Tremolina said:

I agree, if I were the judge, I'd be wanting to speak to both of them too. Does anyone know (coz I really don't know anything about law, especially of the Irish variety) can the judge demand that prince and Arzate apeear in court?

Rorywan said:

There isnt a bone or muscle or "member, for that matter, in that mans body that knows what "lazy" is. Wrong word son.

Lotus2unfld said:

I agree.

I think the truth will come to light. Prince is a very smart man, more often then not, hes right. People just tend to not aid to his will at times because they dont understand how he thinks... when he explains himself it all makes sense. He's always under control. Dont sweat it P...

Genesia said:

Read the bold text. In fact read all the text.

Has anybody noticed the most interesting aspect of this info (at least to me)? That he was considering or intending to do a European, or world, tour?

wasitgood4u said:

This was heavily speculated on at the time IIRC.

wasitgood4u said:

He considers a lot of things. Then he reconsiders. The he doesn't do them.

colm said:[quote]

wasitgood4u said:

Heh heh.

wasitgood4u said:

There was a tentative plan to do a number of European stadium gigs (one of which was Denmark on which the local promoters jumped the gun and worked with a radio station to run a ticket competition) but this didn't come together for a number of reasons.

Prince tours are always being planned and scrapped at any one time - he can be a touch erratic like that (as Justice Kelly is finding out this week )

MrsGoodnight said:

no, as it's a civil matter, not a criminal case. if you don't turn up at a civil case and you don't have a strong argument for your case it can usually go against you unless you have an appointed person like a lawyer to deal with it. sometimes the lawyer can talk their way out of it better than the individual being sued

if it was a criminal case, prince could still choose not to attend, and worst case scenario would be that a warrant is put out for his arrest, so he couldn't step foot in ireland again without being arrested. if it was something really bad then interpol or whatever could get involved, such as the roman polanski case

i'm pretty sure prince won't let ireland see the fumes of any future tours for the rest of his life, this will piss him off and put him off wanting to step foot on that landmass. NI will probably lose out too, not that he's played there before. alternately as part of the settlement he may be required to play a gig, possible at no charge to MCD so they can recoup the losses, but i don't think MCD would want to risk dealing with him again. AEG are more likely to want to have another michael jackson concert than MCD having a prince tour

unique said:

Never say never - http://www.ticketmaster.i...ist/990438

unique said:

VinylFunk said:

You are right, replace "lazyness" with "obnoxiousness".


I was refering to his lazyness (ie slow reaction to sorting out the mess with MCD) not physical inactivity. And i'm a little old for you to call me "son", if we are being pedantic!.

colm said:

MCD have argued that Elvis never said he couldn't do the gig !

I wonder if he'll be using the Neil Diamond stage ?

colm said:

Above is not strictly true

Prince is being sued for breach of contract

Claimant has to prove a contract (an agreement - doesnt have to be written), its contents, the breach and the remedy they are entitled to

The Claimant has to prove their case - hence they call witnesses to support their evidence - which it appears they have at least in respect of what was said to Prince

Its upto the Defendant, Prince and the other Defendant as to who they bring to court to give evidence. They cannot just put in a statement from him and have it read out unless the Defendants agree it and its contents - they wont

If therefore there is evidence of conversations from the Claimants witnesses that is credible and there is no answer from the Defendants, the Judge will have to find on that specific point in the Claimants favour

That obviosuly isnt the whole case - there is much the Dfendants have to prove to win but hope it helps re whether Prince has to attend and the consequences of not doing so

I run a UK law firm and deal with litigation btw

HTH
[Edited 2/26/10 3:49am]

LoveRobot said:

I assume you normally dictate your correspondence in that case (considering the number of spelling and punctuation errors)....

wasitgood4u said:

YEP!

colm said:

Who cares? It isn't a garden-variety sense of entitlement that leads you to kill someone. That's a bad analogy - regardless of the qualifiers you tried to put on it.
[Edited 2/26/10 4:18am]

LoveRobot said:

so do you think we can raise a class action suit against prince for releasing newpowersoul?

"Tell the cat to chill, we will work something out"

Oh lawd Prince

Genesia said:

Prince likes to 'muddy the waters'
Mercurial, special star changes often, Croke Park concert row hearing told

By Tim Healy and Jason O'Brien


Friday February 26 2010

THE William Morris agency works with some of the biggest celebrities and divas in the world, but one of its executives told the Commercial Court yesterday that there were few, if any, who muddied the water like Prince.

Marc Geiger described the diminutive singer as "mercurial" and a "very special" individual, but also someone who "changes often" and who told his own agency to only communicate with him through his personal assistant.

Mr Geiger, of the agency's contemporary music division, was giving evidence on the third day of an action by promoters MCD against Prince Rogers Nelson, and his agents over the cancellation of a Croke Park concert in June 2008.

He said Prince was the "least clear person" he had dealt with in his 20-year career in terms of communicating what he wanted. The court had previously heard that the megastar liked to ask questions rather than give definitive answers or confirmations.

And Mr Geiger said it was only two weeks before the cancelled concert that Prince told the agency he only expected to do the Dublin concert if it was part of a series in Europe, and not just a one-off gig. At that stage, some 55,000 tickets had been sold.

Yet Geiger said Prince told him: "You know I don't work like that."

The agency believed Prince had confirmed in late February that he would play Dublin, but now -- on a June 3 meeting at the singer's Beverly Hills house -- the agency was "advised" he would not do so.

And Prince accused them of not getting him any offers of other European shows. Mr Geiger said he told the artist this was "patently untrue".

He said they had come to him with an offer of seven European performances worth $22m, and that Dublin had been confirmed. He said they walked him through options on the effect of a cancellation. The meeting ended in what was described as a "terse fashion".

Prince's assistant, Ruth Arzate, with whom the agency dealt "the whole time", did not speak during the meeting in Beverly Hills but Mr Geiger "believed" she hugged him and his colleague as they left.

The court was told that the previous year, a proposal was put forward for Prince to play a European tour and that the artist had requested the agency to "make this happen".

Mr Geiger denied any "specific perimeters" were laid down over "one-off gigs or not".

The agency was working to secure the most money possible, he said, and Prince was expected to net between $1.5m and $2.5m to play Dublin.

Mr Geiger said Prince "often" played one-off performances. The agent was asked to go through the 'deal points' of the proposed contract with Prince. It was put to him in court that neither Prince nor his assistant had ever received that document.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly also heard that no "specific" reason was given to the agency as to why Prince wished to cancel, but during the June 3 meeting a "suggestion was put down" that there might be health reasons behind the cancellation, Mr Geiger said.

There were "lots of rumours going around" and it was "suspected something was going on", Mr Geiger said.

MCD is claiming €1.7m in compensation after the concert scheduled for Croke Park, in June 2008, was cancelled 10 days beforehand.

Prince claims William Morris had no authority to bind him to the gig -- but they have rejected this claim.

The case continues.

- Tim Healy and Jason O'Brien

Prince 'changes often', court told
Pop superstar Prince was “one of the least clear people” he ever dealt with, a senior executive with one of the world's largest entertainment management companies told the Commercial Court today.

Marc Geiger, who oversees the contemporary music division of William Morris Entertainment Endeavour, which claims it acted as agents for the artist in relation to a summer 2008 gig at Dublin’s Croke Park, said Prince was a “very special” individual who “changes often”.

He was giving evidence on the third day of the action before Mr Justice Peter Kelly by concert promoters MCD for €1.7 million compensation against the Oscar winning singer and WMEE, Beverly Hills, California, over cancellation of the Croke Park gig scheduled for June 16th 2008.

Prince, whose real name is Prince Rogers Nelson, claims WMEE had no authority to bind him to the gig, but they have rejected this claim. WMEE claims it at all times acted as agents for Prince under an agreement of August 2005 with express authority to negotiate on his behalf for the purpose of booking gigs.

It claims the decision to cancel the Dublin event was outside of its control and has denied negligence, breach of duty and misrepresentation.

Mr Geiger told Grainne Clohessy SC, for WMEE, he and his colleague Keith Sarkisian attended a meeting with Prince on June 3rd, 2008, less than two weeks before the Dublin performance was due.

He was “advised” at this point the artist would not be performing at Croke Park, he said. WMEE was of the belief Prince had confirmed his intention to play Dublin in late February.

Prince told him: “You know I don’t work like this” and said he would not be performing a “one off” gig which was not part of any European tour. Mr Geiger said he told the artist it was “patently untrue” to suggest the gig could only have occurred as part of a European tour.

Prince became “very agitated” and said it was the agency’s “problem” as they had got him “into this mess”, Mr Geiger said. The meeting ended in a “terse fashion” .

Prince’s assistant, with whom the agency dealt “the whole time”, did not speak during the meeting but Mr Geiger said he believed she hugged him and his colleague as they left. A proposal was put forward for Prince to play a European tour the previous year and the artist had requested the agency “make this happen”, Mr Geiger added.

Cross-examined by Paul Screenan SC, for Prince, Mr Geiger said “no specific parameters” were laid down in respect of the European proposal, whether “one off gigs or not”. The agency was working to secure as much money as possible and Prince was expected to net between $1.5m and $2.5m dollars to play Dublin, he said.

Asked whether Prince indicated he was prepared to perform a one off gig in late February 2008 when the Dublin concert was confirmed with MCD, Mr Geiger said they were still “presenting” Prince with offers at that point. Some $22 million was being put forward for seven shows, he said.

Mr Geiger agreed no attempt was made to see what would happen if Prince rejected the offers after the Dublin performance was booked. Prince played one off performances “often”, he said.

No “specific” reason was given to the agency why Prince wished to cancel the Dublin performance but, during their June 3rd meeting, a “suggestion was put down” there might be health reasons behind the cancellation, he said. There were “lots of rumours going around” and it was “suspected something was going on”.

Mr Geiger said he “didn’t know” whether a “deal points agreement”, which records the key terms of an agreement, had been shown to Prince “personally” in relation to the Dublin gig. Email correspondence between the artist’s assistant and the agency indicated “a further boiled down summary of the basic points” had been sent, he said.

unique said:

Well.....
TBH I actually like NPS!
I can find a mood for all of his out put even the recent stuff
Only thing I havent been able to listen to is Kamasutra - though somewhere I am sure someone will love it
[Edited 2/26/10 5:07am]

unique said:

So he says he doesn't perform "one off gigs" that are not part of a broader tour.
hmmm...

What?

He spent most of last year doing just that.

Rorywan said:

he only played about 6 different nights last year. you're calendar must be fucked up. did you buy it in poundland?

Rorywan said:

He hasn't done a single one off show (outside of his home state) since December 2007.

Montreux was 2 shows, Monaco 3, and Paris 4.

Stadium gigs are very different economics in the case of logistics and gear, especially when in a different continent and very hard to justify for a "one off".

Gav said:

i would do a one off stadium show for $3m. if prince don't want the money, i'm totally up for it. even if libby and wolfy will be there