"Bob Dylan's Stealing of James Damiano's Songs"

 After years of working in the music industry, Mr. Hammond established himself as a legend and accomplished a reputation as having the best ears in the business by signing a fascinating number of legendary artists to the record world.

Artists like Billy Holiday, Count Basie, Charlie Christian, Duke Ellington, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen along with many other artists including Stevie Ray Vaughan were John Hammond affiliates.

Inspired by the book I read, I decided to take a long shot and called CBS Records on the phone. The operator answered and I asked to be put through to John Hammond's office. The receptionist rang his office and a woman named Mikie Harris answered the phone.

Mikie Harris is on the National Academy of Popular Music / Songwriters Hall of Fame - Board of Director's

This organization is instrumental in nominating Grammy nominees. This exhibit explains the caliber of the people Mikie was associated with in the music industry not that she needed and credentials after working with John Hammond Sr. the last ten years of his career.

Board Members and Trustees at our Awards Dinner included (standing from left) Michael Kerker, Linda Lorence, Ervin Drake, Cy Leslie, Jay Morgenstern, Bobby Weinstein, Karen Sherry, Mike Stoller, Randy Poe, Jim Lowe, Oscar Brand, Margaret Whiting, and Buddy Robbins; (seated from left) Burt Korall, Irv Lichtman, Al Feilich, 1996 SHOF Awards Dinner hostess/vocalist Maureen McGovern, Frank Military, Cy Coleman, Jules Goldberg, Anna Sosenko, and Irwin Z. Robinson. Board members not pictured: Martin Bandier, Mike Berniker, Jay Coleman, Milt Gabler, Sonny Golden, Mikie Harris, Clyde Otis, Phil Ramone, Larry Richmond, and George David Weiss. Listing of the Board of Directors and their

Biographies

Mikie Harris Record Producer; President/Creative Affairs, Theatre Video Playhouse, Inc. and MIRI Music Companies.

During my conversation with Mikie I explained that I was a lyricist and asked her if she had a few seconds to listen to one lyric. She replied yes by saying "Shoot." I then recited a lyric to her that I had recently written and said "the lyric is: Just think how beautiful you'd feel if you knew your love was real." Within a few seconds I could tell Mikie liked the lyric.

I in turn did not want to push to hard on the first phone call fearing that I might put her behind schedule, so I tried to inch my way out of the conversation politely while trying not to show my emotions but before the conversation ended between Mikie and me, she made it explicit that she wanted me to call again.

She repeatedly told me to feel free to call her there at the office. So began a relationship where we would converse through actual meetings or correspond over the phone, that lasted close to seven and a half years.

The relationship between Mr. Hammond, CBS Records, Mikie and myself continued for over Eleven Years. I kept submitting material. Musicians that I was playing with at the time would come up to CBS Records with me when I went to bring new songs that I had written up to Mikie.

In 1982 Mikie sent me a Christmas card stating ;

Dear Jim,
"Wishing you a splendid Christmas and a most prosperous New Year."
(signed) - Love Mikie, Randy, Duke and Nikkie too. December 1982.

The relationship between Mr. Hammond, CBS Records, Mikie, and myself continued for over Eleven Years. I kept submitting material.

Musicians that I was playing with at the time would come up to CBS Records with me when I went to bring new songs that I had written up to Mikie.

I ( James Damiano) met Danny Gallagher in 1986. Danny was in one of Bruce Springsteen's first original bands "Doctor Zoom and the Sonic Boom". Rumor has it that Springsteen was sleeping on Danny's couch when he got signed to CBS Records. Nevertheless Danny and Springsteen still remain friends as of today {August 5th 1997}

Danny was a great steel guitar player. I asked Danny if he would put a steel guitar track on "Steal Guitars" (also identified as "Dignity" on James Damiano's 1982 copyright registration) and he agreed to do so. He also told me he that had a friend named Mario who played a great electric guitar and who did some touring with members of the New Riders of the Purple Sage.

Danny set up the recording session at Mario's home, we set up the equipment and recorded "Steal Guitars." (also identified as "Dignity" on James Damiano's 1982 copyright registration)

The Declaration of Danny Gallagher {Displayed below}

Danny Gallagher a musician who recorded the dobro guitar track on James Damiano's song "Steel Guitars" (also identified as "Dignity" on James Damiano's 1982 copyright registration) declares under penalty of perjury that:

I am a musician and I play the dobro guitar. I reside at -- _____________ Terrace __________Ireland. I recorded songs with James Damiano in the year 1986.

I Danny Gallahger declare that in 1986 I played and recorded the dobro guitar track on James Damiano's song " Guitars" (also identified as "Dignity" on James Damiano's 1982 copyright registration) The song I am referring to in statement #5 of this declaration is the same song that is playing in the background of this taped statement or declaration.

A week after James Damiano and I recorded the song "Steel Guitars" (also identified as "Dignity" on
James Damiano's 1982 copyright registration)

Mr. Damiano told me that he went to New York to submit a copy of it to Mikie Harris at CBS. Plaintiff's Steven M. Kramer refused to submit Danny Gallagher's Declaration to the court, until the reconsideration motion. When Plaintiff asked Mr. Kramer why he was not submitting Mr.
Gallegher's Declaration in his opposition brief to Defendants summary judgment motion, Mr. Kramer replied that "He didn't want to appear weak to the court
Mario Phillips a musician who recorded the electric guitar track on "Steel Guitars" aka (also identified as "Dignity" on James Damiano's 1982 copyright registration) during the same recording session with Danny Gallagher and James Damiano declares under penalty of perjury that:

My full Name is Gregory S. Phillipps (aka. Mario) I was born in _________________Washington. I
reside at _____________________Washington In the year 1986 I played and recorded on an instrumental song of James Damiano's. Said song in #4 was recorded at the address I was living at in New Jersey Danny Gallagher also played the dobro guitar on this song The song I am
referring to was played to me on the phone by James Damiano. I recognized the song as the song
James, Danny and I recorded in 1986.

Big Danny Gallagher with Bruce Springsteen

James Damiano received a letter from Mikie Harris on June 15th 1987 after Mikie who while at CBS took James Damiano's songs for over eight and a half years

The letter states:

Dear Jim:
Thanks for 'sharing' your lyrics / poetry with me. To me, your work represents a lot of time and effort but, from an artistic point of view, I feel that it is representative of poetry rather than a song in today's commercial market of music.

Since no tape accompanied the words, I have no way of knowing what your ideas are with regard to the music.

I just wish that there was some way for me to be of help to you, but with things the way they are, especially regarding Mr. Hammond's health, my hands are tied.

Our office has (at least since I've been associated with John) been actively involved with publishing, which is something I suggested you try to your material several years ago.

I still maintain that this is the best route for you. Publishers can reach major artists and guide you with regard to your material. On the basis of the material that you have just now presented to me, I think it might stand a stronger chance of being recognized as a volume of straight poetry rather than songs.

Because of Mr. Hammond's policy with regard to his relationships with artists he has worked with, I will not be able to present your material to Bob Dylan.
Jim, I wish you the best ( but surely you know this by now after all these years ) and I'm only sorry that our office can't be of assistance to you.

Take care Mikie.

A copy of the envelope which enclosed Mikie Harris's letter is displayed below. Please note JOHN HAMMOND / MIKIE HARRIS below CBS Logo.

 Foreshadow 2 James Damiano Interviewed

Mikie told me that her name would be appearing in the credits on Stevie Ray Vaughan's album that was released in 1983.

Credits were given to Mikie Harris on Stevie Ray vaughan albums: Assistant to Executive Producer: Mikie Harris 1. Say What! - S.R. Vaughan - 2. Lookin' Out The Window - D. Bramhall - 3. Look At Little Sister -H. Ballard - 4. Ain't Gone `N' Give Up On Love - S.R. Vaughan - 5. Gone Home - E. Harris - 6.
Change It - D. Bramhall - 7. You'll Be Mine - W. Dixon - 8. Empty Arms - S.R. Vaughan - 9. Come On (Part III) - E. King - 10. Life Without You - S.R. Vaughan - 11. SRV Speaks 12. Little Wing/Third Stone From The Sun - J. Hendrix - 13. Slip Slidin' Slim - S.R. Vaughan - Stevie Ray Vaughan: guitar/vocals Chris "Whipper" Layton: drums Tommy Shannon: bass Reese Wynans: keyboards Joe Sublett: saxophone Produced by Stevie Ray Vaughan / Double Trouble and Richard Mullen Executive Producer: John Hammond Assistant to Executive Producer: Mikie Harris Engineer: Richard Mullen Assistant Engineer: Ron Cote Mixed by Richard Mullen Recorded at Dallas Sound Labs, Dallas, Texas and Riverside Sound, Austin, Texas This album is dedicated to the memory of Charlie Wirz.

The following article below appeared on the internet regarding Mikie Harris:
Exhibit 2 (Taken off the internet) Brian Slawson

While playing marimba on the streets of New York City to finance his studies at Juilliard, Brian Slawson was discovered by Mikie Harris, assistant to Columbia Records talent scout John Hammond. Bach On Wood, Slawson's debut album on CBS/Sony, earned a Grammy nomination.

Since the beginning of my (James Damiano's) involvement with Mikie Harris, I had been sending her tapes that I recorded at home on my cassette deck. After of about a year and a half of talking on the phone, sending lyric sheets of my songs to Mikie as well as bringing cassettes with my music up to her at CBS Records, Mikie asked me if I would like to audition for Mr. Hammond.
None of my songs at that time had been recorded in a professional recording studio.

I accepted Mikie's invitation to audition for Mr. Hammond and Mikie told me that she would call me back in a week to set up the time and place. A week later Mikie called and told me that she had set up the audition for three months from that date.

The audition would be at Mr. Hammond's office in the Media Sound Building in New York on West 57th Street at Eleven O'clock in the Morning. I started practicing fifteen hours a day seven days a week. The three months seemed like forever.

The morning of the audition Mikie called me and told me that she would have to cancel the audition. I told her that I couldn't believe what she was telling me. She knew I quit my job three months prior, to practice for the audition. Finally after while she told me that she wanted to keep it out of the news and that Mr. Hammond was in the hospital.

She then assured me that once Mr. Hammond was out of the hospital she would reschedule the audition. A few months later Mikie called and rescheduled the audition for a few months from that date.

I was excited and called a person who I was working with at the time named Allen LeWinter. Allen worked with Don Kirshner and was associated with the band Kansas. Allen and his wife were living in a beautiful high rise condo on the East side.

I loved going up to Allens  They had a spectacular view from their balcony, and gold Kansas albums hanging on the wall.  Allen was a cool guy, well mannered, polite, modest, just your all around classy person. Kind of an artistic guy whose greatest attribute was his sincerity.

It seemed, Allen's job was to seek out talent in the suburbs. Everything else goes without saying. Allen respected Mr. Hammond immensely and was looking forward to going to the audition with me.

When I told Allen that the audition was back on we made arrangements for me to pick him up at his condo the morning of the audition. Again I started practicing and practicing fourteen hours a day when Mikie sent me a book titled "John Hammond on Record."

I was all practiced out, I couldn't practice anymore, so I read the book. The book put me in semi shock . It identified Mr. Hammond as the most influential music executive in the world.

The days counted down to three nights before the audition and I couldn't sleep. The following night I couldn't sleep, till finally the night before.
It was twelve midnight the night before. I laid in bed trying to go to sleep but still could not It seemed impossible.

My adrenalin wouldn't stop pumping. One A.M. rolled around, I was still wide awake and I hadn't slept in a couple days. Around two thirty I went downstairs downed a bottle of tequila  Within a half hour I finally fell asleep.

The audition was for eleven o'clock in the morning. I woke at seven, jumped in the car, drove to New York, picked up Allen and we drove cross town to the audition. We parked the car, I grabbed my guitar and we started to walk to Mr. Hammond's office when I started feeling ill.

Allen quickly started trying to help me pull myself together with words of support, by calmly saying "You can do this " while I was thinking "he must be crazy, he doesn't understand how sick I feel" anyway I had no other alternative but to believe what Allen was saying to me and to simply pull
myself together.

We entered the building and the receptionist called up to Mikie to tell her we were there, she hung up the phone and told us that Mikie said for us to go up. When we got to the office Mikie was waiting and quickly asked me if I'd like to tune my guitar.

I said yes and she brought me down into a recording studio where she pointed to a piano and said "You can tune your guitar to this piano, it's the piano that Billy Joel records on." My first reaction was "

Now that's a dose of reality not to many musicians could swallow." and with that thought I had to wonder what she expected from me. My second reaction was "Now that's inspiration. I started tuning the guitar, when all of a sudden a string broke. I put down the quitter and said to Allen I'll be right back.

I jumped up, ran down the stairs, stopped at the receptionist and asked her to get me some packets of salt, I ran a couple blocks down to the car and asked the valet where my car was. He pointed me to it and I ran down and grabbed a case that had guitar strings in it.

I ran back to the building , and as I ran past the receptionist she handed me the salt, I ran back up the stairs, put on the string, tuned the guitar, licked some salt and followed Mikie back up to Mr. Hammond's office.

Mikie told Allen and me to have a seat and that Mr. Hammond would be in a couple minutes. We waited a few minutes, then Mr. Hammond walked in. Mikie introduced us.

We all shook hands, Mr. Hammond sat down at his desk and started out the conversation with a comment about Bruce Springsteen. We talked for a while and Mr. Hammond asked to hear one of my songs.

I played four songs for Mr. Hammond. One of which was titled "Living Proof." Mr. Hammond also read a song of mine that when I handed it to him I explained that I had written the song on an electric guitar and that since I only had an acoustic guitar with me, that I'd rather not try to play it.

Mr. Hammond politely understood and said that he would like to hear it with music after it was recorded. The song Mr. Hammond read is displayed below:

After Mr Hammond Read "Dignity" He said to me "Well so let's hear a song and I played him the song below entitled "Nothing Left To Say"

 I played a few more songs for Mr. Hammond one of which was entitled "Living Proof" and the audition ended  we shook hands and Mr Hammond left.

Soon after Mikie came in and I could tell by the expression on Mikie's Face that she knew that I would continue working with Mr. Hammond

July 10th, 1987

July 10th, 1987

Tony Tiller asked me If I would like to submit material to Bob Dylan. I told him sure I would. He told me to mail the songs to Dylan at the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford New Jersey. I mailed them certified mail with return receipt requested.

Produced during discovery in this litigation is Exhibit # 27 a certified mail receipt sent to Bob Dylan at the Meadowlands Arena Route 20, East Rutherford New Jersey. The date of this receipt is July 10th, 1987.

A copy the Meadowlands arena certified mail receipt is displayed below.

Anthony called me and told me Mr. Hammond passed away. I remember him telling me it was around 12:10. I sat and reminisced  of times I spent with Mr. Hammond.

One great memory I remembered was the day I was in New York and I called Mr. Hammond from the lobby house phone at CBS as he told me to do from the first time I ever went to see him.

Usually when I called him he would tell me to come up to his office. He would call down to the security guard at the front desk and give tell the security guard to permit me to enter the elevator and I would go up to his office.

This particular day he said to me "don't come up because I'm coming down
shortly" . His voice had a ringing excitement to it when he then asked me if I'd
like to go with him to Carnegie Hall that night where he was going to record
Stevie Ray Vaughan live. I remember the excitement in his voice still to this day.

I was just excited and honored that he asked me to go with him. I told Mr. Hammond I would love to go and he told me to meet him at the back entrance. He told me that he would be at the mobile recording unit outside of the back stage entrance and to look for a large truck or van.

I met Mr. Hammond there. As soon as we entered through the backstage door
Mr. Hammond was swarmed by reporters attempting to ask him questions mostly about his health because he was recently released from the hospital. Mr. Hammond wasn't concerned with answering questions about himself. I stood back and watched. He was surrounded by reporters all talking to him all at once.

I could feel his excitement, I could feel his adrenalin flowing, and I knew his
intentions were not to talk about himself but to record Stevie Ray Vaughan yet I could see him trying to slow himself down so as to be polite to the reporters like a Jockey on a racehorse trying to slow the horse down after a race.

Then after daydreaming for a while I called the Meadowlands and asked them what time was the package delivered to Dylan. Their reply was about ten after twelve. Immediately after I wrote the  lyric "No truth to omens"

 Stevie Ray Vaughan later recorded on Bob Dylan's "Under the Red Sky" album, released in 1990album, released in 1990.

I (James Damiano) registered my first copyright with the Library of Congress in Washington DC. In 1982. The library registration number is PAU 409-107, Titled Collective songs by James Damiano.

The computer print out of the registration describes the registration as lyric sheets and one Cassette tape. This tape included Dylan's 1994 the Lyrical hook and melody line of Bob Dylan's 1994 hit song "Dignity" who Bob Dylan claims to have independently written. Dignity was nominated as "The Best Rock Song of the year"

Dignity was also the hit song off the MTV Unplugged Bob Dylan CD, DVD, and Video Dignity was also the Hit song for Bob Dylan Greatest Hits Volume 3 CD

I (James Damiano) registered my second copyright with the Library of Congress in Washington DC. In May of 1988. The library registration number is PAU 409-107, Titled Collective songs by James Damiano. The computer print out of the registration describes the registration as lyric sheets and one Cassette tape. ( Displayed below) This tape also included Dylan's 1994 hit song "Dignity" { Lyrical hook and melody line } In 1994 Bob Dylan released a song titled "Dignity" who he (Bob Dylan) claims to have independently written.

Dignity was nominated for a Garmmy as the best rock song of the year in 1995

Bob Dylan's Copyright registration is dated 12/5/1991

Mikie invited me to stay at her home for weeks at a time where I wrote and experimented with songs on her baby grand piano all the while submitting more and more material to her. It was around this time I wrote and recorded  "Where Are You Jesus" with Earnest Cater on drums and Jimmy Voltaggio on electric guitar.

Where Are You Jesus soundtrack to video below

 The flip side of the record was 

Pain In My Heart

 I went on to record

Broken Heart

 Continued

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