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Blink 182 Reunion? Plus Hoppus Loses Lawsuit, Insect Jesus Superstar, Painting Rock ‘N’ Roll, more
When Rock Operas and Midnight Movies Ruled
IS BLINK 182 REUNITING????
Former Blink-er Mark Hoppus posted a message on his blog today that appears to be an olive branch for his two estranged ex-bandmates. Apparently, the recent death of Blink producer Jerry Finn and the harrowing plane crash that drummer Travis Barker survived has kickstarted talks between all three Blink members. Yes, even that DeLonge dude, who talked so much trash about how much better his new band Angels and Airwaves is (when not telling radio DJs that the U.S. government probably took down the Twin Towers, anyway).
"We're just reconnecting as friends after four years of not talking," he says. "It's a good thing. Obviously the first question for a lot of people will be, 'Does this mean a Blink-182 reunion?' The answer is none of us know. We haven't talked about it at all. Right now it's just good for the three of us to see one another, reconnect and let the past be the past."
http://www.pickrset.com/markhoppus
There’s related news about a recent lawsuit launched locally by former Blink and current Plus-44 bassist Mark Hoppus ----
Hoppus filed a lawsuit on August 11 against Missicom LLC of San Diego, alleging the firm embezzled funds “to the tune of over 1.5 million dollars.”
“This all goes back to blink-182,” says Hoppus' attorney, Howard King, “when Mark met this kid Jeff Mitchell, who drove a Ferrari and talked about these self-pay machines he was going to put inside McDonald’s, eliminating the need for cashiers. Mark and Jeff become friends, their wives become friends, but all the while Jeff is pitching Mark on investing in these cash machines.”
“So Mark goes to Louis Tommasino, blink’s business manager [1999 to 2004], and says ‘look into this,’ and Tommasino says ‘Yeah, it’s a great deal’…he neglects to tell [Hoppus] that he’d already been working for the Mitchells since July 2003, or that’d he’d been given three percent of the company, in return for talking the blink guys into investing their money.”
In October 2003, Hoppus and his wife Skye invested around $600,000 in Missicom, whose company principals are father and son Ed and Jeff Mitchell. The other blink members also invested, as did pro golfer Phil Mickelson. According to King, “$500,000 that was supposed to go into building the cash machines immediately went into the Mitchell’s pockets, as undisclosed consulting fees...Then we found out the Mitchells had already been sued in San Diego county by other investors, in a prior company set up to do the same thing.” Hoppus’ suit alleges Missicon never had a deal pending with McDonalds.
So why didn’t Hoppus sue Missicom until now? “Mark’s wife Skye and Jeff Mitchell’s wife Suzanne were friends, and they wrote a book called Rock Star Mama…then the whole Missicom thing happened, and Skye wanted Suzanne to take her name off the book. Suzanne said ‘I’ll take my name off the book if you agree not to sue us over Missicom’…the lawsuit we just filed is a derivative lawsuit, on behalf of the company, seeking to have the [missing] money returned to Missicom, and not against the Mitchells themselves, so it isn’t affected by the agreement Mark and Skye signed to not sue them.”
Hoppus’ lawsuit sought 2.2 million dollars. However, this week Tommasino was cleared of all charges by a San Diego Superior Court jury.
According to the San Diego Business Journal, the jury found Tommasino to be forthcoming about his involvement in the company to the couple. The Hoppuses are still seeking unspecified damages in a pending lawsuit against the Mitchells.
The members of Blink-182 are no strangers to lawsuits.
In September 2002, they were the subject of a personal injury case nearly identical to the crowd surfing incident which landed Reel Big Fish in a hot skillet. Alexandra Cassie, a minor residing in northern California, is at this writing pursuing a lawsuit at the behest of her mother Janet Cassie, blaming the band, Clear Channel Entertainment and the Sacramento Valley Amphitheater for injuries sustained during a concert at that venue earlier in the year. The case has yet to be tried but the band has faced potential litigation since the release of their first official album.
Originally called simply “Blink,” the group’s origins date back to fall 1991, when Tom DeLonge met Mark Hoppus (Hoppus’ sister was dating one of DeLonge’s friends at the time). Hooking up with drummer Scott Raynor, they began playing local clubs and in 1994 they released “Buddha” on a small label run by friends in a band called the Vandals. They were signed to a one-album deal for Cargo Records and released “Cheshire Cat” in 1995. That’s when they came to the attention of a techno-industrial band from Dublin Ireland also named Blink.
The Irish Blink are comprised of guitarist/singer Dermot Lambert, bassist Brian McLoughlin, drummer Barry Campell and keyboardist/guitarist Robbie Sexton. They were just preparing to release their first album (which would go on to spawn four top-ten Irish singles) when someone sent them a copy of the Cargo “Cheshire Cat” record. In an interview posted at www.extreme-online.com, Travis Barker, who quit the Aquabats to join San Diego’s Blink after the departure of Scott Raynor, said "Blink was the original name of [our] band. But when we started getting exposure we nearly got sued by an Irish tech band so we added the 182 to keep the name.”
The threat of litigation is denied in a statement posted by the Irish Blink at irishsongwriters.com. “Contrary to anything you might read elsewhere, Blink`s manager simply phoned Cargo Records and asked them to inform the San Diego Blink that a band of that name already existed. We never sued the San Diego Blink and there was no court case. They simply agreed to change their name and an agreement was drawn up to avoid confusion. They became blink-182 and we continued on as Blink. Apparently there was also a Danish band called Blink but they changed their name voluntarily before we even heard of them. They are now called BL!NK.”
As to the “182,” members of the San Diego band have said in interviews that the number was chosen at random and at other times have claimed it represents "the number of times Al Pacino says everybody's favorite f-word in Scarface."
In 1997, blink-182 released "Dude Ranch" on MCA Records, which reached gold status in both the United States and Canada, and in July 1999 “Enema Of The State” sold over 100,000 copies within the first week of being in stores. Meanwhile, Dublin’s Blink released their second album “The End Is High” in the U.S. in March 1998, earning a “Spotlight Album Of The Week” profile in Billboard magazine and a subsequent American tour deal which saw them playing 113 gigs in 32 different states through 1999.
At least three booking agents filed lawsuits against the Irish techno band and their promoters during this tour, claiming they thought they were getting radio favorites blink-182 only to wind up with a numeral-deficient “Blink” and being faced with demands for refunds from angry patrons.
Blink-182's song "Dammit" was recently added to the Rock Band 2 video game.
"Rock Operas Were Born in San Diego" - Didja know the world's first-ever actual rock opera was staged in San Diego? "An Eye in Each Head" creator Anthony Adams is still in the stage rock biz, at the North Park Theater... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/aug/31/rock-operas-leaving-town-plus-playing-with-michael/
"Midnight Movies - the '80s Part 1" - The Fine Arts Theater, the Unicorn, the Guild, the Academy, the Loma and La Paloma, the Ken Cinema, the Strand in OB - for a time, the midnight movie crowd was its own sort of stoner subculture. Several historic cult movie events happened right here in SD, including the first-ever audience participation performance along with Phantom of the Paradise.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/oct/22/worst-musical-halloween-costumes-plus-rock-op92d7a/
"Why Jackson Browne Hates Former Reader Contrib Richard Meltzer" - The first time Jackson Browne was profiled Rolling Stone [June 22, 1972], Richard Meltzer did the interview. When Meltzer called the singer "one hell of a prototype sex symbol for the gay rock underground," Browne was VERY unhappy.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/oct/22/worst-musical-halloween-costumes-plus-rock-op92d7a/
"An Extreme Elvis Is a Naked Elvis" - Extreme Elvis doesn’t play San Diego much any more. "I’m banned from all the clubs in town," he says. "They booted me off the stage at one place [Brick By Brick] after about five minutes"..... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/oct/22/worst-musical-halloween-costumes-plus-rock-op92d7a/
"The Celebrity House Hunter" - A local real estate agent talks about driving celebs like George Harrison and Bread singer David Gates around town, in search of new digs... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/oct/22/worst-musical-halloween-costumes-plus-rock-op92d7a/
"Judge Judy Takes On the Belly Up Tavern" - So I was watching an afternoon repeat of Judge Judy (I like it when she yells at dumbasses), and lo and behold the episode involved the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach. It was the case of “Beauty and the Bouncers”... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/oct/22/worst-musical-halloween-costumes-plus-rock-op92d7a/
"Lawsuits - Lawyers, Songs, and Money" -- 3-part series detailing Southern CA lawsuits involving venues, performers, patrons, etc. Includes separate feature covering rock stars who've been arrested in San Diego thru the years. http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/mar/28/more-local-music-lawsuits-plus-celebs-busted-in-sd/
Concert Security Wars: Battle of the Bouncers -- San Diego security firms fight (AND SUE) for their right to bounce you! http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/apr/24/concert-security-wars-battle-of-the-bouncers/
"Playing With Michael Jackson's Head [Guitarist]" - Local string whiz Jennifer Batten has played with the Great Gloved One, Jeff Beck, Slash, and many more... 
"Whales Are Changing Their Tune" - according to Professor John Hildebrand, a blue whale expert at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD who has studied recordings of whales “singing” since the 1960s.
"[Paint]Brushes with Fame" - profiling three album cover and concert poster painters; Mike Clift (Psychotic Waltz, Tipper Gore's Comics & Stories), Geo (Fairfield Fats Band, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes), and Ken Meyer, Jr. (Marvel's Ghost Rider, Alternative Comics). http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/aug/31/rock-operas-leaving-town-plus-playing-with-michael/
"RIP Alton Kelley: King of Collage, Prince of Prints" - my unpublished 1999 interview with the late album cover and poster legend, who died in June ’08. Together with Stanley Mouse, Kelley virtually created the very look of an entire era.
"RIP Dave Stevens: Rocketeer Creator" - tribute to another fallen Great One, longtime San Diegan Dave Stevens. 
"Where Have All The Deadheads Gone?" Local flower children, after the head Deadhead was dead.
Blacks Beach - Partying nekkid with the children of the Rainbow (and some OCD Beatles fans).
Like this blog? Here are some related links:
OVERHEARD IN SAN DIEGO - Several years' worth of this comic strip, which debuted in the Reader in 1996: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/galleries/overheard-san-diego/
FAMOUS FORMER NEIGHBORS - Over 100 comic strips online, with mini-bios of famous San Diegans: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/galleries/famous-former-neighbors/
SAN DIEGO READER MUSIC MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/sandiegoreadermusic
JAY ALLEN SANFORD MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/jayallensanford
Here's something you might be interested in.
Previous article
Gonzo Report: Wu-Tang DJ backs ONYX at Pacific Beach’s Break Point
Ras Mike credited with bringing storied crew to San Diego
Blink 182 Reunion? Plus Hoppus Loses Lawsuit, Insect Jesus Superstar, Painting Rock ‘N’ Roll, more
When Rock Operas and Midnight Movies Ruled
IS BLINK 182 REUNITING????
Former Blink-er Mark Hoppus posted a message on his blog today that appears to be an olive branch for his two estranged ex-bandmates. Apparently, the recent death of Blink producer Jerry Finn and the harrowing plane crash that drummer Travis Barker survived has kickstarted talks between all three Blink members. Yes, even that DeLonge dude, who talked so much trash about how much better his new band Angels and Airwaves is (when not telling radio DJs that the U.S. government probably took down the Twin Towers, anyway).
"We're just reconnecting as friends after four years of not talking," he says. "It's a good thing. Obviously the first question for a lot of people will be, 'Does this mean a Blink-182 reunion?' The answer is none of us know. We haven't talked about it at all. Right now it's just good for the three of us to see one another, reconnect and let the past be the past."
http://www.pickrset.com/markhoppus
There’s related news about a recent lawsuit launched locally by former Blink and current Plus-44 bassist Mark Hoppus ----
Hoppus filed a lawsuit on August 11 against Missicom LLC of San Diego, alleging the firm embezzled funds “to the tune of over 1.5 million dollars.”
“This all goes back to blink-182,” says Hoppus' attorney, Howard King, “when Mark met this kid Jeff Mitchell, who drove a Ferrari and talked about these self-pay machines he was going to put inside McDonald’s, eliminating the need for cashiers. Mark and Jeff become friends, their wives become friends, but all the while Jeff is pitching Mark on investing in these cash machines.”
“So Mark goes to Louis Tommasino, blink’s business manager [1999 to 2004], and says ‘look into this,’ and Tommasino says ‘Yeah, it’s a great deal’…he neglects to tell [Hoppus] that he’d already been working for the Mitchells since July 2003, or that’d he’d been given three percent of the company, in return for talking the blink guys into investing their money.”
In October 2003, Hoppus and his wife Skye invested around $600,000 in Missicom, whose company principals are father and son Ed and Jeff Mitchell. The other blink members also invested, as did pro golfer Phil Mickelson. According to King, “$500,000 that was supposed to go into building the cash machines immediately went into the Mitchell’s pockets, as undisclosed consulting fees...Then we found out the Mitchells had already been sued in San Diego county by other investors, in a prior company set up to do the same thing.” Hoppus’ suit alleges Missicon never had a deal pending with McDonalds.
So why didn’t Hoppus sue Missicom until now? “Mark’s wife Skye and Jeff Mitchell’s wife Suzanne were friends, and they wrote a book called Rock Star Mama…then the whole Missicom thing happened, and Skye wanted Suzanne to take her name off the book. Suzanne said ‘I’ll take my name off the book if you agree not to sue us over Missicom’…the lawsuit we just filed is a derivative lawsuit, on behalf of the company, seeking to have the [missing] money returned to Missicom, and not against the Mitchells themselves, so it isn’t affected by the agreement Mark and Skye signed to not sue them.”
Hoppus’ lawsuit sought 2.2 million dollars. However, this week Tommasino was cleared of all charges by a San Diego Superior Court jury.
According to the San Diego Business Journal, the jury found Tommasino to be forthcoming about his involvement in the company to the couple. The Hoppuses are still seeking unspecified damages in a pending lawsuit against the Mitchells.
The members of Blink-182 are no strangers to lawsuits.
In September 2002, they were the subject of a personal injury case nearly identical to the crowd surfing incident which landed Reel Big Fish in a hot skillet. Alexandra Cassie, a minor residing in northern California, is at this writing pursuing a lawsuit at the behest of her mother Janet Cassie, blaming the band, Clear Channel Entertainment and the Sacramento Valley Amphitheater for injuries sustained during a concert at that venue earlier in the year. The case has yet to be tried but the band has faced potential litigation since the release of their first official album.
Originally called simply “Blink,” the group’s origins date back to fall 1991, when Tom DeLonge met Mark Hoppus (Hoppus’ sister was dating one of DeLonge’s friends at the time). Hooking up with drummer Scott Raynor, they began playing local clubs and in 1994 they released “Buddha” on a small label run by friends in a band called the Vandals. They were signed to a one-album deal for Cargo Records and released “Cheshire Cat” in 1995. That’s when they came to the attention of a techno-industrial band from Dublin Ireland also named Blink.
The Irish Blink are comprised of guitarist/singer Dermot Lambert, bassist Brian McLoughlin, drummer Barry Campell and keyboardist/guitarist Robbie Sexton. They were just preparing to release their first album (which would go on to spawn four top-ten Irish singles) when someone sent them a copy of the Cargo “Cheshire Cat” record. In an interview posted at www.extreme-online.com, Travis Barker, who quit the Aquabats to join San Diego’s Blink after the departure of Scott Raynor, said "Blink was the original name of [our] band. But when we started getting exposure we nearly got sued by an Irish tech band so we added the 182 to keep the name.”
The threat of litigation is denied in a statement posted by the Irish Blink at irishsongwriters.com. “Contrary to anything you might read elsewhere, Blink`s manager simply phoned Cargo Records and asked them to inform the San Diego Blink that a band of that name already existed. We never sued the San Diego Blink and there was no court case. They simply agreed to change their name and an agreement was drawn up to avoid confusion. They became blink-182 and we continued on as Blink. Apparently there was also a Danish band called Blink but they changed their name voluntarily before we even heard of them. They are now called BL!NK.”
As to the “182,” members of the San Diego band have said in interviews that the number was chosen at random and at other times have claimed it represents "the number of times Al Pacino says everybody's favorite f-word in Scarface."
In 1997, blink-182 released "Dude Ranch" on MCA Records, which reached gold status in both the United States and Canada, and in July 1999 “Enema Of The State” sold over 100,000 copies within the first week of being in stores. Meanwhile, Dublin’s Blink released their second album “The End Is High” in the U.S. in March 1998, earning a “Spotlight Album Of The Week” profile in Billboard magazine and a subsequent American tour deal which saw them playing 113 gigs in 32 different states through 1999.
At least three booking agents filed lawsuits against the Irish techno band and their promoters during this tour, claiming they thought they were getting radio favorites blink-182 only to wind up with a numeral-deficient “Blink” and being faced with demands for refunds from angry patrons.
Blink-182's song "Dammit" was recently added to the Rock Band 2 video game.
"Rock Operas Were Born in San Diego" - Didja know the world's first-ever actual rock opera was staged in San Diego? "An Eye in Each Head" creator Anthony Adams is still in the stage rock biz, at the North Park Theater... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/aug/31/rock-operas-leaving-town-plus-playing-with-michael/
"Midnight Movies - the '80s Part 1" - The Fine Arts Theater, the Unicorn, the Guild, the Academy, the Loma and La Paloma, the Ken Cinema, the Strand in OB - for a time, the midnight movie crowd was its own sort of stoner subculture. Several historic cult movie events happened right here in SD, including the first-ever audience participation performance along with Phantom of the Paradise.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/oct/22/worst-musical-halloween-costumes-plus-rock-op92d7a/
"Why Jackson Browne Hates Former Reader Contrib Richard Meltzer" - The first time Jackson Browne was profiled Rolling Stone [June 22, 1972], Richard Meltzer did the interview. When Meltzer called the singer "one hell of a prototype sex symbol for the gay rock underground," Browne was VERY unhappy.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/oct/22/worst-musical-halloween-costumes-plus-rock-op92d7a/
"An Extreme Elvis Is a Naked Elvis" - Extreme Elvis doesn’t play San Diego much any more. "I’m banned from all the clubs in town," he says. "They booted me off the stage at one place [Brick By Brick] after about five minutes"..... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/oct/22/worst-musical-halloween-costumes-plus-rock-op92d7a/
"The Celebrity House Hunter" - A local real estate agent talks about driving celebs like George Harrison and Bread singer David Gates around town, in search of new digs... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/oct/22/worst-musical-halloween-costumes-plus-rock-op92d7a/
"Judge Judy Takes On the Belly Up Tavern" - So I was watching an afternoon repeat of Judge Judy (I like it when she yells at dumbasses), and lo and behold the episode involved the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach. It was the case of “Beauty and the Bouncers”... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/oct/22/worst-musical-halloween-costumes-plus-rock-op92d7a/
"Lawsuits - Lawyers, Songs, and Money" -- 3-part series detailing Southern CA lawsuits involving venues, performers, patrons, etc. Includes separate feature covering rock stars who've been arrested in San Diego thru the years. http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/mar/28/more-local-music-lawsuits-plus-celebs-busted-in-sd/
Concert Security Wars: Battle of the Bouncers -- San Diego security firms fight (AND SUE) for their right to bounce you! http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/apr/24/concert-security-wars-battle-of-the-bouncers/
"Playing With Michael Jackson's Head [Guitarist]" - Local string whiz Jennifer Batten has played with the Great Gloved One, Jeff Beck, Slash, and many more...
"Whales Are Changing Their Tune" - according to Professor John Hildebrand, a blue whale expert at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD who has studied recordings of whales “singing” since the 1960s.
"[Paint]Brushes with Fame" - profiling three album cover and concert poster painters; Mike Clift (Psychotic Waltz, Tipper Gore's Comics & Stories), Geo (Fairfield Fats Band, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes), and Ken Meyer, Jr. (Marvel's Ghost Rider, Alternative Comics). http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/aug/31/rock-operas-leaving-town-plus-playing-with-michael/
"RIP Alton Kelley: King of Collage, Prince of Prints" - my unpublished 1999 interview with the late album cover and poster legend, who died in June ’08. Together with Stanley Mouse, Kelley virtually created the very look of an entire era.
"RIP Dave Stevens: Rocketeer Creator" - tribute to another fallen Great One, longtime San Diegan Dave Stevens.
"Where Have All The Deadheads Gone?" Local flower children, after the head Deadhead was dead.
Blacks Beach - Partying nekkid with the children of the Rainbow (and some OCD Beatles fans).
Like this blog? Here are some related links:
OVERHEARD IN SAN DIEGO - Several years' worth of this comic strip, which debuted in the Reader in 1996: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/galleries/overheard-san-diego/
FAMOUS FORMER NEIGHBORS - Over 100 comic strips online, with mini-bios of famous San Diegans: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/galleries/famous-former-neighbors/
SAN DIEGO READER MUSIC MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/sandiegoreadermusic
JAY ALLEN SANFORD MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/jayallensanford
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