Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin - Paul Franklin Declaration.pdf

8/19/2019 Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin - Paul Franklin Declaration.pdf

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I

Francis Malofiy, Esq.

2

Francis Alexander, LLC

280 N. Providence Rd. I Suite 105

3

Media, P A 19063

4

T: 215) 500-1000; F: 215) 500-1005

E:

[email protected]

5 ttorney

or

Plaintiff

6

Glen L. Kulik, Esq. SBN 082170)

7

Kulik Gottesman Siegel LLP

8

15303 Ventura Blvd., Suite 1400

Sherman Oaks,

CA

91403

9

T: 31 0) 557-9200; F:

31

0) 557-0224

IO

E: [email protected]

ttorney

or

Plaintiff

I2

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

I3

I4

FOR

THE CENTRAL

DISTRICT

OF CALIFORNIA

I5

MICHAEL SKIDMORE, as Trustee for

I

6

the RANDY CRAIG WOLFE TRUST,

I7

I8

I9

Plaintiff,

v.

20

LED ZEPPELIN; JAMES PATRICK

PAGE; ROBERT ANTHONY PLANT;

2I

JOHN PAUL JONES; SUPER HYPE

PUBLISHING, INC.; WARNER MUSIC

GROUP CORP., Parent

of

3

WARNER/CHAPPELL MUSIC, INC.;

24

ATLANTIC RECORDING

CORPORATION; RHINO

25

ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY,

26

27

28

Defendants.

Case No. 15-cv-03462 RGK AGRx)


Hon.

R.

Gary Klausner

DECLARATION OF

PAUL

FRANKLIN IN OPPOSITION TO

DEFENDANTS MOTION FOR

SUMMARY JUDGMENT

OR

IN

THE

ALTERNATIVE,

PARTIAL

SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Date: March

28,

2016

Time: 9:00 a m

Room: 850

DECLARATION OF PAUL FRANKLIN

IN

OPPOSITION TO

DEFENDANTS MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Case 2:15-cv-03462-RGK-AGR Document 119 Filed 03/07/16 of 4 Page ID #:2519



DECL R TION OF P UL FR NKLIN

2 I, Paul Franklin, declare as follows:

3

I

I was Randy

Craig Wolfe's

(aka Randy California) dearest friend from

childhood until he died

in

1997. We

met

in

junior

high school in September

of

5 1965. I have personal knowledge of the facts stated within this declaration. I could

6 and would testify competently to the facts contained in this declaration.

7

2.

Randy and I would talk about all things friends would talk about,

8

including his personal life, his music life, his financial difficulties, and things that

9 he was excited about, and things that concerned him or made him upset. He was

IO

very open with me given our long history

of

being close and best

of

friends from

II childhood

•••

lie

wP.Sif

t

c.tJNFIPitttr

~ M e l f 1 6 1 { .

I2

3. Randy wrote the song Taurus in 1966.

3

I4

I5

I6

I7

I8

I9

20

2I

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

4.

I went to many of Randy and Spirit's early concerts in the early years

(1966-71) and most of them that were in the Los Angeles, California area. Taurus

was played at many of these concerts as it was a staple song of theirs in 1967 and

1968 especially. I have an independent recollection that they played the song

Taurus regularly at the

Ashgrove

in

Los Angeles

and other venues. The Ashgrove

was a club where they had a regular gig.'.$-'

A M

1

tjoNS T °

I

f f N ~ J ~ t J . . ~ J J t c A - .

\A I

rr 6l. t )

W

t )( >

~

. . . . ~ , . .

•

5. Sta11ing in the early 1970s, Randy expressed

to

me that he was deeply

upset that Led Zeppelin had lifted his musical composition Taurus without giving

him any credit. He expressed this to me on numerous occasions in the 1970s,

t.O / 1111

jJ

V11Ef?

tJv S

1980s, 1990s, and up unti 1 the time

of

his death.

::z::.

r >

e . . ~ y

t (

A

7

11 1e

J re> ~ .

6.

When

Randy

first shared this

thought

with

me

he said he was very

upset that

~ d i d n ' t

even say

thank

you. Randy told me,

It

was rude, Led

.::rtllhf PA

it£

Zeppelin were fans and friends of Spirit, and they were in the front row of some of

our shows in the UK. And we would even comp them tickets. Randy told me that

members of Led

Zeppelin and Spirit were friends and

would hang out

together.

Case No. 15-cv-03462 RGK (AGRx)

t

DECLARATION OF PAUL FRANKLIN IN OPPOSITION TO

DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT




3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

2

21

22

)

--

4

25

26

27

28

7. In the early 1970s, when

Randy

was first expressmg his

disappointment over

what

Led Zeppelin had done, I asked him

what

he was going

to

do about it.

Randy

told me in response that he was hurt and was going to

confront

Jimmy

Page

the next time he

saw

him_;

r N

fi

L /

y

8.

Out

of curiosity, some time later, I asked Randy

if

he had ever

followed up with

Jimmy

Page. He responded that he

didn t

want to talk about it.

He said he was

too

hurt and upset to talk about what had happened. I would

estimate that this conversation took place in the mid-1970s. I

know

this because it

occurred before I

was

married in

he

late 1970s ), and after he initially shared his

.,t)EPR ~ s c r

disappointment

wttn me

in the early 1970s.

TO

c

O t J ~ I D e P

9. A short time later Randy finally 6peHe6 trP to me about his interaction

with

Jimmy

Page. Randy told me he confronted Jimmy Page at an after-event

following a Spirit concert in

the

United Kingdom. Randy said that the interaction

had really disturbed him because when he tried

to

speak with Page about it, Page

admitted that he lifted Taurus for Stairway

but

threatened him and said that he

would get 20 lawyers for every lawyer Randy

might

be able to hire. Randy said that

Page also told him

Led

Zeppelin would not give him a dime

or

any credit. From

7/IA-r

e ~

T

Randy s

expression it was clearly a very unsettling conversation,

~ ~ ~ ~ ; ~

.

Executed this 6

1

h

day

of

March, 2016 at

Los

I N ~ t £ 6 t m t y California.

I declare

under

the penalty

of

perjury

under

the laws

of

the United States

of

America that the foregoing is true and correct.


~

DECLARATION OF PAUL FRANKLIN IN OPPOSITION TO

DEFENDANTS

MOTION

FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT




GARY T KUBOTA

ltonolulu

Star-::6ulletin

Mau1 Corr spondcnl

I I H PUI

~ - I

f l PAHAI Jl:.il

132 North

Chtm:h

S

Watluku Hawan 9Ei/G:3

http://starbulleftn.corn

Phone: 808 2443207

f

ax

808 244 3207

Pager 808 576 6480

Randy

California

o

Spirit

believed drowned

o

Molokai

BY GARY T. KUBOTA

aui correspondent

WAILUKU Friends and mu

sic fans are mourning the appar

ent

drowning off Molokai of rock

guitarist and lyricist Randy

Cali-

fornia, known for composing

the

songs Nature's Way and

I

Got

A Line

On

You.

California, 45, whose

birth

name was Randy Wolfe, the lead

guitarist for Spirit, was swept

away

by

a strong

current after

rescuing his 12-year-old son

Quinn

at

Papohoku Beach Thurs

day afternoon.

Maui rescue workers searched

by land and

a1r

Thursday night

and resumed their search yester

day until

12:24

p.m., when

the

weather turned bad

and

made

visibility difficult.

The clouds were

pretty

low,

said Fire Capt. Frank Tam.

Tam said

father

and son

were

swimming when

the

waves rose.

He (California) was able

to

push his son into shore to catch a

wave,'' Tam said.

He

said

there

were conflicting

reports

whether

California was

last seen swimming

or

was face

down

in

the ocean.

California. who was visiting his

mother, Bernice Pearl, on

MIJI >·

kai, had been scheduled to join

Spiri t to begin a five-nation Euro

pean concert

tour

today to pro

mote its new recording Califor

nia Blues.

His boyhood

friend Paul

Franklin

said California, who

lived on Molokai in

the 1970s,

was

a fabulous s w i m m e r ~

This guy was in perfect shape,

never drank, never did drugs,

said

l''ranklin, who

initially

planned to go to Molokai with

California.

Hollywood Reporter music edi

tor

Jeffrey Jolson-Colburn said

California was

an influential

song writer

and

described Spirit

as progressive in the early

1970s

when they mixed

the

use of

guitars with synthesizers.

He influenced groups from

Genesis to Depeche Mode to No

Doubt,

he

said.

Colson said Spirit was playing

to sell-out crowds in medium

sized halls and had re-released a

collection of songs.

Franklin said California got his

stage name

at

age

15

while play

ing with rock

star

Jimi Hendrix.

Hendrix was working with a cou

ple of Randys in

the

band.

Jimi called him Randy Cali-

fornia and

the

name stuck ever

since, l<'ranklin said.

PAUL FRANKLIN

2235

COMPOTE CIRCLE

PALMDALE,CA 93551

w _ ~ ·


Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin - Paul Franklin Declaration.pdf

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