Boston’s Tom Scholz Writes the Moby Dick of Blogs and Points Fingers
 May 1, 2009 – The mastermind behind the band Boston, Tom Scholz, has been called lots of things, a musical genius and sometimes a control freak. In his latest press release/blog on the bands official site (http://www.bandboston.com) he seems to be trying to set the record straight on who did what and what qualifies as real Boston music. The blog is "Moby Dick" long.
In the transcript called “BOSTON shows, myths, and truths,” the guitarist points out that the band is not doing any shows this year and any talk of a reunion of original members is Bologna.
“As many of you know, numerous dates have been announced for the band Cosmo, but have been promoted using the name, logo, or even the recorded music of BOSTON, which may have confused some as to whether BOSTON would be performing.”
“Fran Cosmo has explained that he was unaware that BOSTON's name, logo, or music were being used by his agent to promote Cosmo as BOSTON. While most of it has stopped, there are still some problems with unauthorized use of the name BOSTON in connection with some scheduled Cosmo performances.”
“Cosmo's extensive covers of older BOSTON songs recorded prior to Fran's involvement raised some eyebrows, but as long as these shows are not promoted in a misleading way using BOSTON, we see no problem with their performance of a few BOSTON songs, and wish them luck with their summer tour.”
He also goes on to say that a 25 year reunion of “former original members” of Boston is “questionable” because the two ex-member (which he does not name) were only in the band for a short time and had nothing to do with the recording of the material. “There were only two performers signed to make the debut album in the original Epic Records agreements, Brad and myself. Possibly because we wrote all the music for the album, recorded the six demo songs that landed the deal, produced them in my basement, and funded all of it from my Polaroid salary.”
“Between the two of us, Brad and I went on to physically record nearly 90% of the actual studio tracks for the BOSTON album. On most of the songs, once the drum track was laid down, all the instruments and vocals you hear were recorded by just the two of us, painstakingly overdubbing each part to create the recorded "band" that so many have become familiar with.”
 The Boston leader also talked about his frustration with Wikipedia and what he calls “outlandish claims” purportedly made by Barry Goudreau (pictured left), who was part of Boston for the first few years.
“According to the Wikipedia post, "The way Goudreau tells it, when he was a student at Boston University, he led a band called "Mother's Milk". One day, a musician named Tom Scholz joined after answering an ad in a local weekly newspaper. Scholz was a recent MIT engineering graduate who worked at Polaroid who was primarily a keyboard player, but who rapidly developed as a guitar player after joining Goudreau's band. After years of practice in Scholz's home studio with singer Brad Delp and other local musicians, Mother's Milk evolved into what we know as Boston, and Scholz took over the leadership of the band. In 1976, after years of having their demo tapes rejected, the band got signed to Epic Records after (in Goudreau's words) Scholz "refine[d] the songs and recordings to a point where they could no longer be denied."
“This would be true except for a few minor details: Mother's Milk was never led by Goudreau, he wasn't a student at BU when Mother's Milk existed, I didn't meet Goudreau in Mother's Milk, there was never a newspaper ad for a keyboard or guitar player for Mother's Milk, I didn't join Mother's Milk, Mother's Milk did not practice in my home studio, it did not evolve into the band BOSTON, it was not signed to Epic Records, and most of the songs on the eventual demo that Epic liked had never been shopped to a record label before, because most of them hadn't been written yet. Other than that, totally accurate.”
“The Wikipedia blurb went on to say "According to Goudreau's story, he was the founder of the band Boston— and he, Delp and Scholz were more or less equal contributors to the band's emergence."
“Realistically, since Barry Goudreau wrote no music for the BOSTON albums or demos, played on only two cuts of the entire debut album, did not play at all on the six demos leading to the Epic Records contract, did not contribute financially to recording the demos, and was not even mentioned in the contracts for the original Epic Records deal, these claims would seem to be a bit of a stretch. (For more on this check the BOSTON Remaster and Greatest Hits Remaster CD booklets.) Of the many musicians who have toured with BOSTON, Goudreau's run as a member of the band was the shortest.”
According to Scholz, Goudreau’s website still has the incorrect version of events posted and he claims Goudreau is collecting money for Boston material he had nothing to do with. “Concerned about egos, back in 1976 I naively suggested to Brad that we pay Barry Goudreau a share of the record royalties equal to ours, not just for the two cuts he played on, but for every song on the album. After performing with BOSTON a scant three years, Barry left to pursue a career separate from mine, but he kept his share of royalties for all the songs he was not involved in recording, and has continued to collect it for the last thirty years. Accepting money for someone else's work is one thing, taking credit is quite another.”
Boston’s lead singer Brad Delp commited suicide on March 9, 2007. He was 55. - by John Beaudin Read the complete blog here.
|
Boston’s Tom Scholz Sues Fan Website
 Feb. 28, 2009 – Starting up a band fan site can be dangerous to your pocketbook. Tom Scholz, the leader of the band Boston is suing a man who started two Boston fan sites. That’ll teach ‘em to like Boston!
Scholz sent a cease-and-desist letter to George Gouldsmith asking him to remove defamatory statements made against him.
In the letter Scholz's attorney Lawrence Green said, "You have caused a multitude of defamatory statements to be published about the Scholz's on your website, "These statements have all been made falsely and maliciously and otherwise with reckless disregard to the truth."
In 2007 Gouldsmith started a Boston Yahoo message board called “Boston Rocks” but was forced to shut it down after multiple negative posts about Scholz.
Boston publicist Gail Parenteau told MusicRadar, "George posted things on the website that were patently untrue. We asked him on numerous occasions to retract certain posts. The posts crossed the line in so many ways; We're talking about spreading falsehoods about Tom and his wife, things that were very hurtful."
 After the Scholz’s outcry Gouldsmith closed the site and started a new Boston fan site called “Cool the Engines,” an ode to one of the bands songs. He even posted a message to readers to “Be good” but it didn’t take long before folks were raging against Scholz for his alleged treatment of Boston's late singer Brad Delp. Parenteau added, "On a variety of subjects, things which he had no privileged information about, he let them go through. We asked him on numerous occasions to retract certain posts. Since the Internet first started, Tom has had a website and had no problem with fans creating their own sites." But she points out that the guitarist draws the line at "malicious untruths."
Now Tom Scholz has released a press release:
Boston would like their fans to know that that this allegation is untrue.
Following Brad Delp's death there was an effort to publicly malign Tom Scholz by certain individuals, starting some ugly rumors and turning some people against him. This eventually resulted in a defamation lawsuit currently in progress.
Boston band members, friends, and Brad's own siblings, however, have consistently commented that Brad was always treated with utmost respect, generosity, and kindness by Tom Scholz. Brad also expressed the highest praise for Tom in interviews given before his death. His older brother George has commented that Brad only had the best things to say about Tom.
Tom and Brad shared many unique bonds not shared by others that set their relationship apart. Both Brad and Tom were long time ethical vegetarians committed to cruelty free life styles. They both financially supported anti-violence, environmental, hunger, and animal protection charities. They both went through unhappy endings to serious long term relationships in the 90's. They were both drug free in a drug ridden business. They both independently expressed admiration for each other's values in numerous interviews, and of course they made Boston music together for over 30 years, usually just the two of them, working in a basement studio.
Whether due to a misled disgruntled fan or a thoughtless writer, implying that Brad was treated badly in any way is irresponsible and inexcusable after the loss Tom Scholz has endured.
It should be pointed out that Scholz did not ask Gouldsmith to shut any of his sites down but rather erase the nasty comments made by posters. – by John Beaudin |
May 28, 2010 – How could a meeting between a make-up artist and Kiss’ Gene Simmons go so wrong? Well according to documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court yesterday the guitarist wanted more from her than she was willing to give and it didn’t involve make-up. 
May 28, 2010 – Didn’t Bret Michaels look healthy on American Idol on Wednesday night? There is a chance he wasn’t. 
May 27, 2010 - File this under “You can’t be good at everything.” Elton John was arguably the biggest solo musician in the world in the seventies and he was easily in the top 10 in the eighties but it seems he was too busy conquering the world to learn to cook. 
May 27, 2010 – The good news is the Faces are back together but the not-so-fine print says Rod Stewart will not be in the mix. 
May 28, 2010 – “What-eva” seems to be what many are saying about Wednesday’s American Idol finale. While 24.2 million viewers checked out Simon Cowell’s swan song it was the show’s lowest rated finale since season one which could spell trouble for winner Lee DeWyze. 
May 27, 2010 – It sure sounds like Paul McCartney is a responsible dad. The former Beatle say he never tours when it’s his turn to look after his daughter Beatrice – his child with ex-wife Heather Mills. 
May 27, 2010 – Slash says he’s not holding his breath for the next big thing in Rock. In fact the former Guns N’ Roses guitarist is disappointed in the current Rock scene. 
May 18, 2010 – Norah Jones says she hasn’t done too many festivals in the past because her music was too “intimate and quiet.” 
May 11, 2010 – The name Phil Collins reminds us of countless hits, huge arena tours and complicated drumming. How about the Alamo? 
April 5, 2010 – Sting seems to be fed up with our paradigms around pot! The singer says we, as a society, spend too much time putting marijuana users in jail when legalizing the substance could feed the hungry of the world. 
