than one venue simultaneously.

I am no expert on the legalities here, but I think there's something
to worry about.  If I were Joe Ticket Agency or Joe Venue Owner and
I booked "Man or ASTROMAN?" only to find out that the "same" band
is booked at another club in another state at the same time, I would
really wonder if I was getting played for a fool.  And if
ticket sales were poor because some fans had decided that 
ASTRO-vanilli-mania wasn't worth the trouble to go see, I'd start
to get pissed.  There are more livelihoods involved here than just
those of the MOA? and clone band members.

I _am_ Mookie Astro Fan, and I can tell you I'm just barely curious
enough to drag myself down to a smoky sweaty club full of drunks
and punks just to see a counterfeit of my favorite band.

All of these potential problems and misunderstandings could have
easily been avoided by simply giving the clone band a unique
name, like "The Astro-Clones"  or "Clones or ASTRO-Clones?".
Heck, I would happily go see any band with even the vaguest
relationship to MOA?  They could have still persued the "these
are our clones" gimmick and had them dress up like them and
play their songs. 

So why not use a new band name for the clone band?  Pardon me for
being cynical, but I think it is a simple matter of money.  How
hard is it to book a new band like "Astro-clones" vs. an established
name like "Man or ASTROMAN?".  How many tickets can you sell if people
think they're seeing this great band MOA? that they've seen and
heard and loved before vs. some vaguely-related band with a different
name?

To book the band as MOA? and just give the tour a title like
"Clone Tour Alpha", is clearly mis-leading.  Lots of bands give
titles to their tours.  There is no precedent for interpreting
the title of a tour to indicate that is is actually a different
band than it reads on the ticket or the marquee.

Grant says I'm over-reacting, and he may well be right.  I tend to
get a bit "uppity".  I can understand that the band is exhausted
from years of nearly non-stop touring.  I honestly have never known
a band to work as hard as they do to deliver the goods to their
fans live and in person.  I can understand that they might be concerned
that taking a too-long break from touring might make them fade from
the public memory, especially when they aren't exactly a household
name as it is.  There is nothing fundamentally wrong, and plenty
that is pretty darned clever, about this clone tour idea.  I just
think that it is dishonest to use the "Man or ASTROMAN?" name 
simultaneously for several bands of all-new personnel.
Mookie "The Heretic"

P.S.  How do you "clone" Coco when it is well known he is
	a mechanical device built by the rest of the band
	from used Atari parts?

	And... how do gaseous beings from a distant grid-sector
	have soo many common genes with Earth mice?
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