Thank you to all the writers and people who have contributed to this investigative story:
In New Yorker Magazine’s “The Case Against the Media, by the Media,” one of the questions given to 113 journalists was: “What is the worst sin you have committed as a journalist?”
Here is one of the shocking answers:
“If you really have an ill feeling about a person, you can find information — legitimate, factual information — to turn that person into anything you want. It’s the selectivity of the information. The selectivity of the evidence. And you can get any kind of story, you can ruin anybody’s career. People believe the first time they read something, and it makes an impression on them, and you can’t alter it, no matter how much pleading you do to get it right, you’re lost.” – Anonymous journalist
Once upon a time,
an artist named Billy Yeager fell on hard times. Living out of his car, he put his possessions in a storage facility. When he was unable to make the monthly payments, all his possessions were auctioned off, including master tapes of his songs, films, CDs, cassette tapes and record albums.
One of those records was a test pressing of an album called 301 Jackson St, recorded in 1989–there were only 4 test pressings ever made.
(301 Jackson St. also happens to be the address where Billy Yeager lived for over 13 years in Hollywood, Florida.)
28 years later, the record album was discovered and listed for sale on the website discogs.com.
On January 23rd, 2017, 301 Jackson St. sold on Discogs for the record-breaking price of $18,000.
The news of this record-breaking album was a shock to vinyl record collectors all over the world.
But 8 weeks later, on March 23rd, Discogs cancelled the transaction and sent out an updated press release to all the prominent music news websites.
Soon after receiving the Discogs press release, NPR published its biased and defamatory news article. Shortly after, Spin followed with another calumnious story.
Media outlets from all over the world picked up the story from NPR and Spin, and without fact checking they republished the false statements and malicious accusations written by Andrew Flanagan and Andy Cush.
2000 years ago, Pontius Pilate asked Jesus,“What is Truth?”
Jesus never answered.
In 2018 Time Magazine asked:
One simple truth we can all agree on is:
The Media Lies and that is a Fact.
Who is Billy Yeager?
Yeager is a voice in the wilderness, an artistic archetype of John the Baptist, calling out corruption, greed, hypocrisy, and injustices in the world, and lambasting the unethical corporations, the manipulative, sensational, biased media, the hedonistic pop culture, and the degenerate entertainment industry.
Yeager has been discovered numerous times by people such as Columbia Records Executive Chuck Gregory in 1983, Grammy Award Winner Bruce Hornsby in 1991, Kiss band manager Doc McGhee in 2001, and Rod Stewart in 2005, yet he still remains unknown.
Regarded by artists such as Prince and Jaco Pastorius to be a guitar god, he is also considered by many to be one of the greatest artists of our time.
But through all the discoveries, accolades, and coveted opportunities, Billy Yeager has somehow eluded fame, and instead he has chosen a most difficult path, one that is clearly evident, one that has put him on the chopping block, and one that the media has tried to destroy.
Back in 2005, Yeager was performing at high society events in Palm Beach, Florida, for people such as the Rockefellers, Rothschilds, and Presidents, but Billy and his wife Anais renounced that life of comfort, and headed west to the Mojave desert to produce the film trilogy Jesus of Malibu.
But what really sets Billy Yeager apart, and the reason why he remains the media’s target, is that he’s willing to speak the ugly truth.
“Artists are sometimes the prophets of our age. While Billy can certainly be unorthodox at times, so has every true prophet been as they challenge the thinking of their age. God is working in, through and as each one of us to get humanity to wake up. It’s about time, and Billy and Anais are playing a part in that wake up call.” – Minister Tim Lytle / Unity Church Hawaii
“What accusation are you bringing against this man?”
NPR published and broadcasted libelous and slanderous statements about Billy Yeager, his work, and his life using words such as:
charlatan, huckster, scam, hoax, bamboozle, stymied repeatedly, embittered, relentless failures, fake identities, ill-conceived, quixotic, purposeless obfuscation, trickster – booster.
Billy Yeager has filed a defamation lawsuit against NPR (National Public Radio) for the amount of 350 million dollars.
Yeager’s lawsuit is unprecedented, and it will most likely go down in history as one of the most important court cases of our times for several different reasons.
One of those reasons is that his case is pro se, meaning that he has chosen not to be represented by a lawyer. Yeager is fighting his own case of defamation of character, and why shouldn’t he?
Similar to Rolling Stone’s article “A Rape on Campus,” which defamed a University of Virginia administrator, Nicole P. Eramo, who said the article had portrayed her as the “chief villain,” NPR’s article is also defamatory.Unlike the Rolling Stone’s article, however, it is not just one or two sentences that are slightly skewed by NPR’s journalists; NPR’s story is laden with false and malicious statements.
“There’s no more powerful force in human history than tribalism . . . There’s nothing that gets people to band together more than a perceived common enemy . . . But if you can generate a story that gets the reaction, ‘This is an outrage, I must tell my friends about this,’ . . . then you’re going to do better than just some random feel-good story that will be shared by a smaller percentage . . . let’s find someone who’s done something and skewer him. People share stuff that they actively loathe by saying, ‘Can you believe this shit?’” – David Auerbach / The Case Against the Media by the Media.
“The lawsuit, this kind of energy to me it’s a tough one, especially when you’re trying to do good work; to me that stuff is of this world, so it’s tough, it must be tough for him too. Billy is the kind of cat that would take those millions and he would go do all the things he wants to help the world. If you spent just a little time with him, you’d see he is about truth; that’s what I admire about him, he is down for waking people up.” – Jimi RuccoloBut Yeager’s lawsuit is not only about defending his own character and reputation, it is a fight against injustice and for a revolution for the freedom mind.
“Anais and William have created a forum, an idea and hope for art in the future to be something bigger and bolder in spirit and courage to expand and free the mind! The mind is such a powerful and yet such a fragile mechanism at the same time. It is capable of astounding acts of kindness and courage and just as equally so of every kind of crime and depravity against nature. The freedom of the mind is something we all have to fight for in whatever way we can. The mind is wayward, never resting from searching, and most often, for all the wrong things and for things that do not appease it. The mind is a constant radar honing in on every kind of impression and perception, easily influenced and drawn astray as William and Anais say, ‘by the vanities of this world.’
How do I know? I know because I think it is something we all know deep down inside about ourselves, of the duality of our own human nature. It is the battle between the flesh and the spirit. In the trailer of Jesus of Malibu Anais says, ‘When did man become afraid of his thoughts and feelings?’ It is a good question. Perhaps this is why we strive, why we distract, why we retreat into the numbing monotony and conformity of things that are not who we really are.
Jesus of Malibu is not preachy, pompous or narrow although it can be confrontational in the sense of confronting ourselves to define our own roles in society and to bold action against the status quo. More than anything the film gently suggests for us to be conscious, responsible and inquisitive into the nature of ourselves and the nature of others. Encourages us to fight for the freedom of the mind and soul by breaking through barriers of pop culture, politics, religion, by supporting visionary, ‘transcendental art’ over mass-produced mindless entertainment. Not only for the sake of art but also more importantly, for the sake of our souls, for the health and vitality of our lives. Anais and William believe we can change the world. It is said that the whole is only so good as the sum of its parts. My feelings of my own responsibility in that equation has been set into motion in part by Jesus of Malibu – so thank you for playing your special part in mine.” – Natalie Jaro Link to complete article.
Since the day Billy and Anais met, they have been trying to usher in a revolution for the freedom of the mind.
As truth seekers, the Yeagers are fully aware that in order for this REVOLUTION and for this “awakening” to transpire within our minds, the lies of this world must be exposed.
“Today’s major media journalism is biased, irresponsible, sensationalist reporting that distorts, exaggerates or misstates the truth. It’s misinformation or agitprop disinformation masquerading as fact to boost circulation, readership, viewers, or listeners, and on vital issues lie about or suppress uncomfortable truths to provide unqualified support for state and/or corporate interests – to the detriment of the greater good that’s always sacrificed for profits and imperial aims.” – Hermes PressThat’s why the Yeagers are fighting the Entertainment Industry and the Mainstream Media whom they consider to be contributing to the downfall of today’s society by desensitizing and manipulating the masses, seducing people into a lethargic coma with their bloated and irrelevant, vanity driven, mind-numbing, mind control, fear based propaganda.“For way too many of this world’s ‘followers,’ their manner of thinking remains stilted, stifled and compliant with a society and authority geared toward achieving self-worth through monetary gain and “outdoing” friends, neighbors, colleagues and those whom they merely pass on a sidewalk. And this outlandish, programmed, self-serving behavior has reached a frighteningly dangerous level. Mankind’s self-centeredness shall bring on the demise of life–in all its forms–on our shared planet long before God intends.
Is this something capable of being rectified? By whom and through what means? Who will hear the truisms you convey in Jesus Of Malibu? For those with open minds, hearts built to listen and eyes that collectively permit this film’s message to filter into their senses, perhaps hope remains. The strength of conviction you both expound in the battle against capitalistic, political and societal falsehoods–behind which the majority hides—may be the very catalyst to bring forth a revolution that hits people in the gut, scaring them OUT OF THE FEARFUL STATE in which they reside.” – Amy Adams LINK to full text.
In 2011, writer Dan Mage published an article about the Yeagers and The Revolution For The Freedom Of The Mind.
“The mainstream media may dismiss them instantly as Quixotic anachronisms, speaking a long forgotten and discredited counter-cultural polemic against the dominant culture. The politicians and pundits championing America’s final descent into a new high-tech dark age will condemn them as dangerous political and religious blasphemers.
Anais and Billy don’t give a crap, speaking from an allegiance to the fundamental and indestructible nature of truth, and freedom, even at a time when, in Billy’s words: ‘Nobody is free, and that’s the truth, and the truth is that people don’t want to know the truth.'” – Dan Mage
Verity Healey is a London-based writer and filmmaker who writes for HowlRound, Ministry of Counterculture, and Exeunt Magazine.
“I believe that Anais and Billy are committed artists seeking to bring only consciousness and light, using their creativity to help heal the effects of the malign forces of today’s economic structures and a celebrity obsessed media.
Anais and Billy’s stories are epic painful epiphanies transformed by the deep psychic connections that their bodies hold with the earth. With the desert as their canvas and witness to these personal, internal frontier breaking narratives, it is hard not to fall slightly in love with both of these sincere, thoughtful and spiritual activist artists.
Some will insist the Yeagers’ version of truth is not theirs. But to think this is to miss the point that there is no one singular truth and no, one singular way to it. The point is that Billy and Anais are living their truth wholeheartedly and without compromise in every aspect of their lives. They are real rebels, believing in the values of change, compassion and redemption.
The Yeagers’ protests and performance art all play their part in assuring us that the Yeagers will do anything to promote their message ‘that man must change or perish.’
Their cause is the freedom of the mind because without it, there can be no spiritual evolution.” – Verity Healey
“I am as mad as hell, and I am not going to take this anymore!”
Mistakes by the press are to be expected every so often, but when a journalist lies on purpose to create a sensational story, and is callous about ruining the reputation of someone who is trying to help those who cannot help themselves, then it becomes a crime.
NPR declared:
They Kill Mockingbirds, Don’t They?
It was early May and already a balmy 85 degrees when I exited the plane at Ft. Lauderdale International airport at 7:00 a.m. in the morning. I was heading to a place known as Las Olas Boulevard where I would meet the buyer of the 301 Jackson St. record album.
I get a call, “Hello, it’s Dolph.” I had planned to meet him in Coral Springs at his home, but he informs me he has gone to his other home on the water about 5 miles away.
He tells me to meet him on his yacht.
Taking a right turn onto Las Olas Boulevard, I notice waterways similar to pictures I have seen of Venice. In Las Olas there are gigantic yachts, astonishing multi-million-dollar mansions and the people who live in them, such as Steven Spielberg, Gloria Vanderbilt, Dan Quayle, Connie Francis, even Johnny Weissmuller once lived there.
I find my destination, park the car, and walk around the house heading towards the back. Facing the water, I can see Dolph sitting on the deck of his boat with dark sunglasses holding a book in his hand.
Dolph doesn’t acknowledge my presence at first, but soon he looks up and says, “Sort of like trying to find the ghost orchid, ain’t it?”
“John Laroche!” I say, “John Laroche,” says Dolph.
I have read the book; twice, in fact.
The Orchid Thief is a story about the bizarre world of orchid collectors. The book was produced into a Hollywood movie starring Chris Cooper. Laroche was an horticulturist who was arrested for allegedly poaching wild ghost orchids while working for the Seminole natives. It is one of the most interesting stories I have ever read.
“Ghost Orchid, that’s what you’re trying to find. There exists a very rare hybrid named “X Dactyloglossum mixtum,” only 15 have been known to exist, but the record album you’re wanting to see, there are only 4, maybe only 3, and I have one of them,” says Dolph.
He takes a sip from his large margarita glass and grabs the record album that is laying beside him. “In 2005, a Shenzhen Nongke orchid was sold at auction to an anonymous bidder for $202,000; it was the most expensive flower ever bought, did you know that?” “No,” I tell him. “Would you like to see it?” Dolph asks. “Are you kidding? Yes!” I say. “You can’t, it’s dead,” he replies, “but I will show you the 301 Jackson St. album.”
NPR’s Andrew Flanagan states:
Dolph has his own printed copy of the NPR and Spin articles laying on his desk. He makes himself another margarita and throws the NPR article down on the folding chair next to him.
“You see that? To Kill a Mocking Bird, isn’t it?”
I ask, “To kill a mocking bird?”
Dolph continues, “Do you remember the movie with Gregory Peck? He is telling his children about the day his father gave him his first gun. In To Kill a Mocking Bird, Atticus says, ‘Although they can shoot all the bluejays they want, they must remember that it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.’
The girl who plays Scout goes to her neighbor Maudie, who explains to Scout that mockingbirds never harm other living creatures, they only give pleasure singing their hearts out for us. That is Billy and Anais, mockingbirds, it’s a sin, and I hope your story brings justice.”
The media dubbed the event “The Mysterious Piano.”
After the segments from CNN and Inside Edition were featured on live television, many people from around the world were inspired by the Yeagers’ message and became supporters of their Jom Revolution movement.
Even though it was vividly apparent that Billy Yeager and his wife were artists and activists, Spin labeled the Yeagers’ piano protest as nothing more than a hoax.
In 1995, Yeager began creating his performance art and media & pop culture protests as a part of his films, such as the time when he painted his skin black as Jimmy Story (his character in the film Jimmy’s Story) and became “The Long Lost Son of Jimi Hendrix.”
“Wake Up People” video was posted on YouTube over 1 year ago and only has 4300 hits.
By comparison Taylor Swift’s most recent music video “Ready For It” racked up over 35,000,000 views on its first day.
The difference between the 2 music videos is comparable to fire and ice. While “Wake Up People” did not cost one single penny to produce, Taylor Swift’s music video had a multi-million dollar budget.
“I burst into tears and sobbed while watching this video. I hesitated to share it because it’s graphic, and it’s painful. However, I decided to share it because it brings it home, because it was a much needed wake-up call for me, and because I want everyone to have the opportunity to ‘Wake Up’ and see that we as individuals, as a society, and as humans are WAY off track. I truly believe we have our priorities badly mixed up.
Seldom does a journalist who works for the mainstream media outlets have the chance to cover a news story about an unknown artist, but when the opportunity presented itself to NPR journalists Andrew Flanagan and Jacob Ganz to inform the public about Billy Yeager, his music, films, and humanitarian efforts, they decided instead to publish and broadcast scathing and defamatory statements and depictions about him, labeling Yeager as nothing more than a charlatan, who invests all his time in creating purposeless hoaxes because he is obsessed with infamy and attention.
Veteran media commentator Raymond Snoddy says: “What we’ve seen this year is that ‘mainstream media’ has changed from a general description into a term of abuse. We’ve seen trust in media ebb and flow over many years but there’s been nothing like this before. These new outlets have no sense of journalistic principles and ethics – of fact-checking and at least trying to get it objectively right.”
NPR and Spin cynically and maliciously distorted the truth and fabricated false information.
“Glitter and obscene excess, side by side with unspeakable suffering brought down on a dying world; this is what I see in the films and videos that the Yeagers fearlessly continue to produce in the face of a hostile political and commercial network, which apparently thinks nothing of using a hastily constructed and poorly documented non-story to bring them down. This type of story brings the haters and trolls out of the woodwork too, and reading the comments to both stories was nauseating.” – Dan Mage
Defamation
When determining whether or not a person’s reputation has been damaged, “the courts will consider what a reasonable person would naturally interpret the statement to mean within the context in which the statement appears.”
The stories by NPR and Spin elicited extremely negative comments on social media; a Twitter user even compared Billy to Charles Manson.
What is the Truth?
“There is no question that Andrew and Andy watched ‘Wake Up People’ and understood the message that the Yeagers have been trying to convey with their art as activists and humanitarians, but they purposely buried it and refused to share it; they wrote extremely biased articles.” – Damon Blalack
The Yeagers are concerned about the injustices in the world and today’s most serious issues such as starvation, sex trafficking, innocent people being imprisoned, child labor, torture, mass media and corporate mind control, human impact on the environment, and the U.S.’s refusal to sign the Mine Ban Treaty.
The Yeagers believe that we are not free to help those in need, or not, as we please; that it is our duty as individuals to rise towards our highest ideals and purpose. The music video “Wake Up People” reveals this.
“Billy was always a very spiritual guy, a lot of his music reflected that, and you see the spirituality underpinning the movie Jimmy’s Story, you can see this guy’s got a spiritual component to him, so I am not surprised he took that road.
Billy’s revealing so much about these people, the human condition, and pointing out some of the hypocrisies that we swim in everyday, so there’s a grander purpose there.
I do feel that he feels that he’s for a grander mission in life; whether you agree with it or not, or agree with his grand mission is sort of irrelevant, at least he has one, which is more than I can say for 99.9 percent of the people out there.” – Dan Myrick
March 23rd 2017
Alice! Help!
Smells like Sensationalism.
NPR code of ethics states: We avoid hyperbole and sensational conjecture.
What a bunch of gibberish!
When I typed “Billy Yeager” into google and landed on his official website, I did not find myself “Not in control, like Alice chasing the rabbit, like a dog chasing a car.” What I discovered was a professional website, laid out with clear and concise information about the artist, his films, and his music, all of it verifiable.
What I also found out was that, for over 25 years, Yeager has been challenging the status quo.
And God sends a prophet
Billy Yeager defies categories, he is a renaissance man, a maverick, a rebel with a cause, a man on a mission to change the world.
Credit: Unity Church Honolulu Hawaii / Pastor Tim Lytle
“Billy Yeager and his wife Anais exude a strong sense of dedication to their mission, a sense of compassion, love and peace, and are a couple of the most beautiful souls I have had the privilege of experiencing.
Like John the Baptizer, Billy is an out-of-the box prophetic voice whose art sometimes gets right into your face.
The fact is that Billy and Anais have produced and created film and music which challenges our culture as well as our current programming.” – Tim Lytle
Mel Lockhart is a jazz guitarist from Colorado. He has played with artists such as Phyllis Diller, Don Ellis and legendary guitarist Michael Hedges. Mel was chosen to be one of the guitarists to perform with the Yeagers at their benefit concerts.“The music business is about how low you can go; it’s just music pornography, people like Miley Cyrus, it’s sad unfortunately, it’s taking a beautiful thing, this art form, and stomping on it in the dirt, and that seems to be the mind set of today’s people. All you need to do is get 1% lie in there and you killed the truth; so it’s not unusual that they kill the prophet, Billy could be one of them, the prophet is not always welcome. I believe in what Billy is doing, I was just about ready to throw in the towel, but I heard Billy and it reignited the passion.” – Mel Lockhart
Are we losing our humanity?
We are witnessing a massive attack on humanity by the mainstream media, which uses deceptive tactics to divert our attention from serious issues, bombarding us to death with trivial news, gossip and celebrities, and hysteria news that create confusion, fear, and division among people. The media should receive an Academy Award for breaking down the moral values and reasonability of society. Given the scope of recent news headlines, fake news, contradictions, and mistakes, one may well ask, “. . . tell me where is sanity . . . ?” (rock band Ten Years After – “I’d Love to Change the World” 1971.)
“The constant interruptions and distractions of our society are, to me, the opposite of philosophy. Getting caught up in minutiae. Getting caught up in things that don’t matter. Getting caught up in things that are designed to exploit and antagonize us and our emotions.
The same goes for every other publisher or platform. Television doesn’t want you to get up and take action, they want you to sit through the commercial break. A news outlet doesn’t want you to be so outraged by an article that you do something, that you decide to change the world, they want you to be so outraged that you sign a Change.org petition and then consider it a job well done.” – Ryan Holiday
It should be noted that the music news being reported by NPR and Spin is not any different than what the blundering mainstream media reports.
Take a look at these “news items” published by Andrew Flanagan and Andy Cush.
This morning, the internet received a tremendous gift in the form of a photo that purported to show two burly men transporting Taylor Swift “in a huge suitcase from her Tribeca apartment into her truck, in the trunk.”
Update! Now, we are sorry to report, Splash is retracting its claim that Taylor was inside that huge suitcase.“I literally just put the phone down from someone on Taylor’s camp,” a Splash representative said when contacted by SPIN this afternoon. It was good while it lasted. – Andy Cush
Does anyone believe this garbage? So Andy Cush is just wasting his time and everyone’s time, while tens of thousands of unknown musicians and songwriters are stuck like a sitting duck on indie music sites such as Bandcamp, iTunes, and Myspace, waiting and hoping to be discovered. Thanks Andy Cush for feeding us this crap; nice “cushy job.”
Half of planet earth lives on $2.50 per day.
Over 219 million children worldwide are victims of child labor, working no less than 10 hours a day with not one single day off.
Here’s Andrew!
NPR’s Andrew Flanagan wants the public to know how popular “Beyonce’s Pregnancy Photo” is.
One Photo And Just A Few Words: How Completely Did Beyoncé Dominate The Internet?
Andrew Flanagan writes: “In the first 45 minutes after it was posted, it had generated half a million tweets, topping out at 17,000 a minute.”
Andrew even includes a graph in his news report:
Here is another graph:
One in seven people on Earth does not have electricity, one in six people on Earth lives in a slum, one in eight persons on Earth goes to bed hungry.
Fact Check
- Over 1,700 millionaires are being made each day in the U.S.
- About 29,000 children under the age of five – 21 each minute – die every day mainly from preventable causes.
- The entire beauty industry is worth an astounding $445 billion globally.
- Millennials spent $26 billion on Diamonds in 2015 alone, more than any other single generation.
- An estimated one million diamond diggers in Africa earn less than a dollar a day and 46% of miners are between the ages of 5 and 16.
- There are approximately 20 to 30 million slaves in the world today.
- According to the U.S. State Department, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year, of which 80% are female and half are children.
- The sex industry sells children from as young as 5 years old.
- The production costs for the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show was over $10 million, making it the most expensive Super Bowl halftime show to date.
These are the issues and injustices that concern the Yeagers, and that is the reason why they are fighting like Rebels With a Cause.
For over a year, Billy and Anais were producing their What 4? benefit concert, performance art, and theater play that was supposed to raise over $600,000 to provide wheelchairs for landmine victims.
There are an estimated 110 million anti-personnel mines in the ground and another 250 million stockpiled around the world.
Because of the stories published by NPR and Spin, the concerts had to be cancelled making it impossible for the Yeagers to be able to do any charity work as artists again.
Jimi Ruccolo is one of the premiere guitarists in South Florida. He has been a performer for over 47 years, and his guitar playing can be heard on some of the most well known television commercials today, but he would prefer to be remembered for his nonprofit humanitarian work.
“I run a non-profit, I teach high risk kids how to play music, Guitars not Guns, it’s not about what you put out there, but what you want to leave.
Billy and I are 60 year old men now, we’ve got nothing to prove, we’re more about what is going on inside than what is going on outside.
As a kid, he was just fearless, I was inspired by his fearlessness.
There is only fear and love, look around, and it takes light workers, people like Billy, myself and others, we are not caught up with this world, we are warriors; Billy and I, we read the same books, we still talk, about why we are really here, what this life is really about, we’re on the same path.
I look at Billy like a type of Prince, his own shift maker; he is up for waking people up, and to me he’s a hero; he is always doing something controversial, he doesn’t give a shit. He’s brilliant, he’s been like that since he was a kid, it is part of his artistic genius.
I don’t think he would have been as effective of a human being if he did become a big rock star; this is why he’s here.” – Jimi Ruccolo
THE MEDIA CANNOT BE TRUSTED
“The business of the journalists is to destroy the truth.” – John Swinton
Consider this quote from John Swinton, former managing editor at The New York Times:
“There is no such thing, at this date of the world’s history, in America, as an independent press.
If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone, and if any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions you would be out on the streets looking for another job.
The business of the journalists is to destroy the truth; to lie outright; to pervert; to vilify; to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes.” – John Swinton
76 percent of people surveyed in 2014 believed the media does not tell the truth.
A recent Gallup poll found that Americans’ trust and confidence in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly dropped to its lowest level in Gallup polling history.
More and more people are becoming aware that the owners of large media outlets have their own agendas and that sensationalism sells.
New Yorker Magazine sent a questionnaire to 113 colleagues working in print, television, and digital media, asking that they would use the opportunity to air their grievances and bare their souls, while promising anonymity, in exchange for candid answers to some uncomfortable questions.
One of those questions was, “What is the worst sin you have committed as a journalist or as a person in the journalism business?”
Here are just a few of the top answers:
- Relentless focus on traffic.
- Being closed-minded and failing to question my own biases.
- Ignoring a possible story because the source didn’t reflect the qualities I’d like.
- Being in a hurry to beat my competitors and get my story published first.
- An anonymous publisher admitted,“This is the lecture I give to my reporters: Nobody has time to read. So you need to give them an overwhelming reason to read your piece. You need to grab them by the face and pull them in, and cover them in the hot stinky garlic breath of journalism.”
The Media fabricates news and lies
CNN: Tom Petty’s daughter angered over early, inaccurate death report.
A memorial was scheduled for his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. But the 66-year-old entertainer was still alive at the time, and news outlets that announced his death Monday were forced to retract their stories.
Anna Kim Violet Petty featured a post with a blistering message to Rolling Stone magazine, which reported Petty had died on Monday afternoon.“How dare you report that my father has died. My dad is not dead yet but your f***ing magazine is,” the post read.
The Media is Controlled
A recent example: Harvey Weinstein and Variety Magazine.
In the mid-1990s, a young reporter at the entertainment trade magazine Variety pitched a story at the weekly meeting that would’ve made Harvey Weinstein look bad.
But Peter Bart, the magazine’s powerful editor-in-chief, shut that story down instantly saying nothing like this would happen again, stating that “We don’t do those kinds of stories about Miramax.”
Another former Variety employee said, “You’d never find a critical piece about Harvey or about his company, which at the time was Miramax, in the paper. You just wouldn’t, it almost became the unspoken rule.”
One former Variety staffer said Bart’s focus was on sales, “Ultimately, that’s what he cared about, it was about not upsetting one of his major advertisers.”
There was a time when it was impossible to sift through an issue of Variety without being overwhelmed with Miramax advertisements.
The New York Times stated that Miramax had purchased over 40% of all Oscar ads in Variety’s weekly edition.
The end result was an editorial product that left many employees working under Bart feeling journalistically compromised, “There was never anything bad said about Harvey Weinstein.”
NPR: “All things considered”
Let’s consider their funding. (From: How Do I Hate NPR? Let Me Count the Ways)
So NPR is better than the rest, because it is publicly funded, right?
“National Public Radio is not any different from any other government or corporate owned mainstream news company.”
But what that figure really represents is a clever bookkeeping trick.
In 1987, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting—the quasi-independent organization in charge of distributing the annual $300-million-plus federal subsidy to public broadcasting—stopped funding NPR directly and started giving the money directly to public radio stations, which then hand it back to NPR in the form of “dues.” That covers about two-thirds of NPR’s $46 million annual budget.
Here is a list of “some of those sponsors”: CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENHANCE
Then there’s the matter of that $198 million satellite NPR uses to distribute its programming: yup, paid for with tax dollars. (NPR also makes a nice chunk of change by renting out the satellite’s excess capacity to a private paging company.)
And without taxpayer dollars, there wouldn’t be any public stations to run NPR’s programs. Of the total $377 million spent on public radio in fiscal 1991, nearly half was provided by local, state, and federal government. Taxes are the lifeblood of the entire industry.
I wonder what the founders would have said back in 1970 if they’d been told that someday NPR would have a science reporter paid for by Hewlett-Packard?
“Thank you for shining a light on NPR VERY WORST of these psychopaths, running a steady stream of corporate advertising on air, while simultaneously begging for your $$ in dog and pony show weekly “fund raising” and floating the myth of being “commercial free” I’d say that they are the MOST connected to the shadow government, with snarky, elite, entitled, “educated” propagandists delivering the “news” to their entitled audience.” – Anonymous Person
“The board of directors? Gimme a break. The guy who owns the outlet determines policy and content – that’s why he owns it, so he can control it. This power to mold public opinion is bartered for ‘favors’ among ‘friends’ – it is the essential tool of spin-control.” – Frank Zappa
The Illusion
In 1983, 90% of American media was owned by 50 companies, in 2011, that same 90% was controlled by 6 companies.
In 1998 musician, filmmaker and activist Frank Zappa had this to say about the media:
“The media keeps me from getting my point of view across, the more abstract and weird they make me look, the less access that I have to a normal channel of communication with the people who might benefit from what I have to say.” – Frank Zappa
Who is the Fraud?
Being a journalist in today’s world confers on you a unique responsibility as well as a unique opportunity for preserving the evolutionary integrity of the human experiment.
The “journalistic truth” is a process that begins with the professional discipline of assembling and verifying facts. Journalists should try to convey a fair and reliable account of the meaning of the facts, subject to further investigation.
Meet Andrew Flanagan and Andy Cush
Andy and Andrew stated:
NOT TRUE.
A simple search revealed 7 music videos by Billy Yeager.
One of those music videos was “Wake Up People” (which was posted on YouTube and Vimeo), and I wasn’t the only one that discovered this, so did this guy HERE
The video had been uploaded only 3 days before Christmas, on December 22nd, 2016, exactly 3 months before both media outlets published their stories.
Why did both Spin and NPR deliberately choose not to mention or feature “Wake Up People”?
It is very obvious that neither journalist wanted to refer to Yeager as an artist, activist, or humanitarian because they had an agenda, and painting Yeager as an insane, cryptic, and farcical character would make for a “better story,” in fact, Andy Cush’s story continues to be featured on the front page as “Editor’s Pick,” go figure.
Neither NPR nor Spin published one positive statement about Billy or his work. Both media outlets purposely belittled everything Billy has created and accomplished in the last 40 years as an artist.
Both Jacob Ganz and Andrew Flanagan defamed Yeager on NPR’s program All Things Considered (“…the most listened-to, afternoon drive-time, news radio program in the country…” – NPR)
NPR’s broadcasts are heard world-wide. According to Nielsen Audio ratings, the total weekly listeners for all programming on NPR stations reached an all-time high of about 37.4 million in the fall of 2016.
Andrew Flanagan’s story incited comments like the one below – laundering money, BTW, is a crime! This gives one a clear indication of how someone’s reputation can be seriously destroyed by the press.
After slandering Billy Yeager, Jacob and Andrew segue into their next story about their “musical idol,” Kendrick Lamar.
“Go tell your mama this dick ain’t for free, this dick ain’t, this dick ain’t, this dick ain’t, this dick ain’t, this dick ain’t for free.” – Lyrics by Kendrick Lamar
The most appalling remark made during the NPR radio broadcast was made by NPR’s Audie Cornish.
After bashing Billy Yeager Audie Cornish segues into the segment about rapper Kendrick Lamar stating:
“Alright, well the kicker this week is new music from somebody who HAS earned their success, right?” – Audie Cornish
Emphasis on “who HAS earned their success.”
What are you implying Audie, that Yeager hasn’t earned anything, except in your opinion just to be ridiculed?
Let’s take a look at the lyrics by the artist that you say has earned his success.
Lyrics by Kendrick Lamar:
I just fucked what’s her name and you ain’t even know it
She got a censored tattoo and you ain’t even know it
Too many bitches got rabies,
And I hate a ho-hoppin’ woman,
Stank pussy-poppin’ woman,
You fuckin’ fool don’t know about you,
But my dick need 70 years on it.
“All my life I want money and power, respect my mind or die from lead shower, I pray my dick get big as Eiffel Tower, so I can fuck the world for 72 hours.” (Lyrics by Kendrick Lamar).
Ethics Handbook:
“Our journalism is most valuable when we marry important truths with engaging narrative. We take enormous pride in the craftsmanship of our storytelling and in the quality of the words, sounds and images we use to help illuminate the world. When we edit, it is to add impact and clarity to our journalism — never to slant or distort. We don’t allow what is sensational to obscure what is significant. We aspire to tell stories that rise above the maudlin and mundane, avoiding shallow sentimentality. Above all, we do our best to faithfully and powerfully convey the truth.”
I smell something foul.
On Wikipedia it states that Audie Cornish is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.
I cannot believe Audie Cornish’s condescending attitude towards Yeager; I suppose that artists like Kendrick Lamar are the ones that Audie Cornish admires.
I was mortified while listening to the Kendrick Lamar version of the song UOENO:
“Put Molly (the drug) all in her champagne—she ain’t even know it. I took her home and I enjoyed that—she ain’t even know it.”
Did he just say what I think he did?
You’ve drugged a woman, kidnapped her, and raped her, while she was unconscious?
With the recent headlines about Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, ETC, including NPR’s own Michael Oreskes whom chief executive Jarl Mohn kept on the job for months despite knowing about three sexual harassment complaints, I find it beyond disturbing that NPR is supporting such an artist.
A sample of “sounds and images we use to help illuminate the world” that NPR is promoting:
Below is another music video I found, published on March 26, 2012, proving again that both Spin and NPR lied when they stated:
“Little Train” must not have been vulgar enough to merit any recognition from NPR’s music team and Audie Cornish.
The lyrics of the song tell the story of an imaginary world, a place where the little things matter the most.
Miami New Times former music journalist Greg Baker has always believed in Yeager’s music, films and message.
“If you’re going to look at motives, I am more fond of Billy’s agenda, he has a purpose, spiritual, cultural, social, at least he’s trying to do something positive, not just make more money. If you’re going to make comparisons, he has a stronger case, more legitimacy than the rest of that stuff out there.” – Greg Baker
Despite of what transpired from the stories by NPR and Spin, Baker feels that the final outcome of the 301 Jackson St. record album will be a positive one for Billy and will shed a new light about today’s bad journalism.
“These negative articles that supposedly blew up in Billy’s face, I don’t think they did, I think they did just what they are suppose to do (expose the hypocrisy of the media?). Check your resources, do your work, don’t just jump. He’s a totally serious guy, he’s a serious filmmaker? Then he’s a serious filmmaker, end of story.” – Greg Baker
Where does the media get this crap?
The affirmation “Kendrick Lamar may be the greatest rapper alive and the most celebrated male musician on the planet,” was from another journalist who works at NPR; his name is Otis Hart.
Here it is again, only this time it is USA Today quoting Billboard Magazine senior editor Alex Gale who said, “He’s absolutely one of the best, and you could make the argument for the best artist of the 21st century.”
There are literally 100s of these to be found online.
“Scripted” by Public Relations Firms.
With $35 billion in annual revenue, the big three PRP firms (Omnicom, WPP, and Interpublic Group —together employed 214,000 people across 170 countries) are key components of the transnational capitalist class. The PRP industry’s primary goal is the promotion of capital growth through hegomonic psychological control of human desires, emotions, beliefs, and values by massively influencing the world with their propaganda.
In 2003, an article from the Guardian conservatively estimated that 50-80% of news and business stories originated from Public Relations firms who create specific stories to support the capitalist elites’ goals and interests.
If you find this hard to swallow, simply watch the video below, then ask yourself:
What IS going on?
“The powers that be, decide who “makes it.” They can go into any neighborhood, find the next guy standing outside of Piggly Wigglys, with a rhyming dictionary, and make him their stereotypical gangstaboy, who will become the next puppet and poster child . Rap (and hip-hop) are being used as a selling tool of a thug-lifestyle, it is a huge promotional tool for incarceration and imprisonment, infiltrating the ghetto with drugs, crack, crappy music that promotes cheating, lying, and laying with every whore you can find. Make babies, increase population, enter a world of crime, go to prison, make white man rich. Music industry executives are heavily invested in private prisons, they promote gangsta rap to influence young people to get into a life of crime leading to higher incarceration, which increases profits for investors, that’s all. The white elite capitalize on the black man and also the white boy who thinks, “If I turn up my radio loud enough with my gansta rap music,” when he arrives at the gym, and parks next to the girl with the tattoos, nose piercing, and pregnant pit bull in her back seat he’s gonna connect and get a piece of ass, cause they are two peas in a pod. Look around. It is all manipulated and induced on the public, and it’s working.” – Dolph
They say a picture is worth a thousand words:
Here is another picture:
Karen from Damon on Vimeo.
NPR’s “Mission” and Hypocrisy.
Our Mission
- Our purpose is to pursue the truth. 2. Diligent verification is critical. 3. We take great care to ensure that statements of fact in our journalism are both correct and in context. 4. In our reporting, we rigorously challenge both the claims we encounter and the assumptions we bring. 5. We devote our resources and our skills to presenting the fullest version of the truth we can deliver, placing the highest value on information we have gathered and verified ourselves.
- 1. Truth was not pursued
- 2. No verification
- 3. Statements were incorrect and taken out of context
- 4. Claims encountered were not challenged
- 5. Clearly biased: by omission, by selection of sources, by story selection, by labeling, and by spin
Below is the Yeagers’ mission statement, which is posted on the Jesus of Malibu website:
This mission statement was posted in 2006 and has never been changed.
But NPR stated:
“It’s been said there are three types of people in the world, there are sheep, there are wolves, and there are sheep dogs.
The majority of people tend to be the sheep, comfortable in their surroundings, blissfully unaware of the financial trappings of their existence, and content to avoid the unpleasantries of the world.
There are the wolves of the world that prey on the sheep for the purposes of power, greed and any form of personal gain. Although not nearly as many as there are sheep, the wolves wield a much greater power than the unsuspecting sheep.
And finally, there are the sheep dogs. The protectors of the sheep. The ones that are willing to meet the wolves on their own terms and attack them. The ones that are willing to present the horrors that wolves will bestow upon the sheep, even if there’s no audience that cares to listen. Billy Yeager is one of this world’s sheep dogs.” – Ken Jenkins
If NPR wants to help “illuminate the world,” why did they choose to hide the truth, and lie about Billy Yeager’s work, mission and purpose?
Bye Bye Miss American Pie
“Today we are afraid of simple words like goodness and mercy and kindness. We don’t believe in the good old words anymore because we don’t believe in the good old values anymore. And that’s why the world is sick.” – Lin Yutang
Andy likes to “tweet” his feature articles, but he likes to also share his own personal thoughts for the day.
Perhaps this gives people a better perspective of why Andy was not interested in writing about Yeager’s spiritual path:
Andy tweets an image of an abused pig and places his name right on the ass. I find this sad.
I don’t understand why someone would post these type of messages on their twitter. To me it seems like Andy Cush has a regular habit of self deprecation, belittling himself as a type of hobby.
For some peculiar reason, on August 29th, Andrew wants his followers on twitter to know that Jesus’ resurrection is something to laugh-out-loud about.
Andrew writes: “C u “see you” in three days lol”
Something to laugh-out-loud about? Am I the only one who doesn’t get it?
Perhaps this gives people a better perspective of why Andrew was not interested in Billy’s spiritual endeavors either.
Andy Cush and Andrew Flanagan appear to be two examples of today’s desensitized, hedonistic-urbane, and ultra-hip millennial “me, myself and I” generation. Millennials are known as the most cynical and distrusting generation ever recorded in history.
Alexis Bloomer gives her two cents on her generation
“We’re just existing, we’re not really contributing anything to society, we listen to really obscene music that degrades women and pretty much glorifies drugs and crime, we idolize people like Kim Kardashian, and then we shame people like Tim Tebow.We’re lazy, spending time online “making friends” instead of “actually building relationships, and place too much value in Facebook’s “relationships appearance” and how many followers they generate.” – Alexis Bloomer
Something stinks.
Tabloidization by media scholar Frank Esser:
In the digital age, it’s about getting views and shares. But the same rule applies as it has for more than a hundred years of tabloid press; you make up BS to get people’s attention.
Never mind that it’s not true, and that you’re violating fundamental journalistic standards by spreading lies—you need readers and will do anything to get them.The Truth about the Media and their Lies.
Ryan Holiday’s book, “Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator,” offers a penetrating look at the incentives of media.
Holiday, himself, is a practitioner of the dark arts of media manipulation and uses these techniques to make a living.
“Usually, it is a simple hustle,” Holiday writes. “Someone pays me, I manufacture a story for them, and we trade it up the chain — from a tiny blog to Gawker to a website of a local news network to the Huffington Post to the major newspapers to cable news and back again, until the unreal becomes real. Sometimes I start by planting a story. Sometimes I put out a press release or ask a friend to break a story on their blog. Sometimes I ‘leak’ a document. Sometimes I fabricate a document and leak that. Really, it can be anything, from vandalizing a Wikipedia page to producing an expensive viral video. However the play starts, the end is the same: The economics of the Internet are exploited to change public perception — and sell product.”
By the way, Andy Cush worked as a writer at Gawker.
Why was Gawker shut down?
A defamation lawsuit that busted them flat.
Goodbye lying news media outlets, one down, and more to go.
Hollywood, Florida, the early years
Billy Yeager grew up in Hollywood, Florida. His father, Ray, was a police officer for the Dania Beach police department. Ray was also known as The Singing Cop.
Ray decided to make a homemade guitar out of an old dresser drawer. The guitar was so wide that when you placed it on the floor it stood up all by itself.
He fastened a pair of vise grip pliers on the tuning keys to tune the guitar, he placed a small ashtray on the top, and he also made a large hole in the back where he kept his cigarettes, a deck of cards, and some old rags.
Dark hair and 6 feet 7 inches tall, Ray Yeager stepped off the bus in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1965, and 5 minutes later he was signed to a record deal.
When Ray arrived in Nashville, he went directly to MGM Records to see if they would be willing to listen to his music. Stepping into the elevator, the door about to close, a man rushed in at the last moment. While standing next to Ray, staring at the strange, crudely built, homemade guitar, the man blurted out, “What the hell is that thing?”
Ray sang his song “Country Boy” and by the time the elevator reached the 11th floor he was offered a 5 year recording contract with MGM.
Ray performed at the Grand Ole Opry with Johnny Cash, and appeared on radio and television, but he walked away from it all.
30 years later, in Billy’s film Jimmy’s Story, Ray states, “I had a wife, 3 kids, I was a cop, that kind of life wouldn’t be right for my family.” Ray never looked back.
While Ray was on patrol policing the neighborhoods, young Billy picked up Big Ole Red and taught himself how to play at 6 years old.
Soon after, Billy wanted an electric guitar, so he began to cut neighbors’ lawns, earning 0.50 cents a yard; he saved his money for over a year and bought his first electric guitar (Audition) from Woolworths for $49.00.
Billy would find used parts and materials and built his own amplifiers and speaker cabinets; he would also build his own foot switches, and he even turned an old toaster oven into a distortion fuzz box.
The 1970s – 1990s
By the 1970s, Billy Yeager was already making the rounds, playing in disco, rock and funk bands, like many other musicians, but in 1986, he quit playing in bands for good, and embarked on a serious musical quest to become a recording artist.
Working for himself as a part-time janitor, Billy began dumping garbage cans, cleaning barroom bathrooms, mopping floors, cleaning restaurants and offices at 3:00 a.m., 7 days a week. Returning home at 8:00 a.m., he would spend the rest of the day writing and recording songs.
Childhood friend and guitar player Jimi Fiano remembers Billy back when they were 13 years old. “We were both runaways, and for our ages, we were fairly accomplished on guitar for being that young. We met on top of a radiator shop, we would jam for hours.
Billy played beyond his years, we were both kind of rockers, but we both liked all types of music; he went and got real funky, we both went that road, and also disco bands. 10 years ago his name kept surfacing through different people. I love Billy’s endeavors, they’re not mainstream, and I like the fact that he doesn’t give a shit that what he does is not mainstream.” – Jimi Fiano
At 10 o’clock in the morning, the instruments would begin to resonate through the walls in the small beach apartment located at 301 Jackson St. in Hollywood, Florida, where Yeager locked himself up for 8 years, writing and recording thousands songs on a small 4-track recorder.
In the film Jimmy’s Story, “the story goes,” the character played by Billy Yeager submitted his music to the record labels for 15 years; in one scene Billy is standing next to “100 rejection letters,” supposedly from the record companies, posted on a wall outside of his apartment. (Remember this wall.)
It was 1991 when a phone call changed Billy’s life.
Alan Layton backs many of the famous oldie bands, including Bowzer from Sha Na Na, and has been the keyboard player for Rocky and the Rollers for over 23 years. Alan recorded the keyboard tracks on some of the songs featured on Billy’s first record album What’s It Gonna Take (1983). He is also featured in the film Jimmy’s Story Part 1.
“When I first met Billy, I was in a band and we needed a guitar player; he came in and was explosive. Billy is one of the most talented people I have ever known.” – Alan Layton
Alan Layton remembers when he received the phone call. “Billy didn’t have a phone, so that nobody would disturb him, so I got the call; the voice said, ‘Is Billy there?’ I put the phone down, walked over, and knocked on his door, I yelled, ‘Someone is on the phone.’ He looked at me puzzled and said, ‘Who could that be? I never gave your phone number to anyone?'”
But Yeager did give Alan’s phone number to someone.
Two weeks prior, Billy had attended a Bruce Hornsby concert with a friend. Tucked away in his cowboy boot, he had a cassette tape which contained 6 original songs, and a short note with Alan’s phone number, that he had scribbled down at the last minute right before he left.
Walking through the parking lot, he noticed a man by the back gate and asked him if he would give Bruce Hornsby the tape.
For the next two weeks Billy forgot all about it, but Bruce Hornsby didn’t.
“Billy, is this Billy? This is Bruce Hornsby.” Billy put the phone down, Alan looked at him puzzled, Billy picked up the phone again, the voice said, “Billy, this is Bruce Hornsby.” Yeager barked, “Who the fuck is this?” thinking it was someone playing a joke, but it wasn’t, it was Alan’s favorite artist and keyboard player, Bruce Hornsby. “I about died,” says Alan.
Bruce Hornsby won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1987. With a string of hits such as “The Way It Is,” and “Mandolin Rain,” not only did Bruce have a successful solo career, but he was also producing Leon Russell’s album, playing piano on Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” and writing Don Henley’s “End Of The Innocence.”
Stage and Screen’s Eugenia Gingold wrote:
“Bruce was in the middle of a tour performing with the Grateful Dead when he called Billy. Chosen as the replacement for keyboardist Brent Mydland, Bruce had to learn 100s of songs, yet somehow with all this going on, Bruce found Yeager’s 4-track recordings so impressive that he took the time to call Billy and offered to help him.
Did either one of these journalists stop to think and consider any of this when they decided to write about Billy not being a serious artist?” – Stan Jeff Brown
Back in the 90s, Bruce Hornsby used to receive many unsolicited tapes from aspiring musicians. “The bad news and sad truth is that most of them are really terrible. I’ve been inundated with them for years. Billy’s is really different. It’s possibly the only one I’ve ever heard where I thought, ‘This is something.’ Most of these tapes are so badly done. I mean, why don’t they take more pride in what they are doing? Billy was different. Billy has songs that reach people.” – Bruce Hornsby
Hornsby told Billy to contact Tim Neece, who was managing Bruce at that time. The two met in Los Angeles and Tim began submitting Yeager’s demo tapes to the labels. Tim was able to acquire a development deal with Capitol records, who provided Yeager with sufficient funds so that he could record his music in a state-of-the-art recording studio.
For the past 12 years (prior to being discovered by Bruce Hornsby), Yeager had been using a $300.00 Fostex 4-track recording machine, recording as many as 10 instruments and 6 part harmonies, mixing and bouncing the tracks back and forth so much that the tape heads were completely worn out.
“After that, things started happening. The drummer for Orleans came over a couple of times, Jerry Marotta, Peter Gabriel’s drummer; he had just finished touring with him, he heard Billy’s songs and said he wanted to play drums.” – Alan Layton
But Billy Yeager didn’t fit into the 1990’s music scene, the music industry had changed, and the record labels were only interested in signing rap and grunge bands.
“Billy had written and recorded all these amazing songs, sometimes 5 songs in one day, playing drums, bass, guitar, mandolin, keyboards. He had his own sound, world music. It was all looking really good, but there was a change over when Nirvana hit the scene, grunge took over.” – Alan Layton
Back in the early 90s, journalist Greg Baker describes Yeager’s music:
“His eclectic style made him difficult to categorize: rock and roll mixed with jazz alongside reggae rhythms and African pop influences, brooding ballads and high-energy hooks, a gravel-scratching voice backed by sweet harmonies. Lyrics that spanned the reaches from the romantically sentimental to the belligerently defiant. And that guitar_ one as supple and smooth as Herb Ellis, the next a raging reminder of Jimi Hendrix.” – Greg Baker / Miami New Times
Even though Yeager’s first demo tape submitted by Tim Neece was not what Capitol Records was looking for, Bruce Hornsby continued to help and support Billy for 3 more years.
“Everyone who worked with Billy or heard his music could never understand why he was rejected by the music labels, we were all frustrated for him.” – Alan Layon
Billy continued to write and record new music; every few months he would forward Bruce another 8 to 10 song cassette tape, and together they would discuss which 3 songs would be the best ones for his next demo submission.
The Bruce Hornsby discovery stories that were published caught the attention of Gerry Georgettis from Melbourne, Australia, who worked for a stellar assortment of great acts (Georgettis was also the sound engineer for Loolapalooza).
Gerry called the Miami New Times and asked Greg Baker for Yeager’s contact.
Yeager and Georgettis spoke briefly and made arrangements to meet the next day at Billy’s apartment.
Yeager made himself clear, he would not tolerate any drugs, drama, or bullshit.
“I remember that day! Billy was a ‘I will not take your bullshit guy.’ All I know is these guys shook hands and I started seeing Gerry everyday for the next 3 years.” – Alan Layton
Georgettis had previously been the road manager and sound engineer for Australia’s most famous rock band Cold Chisel. Writer Jen Jewel Brown (former journalist of Australia’s largest music magazine, RAM) said, “Gerry made it all sound brilliant and it made Chisel – a live legend – bigger than an Allosaurus on heat.”
Georgettis was working with Pink Floyd when he first met Billy. Soon after, he became a partner with his old pal Ted Gardner, who began the Larrikin Management firm.
Gerry was hired to be the sound engineer and road manager for some of Larrikin’s bands including Jane’s Addiction, Henry Rollins, and Tool and Sponge. On the side Gerry continued working closely with Billy as his personal manager.
Billy and Gerry became best friends. From 1992 to 1995, Yeager recorded in nothing but the best recording studios, and there were no limitations regarding any of Billy’s creative ideas or gigantic productions; Yeager hired a 16 piece church choir to sing harmonies and back-up vocals; he also hired a 21 piece orchestra; whatever he needed, Gerry made sure he got it.
Together, for 3 years, they traveled to L.A. and New York as they continued to submit Billy’s music to the major record labels; all the while Bruce remained a great supporter.
Yet, on their crusade to portray Yeager as a failure, both journalists, Andrew Flanagan and Andy Cush, completely distorted the truth.
Fabricating false information for readership
The Lie.
NPR decided to put a spin on Yeager and his story.
The Truth.
Greg Baker (Miami New Times) on Yeager’s Progress after being discovered by Bruce Hornsby.
The Lie.
Andrew and Andy on Yeager’s “100s of Terse Rejections”:
“Both of these journalists from NPR and Spin clearly have an agenda,” says Glenn DeRosa, “Years after Hornsby’s co-sign, Billy was closer to success than he had ever been; that connection opened many doors for him and gave him many opportunities that the majority of musicians could only dream of. They are trying to make it sound like after meeting Bruce Hornsby his career was over; there were never 100s of rejections.”
The Truth.
Greg Baker on Yeager’s Encouraging rejection letters:
“Accuracy? Let’s get accurate. Hundreds of rejection letters after Bruce Hornsby? There are only 8-10 major labels. Terse? How do they know this? And if there were any ‘rejections,’ most of these were phone calls to Gerry; once you have made a professional connection (years after Hornsby’s co-sign) in the industry, record executives do not inform you by ‘rejection letters’; I know this from my experience with the labels.” – Glenn DeRosa
The Lie.
NPR and Spin published that Yeager’s drawers were jammed with “terse” rejection letters. Not only is this statement false, but there was something else crammed into Yeager’s dresser drawers.
The Truth.
“I was impressed with Billy’s drive and creativity, I have always felt that there is something with him that is unique and interesting; he is a driven individual. My purpose back in those days was to get to know the man behind the eccentricities and come to the understanding as to why this wacky genius was doing what he was doing, aside from being entertaining at face value.
When I went to his apartment in Hollywood to do coverage for a story about him, he opened up a drawer full of song lyrics, I mean, it was two full dresser drawers, I never forgot that image; I wish I had half of that motivation.” – Dan Myrick
NPR and Spin mention that Billy lived in “cramped quarters,” and had to “survive on odd jobs.”
“He didn’t have to ‘survive,’ or work as a janitor, Billy was the guitar player for Inner Circle, he was being used to record on many of the Marleys’ recordings at Circle Sound Studios where I also recorded my album. He was also being asked to join many famous bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, he could have been a studio musician; if you read the liner notes on the back of Billy’s album in 1985, you’ll know why he walked away from a lot of opportunities,” says musician Stan Jeff Brown.
There clearly appears to be major contradictions between Andy and Andrew’s descriptions of Yeager being a complete failure, and the high esteem former music journalist Greg Baker and Dan Myrick have for Billy.
“It’s sad to see something like this on a journalistic level. You would think the most respectable publication you could turn to would be NPR in this day and age; for them to jump the gun for something that is so superficially based is sad.” – Greg Baker (Former Miami New Times Journalist).
According to NPR’s Andrew Flanagan, Yeager was obsessed with fame and infamy.
However, according to others who knew him well, Yeager was obsessed about becoming a great songwriter, musician, producer and recording artist.
Eugenia Gingold, mother of famed singer-songwriter Carol King, was a long time writer and contributor to the publication Florida Stage and Screen. She was a fan of Billy’s music and wrote about him frequently.
NPR’s journalist Jacob Ganz stated on the airwaves:
“Andrew Flanagan and Jacob Ganz are pulling the wool over people’s eyes here!
Baker’s article attests to Billy’s obsession with production sounds. Greg heard it, I heard it, everyone heard it. Billy would spend days retuning instruments, he even bought a pair of bagpipes; once he even emptied out his bathroom and recorded in his bathtub to get a natural reverb sound; as Greg says, it was an addiction, but not for fame.” – Glenn DeRosa
Reckless Disregard
“Both journalists, no doubt, read Yeager’s bio, and were well aware of the proof that Yeager was a serious musician and filmmaker. Any professional journalist would have serious reservations about crossing that fine line, a line that lies between knowing what is the truth, and telling that truth.
It is obvious why neither journalist was interested in contacting Baker or anyone else who had positive things to say about Billy.
It is unbelievable that a music journalist, keep this in mind, someone that is supposed to love music and writing about music artists, would have no interest in watching a documentary film about an unknown artist they were supposed to write about.” – Glenn DeRosa
Andrew Flanagan never watched the film about Yeager, because he had what he needed for his biased story, “John Stacey.” (Remember that name.)
But Andy Cush’s case is an even better example of reckless disregard.
Admitting to only having watched 30 minutes of the documentary Billy Yeager The Ineffable Enigma (which is 1hr and 40 min long), Andy Cush wrote Chris Von Weinberg an e-mail stating that, “Billy Yeager’s story is fascinating.”
Also in another e-mail Andy stated:
Yet, when it came time to publish his story, Andy didn’t mention anything about Billy’s music.
Some of Spin’s readers were questioning why anything wasn’t being mentioned about Yeager’s music.
Instead of writing about what he had found fascinating, Andy chose to describe a scene from the film, completely out of context, that he absolutely knew his readers would not be able to understand.
At the beginning of the documentary film Billy Yeager The Ineffable Enigma, different scenes from Yeager’s films are featured (edited all together into a collage), such as the scene Andy Cush is referring to in his article, from the film Jimmy’s Story, which is a combination of different film genres; one of these genres is mockumentary (such as the film Borat), which is more than apparent in this hilarious scripted scene where Yeager confronts a man selling crack in his neighborhood; Yeager poses as a policeman, completely making a mockumentary out of the Cops Reality Television show from the 1990s (Yeager is even wearing the Cops television show logo). Billy shot this scene with 2 friends. Yet poor innocent Andy Cush was upset by the “alarming violence.” Or may be Andy is another malicious media manipulator trying to pick that which he can manipulate his readers emotions best with. Andy clearly knows one of the main tactics to make a story spread:
According to {a Wharton School} study, “the most powerful predictor of virality is how much anger an article evokes.”
“Alarming Violence!”
This is Andy again, exaggerating and creating sensationalistic journalism. Consider that this explanation above is coming from someone who never watched more than 30 minutes of the film.
Something is clearly wrong with Andy’s descriptions, and if you read the comments that were posted by people who DID watch the film, you will be even more confused, because once again there are major contradictions:
Jared Cannata commented:
This is worth watching for both musicians, and non-musicians. There is an example of drive and willpower here that can be used in all aspects of life. Not only music. Billy Jeager clearly puts his art and truth before himself and asks for nothing in return! Something that is certainly rare these days. He is a man on a mission to change the world, lets help him do it! Glad I got to see this film.
Ryan Lippard states:
This is a fantastic film that will inspire anyone to perfect their craft and do whatever it takes to get a message across. It is great to a musician like Billy who is not at all focused on the money or fame but rather the importance of the music and the message. A must see!
But Andy had an agenda, and it wasn’t a positive one at all. Below is one of the many negative comments readers made, expressing what they felt after reading Cush’s story:
NPR’s Ethics . . .
“We take great care to ensure that statements of fact in our journalism are both correct and in context. In our reporting, we rigorously challenge both the claims we encounter and the assumptions we bring.”
Accuracy? Impartiality?
“If you can’t look past one aspect of somebody who has done so many things . . . The media exploits him.” – Greg Baker
Music
It was 1992, Yeager was driving his car to the recording studio ready to mix his next 6 songs that would be forwarded to Bruce Hornsby.
“He wrote “Little Puggy” on his dashboard, he went in, played and recorded the mandolin in one take, sang the song in one take, one of the greatest songs he has ever written,” says Gerry Georgettis in the film Billy Yeager the Ineffable Enigma.
“I have one request for every artist currently residing in pop music’s Top 40, the ones who already “made it”- write a song as compelling, evocative, personal, and beautiful as Yeager’s “Little Puggy” Then we’ll talk.” – Miami New Times / Greg Baker
This is another excerpt from the article by Greg Baker:
“That the mandolin gracing it sometimes hums a bit out of tune is the point. It’s intentional. It’s alternative. It’s genius at work.” – Greg Baker
But Andrew Flanagan wrote that Yeager:
Music collector Stephen Speigel may be one of the only people that owns the Jimmy’s Story Soundtrack, which contains not only The Jimi Hendrix Lost Bolero Music, but also the “Little Puggy” song. Stephen is featured in the documentary Billy Yeager The Ineffable Enigma .
“I had read about ‘Little Puggy.’ I saw that the song was listed on the soundtrack on eBay, I couldn’t resist buying it; I believe the song was given to Bruce Hornsby, but never reproduced on CD or vinyl.” – Stephen Speigel
Yeager is discovered again
It was 2002 when Yeager was hired to be the house musician at the Loews Hotel in Miami Beach.
“I remember I gave him that gig, and that’s where Doc McGhee discovered him, and he met Paul Stanley and those guys,” says Jimi Ruccolo.
Yeager was performing his original music as a one man band when Bon Jovi and Kiss band manager, Doc McGhee, heard him playing his song “The Last Wave.” Doc was floored.
When Yeager finished his set, Doc invited him over to the table and told Paul Stanley, “This is going to be my next big star.”
“When Yeager met with Doc McGhee the next day to bring him some demo tapes, Gene Simmons came up to him and said ‘I guess we’ll be seeing you on the big stage,’ I was blown away!” – Stan Jeff Brown
However, Yeager had long ago become dismayed with the corrupt music industry and decided to move on with his next film.
“He said he wanted to do something more than just make music and perform on stage, and being a filmmaker allowed him to write and create what he thought was important to say.” – Stan Jeff Brown
Film
Yeager becomes a filmmaker
Back in 1995, after 25 years of filming, Yeager created the final act for his movie Jimmy’s Story. Billy Yeager, as Jimmy Story, painted his skin black and composed music that was supposed to be The Lost Bolero Tapes by Jimi Hendrix, becoming The Long Lost Son of Jimi Hendrix.
The music was astonishing. Jimi Hendrix’s drummer Mitch Mitchell stated:
“Working with Jimi, listening to him jam, rehearse, write music, I know if I hear a song that was composed by Hendrix; I can tell instantly, from phrasing, chord structures, movements from bridge to chorus, etc. I can tell you, these songs cannot be faked.
Jimi was working on music before he died called the Bolero Tapes. If this is the music and this is his son, from the musical stand point, there is no question about it. You can fake a guitar, maybe a little of his voice, but lyrics, and melody, it’s not possible, from what I hear this kid is the real deal.” – Mitch Mitchell
Yeager spent 2 months filming his Jimmy Story Performance Art and Pop Culture & Media Protest (and also the behind-the-scenes), which was going to be used at the end of his film.
Billy had begun filming Jimmy’s Story in the 1970s. By 1996 he had over 200 hours of video footage.
“Billy Yeager’s Jimmy’s Story shows not only the trials and tribulations of the journey of trying to make it into the music industry, but also the triviality of the whole idea of becoming “somebody” special, of being a “star”. The film captures reflections of his childhood and the words of wisdom from his father, Ray Yeager.” – Aaron Morris / Miami International Film Festival.
Jimmy’s Story / The Movie
Jimmy’s Story – Part 1 was completed in 1996. The film was first discovered by Award Winning filmmaker Rick Mckay, who produced and directed the award winning documentary film Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There.
Rick McKay was staying at the Gulf Stream Hotel in Lake Worth, Florida, while he was attending the premiere of his film Broadway: The Golden Age at the Palm Beach International Film Festival.
Rick had just finished reading a newspaper article about Jimmy’s Story, when he stepped outside and saw Billy Yeager walking down the sidewalk heading towards the beach.
Rick introduced himself and told Billy about his film Broadway: The Golden Age and asked him if he could watch Jimmy’s Story. Later that day Billy dropped off a VHS copy of his movie at the Gulf Stream Hotel for Rick and forgot all about it.
A week later, Rick told Billy he had secretly submitted Jimmy’s Story to the director of the Dahlonega International Film Festival, Dean Treadway.
Dean Treadway instantly fell in love with Jimmy’s Story and was already planning to award the film in several categories.
“Out of the 700 films submitted, Jimmy’s Story is the one that moved me most to tears of joy and frustration.” – Dean Treadway
Dean called Billy wanting to know if he would be attending the festival, but he was also hoping that Yeager would want to speak with other filmmakers at film panels and seminars about the making of his film.
Jimmy’s Story received an unprecedented 4 awards with standing ovations — it was evident that Yeager had created something revolutionary and profound.
Jimmy’s Story is a combination of several film genres: documentary, mockumentary, pseudo-documentary, docufiction, cinema verite. The term “mockumentary,” which originated in the 1960s, was popularized in the mid-1980s when Rob Reiner used the term to describe the film This is Spinal Tap.
Mockumentaries are often partly or wholly improvised as an unscripted style of acting, which helps to maintain the pretense of reality (while mockumentaries are usually comedic, pseudo-docu are their dramatic equivalents). Docufiction is a documentary contaminated with fictional elements. Cinéma vérité incorporates natural actions and authentic dialogue into the films, which shows people in day to day lives.
Yeager broke all the rules when he not only intertwined documentary with mockumentary, pseudo-docu, and docufiction, but also combined a hybrid of an expository docu-style of cinéma vérité improv, creating a film like no other.
Yeager’s film has verisimilitude, yet at the same time it is an enigma, camouflaged with hidden riddles and parables. Although Yeager was only a freshman in filmmaking, he felt that the public’s perception still needed to be challenged and rules needed to be broken. The people I spoke with that have seen Jimmy’s Story agree that the film can be likened to a riddle within a riddle and the conclusion is always the same, what is Truth?
Jimmy’s Story has been described as “a tour de force” and “epic in scale.”
Dean Treadway (director of the DIFF Film Festival) stated, “This great film, this near masterpiece of amateur filmmaking, a Sundance reject that deserves to tower above most of their eventual winners, is about one man’s perseverance in believing that there is a better future out there, one that has him doing exactly what he feels he’s meant to do.”
In Dean Treadway’s 2003, The Year in Review, he lists Jimmy’s Story as one of the best films of 2003 alongside other highly acclaimed films such as The Barbarian Invasions, 21 Grams, Mystic River, A Decade Under The Influence, Kill Bill, and The Corporation.
That is quite an honor — especially considering this was Yeager’s first film.
But Andrew Flanagan, who never watched Jimmy’s Story or Billy Yeager The Ineffable Enigma, was coaxing his readers into believing Jimmy’s Story was just a “roughshod and chaotic,” insignificant film, “with the Jimmy Story “hoax” as its centrifugal force.”
The truth about the centrifugal force in Yeager’s film would shock these liars.
The fact is that the finished version of Yeager’s film is 2 hours and 10 minutes, and the Jimmy Story performance artwork is only featured in the film for 12 minutes.
Jimmy’s Story begins with a quote from the book of Ecclesiastes and ends with a quote from Ecclesiastes; the centrifugal force of this film is a man’s desire to discover the meaning and purpose of life.
(Although references have been made about Yeager being some kind of prophet, and scriptures are mentioned throughout his films and on the back covers of his record albums from 30 years ago, Yeager subscribes to no label or ism and does not adhere to any form of organized religion.)
It is baffling how NPR made such statements about something they didn’t know.
In 1997, Billy began filming Jimmy’s Story Part 2. Today Jimmy’s Story is considered to be an underground cult classic — more so perhaps, because the film soundtrack includes The Lost Bolero Tapes.
The Making of Jimmy’s Story
Yeager’s film Jimmy’s Story gained the attention of one of the most powerful men in independent film, John Pierson. John had previously discovered Spike Lee, Michael Moore, and Richard Linklater — he had also repped and sold films, such as Roger and Me and She’s Gotta Have It, at the Sundance Film Festival.
John produced a segment about “The Making of Jimmy’s Story” featuring it on his television show Split Screen.
Dan Myrick, renowned co-creator and director of the The Blair Witch Project, was hired to film and edit the segment, which was a big hit on Bravo television.
Dan and Billy became instant friends. Throughout the years, Myrick has been a stalwart supporter of Yeager and his work.
Activist / Performance Artist
Due to the stories published by XS magazine and the Miami Herald, Billy Yeager’s Jimmy Story performance artwork could be misconstrued by some as nothing more than a superficial prank. But underneath the ludicrous exterior, the musician making the audience laugh, was in fact not a joke at all; Jimmy Story’s performance artwork was a protest statement against our superficial pop culture and the mainstream media that turns a blind eye, and dupes people, by publishing sensational stories.
No matter how ridiculous a story is, as long as they can create headlines, it’s “fit to print.”
When Yeager revealed himself to be Jimmy Story, XS magazine and the Miami Herald were not interested in the meaning of his performance artwork, or the fact that the whole performance had been documented to be featured in his film Jimmy’s Story.
Instead, they chose to publish stories referring to Jimmy Story performance artwork as nothing more than a hoax and labeling Yeager as a fraud.
When Yeager’s critics demanded an explanation for “his hoax,” Yeager took it even further with his performance art. Rather than trying to prove his case, in classic Yeager style, he answered with a defiant rebuttal, leaving the journalists even more perplexed.NPR and Spin wrote their stories as if they had discovered “a hidden secret” about Yeager that nobody knew.
But there was no hidden secret, in fact, it was clearly explained on Billy Yeager’s website that Jimmy Story was a fictional character in the film Jimmy’s Story; towards the end of the film, Jimmy Story, inspired by the movie Tootsie, creates his performance artwork with a very specific meaning and purpose; through his film Billy was trying to deliver a powerful message about the media and our culture’s obsession with fame and celebrities.
XS magazine and the Miami Herald ignored this truth over 22 years ago for several reasons and, with reckless disregard for the truth, NPR and Spin also chose to ignore these facts.
Both journalists for NPR and Spin were zealous about using the Miami Herald’s article (and its outlandish red herring synthetic “staged hoax” headlines and defamatory statements) as the basis for their stories, and created an even worse disheveled piece of yellow journalism.
Glenn DeRosa is an environmental consultant and the owner of Waste to Energies, an alternative energy company located in Boston, MA.
Glenn has known Billy since they were 12 years old, and he began promoting him when he was 15, booking Billy for concerts at Florida’s local surf clubs back in 1972.
Back in the 1980s, DeRosa was the owner of the Ace Advertising Agency, which booked gigs for many South Florida bands in local nightclubs. Glenn was the exclusive booking agent for both Billy Yeager and Johnny Depp from 1982-1983.
“The Miami Herald wrote that Billy Yeager claimed the hoax executed for attention, but we never said that. We explained to the Herald that it was performance art, and it was going to be edited into the film, it was not a publicity stunt, the truth was totally distorted.
When Billy reached out to me to play the manager in the film Jimmy’s Story, I was running 3 businesses, I had a wife, two children, I would not have become a part of a hoax and jeopardized my career.
Billy and I had these meetings every week, we would go over his notes and editing decisions, every person involved with film in South Florida, filmmakers such as Elliott Merles, friends, family, everyone knew he had a masterpiece in the making.”
– Glenn DeRosa
The Miami Herald wrote:
“They said we were ‘taking the hoax to Europe.’ I never said that, that is a lie. I mentioned Europe because I had an associate that wanted to bring Jimmy’s Story to the Cannes Film Festival, but notice how they twisted it? How could you ‘take a hoax to Europe’? If there is a hoax, doesn’t everyone know there is a hoax, especially since the Herald just announced it?” – Glenn DeRosa
But journalist John Barry “believed” Billy Yeager’s Jimmy Story should be taken “very seriously” and felt it was necessary to contact the State’s Attorney to ask if a crime had been committed.
The Miami Herald wrote: “The state attorney’s Dade Crime Unit says Yeager and DeRosa broke no laws by fooling the media.”
Glenn DeRosa: “Calling the state’s attorney was ludicrous in my opinion. When that story was published my office was located in Miami Beach at that time, just a few blocks away. I went right into their offices and demanded that the article be retracted. I said, ‘These are lies, you knew Billy was making a film.’ They gave me the run around and said they would publish a retraction, but they never did.”
The article about Jimmy Story created quite a buzz, but 2 days later XS magazine had to publish a retraction.
Bob Weinberg was the journalist that wrote the feature article “Voodoo Child,” the story behind the secret son of Jimi Hendrix.
“Undoubtedly, Story’s guitar playing is extraordinary. It’s certainly influenced, if not genetically driven, by Hendrix. It’s Story’s voice that is most convincing, a deep, mumbling inflection that will cause most listeners to do a double-take.” – Bob Weinberg / XS Magazine
The managing editor at XS magazine told Bob to contact Yeager immediately and find out what he had hoped to accomplish with his hoax.
Billy and Bob Weinberg spent the entire day and early evening together. Yeager explained the role of the Jimmy Story performance art within the context of the movie; he even showed Bob some raw footage from Jimmy’s Story.
“When Bob Weinberg returned with his follow up story, he explained to his editors that Billy had been making a film, and also that he was a pretty kool guy; Bob personally felt that there was no harm done, and this really upset his editors.
They made the decision to replace Bob, and assigned another journalist to get “the facts.” They brought in a hard-nosed female reporter who agreed to meet Billy, and right from the get go, things did not go well.” – Glenn DeRosa
Yeager walks out of the interview
XS magazine’s publishers and editors were well aware that Jimmy Story was in no way Jimi Hendrix’s illegitimate child. Had they really believed this, they would have at least made calls to the Jimi Hendrix’s Estate and would have held their story from the public until they had confirmed from a reliable source that there was perhaps a remote possibility, but none of that was done. Instead, they featured Yeager on the front cover, in a very poor makeup job, wearing black shoe polish, and a homemade outfit with the XS emblem stamped all over it. They also knew that Glenn DeRosa was filming Yeager’s interview with XS, and that Yeager and DeRosa had been seen around town for weeks filming Jimmy Story in staged scenes with other actors; one of those scenes was filmed at a well known nightclub only 2 blocks away from XS’s offices.
It was apparent that they chose to play along (as they later stated in an interview with the Miami Herald) and ran with their story just to create a buzz for the freebee publication that had a dwindling readership and ironically went out of business shortly after the Jimmy Story headlines.
After receiving strong criticism from readers and many other publications, they wrote a retraction and apology for their sloppy journalism, but the publisher decided to put most of the blame on Yeager and instead of explaining Jimmy Story was part of a film that Yeager had been making for 25 years, they made the decision to make Yeager look like a fool.
None of this made any sense; Yeager had previously been treated superbly by some other publications in Miami, who had featured in depth stories about his music and his career.
XS wrote: “Yeager walked out of an interview with an XS reporter. Yeager ended the Q&A session when the reporter informed him we weren’t interested in his life story, that we only wanted to know what he had hoped to accomplish with this fraud.”
“When Billy began to explain the film Jimmy’s Story and what his performance piece was all about, the journalist answered very rudely, ‘I am not interested in hearing about your life story,’ and Yeager walked out and sent XS a fax with a riddle. They made a huge mistake; for them to understand Jimmy Story, they needed to understand Billy’s life story and film. They didn’t want to hear the truth, they had an agenda, Bob had the truth, they didn’t want that either.” – Glenn DeRosa
Fax transcript:
“There once was a man who lived in a city of ignorance and the people were blinded. Although he offered those who did not understand some water and to remove the veil from their eyes, they resisted. Pause and wonder oh blind little sheep. My ways are too grand for such feeble minds, send me someone with wisdom and then shall I speak. In the meantime, I wipe my butt with peoples’ feeble thoughts of what they think of what I do, all is grasping for the wind, oh little town of wannabes. My farts are incensed with genius.” Jimmy Story / Billy Yeager
After reading and rereading the retraction notice written by XS Magazine, there is no doubt that there are many inconsistencies and contradictions; they stated that Jimmy Story was nothing but a hoax created by a frustrated and embittered musician, yet they also state that Yeager “was correct” and “proved his point” in that “celebrities are more revered than artists, that being famous doesn’t equate to being talented, that the “lost son” of Jimi Hendrix could get more attention than a local musician.”
When XS asked Greg Baker about his thoughts on what Yeager was trying to achieve as Jimmy Story, Baker stated:
“I think Yeager wanted to use the media to achieve that end, tearing down the corrupt media industrial complex, which is contributing to the downfall of society, I am all for this sort of thing. I don’t think anybody did anything wrong.”
DeRosa, “You see? It is right there in XS’s retraction, there is no question that this paragraph jumped off the pages. Why didn’t Spin or NPR use the quote from Greg Baker about tearing down the corrupt media complex?”
If you are going to be in such a hurry that you resort to copying another author’s language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions, you should first make sure they are a credible source, and then also be sure to provide a citation.
Stephen Wissink, then the publisher of XS Magazine, was in charge of making the decision of how to respond to their readers. In Wissink’s apology and retraction, he thought it would be best to tar and feather Yeager, describing him as frustrated, embittered, angry, which is ironic because it is actually Wissink who is embittered; in his own words he states: “Hell hath no fury like a journalist who has been duped.”
But there is more than meets the eye about the credibility of XS and its staff; if I’ve ever tasted bitterness more than this, it was a brussel sprout milkshake: CLICK.
Ken Jenkins has a 24 year military background in aviation, but he has always been an avid music fan too.
Ken became a fan of Billy and built him a custom made guitar.
“I believe there are two camps of people that have an interest in these types of stories, and for two different purposes.
The first group of people are the ones that are witness to the creativity, the message, the artistic value and have an appreciation for pointing out the flaws we have in our belief structures. The ones that know the thin veneer of glitz and glamour is created to sell the product, especially when there is little to no talent or virtuosity behind it.
The second group of people are the ones that can’t wait to have a “Jimmy’s Story” pop up because of the name recognition. This group is looking to capitalize, to make a buck. This group is also the ones that feel duped when they learn the true intent, the real purpose. What? You’re trying to make a point about the woes of our industry? And we couldn’t see that? How dare you! You made us look bad because we were stupid enough to buy what we wanted to sell? This is laughable at best.
That’s Billy Yeager. An extremely talented musician that found the corporate world of music a dog eat dog world, and he was wearing Milk Bone underwear!!”
Referring to Jimmy Story, Bob Weinberg wrote in his story for XS Magazine, “Oddly, he’s most lucid when quoting scripture.”
DeRosa, “Everywhere you look there are hidden messages. Look at the outfit Billy made when he is being interviewed as Jimmy Story. He hand painted the XS logo on the jacket, and look closely at the bottom of the image.
Do you really think Jimmy Story is a joke? He is quoting from the book of the prophet Isaiah.”
DeRosa is correct. Yeager hand painted the gospel of Luke, chapter 3, verses 4, 5, and 6 on his pant leg.
Luke 3: 4-6
4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
5 Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
6 And all people will see God’s salvation.’”
“Yeager was speaking out to the public, trying to convey a message about the state of the world, it was a message of repentance from John the Baptist, it wasn’t a joke, and all this is clear in the film. Billy is that voice in the wilderness; he was always concerned with the suffering and injustice and was against excess and greed. Since 1985, he knew he was not meant to be a rock star, he was appalled at the music industry. After Jimmy’s Story he continued his career as a filmmaker; in the film A Perfect Song, he is doing the same thing, speaking as a prophet again.” – Glenn DeRosa
In the liner notes on the back cover of Yeager’s album Be My Valentine, which was manufactured in 1985 (12 years before the first version of Jimmy’s Story was completed), it states:
“And Jimmy Story is the world’s best kept secret.”
“In 1985, Yeager already knew he was going to become Jimmy Story and make a movie, so in no way did Yeager ever create just a meaningless hoax ‘to vent his hostilities upon XS Magazine because he was embittered.’ They were the ones embittered because they didn’t like the fact that Yeager had proved his point about the media through them.” – Glenn DeRosa
The Lie
Regarding the film Jimmy’s Story, Andrew Flanagan wrote:
The verb ‘Bamboozle’ (noun: bamboozlement) means to dupe, to deceive by underhand methods.
If there was anyone “bamboozling,” it was NPR, Andrew Flanagan and his senior editors, who duped their readers and listeners into believing that Yeager was nothing more than a talentless fraud.
“One question I would always ask myself is, this guy is either the craziest mother fucker on the planet, or he’s a cinematic genius; I think performance artist is a good definition of why his work is relevant.
There is a grand message he is trying to convey to people and there are only a few that are going to get it.
For me there has always been a method to his madness, I respected that about him, he wants to say something meaningful to the world, there is a sense of admiration there; he is not a cynic, somebody putting a bunch of news hoax bullshit stories about Billy to get people into fear, that’s a cynic, not Billy, he is a true believer, whether you believe in him or not, that is what is so compelling about him.” – Dan Myrick
Dan Myrick is mentioned in several places on http://www.billyyeager.com, and he was relatively easy to contact, so why didn’t either one of these media outlets choose to contact someone reputable who had worked with Yeager?
“I appreciate it when I do an interview on Blair Witch and I can tell that the journalist really did their homework, and they really want to dig into the ways we did the movie, and want an intimate understanding instead of all the superficial crap; Billy’s no different.” – Dan Myrick
Andrew also wrote that the Jimmy Story performance art was “ill-conceived.”
“It was not ill-conceived, it was brilliant and everyone knows this. The media maliciously used every adjective they could find to make Billy look like a loser. NPR’s story is what is ill-conceived.” – Glenn DeRosa
“Jimmy Story was brilliant! He wrote this music that sounded like Hendrix, if you’re a Hendrix fan you go, wow, he pulled it over on them, not a copy of one of his songs, but right down to the way he sang it.
People like Billy fascinated me, he wrote all the time, and if he wasn’t writing, he was writing his movies, and if he wasn’t doing that, he was teaching it.
There are only a handful of guys like him. I know we are on the same path, and I know that’s why we have been a part of each other’s lives all this time.” – Jimi Ruccolo
Andrew Flanagan wrote that Billy Yeager:
Jimmy’s Story was filmed for over 25 years, and it took another 6 years to edit the final version, which is a testament to Yeager’s work ethics, tenacity, and relentless dedication as an artist, which proves one thing:
The Media Lies
Remember that Wall of Rejections?
“There were no rejection letters, I was the one who filmed that scene.
Yeager was in the backyard, I asked him what were all those papers hanging on the postwall, and he said they were supposed to be rejection letters; he wanted to make it look like the character in his movie had been rejected by the record labels for many years.
Back in 1987, I asked Billy to come with me to L.A., because I just recorded my new songs with Ira Sullivan and was trying to get signed to a label. I thought for sure he would bring his music, but he didn’t, he only came to support me.
Billy never submitted his music to labels (before he met Bruce Hornsby), he attended music conventions where he met Chuck Gregory and Walter Yetnikoff, and unless the bigwigs personally listened to his music, he would never leave it with anyone.
In fact, I am the one who had to talk him into bringing that tape to Bruce Hornsby, that’s why he scribbled the note on a piece of paper, nothing was prepared. All these journalists lied and defamed him; they knew he was making a film. Billy was never frustrated, rejected, embittered, he was always laughing. And also, just to make sure this finally goes on record, once and for all, every major label that I visited in Los Angeles in 1987, not only refused to meet me but refused to accept my tape; in fact, once I was angry about it and left it on the counter and the woman who worked there grabbed my envelope, brought it to the door and yelled to me, ‘We cannot accept this because of legal matters!’ and left it outside the door.” – Stan Jeff Brown
What Stan is saying is correct; I checked this myself. All the way back since the 1970s, all record labels refused to open any unsolicited envelope that arrived in the mail, it would always be returned unopened. The only way for an artist to submit their music was if they had a connection, or a manager (not just any manager, but one with a connection too). Below is the standard policy for receiving unsolicited tapes; it is the same for every single record label; this one is stated on Warner Brothers and hasn’t changed in over 40 years.
From 1974-1986, Yeager sang and played guitar in many of South Florida’s top bands, working with artists such as Harold Seay and Inner Circle reggae band. After 10 years of playing in cover bands, he decided to quit for good.
In 1986, he bought his first 4-track recorder (when Billy first began writing and recording his music back in 1978, he had to experiment with small tape decks, recording tracks multiple times, mixing them eventually onto one tape). This was the beginning of Yeager’s songwriting isolation period; for over 6 years, he worked intensively on his own unique style and sound (he even boarded up his windows, so that he wouldn’t be aware of the time); sometimes a day would turn into night, and he would have as many as 3 to 8 written and recorded songs in a 24 hour period. Not a single day would pass where Yeager wouldn’t have recorded at least 3 songs.
In 1991, his friend Stan convinced him to bring a tape to Grammy Award Winner Bruce Hornsby at a concert; Bruce heard Billy’s demo tape, recorded on his 4-track, and the rest, as they say, is history. A simple story, factual by all accounts.
“We will always have the “different groups” in our society, the ones that care, that have an open mind, that realize criticism is our finest instrument to better ourselves and right our wrongs.
And those that believe the veneers of the world are what they can hide behind to continue collecting ye ole’ dollar, and dismiss any short comings that exist as mere eccentricities of anyone that reports them.
But not so many have the insight and drive to point out the failings of an industry and subsequently point out their shortcomings in a creative and provocative format. That’s where Billy stands out, he’s a Renaissance man that takes life’s lemons and makes a pointedly tart lemonade sans any sweeteners. It’s in your face, it’s the reality behind the walls of perceived comfort, and creates awareness about our excesses, weaknesses, faults and depravity.
Billy has a purpose, he is using his creative talent in such an unusual form, to draw attention to the hypocrisy of our societal values which is very impressive.” – Ken Jenkins
A Magic Tree
When Billy traveled to Costa Rica for the first time, he went to a remote area, a small fishing town, where he made friends with a young man from Africa. Together they traveled through the mountains on bicycle and visited a very large tree that Yeager had become very intrigued with.
“As soon as I arrived back home, I threw out my television set and started getting rid of many possessions. My whole life changed because of that tree.” Tico Times (Costa Rica).
When Yeager returned from his trip, he began to produce his next film, A Perfect Song, about the power of music and how it can be used to heal the planet.
The Tico Times article and others were also posted on www.billyyeager.com
Yeager’s statements from over 13 years ago, once again, testify to his spiritual path and his decision to renounce worldly possessions.
A Perfect Song
A Perfect Song was written, produced, directed, and acted by Billy Yeager. Neither journalist made a single reference to the film for which Yeager received the Best Actor Award at the Delray Beach Film Festival.
Yeager not only wrote and composed all the music for A Perfect Song, but he performed the music live in the film as the character Lloyd.
The making of A Perfect Song was even featured on television.
Yeager was invited to the Montezuma film festival as a guest speaker, to discuss his method of producing his low-budget independent films.
Costa Rica’s largest newspaper Tico Times wrote:
“The festival tends toward the unconventional, a quality guest speaker Billy Yeager certainly exemplifies. The U.S. filmmaker said he received the inspiration to make his current film in Sámara, up the coast from Montezuma, while engaging in a fast in the jungle around the town. Yeager will address fellow filmmakers on how to make a movie on a low budget, a skill he has mastered in the past few years.” “It’s a hard task, but when you have passion, desire and a vision, things just seem to happen like magic,” he said. “Money doesn’t get you anything.” Yeager will be screening “A Perfect Song,” which he filmed in 2004.”
Meet Lloyd
A Perfect Song is the story about an introverted character named Lloyd, who believes that if he rejects the vanities and luxuries of the world, God will give him the supernatural ability to compose a song that can cure all of the world’s diseases.
Yeager performed the role of Lloyd and also the role of Lloyd’s brother. He filmed all the scenes of Lloyd’s brother before he shaved off all of his hair and gained over 35 pounds for the role of Lloyd.
Yeager had no money, but he had a big desire and a lot of determination; A Perfect Song was completed with less than $800.
With no prior film training, Yeager completed his movie using a 2 person film crew; he also trained all of the actors in the film himself (most of the actors had no previous acting experience).
Yeager worked with Gary Brice for over 1 year completing A Perfect Song.
Back in 1999, Yeager created one of the nation’s 1st on-camera and on-location acting classes. He would take his actors to different locations, and use film cameras, lights, and even produced acting demo reels.
Gary Brice read about Yeager’s acting classes, drove down to meet with him, and signed up.
Prior to meeting Billy Yeager, Gary was working with Steve Sipek, the actor who played Tarzan in the 1969 Spanish-made film Tarzán en la gruta del oro / King of the Jungle.
Steve was producing his own Tarzan films and began training Gary to be the next Tarzan.
“Since the first day I met Billy, we became best of friends. After those acting classes, I knew I wanted to continue working with him.” – Gary Brice
Yeager’s film acting class utilized real scripts that were submitted by independent filmmakers who wanted to see what their scenes would look like on camera performed by actors; eventually Yeager started writing his own scripts.
Word spread, and the Reel Film Acting Studio took off.
“A lot of actors wanted to be trained by him, people were coming from New York and Los Angeles, but I believe this concept of working with scripts, shooting on location, using real film cameras was also designed by Billy so that he could teach himself how to direct actors, and make feature films, such as A Perfect Song.” – Gary Brice
Actor Dotan Baer was one of the first people to work with Yeager on camera; the two met in Hollywood, Florida, and after working together on and off for over a year, Dotan went to Los Angeles where he began his professional career as an actor, eventually signing with Associated Artists.
On an early promo tape of Yeager’s classes Dotan Baer states:
“The Reel Film Acting Studio is where it all began for me; I learned a lot about film acting from working with Billy on camera for over a year.”
All of this information above was also available on http://www.billyyeager.com
But Andrew Flanagan wrote:
“I’m curious as to why anyone or any entity would want to disparage what he tries to do. I’m of a firm belief that when you sit in a bully pulpit of any kind, you have the responsibility to do a THOROUGH review of the facts, and then present an opinion that allows your readership/listening audience/viewers to form their own opinions. NOT come out swinging at someone because you think you’ve found a weak subject with enough of a background to sell at least a couple more pages/minutes of air time. What a crappy way to present ANY information on ANY subject!” – Ken Jenkins
Jesus of Malibu
During this time Billy became friends with Rod Stewart, who came to see Yeager play at Savannah’s when he was staying at his Palm Beach residence.
Rod Stewart was very impressed with Yeager’s original sound and unique musical styles, particularly Yeager’s Spanish Gypsy musical style. Stewart not only bought everyone of Yeager’s handmade CDs, but invited Billy over to his house.
But for years Billy and Anais had been preparing themselves for the filming of Jesus of Malibu, adhering to an intense body, mind, and spiritual training regimen.
(During this period they would get up before sunrise to sungaze; they would also fast on nothing but water, for weeks at a time, while reading and studying hundreds of books and subjects.)
After 5 years of preparation, Billy and Anais made the decision to give away most of their possessions and headed west into the desert to make their film trilogy Jesus of Malibu.
The Yeagers lived and survived in ghost towns and Indian ruins while filming their movie.
Billy composed and recorded the music for the Jesus of Malibu soundtrack inside their Nomad travel trailer; the soundtrack was recorded in Yeager’s scientific higher conscious wave frequency.
Billy’s wife, Anais
In 2008, the Tico Times wrote:
Yeager recently married the actress who plays Mindy. Known simply as Anais, the actress said she married both Yeager and the movie.
“We got married to each other, but as well to the universe and ‘Jesus of Malibu,’” she said. “We committed our lives to this film and our desire to change the world with our talent that day.” – Anais
But Andrew Flanagan quoted John Stacey (someone who has never met Anais) saying that she had traveled to Florida and married Yeager, because “Jimmy’s Story had drawn her attention.”
“This is violating the ethics of journalism; taking someone else’s word and not verifying the facts, especially when NPR is proudly displaying their code of ethics about so called verification.
When I read this part of the story, this is when it was clearly evident the malice that was being directed towards not just Billy, but also his wife and their mission. This was not a slight, insignificant remark, it was more than just inaccurate; in the context of this article it is defamatory, because of the way Billy and Jimmy Story are described.
They are depicting Billy as a person with no meaning and purpose in life, who paints himself black because he is crazy; the way they wrote the story is like saying, ‘Look at his wife! She is as crazy as he is!'” – Stan Jeff Brown
“I don’t know the answer as to the motives of the press; I just know that the press has missed the essence, the core, of what Billy and Anais are actually about. They are a beautiful couple to be around. They exude a strong sense of dedication to their mission, a sense of compassion/love and peace and are a couple of the most beautiful souls
I have had the privilege of experiencing.” – Tim Lytle
Some of Verity’s Healey’s thoughts on the Yeagers and The Film that Changed the World (a documentary film about the making of Jesus of Malibu):
There is a profound sense of loss, a profound sense, intensified by the use of archive footage, of something monumental that has taken place but that has been missed by the American public. It creates a longing as vast as Death Valley itself. Like an absent important protagonist, it haunts our thoughts like a character waiting in the wings off stage.
Watching it, one feels the desire to reconnect with the self, to take one’s time looking at that tree one has always passed without a second glance, or to speak to that homeless person, give him or her food and offer more help, rather than watch them suffer.
Billy and Anais try to stand outside of this world and there is an underlying thematic current encouraging us to do so too, although to do so would be tough, as Billy illuminatingly explains in engaging voice overs.
The power of this film is that it makes us see the couple and their lives as gifts. They have something very simple to say, although it’s often the simplest things that are the hardest to accept.
Can I get a witness?
Andrew was in so much of a hurry to get his story published first, that he didn’t even spell one of Yeager’s films correctly.
NPR Andrew Flanagan:“After the pair married they began producing films like Jesus of Malibu and Sebastien Beach, One Fine Day, which attracted minor attention.”
The description of “attracting minor attention” is inappropriate, after all, Yeager is not Steven Spielberg, but Sebastian Beach One Fine Day was an official selection at the NYC Surf Film Festival, and that is something that any filmmaker would be proud of. But derogatory remarks such as this one are abundant in Andrew’s article, from beginning to end; his animosity towards Yeager is very obvious.
On Yeager’s website there was a link to the film trailer of Sebastian Beach One Fine Day, which once again proves that Andy Cush’s statement was false.
The Florida Highwaymen
In 2001, Yeager produced another film documentary called The Florida Highwaymen The Other Side of the Road. The documentary tells the story about the legendary folk artists called the Florida Highwaymen.
From the 1950s until the 1970s, the artists traveled by automobile selling their paintings door to door throughout the state of Florida — a large sized wall painting would sell for as little as $40.
In 1999, their story attracted the attention of the local newspapers, and the Highwaymen paintings began to surface online. Soon after the first book was published, an original Alfred Hair painting sold for over $12,000 on eBay.
There are over a dozen books that have been published about the Highwaymen, and there are also 2 documentary films produced (one of those featured on PBS in 2008).
Just recently, it was announced on Wikipedia that there are developments taking place with intentions to produce a Hollywood movie version of their story, starring Whoopi Goldberg.
As impressive as this may sound, Billy Yeager was involved with the Highwaymen long before they gained popularity; back in 2000, he became close friends with some of the artists, and together with Gary Brice, he spent over a year filming his own unique version of the Florida Highwaymen story.During the time Billy spent with the Highwaymen, Livingston Roberts taught him how to paint.
Gary Brice has his own collection of Florida Highwaymen paintings, and is close friends with Al Black, who was the salesman for the artists back in the 1960s (Al Black still paints today).
Highwaymen collectors have been eagerly awaiting to see Yeager’s film since 2001, but Yeager has not decided to release the film to the public yet.
“Consider the fact that all the Florida Highwaymen are African American, and that Yeager and Castro even completed a painting together; collectors I know consider that painting that those two painted together very valuable. Billy went to Tomoka State Prison to interview Al Black; he told Billy secrets others don’t know, such as why the artists forged others’ signature on the paintings. Billy didn’t just go in to make a buck like everyone else, he made real friends.” – Gary Brice
The information about the Florida Highwaymen and Yeager’s film and artwork is mentioned on his website, and there is a also a segment in the documentary Billy Yeager The Ineffable Enigma where collector Stephen Spiegel explains the details about the soundtrack of the film, and how Yeager created it — there were only a few handmade CDs made.
Below is a video featuring Yeager on FOX News. (It was posted over 11 years ago.)
15 years ago, this was Billy Yeager on camera, speaking about his documentary.
Both Andy and Andrew saw this video, because it can be found by searching for Yeager’s name on YouTube, and therefore they knew for a fact that Yeager was a serious artist and filmmaker.
“If there was any question about Yeager being a fraud, why didn’t they contact me? I worked with Billy for almost 20 years. Why contacting those other people who didn’t even know him?” – Gary Brice
NPR and Spin weren’t the only ones who ignored the SPJ (Society of Professional Journalists) code of ethics.
There were many other news websites that also picked up the story eliciting more extremely negative comments about Billy Yeager.
These 3rd party websites need fresh content every single day, so “it is easier” to simply copy another’s story than to do your homework and create your own. These unethical journalists jumped right on the “trash Billy Yeager bandwagon,” and simply republished what their competitors had written.
Except for changing a few words and the title of their story, they never invested 1 single minute to find out the truth about Billy Yeager.
A Beautiful Truth
Is every single journalist unethical? No.
There are some journalists who are honest, and courageous, and act with integrity when gathering, interpreting, and reporting information.
One such a journalist surfaced 6 months after NPR and Spin’s stories were published.
This journalist for OMG News could clearly see that something was seriously wrong with the stories that had been published by NPR and Spin.
On September 6th, Damon Blalack called me and said, “Did you see this news?”
The journalist who wrote the article is Leah Friedman. Leah came up with her own astounding conclusions, something completely opposite to what Andy Cush and Andrew Flanagan had told their readers. Unlike Andy and Andrew’s stories, Leah’s article includes the video of Wake Up People.
Journalist Leah Friedman writes: “By no fault of his own, Yeager has found himself pushing his talent in a world that swats him away. The reason is that his views, do not go along with the mainstream. This simple but clearly damning fact has prevented him from being recognized and moving forward in a career he has earned merit. In a ridiculously corrupt media and music industry focused on the contribution towards society’s downfall and everything of true value, Yeager tries to remain true to his talent and beliefs.
He presents startling rare and raw footage. The riveting contrast between real life and the mortality of the human race, how we seek to destroy each other and the false hiding of the self in an extremely shallow world. The world where partying, sex, drugs, and everything celebrating physical luxury and comfort is the modern way to avoid the true realities of all life all over the planet.
The culture protest is real, and the media does want to suppress all that Yeager has produced and created with the talent and artistic abilities he displays. Billy Yeager devastatingly understands this. His mission is to raise this consciousness and help those who can not help themselves.”
I decided to reach out to Leah Friedman. She was kind enough to tell me how she had found out about Billy, and to answer some questions:
What was your first impression when you first read the negative stories by NPR and Spin?
“The first thing to know is that I write many articles about many different topics. After doing this for awhile, the dots start to connect. That’s what happened when I came across this article.
I already knew well the media is biased, so I scrutinized the accusations knowing there was bias behind them. I set out to understand what happened. So my research began.”
Why did you take the time to do more research?
“I researched to find the truth. That is my focus with every article I write. There are no exceptions. Sometimes I am limited with time, so I can’t delve as deeply as I’d like, but the goal is the same with everything I write.”
Why do you think these 2 writers wrote these extremely negative and biased stories and refused to mention anything positive about any work that Billy Yeager has produced in the last 30 years?
“From what I understand about Billy Yeager’s goal and the controversy it provokes, it stands to reason that anyone he disagrees with will try to discredit his work, his opinions, his convictions, talents, etc., especially if they know he is right. Any recognition on their part will mean they have to admit their wrongdoings and give credit where credit is due.”
Can you give us your personal opinion about what you believe the Yeagers’ mission is about?
“From what I understand, the Yeagers are trying to make music from their souls. Additionally, they are trying to present through films and other outlets a truth they believe deeply. These truths are against the agenda of the powers that be. Consequently, they try to discredit and ban the Yeagers from any success due them. The Yeagers are an example of people pursuing their purpose. That is a mission we all have. Some live up to it, but many don’t.”
What is your personal opinion about today’s media and the press?
“I don’t have an opinion about the media and the press. I KNOW the media is controlled and manipulates in so many ways and directions. The agenda of the media is to brainwash people. Presentations, rhetoric, news, articles, every manner of advertisement, marketing and more are dedicated to forcing people to believe whatever the powers that be decide they should believe.
It’s truly sad that people can’t use their critical thinking, instincts, and souls to reject all the media forces down our throats. But I’m hoping the wake up is happening.
I believe the Yeagers have tried in the past and continue to try to share their truths with everyone who is open enough to listen and hear. However, their truths go against the scheme of the media, music and film industry. In order to maintain control over minds and beliefs, these institutions attempt in every manner at every turn to undermine the work of anyone and anything.”
Billy Yeager’s “Society Today” Photo Exhibit
NPR ETHICS
- We reveal as much as we practically can about how we discover and verify the facts we present.
- When we edit, it is to add impact and clarity to our journalism — never to slant or distort.
- We don’t allow what is sensational to obscure what is significant.
- The keys to any ethical decision-making process should both test and strengthen the moral compass that guides each of us in our work. It aims to foster a culture that compels and empowers us to exercise our consciences each day.
Once again the comments below prove what the average reader perceived from these stories:
Stop watching the news
Because the news contrives to frighten you
To make you feel small and alone
To make you feel that your mind isn’t your own
Morrissey, 2018 (Some people are catching on).
Activist
The Mysterious Piano
For over 7 days, news outlets from all over the world were wondering who had placed a mysterious grand piano on a sandbar in Miami’s Biscayne Bay and why.
A friend told Billy about the news, and Yeager came to the conclusion that the piano had been placed there as a prank.
As nobody was claiming it, Billy and Anais decided to contact CNN and said they had placed the piano on the sandbar themselves.
Within hours the Yeagers were being whisked away to Inside Edition’s studio in Tallahassee, where their interview would be broadcasted live on the Inside Edition television show.
Billy and Anais used this opportunity to share their message. Billy explained that the dilapidated piano was a reflection of today’s society; he spoke out about greed, corruption, injustice, and the media itself.
The Yeagers were also featured on CNN, Good Morning America, CBS, NBC, ABC, and the AP Press.
Soon after 16 year old Nicholas Harrington called the news, stating that he had done the deed.
Immediately the Miami Herald splashed headlines stating that Billy had stolen the kid’s art project. (Afterwards, other news outlets republished what the Miami Herald had written.)
Who broke the story? Yep, The Miami Herald! The same publication that lied about Yeager (labeling Jimmy Story as a HOAX) back in 1996.
The New York Times stated: “Nick remained quiet until an independent filmmaker couple claimed credit on Wednesday for putting the piano there.”
When Nicholas Harrington first spoke to the press he said it was a prank, and that he had set the piano on fire at his parents’ house on New Year’s Eve, but later he changed his original story into a more purposeful one, turning a piano burned at a party into an “art project,” saying he was “hoping to get accepted into an art college.”
This was a contradiction because even his mother was quoted in the news saying she hoped “the whole prank would wash away.” Why would his mother call it a prank and wish it would wash away if it was an art project being created for a college application?
Another news source reported, “On New Year’s Eve at a party attended by about 100 people, the revelers decided to light the piano on fire. ‘We filled it with gasoline,’Nicholassaid, ‘and threw sparklers at it.'”
Does this sound like a serious art project?
The marine patrol officers and fish and wildlife agents didn’t think so.
They went to the home of Nick Harrington to deliver an ultimatum: Remove the grand piano from Biscayne Bay within 24 hours or face felony charges, a $5,000 fine or worse.
They also asked him, “Should your mom get arrested? Or should you get arrested?”
Why did the kid change his story? Did he change his story to the advice of his parents who heard the Yeagers using it for something meaningful?
Regarding the application to the art school:
“There are lots of ways to grab our attention, and that’s not one we would necessarily condone,” said Mitchell Lipton the dean of admissions at Cooper Union where Harrington was supposedly trying to get accepted.
Journalist Skip Conover was impressed with the Yeagers’ piano protest and wrote about it:
“William and Anais Yeager are two brilliant filmmakers that effectively produced one of the best publicity stunts ever, winning millions of dollars worth of free publicity from CNN and others. CNN produced a 2.5-minute report that might have cost the Yeagers up to $100,000 if they had produced it themselves, complete with helicopter aerial shots. The CNN report even contains a mention of their independent film called “Jesus of Malibu: The Revolution for the Freedom of the Mind.” That piano on a sandbar will now forever be an archetypal symbol for the Yeagers’ movie and top publicity stunts of all time. Sadly for young Mr. Harrington, it seems unlikely that anyone will remember that he was the actual idea man.”
The Yeagers stated,
“There are infinite possibilities to free our minds, but not without confronting and exposing injustice first.
The piano is here to remind us that there is a war within our minds, that we can choose to seek truth, or remain being amused to death.
The JOM Revolution for the freedom of the mind is a wake up call to humanity.” – Anais
But Andy Cush, in accordance with the Miami Herald, simply wrote off the Yeagers’ Piano Protest as nothing more than a hoax, and also stated that Yeager stole “the guerilla art project” from a so called “real artist.”
“Go ahead, hate his music, despise his methodology, decide that his vision for the world is out of reach for you… but to call him a hoax? To belittle his efforts for the sake of… of what? Again, is it to sell a few more papers/ads? Is it to react years later for being duped by a story that was made to prove a point? (especially when it was obvious to the most casual observer that the man was making a point).
If you want to call out publicity hounds, watch any number of washed up has beens on the multitude of reality shows that our TV’s throw up over the airwaves. That’s publicity seekers.
A guy that keeps his movies under wraps? A guy that spends months and years subsisting on next to nothing is in it for himself? WAKE UP! and smell the coffee people! I’m praying this can’t possibly get any more absurd than it already has. But, as Billy has shown us, our species knows no limits to the depths we’re willing to sink to.
If you ever get a chance to watch one of Billy Yeager’s films, or hear his music, or even meet Billy, then you’ll forget the half-hearted attempts that a scornful media purports on the public. You’ll walk away feeling a little dirtier for knowing what we’re doing to our own kind, and a little cleaner for knowing there’s a Billy Yeager out there to keep us honest.” – Ken Jenkins
“In times of dwindling readership, what do you do to gain more readers? You give them what you think they want. You make up stories.
You lie.”
NPR ethics on fairness and accuracy.
“To tell the truest story possible, it is essential that we treat those we interview and report on with scrupulous fairness, guided by a spirit of professionalism.” (This was not done.)
“In all our stories, especially matters of controversy, we strive to consider the strongest arguments we can find on all sides, seeking to deliver both nuance and clarity.” (This was not done either.)
The Truth about NPR and Spin.
Glassdoor is a website that has a database of millions of company reviews written by employees.
Here are just a few “Cons” about NPR and Spin:
Cons
The lack of solid leadership in the past few years has created an ambiguous work environment. Lack of communication between departments has people working in silos and not sharing expertise and relevant data. Some departments appear to have little funds while others are lavishly spending – constantly traveling – entertaining (internally & externally) – hiring. No transparency. People are being promoted who have no idea what they’re doing and it’s hurting the quality of work and staff retention. I find that disappointing and not in keeping with NPR’s values & mission.
Cons
Digital and radio are completely disconnected which is archaic in this media era. Blame clueless senior-level management. Someone skilled and talented in both is almost forced to choose. In my years I’ve seen a revolving door of young, diverse talent leave because they’re frustrated with a network reluctant to change. And diversity is a joke. Hiring a bunch of minorities but ignoring stories that are unique to their communities isn’t diversity… it’s filling a quota.
Cons
Do yourself a favor and don’t work here.
If you’re looking for a longterm opportunity or a place to grow as an employee this is not the right environment for you. At the end of the day they place little value in their employees or the day to day systems that constantly create issues. There’s a pervasive feeling of fear and frustration that permeates the office and promotes backstabbing and gossiping.
Cons
Everything else. This company has taken an iconic music brand to shame. 4 CEO’s in 2 1/2 years, executives that are skating by on their exorbitant salaries and undeserved titles, no business strategy or process, many people who have stayed/lasted are so numb and seemingly don’t care, I can go on and on.
301 Jackson St.
Andrew Flanagan “thinks” that the infamy of holding a sales record over Prince “at least might satisfy” Yeager?
You would have to be a psychopath to be satisfied for that!
Comments prove that is what readers believed after reading NPR and Spin’s stories.
Below is what the average reader could reasonably conclude about Yeager’s character after reading NPR’s article:
Striking Gold
“Billy’s albums were already selling for high prices for many years. I was just about to go in and adjust the price guide on his records when all this happened, I just hope you get to the bottom of all this.” – Dave Thomson
Dave Thompson, the editor of price guides for the music collector’s magazine Goldmine, was one of the 2 people interviewed by NPR for their story about the 301 Jackson St. album.
We wanted to find out more, so I looked Dave up and gave him a call.
“What do you think happened concerning these outrageous stories that they published?” I asked Dave.
“I make my living editing the Goldmine price guide; I am really invested in the integrity of the hobby. I was preparing to go in there and change the price for Billy’s records. Billy and his story they are not exactly … um … everyday. We got this guy living in the Arizona desert in a caravan or something, and now what’s happening, he is now supposedly selling record albums to himself?
The stories were written overnight, in fact, the Discogs’ email came in at 4:00 a.m., so the stories were written very, very, quickly, because I had the NPR one by 9:00 a.m. So yeah, they were done very quickly and probably …, not making excuses, but you know, no time to contact anyone cause it was so early in the morning.”
Imagine, if Dave Thompson received the info about the so called fraudulent album at 4:00 a.m., even if Andrew and Andy were up at that time (and I seriously doubt it), how could they have had enough time to conduct their research, make phone calls, transcribe the recorded conversations, verify facts, write the story, edit the story, have their managing editors look it over, cut snip, rewrite, pass it along to their legal team for approval, all within a few mere hours?
Not on your life!
But Andrew Flanagan was ready to begin posting his finished story by 9:13 a.m.
Dave Thompson, “Let’s face it, this is the most exciting thing that has happened in record collecting in years, little bloody record store day, please don’t quote me on that, no, no, you can. There is a need for this to be thoroughly explored, and I am glad you are doing this.”
Andrew Flanagan stated the album may not exist at all.
Introducing the non-existent record album 301 Jackson St.
Meet John Leach, songwriter, musician, editor and journalist for Florida’s longest running music news print publication “Brevard Live.”
John Leach not only met Billy Yeager in 1999, and wrote several articles about him, but he owns 1 of the only 4 existing copies of the 301 Jackson St. album by Yeager.
Andy Cush wrote:
How did John acquire the 301 Jackson St. record album? Apparently from the dumpster.
A good journalist never travels without a video camera, let’s let John tell the story.
You cannot have your news instantly and have it done well.
When asked about today’s style of tabloid journalism (and specifically the stories by Andy and Andrew) Greg Baker had this to say:
“I worked at both, and the luxury of a weekly, it is sort of like being an independent filmmaker versus a studio where you’re given a budget, given a deadline; you have a weekly paper, you can read a story 5, 6, 7 times, you can put 3 or 4 editors on it, you can wait another week, but you don’t just say, ‘Look, this might be a great story, and the other paper might beat us to it, so let’s just go with it.’ I never had that experience. Yeah, you want to get the story first, but beyond all that, you want to get it right.” – Greg Baker
Neither NPR nor Spin were willing to invest the proper amount of time that would be expected from a reputable media outlet to substantiate their facts. Their sensational and appalling stories (clearly antagonistic to Yeager) all based on perfunctory investigations, was a travesty of journalism to say the least.
“To me, it’s unacceptable. I am not a journalist now, but when I was, the publications I worked for just wouldn’t have allowed that, I guess I was lucky to work for editors that wouldn’t allow a superficial thing.” – Greg Baker
Lost Possessions
In 2001, Yeager fell on hard times and had to put most of his belongings in a storage facility. After 3 months of failing to make his monthly payments, his possessions were auctioned off, including boxes of 100s of his self-produced albums What’s It Gonna Take (1983) and Be My Valentine (1985), VHS copies of his films, cassette master tapes, and 2 test pressings of the very rare 301 Jackson St. record album.
BUNNY YEAGER
Billy’s famous aunt, Bunny Yeager, shot the photographs for all of Billy’s front and back album covers. The 301 Jackson St. album was scheduled to be pressed in 1989 on her own record label called Stage and Screen Records.
Bunny discovered the legendary 1950’s pin-up Betty Page, and shot many of the centerfold pin-ups for Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Magazine back in the 1950’s.
One of the reasons Yeager’s albums are considered collectable is that Billy and his father Ray are the only male subjects Bunny ever took pictures of in her 60 year career. When Bunny passed away in 2014, Billy’s record albums began appearing on eBay listed at $2,500 – $3,500.
In 2016, the documentary film called Billy Yeager / The Ineffable Enigma was released. The documentary tells the story of Yeager’s unusual life and talks about his mission and purpose as an artist, activist and humanitarian. The film shows samples of Billy’s work (films and music) and also features vinyl record collectors who explain all the intricate details surrounding Yeager’s lost recordings.
Word spread about the film and more vinyl record collectors began to take notice.
The Jaco Pastorius Billy Yeager recordings
Billy met Jaco Pastorius for the first time in 1983, and they instantly became best of friends and made plans to start a band together. The two recorded together several times, one of those times was videotaped.
(Yeager and Pastorius (each in bow ties) performed directly across the street from each other. Yeager at The Castaways Lounge house band, and Jaco at the Newport 7 Seas with Wayne Cochran.)
One night Jaco and Billy were jamming together at Jaco’s home (the jam session was recorded on a 8-track player). Afterwards they decided to visit a small pub only 2 blocks from Jaco’s house; they brought along their instruments and a small amplifier and they continued to jam until 9:00 a.m. in the morning. The jam session was videotaped by the owner of the Tipperary Pub.
Stan Jeff Brown has known Billy for over 35 years. Stan remembers listening to the recording of Yeager and Jaco at Yeager’s apartment.
In 1987, Billy wrote 3 songs and played guitar on Stan’s debut record LP called Transformation Paradox. The album also features musicians Harvey Mandell, Eddie Higgins, Mars Cowling and Ira Sullivan.
C.S.I. Private Studios, Miami, FL. Stan Jeff Brown, Ira Sullivan, Gustavo Lezcano, Dan Winograd, Harvey Mandel, Billy Yeager, Eddie Higgins, Touter, David Tomasello, Peter ‘Mars’ Cowling, Ian Lewis
Stan was also good friends with Jaco and often gave him free rides in his cab in Ft. Lauderdale. Stan remembers the time when Jaco went on a rant, describing Yeager as the greatest guitar player he had ever played with, and how the two of them were going to form a band.
In 2014, a feature film documentary about Jaco Pastorius was produced by Metallica’s Robert Trujillo. Stan Jeff Brown met the producers and spoke with them about The Billy Yeager Jaco Pastorius recordings.
The producers were also aware of these recordings.
NPR questioned the legitimacy of the recordings:
I believe our justice system is defective in that, as much as I believe in awarding damages to good people that have been seriously defamed, I also believe that journalists such as the ones in this story, should be sentenced to a prison term.
“Now, gentlemen, in this country, our courts are the great levelers. Now I am confident that you gentlemen will review… without passion… the evidence that you have heard, come to a decision… and restore this man to his family. In the name of God, do your duty. In the name of God.”
Beware of Discogs
When the 301 Jackson St. record album first sold, Discogs had no problem with the sale.
When Andy Cush first spoke with Discogs, Jeffrey Smith explained the company’s process of verifying the transaction “We’ve had a seller sell a record to a buyer,” he said. “Both are different accounts in different parts of the United States, and the transaction came through”. This means Yeager could have never sold the record to himself.
But soon after, Discogs CEO Kevin Lewandowski released a statement recognizing the sale as fraudulent saying that “Discogs’ mission will continue to be built on the love of music, not the duplicitous nature of the hustle.”
Dan Mage came up with some startling information about Discogs themselves.
“I got my first look at the murky world of internet music trading, with a specific focus on the resurgence of vinyl records. Looking into “Discogs.com,” a quick glance tells me that they are not without their share of dissatisfied customers.
A litany of rip-offs and management responses that were indifferent or worse exists: 11/15/16 “SO FAR NO GOOD” HYPERLINK https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.discogs.com
“Even at the point the sellers takes your money they seem to be under no obligation to provide a trading address, return address or contact telephone number. So far I have paid for 2 LPs from 2 different sellers and received nothing. – Bill S.”
Numerous other reviews told similar tales of woe, with both buyers and sellers complaining of bias towards the other.
I don’t know exactly what happened, but it’s clear to me that this story of the alleged hoax was published on the basis of on accusation from a questionable source, presented against a background of cut-and-pasted stories from media sources with a grudge against Billy Yeager.” – Dan Mage
When Dolph purchased the 301 Jackson St. record, there was never a problem with the sale; 3 months later he was banned.
“They have no phone number, no office number, no corporate number, no way to rectify the situation, you have to ‘fill out a ticket.’ How can I fill out a ticket when they ban my IP address? They have a nerve!” – Dolph
A google search for discogs reviews reveals some extremely disturbing comments posted on sites such as trustpilot and sitejabber.
One frustrated former member from Discogs capitalizes their dire warnings, “Avoid DISCOGS.COM LIKE THE PLAGUE!!”
Other comments seem to agree:
- “No reliable Discogs support.”
- “Discogs is run by petulant immature millennials.”
- “SCAM. Do something to stop this fraud. I was scammed by this company. Discogs will use or sell personal information about me without my consent.”
- “How they make money by blocking good paying customers is beyond me.”
- “The Discogs site and its corrupt feedback system has been hiding the real truth.”
- “The customer service is absolutely abysmal I just received the following message “Your Discogs.com account has been flagged for violating the Discogs Terms of Service.” WTF?”
- “I have 100% feedbacks as buyer with 92 orders. I can’t access my account from my home computer. After submitting 3-4 tickets to the staff members requesting to remove my ban on forums my IP was blocked. This is 100% prove that DISCOGS is a megascam global business.”
Most assuredly Andy Cush has paid to watch documentaries about musicians, such as Nirvana, Amy Winehouse and countless others, but when it came time for him to watch the documentary about an unknown musician he was supposed to write about, Andy wanted his readers to know what a great sacrifice he had to make “in the name of journalism.”
Andy Cush’s attitude reeks of intellectual chauvinism, dogma, and boredom.
Andy plunked … and “started watching,” but … never finished.
Maybe Andy could have done himself, Spin and everyone a favor, not just plunking down money, but “in the name of journalism,” take a little bit of time, have some respect for your profession, complete watching the film, and reach out to some credible sources.Instead, Andy published nothing more than snippets of information that lack any vital pertinent information about Yeager, his music and his films.
How could you have any insight, by watching less than 30 minutes of a film?
A few topics Andy missed:
- Yeager’s original styles of music and music videos
- Information about all of Yeager’s films
- Information about Yeager’s mission and purpose
- Details about his record albums, CDs and cassette tapes
The film documentary provides specific dates and venues where Yeager performed his original music; one of the places where Yeager performed and sold his CDs was a small restaurant called The Bizarre Cafe located in Lake Worth, Florida.
The restaurant changed hands and is now called The Island, but Debbie Leonard, who was the previous owner of the Bizarre Cafe was glad to speak with me. Debbie said she had received calls, beginning in 2014, from people asking if anyone who worked there had any of Billy Yeager’s CDs.
“He played at the Bizarre Cafe every Monday and Tuesday, he played a type of jazz music. He worked here for years and then one day he, and his green car and matching green guitar, just took off with his wife. I had no idea what happened, and also what was going on about his music; people called and offered thousands of dollars for a Billy Yeager CD, but if I owned one I wouldn’t tell and I wouldn’t sell it,” says Debbie Leonard.
From a simple phone call, Andy would have been able to confirm Yeager’s rare recordings are in fact collectable.
Ton Haak is a Dutch graphic designer, journalist, former gallery owner and author.
Ton has been a supporter of the Yeagers’ work for many years. He also owns some of Billy Yeager’s rarest recordings and artwork and is featured in the documentary Billy Yeager The Ineffable Enigma.
“Their film(s) are just unique documents about the world, a world in change, and two people who really notice what’s going on. They deserve an Oscar and a large audience. They deliver proof that their ideals and dreams are not the products of whimsical impulses; and they are not “For Sale” nor are their creations turned into a business. Billy can talk for hours about the worries of the world and his philosophical approach to life. He is not trying to convert anyone, although the fervor of his words might be taken for proselytizing by someone who doesn’t pay close attention. Billy is trying to make people understand what he is standing for, and that the good is better than the bad and the ugly.” – Ton Haak
Andy Cush told his readers Ton’s scene in the film plays like a parody:
As if he had watched the complete film, Andy Cush writes:
The narration that Andy Cush is referring to as the “baffling bonafides” is only the introduction of the film — exactly 1 minute and 58 seconds long. The last sentence of this narration says, “Meet the artist Billy Yeager.” Then the film begins.
Andy is giving his readers, no more, no less, than an introduction of the film.
“Andy is inventing information when saying that “the film gives no explanation”; everything in the 2 minute narration, which is the intro, is discussed at length in the film.” – Glenn DeRosa
Andy Cush is baffled. Baffling Definition: Impossible to understand.
What is truly baffling is this video of Andy Cush.
Had Andy completed the film, he would have watched the segment which explains Yeager’s scientific, “sacred geometric, higher conscious wave frequency / musical tuning” that Yeager created after 5 years of research.
Virtuoso 14 string guitarist Michael Bianco, from South Florida, is featured in the film Billy Yeager The Ineffable Enigma.
Regarding Yeager’s scientific musical tuning, Bianco had this to say, “These scientific pitches and tunings absolutely can have an effect on the body and mind, history has proven that.
Like Billy’s experiments show, changing the pitch on the guitar can create substantial positive effects in the music, I changed my pitch permanently long ago.” – Michael Bianco
Journalist Verity Healey wasn’t baffled by Yeager’s experiments either:
“Billy Yeager’s scientific brain experiments, is a surprising detailed section in the film that has him transforming into a latter day Renaissance polymath. These parts, exploring the brain’s capacity and the art of looking into the sun at sunrise or sunset to increase the brain’s melatonin and serotonin, are particularly intriguing, as well as medically controversial.”
John Leach, journalist for Brevard Live, also wrote about Yeager’s experiments stating:
“Billy (naturally) wrote, played and recorded all the music on the film’s soundtrack using new musical tunings and scales that he created. He calls his new musical form “Transcendental Chords”. Billy has fused sacred geometry, wave theory, vibrations of tones transmitted and then frozen in water, and the natural magnetic frequency of the earth to create his music. It’s really not as far out as it might sound. The music is very cohesive and pleasing to the ear and has been meticulously calculated to elicit certain emotions and behaviors from its listeners, whoever or whatever those listeners may be.”
This is a scene from Yeager’s film Sebastian Beach One Fine Day, which is featured in the documentary that Andy Cush was supposed to complete, but never did.
Andy Cush must have come to one of these 3 conclusions not to have included any information about this scene with a sea turtle in his story:
- A lost dead sea turtle, is not as interesting as Taylor Swift in a bogus suitcase
- This also was a “parody”
- This was not “alarming” and “violent” enough for his sensational story
Instead of informing his audience about inspirational topics in the movie that everyone could understand, such as the turtle story, Cush chose to only mention something that would confuse, and anger his readers: a scene of “Alarming Violence.”
This is reckless disregard for the truth.
Billy Yeager The Ineffable Enigma was written and directed by Chris Von Weinberg.
“This documentary was a breath of fresh air. To see someone, as amazing as Billy, so engulfed in their craft, so much that they morph into this super being of talent. Wow!!! that is so inspiring! I was always taught as a kid ‘What’s from the heart, reaches the heart,’ and from what I’ve witnessed, Billy has one of the biggest one’s I’ve seen in a while.” – Ken Chatman / Professional Drummer
But NPR published a statement affirming that Chris Von Weinberg didn’t exist.
Will the real Chris Von Weinberg please stand up?
Meet Chris Von Weinberg
Chris is the creator of Billy Yeager The Ineffable Enigma and The Film That Changed The World. He was also the Yeagers’ personal manager for the past 3 years.
“I never responded to their request to be interviewed because I posted a message on the official website of Billy Yeager, informing the press I would not talk to any journalist until they had watched the film in its entirety,” says Chris. “Why? Because many of today’s journalists are careless and cynical and never get their facts straight, that is why I quizzed Andy.” – Chris Von Weinberg
NPR’s ethics / Accuracy
Diligent verification is critical. We take great care to ensure that statements of fact in our journalism are both correct and in context. In our reporting, we rigorously challenge both the claims we encounter and the assumptions we bring.
Was John Stacey’s statement rigorously challenged and verified?
How could NPR publish such defamatory and cynical statements from unsubstantiated information?
John Stacey hasn’t seen or spoken with Billy in the past 17 years, but his statement that “Chris Von Weinberg was Billy Yeager” was good enough for NPR.
“One point is that I always tried to keep an open mind because it’s the best way to not screw up. Even though I sometimes worked under an aegis of advocacy news journalism (i.e. not objective), I tried to reach, and hear, all sides. Yeah, you want to get the story first, but beyond all that, you want to get it right.” – Greg Baker
These days John Stacey, also known as “Bonefish,” performs as a one-man band in small bars and Irish Pubs.
In an article written by journalist Bob Weinberg, John Stacey is quoted saying, “Every bar that we went into, we wanted to turn it into an old blues club or an old disco, we were totally into the science of being a bar band.”
Damon Blalack repeatedly reached out to John Stacey for an interview for this story, but Stacey never replied back.
Similar to Andrew Flanagan, John Stacey also had an agenda when he wrote an article about a rough cut of the film Jimmy’s Story back in 1997.
In an interview shot by Dan Myrick, Billy tells an inspirational story about a time when his father brought him along to an audition with Tiara Records; Ray thought it would be a good idea for young Billy to watch him audition, to teach his son how to be assertive and bold.
Stacey distorted the truth and created a ludicrous, cynical version of the story.
Stacey wrote: “Ray suddenly adopted a hillbilly drawl and bumbling demeanor. It isn’t hard to see where the younger Yeager might have picked up his penchant for affecting voices, for impersonating his own manager on the phone …”
The fact is, Ray sang with a hillbilly drawl because it was his country style of singing and voice.
In this video you can hear for yourself Ray Yeager on the 1960s television show To Tell The Truth, where Ray is singing with that country twang, and he has no “bumbling demeanor” as Stacey insinuates.
When Andrew Flanagan read Stacey’s cynical remarks, it was too good to be true.
Andrew Flanagan purposely ignored the fact that Stacey’s article was a film review and that Jimmy Story was a fictional character; this information was clearly stated in Yeager’s websites, but Flanagan had an agenda.
Without watching the film or verifying John’s version of the story, 22 years later, NPR republished John Stacey’s statement implying that Billy was taught / influenced by his father to impersonate other people to become a fraud:
“John Stacey’s statement is false, 100% false; what a cynical person; I have never met anyone that worked harder on his art than Billy, not for fame, because he cares … When John Stacey mentions Job and Moses that is false too! The only quotes from the Bible that are in Jimmy’s Story are from Ecclesiastes. And that is a big difference.” – Stan Jeff Brown
Andrew never contacted another source, Why?
Maybe because he had exactly what he wanted from John Stacey? NPR accused Billy Yeager of being a charlatan, a person that invests all of his time creating “compulsive artifices” rather than working on his art.
Comments prove readers believed Andrew’s story:
“My fundamental policy is I write for myself, because I can’t ask you to like what I write if I don’t like what I write, so I never think of an audience; I have never written for an audience. It’s just not a calculated thing of ‘I should cover this because people are interested in it,’ it was always ‘If I write about this, I can get a lot of people interested in this.’ It’s a slightly different approach.
What this is (referring to NPR and Spin), is pandering, I am not into pandering, but that doesn’t mean I am anti-popularity.” – Greg Baker
Childhood friend Brian Godette said, “We threw a going away party for Billy and Anais in 2008. We weren’t really sure if he was serious when he said he was going to leave society forever and never return.”
Brian was one of Billy’s closest friends. Growing up together in South Florida, they would often go on camping and surfing trips. Brian and Billy always remained in contact throughout the years. Brian said he would receive long letters from Billy telling him about his adventures in the desert with Anais.
“Billy is like family to everyone . . . I didn’t hear from Billy for almost 4 years, and then he called me one day and the signal just dropped off .” – Brian Godette
In the age of facebook, keeping in contact with friends is a non-issue, yet Billy was still writing letters to his friends in the mail while he was living off the grid.
In Billy Yeager The Ineffable Enigma film trailer, record collector R.K. Devonshire states, “There are not many artists that choose that kind of path.”
It is clearly evident what that path is; it is a spiritual path and it was obvious to both Andy Cush and Andrew Flanagan.
What is the Truth?
“The Yeagers don’t socialize, they don’t go out to eat at restaurants, they don’t own a television, they are against consumerism and refuse to support “the system,” they repair and wear their old torn clothes, they don’t take “selfies,” they don’t use the social media, and they may be the only people in today’s society who don’t own a smartphone. I don’t think there is a time we have met when they haven’t talked about those suffering and our duty to fight injustice.” – Damon Blalack
Mindy’s Wish and Foundation
The Yeagers created Mindy’s Wish (not an official 501 charitable organization) to help land-mines victims — over 100 million people worldwide still do not own their own wheelchair.
The Yeagers were in the process of creating a Mindy’s Wish video when award winning composer Nick Duggan saw their work and offered to help.
The Yeagers and Nick Duggan collaborated on the song for the video together.
Nick tells the story:
Nik Duggan on Mindys Wish Charity Foundation from Damon on Vimeo.
Once again, the information about Mindy’s Wish was posted on Yeager’s website: Link
NPR: We strive to report and produce stories that transcend our biases and treat all views fairly.
Andrew Flanagan stated:
- pur·pose·less: done or made with no discernible point or purpose; having no aim or plan.
- ob·fus·ca·tion: noun: the action of making something obscure, unclear, or unintelligible; verb (obfuscate): to confuse, bewilder, or stupefy.
When you land on billyyeager.com you read: Producer, director, filmmaker, musician, activist, humanitarian.
Although more people know Yeager as a songwriter-musician and independent filmmaker rather than an activist and humanitarian, since 1990, Yeager has been speaking out about suffering and injustice.
In the Miami New Times story, “Billy Ball,” written in 1993, Yeager was quoted saying:
“I get mad at people who don’t believe in charity because there are so many problems. I say just choose one, and work on that one. My cause is hunger, when I make it big, I promise half of any money I ever make will go to ending hunger on this planet.”
“‘Music is beautiful,’ he says. ‘But it sucks, too. It’s good for nothing except emotion, to feel happy or sad. But music meant for something, well, that’s different. David wrote the Psalms as a message to the people. It’s irrelevant what I say, or what anyone else says. Make a lot of money singing ‘goo-goo-ca-choo’ and feed the starving children. That’ll do a lot more than sitting around going ‘imagine all the people.’ I’ll kiss the feet of the man who serves soup at a shelter before I’ll ever kiss some rock star’s ass. It’s bullshit, total bullshit.”
“You know, this thing about charity, I remember it must have been, I don’t know, early 90s? I don’t know if it was on the record then, or off the record, but he donated money to feeding children in Africa; the way it worked is it would give you one child’s name, and that’s the child you were funding. So on charity, I would not question him on that, I would not challenge Billy on his sincerity.” – Greg Baker
The Accident
It was in 1994 Yeager heard about a boating accident.
Childhood friend Glenn Thompson remembers how the story affected Yeager very deeply.
Ana Alicia
The crash happened on a Palm Sunday, April 18, 1995. The Fernandez family was on a friend’s fishing boat when a 39-foot vessel made a wild U-turn and plowed into them. Alicia Fernandez remembers flying into the water, clutching her daughter as hard as she could, ”But I lost her, the last words I heard her say were ‘I’m here.’ But I just couldn’t reach her.”
Today Ana Alicia is trapped in a body that won’t respond.
The accident happened over 22 years ago, but Glenn remembers the song Yeager wrote.
“The song Billy wrote was called ‘You are only Sleeping,’ and Billy recorded the song for that girl, Ana, and her mother; he sent the song to Ana’s mother, that is the type of guy he is, very sensitive,” says Glen Thomson.
Everyone I spoke with had similar stories about Yeager.
There was the prison ministry where Yeager visited the prisoners, the elderly dying patients he took care of, the time he gave his whole paycheck away to a homeless person, and the story about the cripple man that was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident , paralyzed from the neck down — Yeager asked his mother if he could take him surfing and carried him down to the beach and pushed him into the waves.
“If that guy gets millions of dollars, he is going to give it all away. All he wanted to do when he got a record deal and got signed was, we were having trouble back then with Iraq and the Kurds, and he was like, we’re going to go feed these millions of starving people, he was like that all the way back then.
The last thing he needs is something like this. These writers, I want to reach into my phone, pull him out of there, and strangle him and say, ‘Hey, little punk ass, you don’t like him? Fine, but don’t create fake news.'” – Alan Layton
The Yeagers may not have been able to succeed with their own charity yet, but that didn’t stop them from trying to help others.
Krishnan was an award-winning 5 star chef with Taj Hotels in India. Krishnan decided to quit his job and began feeding the homeless and mentally disabled in his hometown when he “saw an old man, literally eating his own human waste out of hunger.”
Krishnan was selected as CNN’s top ten heroes in 2010. Today he runs the Akshaya Trust organization, which helps to feed and take care of the homeless and mentally disabled.
When the Yeagers heard about Krishnan’s story, they wanted to do something to help. Billy and Anais believe in the power of music, so they decided to make their own flutes (from PVC pipe) utilizing some of the scientific tunings that Billy had created.
Drilling the holes at specific distances, Yeager created an Indian mode tuning.
After painting the flutes, they attached a leather strap that would fasten around the neck so the flutes couldn’t be misplaced or lost — the flutes were distributed to mentally handicapped people who were not willing to be taken into the shelter.
The Film That Changed The World
“A few years ago, they released a film trailer for Jesus of Malibu online. I was lucky enough to see that trailer, and it stirred me more deeply than anything I had seen in recent memory. It took me back to my time on the road, and rekindled my most cherished dreams of freedom. The freedom that children intuitively know they should have, before they spend their lives learning to smile as it is beaten out of them. Not only was the camerawork lush and sophisticated, but even more striking was the screen presence of the protagonists, whose sheer warmth and humanity allowed viewers to instantly identify with their tears of hope, even without the benefit of context.” – Jason Stoneking
Click Here to read the entire film review by Jason Stoneking.
The Film That Changed The World premiered at the Red Dirt International Film Festivalin 2015; it won the Most Inspirational Movie award.
“The Film That Changed The World certainly changed me, which is saying a lot. As a filmmaker and film-buff who has seen thousands of films, there just aren’t many in-existence that make you think, challenge your perceptions, or change you in some new positive way. This film fulfills all of those things and more.
This is more than a documentary – it’s a Movement. The Transcendentalist Film genre is the most important use of the technology we have at our disposal, for it makes us acutely-aware of the needs of others around us and the joys to be had in the Now. Most people simply aren’t aware of this power, or of such a type of film.” – Damon Blalack / Founder and Director of the Red Dirt International Film Festival.
After the premiere in Stillwater, Oklahoma, The Film That Changed The World screened in Wichita, Kansas, at the historical Murdock Theater.
Oliver Morrison for TheWichita Eagle wrote:
The winning essay was written by Michael Anaya, who has since graduated from West High School in Wichita.
Tim Lytle, pastor of Unity Church of Wichita, and David Carter, pastor on the First Unitarian Universalist Church, invited the members of their congregations to attend the film screening.
After the screening, people were encouraged to express their thoughts about the film documentary on camera.
Tim Lytle was the first in line.
I tracked down Tim Lytle at Unity Church of Wichita, and they informed me that he had just been transferred to Unity Church of Hawaii.
I asked Tim what were his thoughts regarding the negative allegations NPR and Spin had made against Billy Yeager.
“Billy and Anais are artists who attempt to elevate the consciousness of humanity. As true artists are known to do, they sometimes push the envelope of current social practice in the hope of waking us up from our anesthesia induced sleep walking of following the programming/mesmerism of our age. Some movies and producers as well as some musicians and artists are committed to the raising of humanity’s consciousness. Many seek to entertain people at the level of sense consciousness, that is, at a low common denominator.
However, I see signs that Truth is creeping into film and music. Billy and Anais are prophetic artists, that is, their goal is to help to awaken humanity, sometimes by a strong jolt to consciousness! We cannot control how people or modern culture may judge us. The fact is that Billy and Anais have produced and created film and music which challenges our culture as well as our current programming.” – Tim Lytle
Dane Norwood, one of the people that attended the screening of The Film That Changed The World in Lawrence, Kansas, claims that the film changed his life.
“Changing the world . . . I thought I was on that road . . . but I was seeing all the things being highlighted and shown to me on the screen that was wrong with the world and why the world needed to change. There is no sugar coating, it’s very clear, it’s very concise. I met them in person, and since then I have changed my own life.”
Ken Jenkins also attended the screening in Lawrence.
“I was able to watch the show in downtown Lawrence, Kansas, and walked away knowing I’d witnessed a revelation in awareness. Not a 30 second public service spot, not a watered down, milquetoast response to a crisis (so that the completely unaware and unconcerned won’t feel they’ve stepped out of their comfort zones and, God forbid, change the channel). This was as unfiltered a look at our species at it’s worst. A no holds barred display of what absolutely repulsive beings we are capable of being. To me, the real message is this, “You don’t like it? Then get off your dead ass and DO something about it!” – Ken Jenkins
How does one find out the truth as a journalist?
In this case, it was relatively easy. I began contacting people who had worked with Billy; each person I spoke with was able to refer me to others.
Where, oh where is Billy?
Andy informs his readers that he tried to locate Yeager for his story …
I tried to follow the same procedure to contact Cush, the only problem was that, when I searched for phone numbers associated with Andy Cush’s name in New York, there were no numbers associated with his name, and therefore nothing came back “disconnected” . . . Get it?
But Andy was determined to spin his story.
Andy knew there were people closely associated with Yeager, producers, studio engineers, film editors, writers, musicians, filmmakers, managers, agents, actors, friends, film festival directors, dozens of people such as the ones featured in this story, yet Andy’s next attempt to find out the truth about Billy Yeager was to contact someone who has never even met Billy.
Andy Cush’s “Twitter Investigation.”
Andy’s big discovery? A record store clerk thought Billy Yeager was calling the record store.
In other words, Franklin believed Yeager was calling the record store asking for his own records, and that was good enough for Andy Cush.
“Right after the film documentary was released, I know for a fact that there were other record collectors searching for Yeager’s lost records. Considering that The Film That Changed The World has screened in very few places, and two of those places were in Kansas, one in Lawrence, what would be so strange about someone calling a record store in Lawrence and asking for one of his records?” – R.K. Devonshire
Instead of taking the time to complete the film documentary about Billy Yeager and contacting relevant, credible sources, people such as Reverend Tim Lytle, Bruce Hornsby, Greg Baker, Dan Myrick, Jimi Ruccolo, Rick McKay, Dean Treadway, Damon Blalack, Glenn DeRosa, etc., Spin Medias’ Andy Cush chose to find his sources through a Twitter search.
Andy found 2 people who never even met Billy Yeager:
A record store clerk and his friend (who operates a podcast) who said that everyone surrounding Yeager was fake.
Andy Cush had found his malicious, “Snarky” source.
Andy’s source went on a rant on his podcast stating that all of Billy’s pictures with people such as Bruce Hornsby and Rod Stewart were fake and photoshopped.
Barr continued his rant stating that everyone in the film trailer of The Film that Changed the World such as the pastors Tim Lytle and David Carter were fake, “low-level of a casting” actors coached by Yeager; that Yeager had no films or music; that all positive comments about Billy Yeager and his work, such as the ones made by Jason Stoneking, Verity Healey, Dan Mage, Vernon English, John Leach, etc., were fabricated by Billy, who was using pseudo names; that Chris Von Weinberg and Damon Blalack were also fake, and there was no such film festival as Red Dirt Film Festival.
These are the ministers Tim Lytle and David Carter that Jason Barr is referring to:
Andy Cush’s Day of Doom
Andy Cush writes:
Meet Jason Barr and Justin Parr
Justin Parr and Jason Barr work together at their A.D.D. Podcast, which is located in Lawrence, Kansas. Their podcast covers topics about art, music, and focuses on the local artists. They also hate, insult, and speak like juvenile delinquents putting down anyone that doesn’t fit into their club.
My research about A.D.D. revealed that Justin Parr (although professionally addressed by Andy Cush as “the producer”) is not actually the man with the authoritative role.
Jason Barr is at the reins; it is Barr who is the broadcaster, and also the one who desperately tries to keep his hobby afloat.
Below Jason Barr is informing his followers that he is fed up with people who won’t support his podcast.
Andy Cush’s source (A.D.D.) Jason Barr informs his followers that he could be earning 10 times the amount of what he is currently making being an artist, and that he could sleep an extra day a week, if he wasn’t sacrificing his time to make his podcasts that he claims are an asset to the community of Lawrence.
Jason Barr calls himself a working artist and model. Some of his artworks are displayed on the walls at some local bars in Lawrence. In the photo below, Jason Barr explains this is just the first layer of his art mural; I am not an art curator, but I can only presume this is conceptual art that is utilizing the medium of a spray can, featuring Casper the Friendly Ghost, Fred Flintstone and a penis.
My investigation of Barr’s twitter account revealed that Andy Cush’s source was not a stable man walking on solid ground.
Fast Forward to August of 2017.
Further research revealed that Jason, who could be making 10 times more income (according to his tweet above), is now using fundraising websites to get donors to buy him studio equipment for his A.D.D. Podcast.
Jason Barr decides to update his offers to try to gain support and get the money to buy his studio equipment by “offering his own body.”
Jason Barr is now willing to donate his ass (literally) to get the funds needed for his A.D.D. podcast.
For $200 a month, he offers donors the opportunity to have their names permanently tattooed on his butt, for “ALL ETERNITY,” but there are conditions for the offer.
Jason Barr on the record.
Damon Blalack tried to reach out to Jason Barr to let him know that he was in fact a real person, that his film festival was real, and that the Yeagers’ film had in fact won Most Inspirational movie award.
Damon sent several emails which included his phone number, asking Jason Barr to call him about the matter.
But instead of contacting Damon back, he began tweeting again.
Andy Cush never completed watching the documentary about Billy Yeager, instead he discovered a Twitter by Jason Barr and used the A.D.D. podcast (and its producers) as the main source for his story, knowing it contained false allegations.
3 months later after the Spin’s story was published, Jason Barr was still continuing his hostile tirade against Billy Yeager (a person he never met), posting over a dozen tweets in one day.
If you would like to help Jason Barr to fix his truck you can PayPal him:
“You’ve got to do your diligence, you have got to check your facts, especially NPR and Spin, it is wrong and reactionary, substanceless, unchecked, it’s disappointing, again, I wouldn’t allow it, if I was their editor I would have said, “Hey, did you check your sources, who did you talk to?” As a journalist I take it really serious.” – Greg Baker
“We live in an age of fake news. The press has their own agendas sometimes, especially in today’s day and age when the media is just looking for clicks. They have certainly said many things about me and Blair Witch.
We’re dealing with a profit driven press machine that is looking for some kind of an angle or agenda in everything they write; everyone of these organizations has to make a bottom line in order to continue to survive, that is the hard reality that we’re facing.” – Dan Myrick
THE DAMAGE IS DONE
Ed and Dianna Penden are the owners of Subterra Castle, a 34 – acre estate, which used to be an underground missile base, located in Kansas. The Pendens and some friends attended the screening of The Film That Changed The World in Lawrence, Kansas. Ed and Dianna were emotionally moved and impressed by the Yeagers’ story and their mission to change the world and invited Billy and Anais to their home.
Ed built a performance stage underground in one of the largest rooms of the missile base, which includes a professional P.A. system, lights and many instruments including a full circle of hand-drums, amplifiers and guitars.
Together they began planning a benefit concert to raise money to provide wheelchairs for land-mine victims in 3rd world countries. With limited seating (22 seats), the 2 day event was being promoted to the affluent people of Southern California, Germany, Switzerland and Spain.
“We were marketing the concerts in places such as the Silicon Valley area, Malibu Beach, and to the European community; people with expendable income, because it takes a lot of money to really make a difference in the world.” – Chris Von WeinbergThe Film That Changed The World film documentary was going to screen on the 47 ton steel door of the missile room. The concert was also going to include a performance art and theater play written and directed by the Yeagers.
For months, Billy Yeager had been working on song arrangements, writing new songs for the concerts, and producing music for the theater play.
Chris Von Weinberg and Billy soon realized that they needed a professional 14 piece band to perform the music properly.
There were many of Yeager’s original musical styles (such as surf jazz, gypsy funk, Japanese folk rock, and even symphonic music) and songs with complex musical arrangements that needed to be learned.
Chris and Damon Blalack began the auditioning process for the 14 professional musicians they needed to hire. It took over 9 months of sifting through 100s of applications, personal letters, music files, and music videos.
Chris would choose the musicians that qualified the best, then Yeager would listen to the sound files and music videos, and he would personally call the musicians that he believed would be the best fit for the band.
Damon also posted ads for stage manager, sound engineer and light operator; there were over 90 applications for the position of stage manager alone.
The Yeagers called their missile base concert and performance What 4?
Together Chris Von Weinberg and Damon Blalack invested over 1 year planning and organizing the benefit concerts.
“It was a full on process, Chris invited me on board, and even though I was still running the film festival and had my film teaching I was doing, I just knew I had to join the team. We began to discuss Billy’s music; there was so much of it, and some of this had been purchased by R.K. Devonshire. We all decided it was a good idea to release limited editions of Billy’s Surf Jazz music, and also the Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Pat Metheny sound alike music on 45s, all coinciding with the 10th anniversary of Record Store Day.
So imagine, these 2 defamatory stories came out only a few weeks before this; imagine serious record collectors reading about Yeager being a charlatan, a fraud; you can clearly see the serious implications and damages.” – Damon Blalack
Since September of 2016 Damon took over the reins as managing director of Surf Jazz Records; today he is also the Yeagers’ personal manager replacing Chris Von Weinberg who retired last year.
The Garden Symphony
Back in 2007 Yeager recorded a symphony that took him over 3 years to complete.
The symphony was never transcribed to sheet music, because Billy cannot read or write music. Instead he memorized the whole musical composition in his head.
Chris began marketing Yeager’s scientific music on Surf Jazz Records; together Chris and Billy decided to make a vinyl record of “The Garden Symphony.”
Chris wanted to include a custom made stereo system that would compliment the sound of the LP record. Chris searched for months trying to locate what he was looking for and discovered Audio Consulting, owned and operated by Serge Schmidlin located in the Swiss region of Vaud.
Serge’s top of the line systems are all made by hand, he personally selects a very special aged wood that he uses to build his systems. The wood neutralizes the metallic character of the resonances reducing magnetic, electromagnetic and vibrational properties of mater. The Garden Artisan Stereo System by itself lists for over $1, 500,000.
There was to be only 1 record album pressed, and all proceeds were going to be used to provide wheelchairs for landmine victims.
“While the masses unfortunately are being manipulated to a modern way of slavery, the critical mass of people that can trigger the switch with their consciousness has been reached, I am totally convinced. Whenever I feel desperate about what is happening on this planet (human’s behavior mostly) and think it is useless to try to swim against the main stream, I am getting immediately an example telling me that it is too late to be desperate. What you and Billy and Anais are doing is one of those so crucial examples that lighten up people’s existence, mine in particular. Thank you for that.” – Serge Schmidlin
Ed Penden was driving in his car on his way to Topeka when he heard Andrew Flanagan and Jacob Ganz on NPR’s radio broadcast calling Yeager a charlatan and a fraud over the airwaves:
Soon after, Ed received a phone call from an anonymous person, who asked him, “Do you really know who this guy is you’re dealing with?” Even though Ed trusted the Yeagers and fully understood and supported their mission and cause, because of this phone call, and the fact that Yeager was being portrayed as a fraud by NPR radio all over the world, the concerts had to be canceled; Ed backed out in fear of being associated with Billy and Anais Yeager.
“This goes to show you how influential and powerful the press can be when they can create their propaganda, and even turn friends into enemies, believers into non believers, family into deserters.” – Glenn Thompson
The missile base charity concerts were destroyed by NPR and Spin in one day.
One of the musicians chosen to be one of the drummers for Yeager’s band was MJ Samuri Morris .
Although very disappointed, Samuri still believes in what the Yeagers are trying to do.
“You gotta look at it like this, before anyone reaches greatness, they have to have the public’s awareness and support. Because of this, the public will learn who the true person that Billy really is, they will feel his pain and everything that he had to go through; not only are we going to get back to the concerts, they are going to be greater, bigger and more effective.” – MJ “Samuri” Morris
Driving in the humid tropics, fighting the cluster of traffic on the infamous I-95, I drove down South to Hollywood, Florida. I was curious to see the infamous 301 Jackson St. apartment where Yeager lived for over 13 years. A lot has changed. I sat on the same bench where Yeager filmed the old gang for 7 years. The lifeguard shack sits right in front of Yeager’s apartment.
It is hard to imagine someone would leave this behind and head west to the desert.
Dolph had played for me several songs from the 301 Jackson St. album.
One of the songs I really wanted to hear was “The Great Escape.”
It brought shivers up my spine and tears to my eyes.
The lyrics speak of people from all walks of life, who struggle with their faith.
It speaks of suffering and wanting to escape from the madness of this imperfect world.
“There is a depth of understanding in these lyrics. People are aware of the dark side of life . . . It speaks of their desire to want something better in life, something good, they want to escape and repent, but don’t have the faith and strength to do so, that is my perception of The Great Escape.” – Dolph
The Great Escape (Sample of lyrics):
They put their pain to rest for just another day, until we break the shackles, until the great escape.
We all put on the costume, the air goes out of the balloon, and all the prisoners say, it couldn’t come too soon.
There’s escape from the madness, like rain falling on a demon’s tomb.
There’s replacement for the sadness, there’s a sweet promise very soon.
Come let’s go, to the mountains, there’s a trumpet in the wind and a fig falling to the ground, can you hear the sound?
Give us a little pleasure for the agony, a delicate little fantasy for the suffering and pain, it will only seem like a short cigarette, but it will keep the crazy laughing and the crying people sane.
Give us a little dance some wine and a song, tomorrow I’ll eat dust and ashes and it won’t be long, we’ll see that the devil gets a glass of his own blood of fate, until we wait, until the great escape.”
The song was written by Yeager in 1991.
The Truth was killed
That the Yeagers have the audacity and determination to keep blasting out their message, by any means necessary already places them in a category of humanity beyond the scope and imagination of their detractors. There is an urgency, an ‘it needs to be none now!’ just under the surface of the harsh contrasts and gentle sounds.” – Dan Mage
“It is heartbreaking and sad, you have two artists, both so dedicated, for many years, to create meaningful music and films . . . The press was not interested in a wholesome story, they wanted sensational trash, and of all the people out there, they chose to tarnish one of the few artists today bold and courageous enough to step outside the box and take the risk to say what needs to be said, wanting to do everything he can to help those who are unfortunate. They said Billy had a life of relentless failures and was trying to reverse it by selling a fake album because he is obsessed with infamy, and that they hoped he would be for once satisfied about the fact that he held a record over Prince for one day. You tell me if this is not defamation . . .” – Damon Blalack
When your reputation is destroyed, when you are a humanitarian, but the world calls you a fraud, what do you do?
When you conduct a Google search on Billy Yeager the first result you will find is the NPR story.
In the 1937 film by Frank Capra Lost Horizons, the story takes place in the fictional Utopian place of Shangri-La, a place of tranquility and happiness, an ideal society where the citizens are virtuous through reason, not force. There is no private ownership and everyone is taken care of, so there is little or no crime.
In one scene James Hilton says, “Look at the world today. Is there anything more pitiful? What madness there is! What blindness! A scurrying mass of bewildered humanity crashing headlong against each other. The time must come, my friend, when brutality and the lust for power must perish by its own sword. For when that day comes, the world must begin to look for a new life. And it is our hope that they may find it here.”
“Our desire is to discover the truth in ourselves and present that truth in our art. As artists we know that our purpose on this Earth is to awaken consciousness and our mission is to uncover the lies and empower mankind by provoking thought, that can end division, war, hatred, and intolerance, through film and music.
We are not driven by fame or acceptance; our souls’ desire is to learn to give and share everything we have, and to live our lives in a simple and prudent way. It is our duty in this lost world to use our talent to show others a way in which art can be used, not only to entertain, but also to change the world by searching for Truth.” – Billy and Anais
This mission statement was posted on the Yeagers’ website — it hasn’t changed since 2007; Andy Cush and Andrew Flanagan were well aware of it.
Andrew Flanagan and Andy Cush failed themselves by being oblivious to the truth that presented itself right in front of their eyes. If our hearts become hardened and we become blind to the point that we crucify someone that would serve our best interest and our souls, we have made a grave mistake, and allowed that flicker of goodness and hope to die . . .
Every journalist would know what the right choice is if they only adhered to what was said many years ago by a very profound writer.
“Words are timeless. You should utter them or write them with a knowledge of their timelessness.” – Kahlil Gibran
In Jason Stoneking’s review of The Film That Changed the World he wrote,
“Indeed, how did our culture become so sick that it shovels its fragile angels out into the desert? And why are we not there to welcome them when they return with the new kind of treasure they have found?
Yes, Virginia, there is a Jesus of Malibu. It is the signature of a dream, written across the sky with nothing but belief. It is a trace of our spiritual history, being slowly blown over by the sands. It is a film that we as a society must want to see, in order to make it real.”
Billy Yeager and Anais will continue their fight against the injustices of the world, and they will fight the injustice that has been committed against them.
Will they win?
If truth prevails.
Court’s now in session. Everybody rise.
Gentlemen of the jury, Have you reached a verdict?
One time Atticus said, “You never really knew a man until you stood in his shoes and walked around in them.”
“I remember telling my wife, you know, there is a little bit of Billy Yeager in all of us.” – Dan Myrick
Billy Yeager vs NPR 
