Legal advice

One more aspect of this exceptionally strange lawsuit worth considering:

It is entirely possible (although arguably unethical) that the attorney, David Given, has a stake in this case as well.

Assuming that the case moves forward (and God help poor John Gray’s reputation if it does), the publicity generated by the suit will certainly filter quickly through the cybersphere and then, a bit more slowly, through the usual media channels (CNN, etc).

While the publicity for Gray will be awful, the publicity for Given will be … free. He might get the opportunity to show up as a talking head, which evidently he enjoys doing but, as far as I can tell, he hasn’t been in the limelight so much since the Napster case and his Dead Kennedy case were decided. Given might sense that this case (tho’ almost certainly a loser in court) may represent the “perfect controversy” at the “perfect time.” Without expending a whole lot of effort, he’ll get to make a sizeable splash at the very least in the Internet community. Maybe he’ll show up on the front page of the Recorder.

Hopefully I haven’t given Given any big ideas. ;) He and Gray are undoubtedly reading this blog (or at least one of Given’s associates is reading the blog).

Perhaps Given should go back and read his interview with Frank Zappa, which he proudly links to his attorney web site.

http://www.phillaw.com/html/davidgiven.html

While Frank could be a litigious S.O.B. in his own right when it came to contract disputes, he felt strongly about the First Amendment. And also about college (the subject du jour) as this classic extract from Given’s interview shows:

FZ: Did you ask for water?
GIVEN: Yeah.
FZ: Did you get water?
GIVEN: Yeah.
FZ: That’s real. That’s not superstitious. You got water. I can make a distinction between that and not stepping on a crack when you’re walking down the sidewalk. Can you do that? OR DID COLLEGE FUCK YOU UP?

[Emphasis added. I also corrected the word "fuck" which Given spelled "f__k," perhaps to prevent Given's or Zappa's pre-teen fans from finding the site and having their minds blown by the filthiness of it all. I guarantee you that Zappa said "fuck" and not "f__k".]

I miss Frank Zappa terribly.

Father Oblivion

You know you have arrived when you’re served with “cease and desist” orders or libel threats once a month. Up to this point, the Gray Maneuver is just a boilerplate of legal threats, not an acutal lawsuit. I have received bogus court filing papers, fabricated legal materials and a host of other creatively designed threats that prove people actually read what they get delivered to them. Who knows what I never opened and what attachments got binned by my mail server. I don’t even monitor my main e-mail address anymore–the place most of the rubbish contaminated.

F#@K THE MAN! STAY STRONG! NEVER SURRENDER!