From an article by Damon Blalack and Dennis Young: Read the whole article HERE
Film
Yeager becomes a filmmaker
Back in 1995, after 25 years of filming, Yeager created the final act for his movie Jimmy’s Story. Billy Yeager, as Jimmy Story, painted his skin black and composed music that was supposed to be The Lost Bolero Tapes by Jimi Hendrix, becoming The Long Lost Son of Jimi Hendrix.
The music was astonishing. Jimi Hendrix’s drummer Mitch Mitchell stated:
“Working with Jimi, listening to him jam, rehearse, write music, I know if I hear a song that was composed by Hendrix; I can tell instantly, from phrasing, chord structures, movements from bridge to chorus, etc. I can tell you, these songs cannot be faked.
Jimi was working on music before he died called the Bolero Tapes. If this is the music and this is his son, from the musical stand point, there is no question about it. You can fake a guitar, maybe a little of his voice, but lyrics, and melody, it’s not possible, from what I hear this kid is the real deal.” – Mitch Mitchell
Yeager spent 3 months filming his Jimmy Story Performance Art and Pop Culture & Media Protest (and also the behind-the-scenes), which was going to be used at the end of his film.
Billy had begun filming Jimmy’s Story in the 1970s. By 1996 he had over 200 hours of video footage.
“Billy Yeager’s Jimmy’s Story shows not only the trials and tribulations of the journey of trying to make it into the music industry, but also the triviality of the whole idea of becoming “somebody” special, of being a “star”. The film captures reflections of his childhood and the words of wisdom from his father, Ray Yeager.” – Aaron Morris / Miami International Film Festival.
Jimmy’s Story / The Movie
Jimmy’s Story – Part 1 was completed in 1996. The film was first discovered by Award Winning filmmaker Rick Mckay, who produced and directed the award winning documentary film Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There.
Rick McKay was staying at the Gulf Stream Hotel in Lake Worth, Florida, while he was attending the premiere of his film Broadway: The Golden Age at the Palm Beach International Film Festival.
Rick had just finished reading a newspaper article about Jimmy’s Story, when he stepped outside and saw Billy Yeager walking down the sidewalk heading towards the beach.
Rick introduced himself and told Billy about his film Broadway: The Golden Age and asked him if he could watch Jimmy’s Story. Later that day Billy dropped off a VHS copy of his movie at the Gulf Stream Hotel for Rick and forgot all about it.
A week later, Rick told Billy he had secretly submitted Jimmy’s Story to the director of the Dahlonega International Film Festival, Dean Treadway.
Dean Treadway instantly fell in love with Jimmy’s Story and was already planning to award the film in several categories.
“Out of the 700 films submitted, Jimmy’s Story is the one that moved me most to tears of joy and frustration.” – Dean Treadway
Dean called Billy wanting to know if he would be attending the festival, but he was also hoping that Yeager would want to speak with other filmmakers at film panels and seminars about the making of his film.
Jimmy’s Story received an unprecedented 4 awards with standing ovations — it was evident that Yeager had created something revolutionary and profound.
Jimmy’s Story is a combination of several film genres: documentary, mockumentary, pseudo-documentary, docufiction, cinema verite. The term “mockumentary,” which originated in the 1960s, was popularized in the mid-1980s when Rob Reiner used the term to describe the film This is Spinal Tap.
Mockumentaries are often partly or wholly improvised as an unscripted style of acting, which helps to maintain the pretense of reality (while mockumentaries are usually comedic, pseudo-docu are their dramatic equivalents). Docufiction is a documentary contaminated with fictional elements. Cinéma vérité incorporates natural actions and authentic dialogue into the films, which shows people in day to day lives.
Yeager broke all the rules when he not only intertwined documentary with mockumentary, pseudo-docu, and docufiction, but also combined a hybrid of an expository docu-style of cinéma vérité improv, creating a film like no other.
Yeager’s film has verisimilitude, yet at the same time it is an enigma, camouflaged with hidden riddles and parables. Although Yeager was only a freshman in filmmaking, he felt that the public’s perception still needed to be challenged and rules needed to be broken. The people I spoke with that have seen Jimmy’s Story agree that the film can be likened to a riddle within a riddle and the conclusion is always the same, what is Truth?
Jimmy’s Story has been described as “a tour de force” and “epic in scale.”
Dean Treadway (director of the DIFF Film Festival) stated, “This great film, this near masterpiece of amateur filmmaking, a Sundance reject that deserves to tower above most of their eventual winners, is about one man’s perseverance in believing that there is a better future out there, one that has him doing exactly what he feels he’s meant to do.”
In Dean Treadway’s 2003, The Year in Review, he lists Jimmy’s Story as one of the best films of 2003 alongside other highly acclaimed films such as The Barbarian Invasions, 21 Grams, Mystic River, A Decade Under The Influence, Kill Bill, and The Corporation.
That is quite an honor — especially considering this was Yeager’s first film.
BUT ANDREW FLANAGAN, WHO NEVER WATCHED JIMMY’S STORYOR BILLY YEAGER THE INEFFABLE ENIGMA, WAS COAXING HIS READERS INTO BELIEVING JIMMY’S STORY WAS JUST A “ROUGHSHOD AND CHAOTIC,” INSIGNIFICANT FILM, “WITH THE JIMMY STORY “HOAX” AS ITS CENTRIFUGAL FORCE.”
The truth about the centrifugal force in Yeager’s film would shock these liars.
The fact is that the finished version of Yeager’s film is 2 hours and 10 minutes, and the “Jimmy Story” performance artwork is only featured in the film for 12 minutes.
Jimmy’s Story begins with a quote from the book of Ecclesiastes and ends with a quote from Ecclesiastes; the centrifugal force of this film is a man’s desire to discover the meaning and purpose of life.
(Although references have been made about Yeager being some kind of prophet, and scriptures are mentioned throughout his films and on the back covers of his record albums from 30 years ago, Yeager subscribes to no label or ism and does not adhere to any form of organized religion.)
It is baffling how NPR made such statements about something they didn’t know.
In 1997, Billy began filming Jimmy’s Story Part 2. Today Jimmy’s Story is considered to be an underground cult classic — more so perhaps, because the film soundtrack includes the “Jimi Hendrix’s Lost Bolero Tapes”.
The Making of Jimmy’s Story
Yeager’s film Jimmy’s Story gained the attention of one of the most powerful men in independent film, John Pierson. John had previously discovered Spike Lee, Michael Moore, and Richard Linklater — he had also repped and sold films, such as Roger and Me and She’s Gotta Have It, at the Sundance Film Festival.
John produced a segment about “The Making of Jimmy’s Story” featuring it on his television show Split Screen.
Dan Myrick, renowned co-creator and director of the The Blair Witch Project, was hired to film and edit the segment, which was a big hit on Bravo television.
Dan and Billy became instant friends. Throughout the years, Myrick has been a stalwart supporter of Yeager and his work.
Activist / Performance Artist
DUE TO THE STORIES PUBLISHED BY XS MAGAZINE AND THE MIAMI HERALD, BILLY YEAGER’S JIMMY STORY PERFORMANCE ART COULD BE MISCONSTRUED BY SOME AS NOTHING MORE THAN A SUPERFICIAL PRANK. BUT UNDERNEATH THE LUDICROUS EXTERIOR, THE MUSICIAN MAKING THE AUDIENCE LAUGH, WAS IN FACT NOT A JOKE AT ALL; JIMMY STORY’S PERFORMANCE ART WAS A PROTEST STATEMENT AGAINST OUR SUPERFICIAL POP CULTURE AND THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA THAT TURNS A BLIND EYE AND DUPES PEOPLE BY PUBLISHING SENSATIONAL STORIES.
NO MATTER HOW RIDICULOUS A STORY IS, AS LONG AS THEY CAN CREATE HEADLINES, IT’S “FIT TO PRINT.”
When Yeager revealed himself to be Jimmy Story, XS magazine and the Miami Herald were not interested in the meaning of his performance artwork, or the fact that the whole performance had been documented to be featured in his film Jimmy’s Story.
INSTEAD, THEY CHOSE TO PUBLISH STORIES REFERRING TO JIMMY STORY PERFORMANCE ARTWORK AS NOTHING MORE THAN A HOAX AND LABELING YEAGER AS A FRAUD.
When Yeager’s critics demanded an explanation for “his hoax,” Yeager took it even further with his performance art. Rather than trying to prove his case, in classic Yeager style, he answered with a defiant rebuttal, leaving the journalists even more perplexed.NPR and Spin wrote their stories as if they had discovered “a hidden secret” about Yeager that nobody knew.
NPR and Spin wrote their stories as if they had discovered “a hidden secret” about Yeager that nobody knew.
But there was no hidden secret, in fact, it was clearly explained on Billy Yeager’s website that Jimmy Story was a fictional character in the film Jimmy’s Story; towards the end of the film, Jimmy Story, inspired by the movie Tootsie, creates his performance artwork with a very specific meaning and purpose; through his film Billy was trying to deliver a powerful message about the media and our culture’s obsession with fame and celebrities.
XS magazine and the Miami Herald ignored this truth over 22 years ago for several reasons and, with reckless disregard for the truth, NPR and Spin also chose to ignore these facts.
BOTH JOURNALISTS FOR NPR AND SPIN WERE ZEALOUS ABOUT USING THE MIAMI HERALD’S ARTICLE (AND ITS OUTLANDISH RED HERRING SYNTHETIC “STAGED HOAX” HEADLINES AND DEFAMATORY STATEMENTS) AS THE BASIS FOR THEIR STORIES, AND CREATED AN EVEN WORSE DISHEVELED PIECE OF YELLOW JOURNALISM.
Glenn DeRosa is an environmental consultant and the owner of Waste to Energies, an alternative energy company located in Boston, MA.
Glenn has known Billy since they were 12 years old, and he began promoting him when he was 15, booking Billy for concerts at Florida’s local surf clubs back in 1972.
Back in the 1980s, DeRosa was the owner of the Ace Advertising Agency, which booked gigs for many South Florida bands in local nightclubs. Glenn was the exclusive booking agent for both Billy Yeager and Johnny Depp from 1982-1983.
“The Miami Herald wrote that Billy Yeager claimed the hoax executed for attention, but we never said that. We explained to the Herald that it was performance art, and it was going to be edited into the film, it was not a publicity stunt, the truth was totally distorted.
When Billy reached out to me to play the manager in the film Jimmy’s Story, I was running 3 businesses, I had a wife, two children, I would not have become a part of a hoax and jeopardized my career.
Billy and I had these meetings every week, we would go over his notes and editing decisions, every person involved with film in South Florida, filmmakers such as Elliott Merles, friends, family, everyone knew he had a masterpiece in the making.”
– Glenn DeRosa
THE MIAMI HERALD WROTE:
“They said we were ‘taking the hoax to Europe.’ I never said that, that is a lie. I mentioned Europe because I had an associate that wanted to bring Jimmy’s Story to the Cannes Film Festival, but notice how they twisted it? How could you ‘take a hoax to Europe’? If there is a hoax, doesn’t everyone know there is a hoax, especially since the Herald just announced it?” – Glenn DeRosa
BUT JOURNALIST JOHN BARRY “BELIEVED” BILLY YEAGER’S JIMMY STORY SHOULD BE TAKEN “VERY SERIOUSLY” AND FELT IT WAS NECESSARY TO CONTACT THE STATE’S ATTORNEY TO ASK IF A CRIME HAD BEEN COMMITTED.
THE MIAMI HERALD WROTE: “THE STATE ATTORNEY’S DADE CRIME UNIT SAYS YEAGER AND DEROSA BROKE NO LAWS BY FOOLING THE MEDIA.”
Glenn DeRosa: “Calling the state’s attorney was ludicrous in my opinion. When that story was published my office was located in Miami Beach at that time, just a few blocks away. I went right into their offices and demanded that the article be retracted. I said, ‘These are lies, you knew Billy was making a film.’ They gave me the run around and said they would publish a retraction, but they never did.”
The article about Jimmy Story created quite a buzz, but 2 days later XS magazine had to publish a retraction.
Bob Weinberg was the journalist that wrote the feature article “Voodoo Child,” the story behind the secret son of Jimi Hendrix.
“Undoubtedly, Story’s guitar playing is extraordinary. It’s certainly influenced, if not genetically driven, by Hendrix. It’s Story’s voice that is most convincing, a deep, mumbling inflection that will cause most listeners to do a double-take.” – Bob Weinberg / XS Magazine
The managing editor at XS magazine told Bob to contact Yeager immediately and find out what he had hoped to accomplish with his hoax.
Billy and Bob Weinberg spent the entire day and early evening together. Yeager explained the role of the Jimmy Story performance art within the context of the movie; he even showed Bob some raw footage from Jimmy’s Story.
“When Bob Weinberg returned with his follow up story, he explained to his editors that Billy had been making a film, and also that he was a pretty kool guy; Bob personally felt that there was no harm done, and this really upset his editors.
They made the decision to replace Bob, and assigned another journalist to get “the facts.” They brought in a hard-nosed female reporter who agreed to meet Billy, and right from the get go, things did not go well.” – Glenn DeRosa
Yeager walks out of the interview
XS magazine’s publishers and editors were well aware that Jimmy Story was in no way Jimi Hendrix’s illegitimate child. Had they really believed this, they would have at least made calls to the Jimi Hendrix’s Estate and would have held their story from the public until they had confirmed from a reliable source that there was perhaps a remote possibility, but none of that was done. Instead, they featured Yeager on the front cover, in a very poor makeup job, wearing black shoe polish, and a homemade outfit with the XS emblem stamped all over it. They also knew that Glenn DeRosa was filming Yeager’s interview with XS, and that Yeager and DeRosa had been seen around town for weeks filming Jimmy Story in staged scenes with other actors; one of those scenes was filmed at a well known nightclub only 2 blocks away from XS’s offices.
It was apparent that they chose to play along (as they later stated in an interview with the Miami Herald) and ran with their story just to create a buzz for the free bee publication that had a dwindling readership and ironically went out of business shorty after the Jimmy Story headlines.
After receiving strong criticism from readers and many other publications, they wrote a retraction and apology for their sloppy journalism, but the publisher decided to put most of the blame on Yeager and instead of explaining Jimmy Story was part of a film that Yeager had been making for 25 years, they made the decision to make Yeager look like a fool.
None of this made any sense; Yeager had previously been treated superbly by some other publications in Miami, who had featured in depth stories about his music and his career.
XS WROTE: “YEAGER WALKED OUT OF AN INTERVIEW WITH AN XS REPORTER. YEAGER ENDED THE Q&A SESSION WHEN THE REPORTER INFORMED HIM WE WEREN’T INTERESTED IN HIS LIFE STORY, THAT WE ONLY WANTED TO KNOW WHAT HE HAD HOPED TO ACCOMPLISH WITH THIS FRAUD.”
“When Billy began to explain the film Jimmy’s Story and what his performance piece was all about, the journalist answered very rudely, ‘I am not interested in hearing about your life story,’ and Yeager walked out and sent XS a fax with a riddle. They made a huge mistake; for them to understand Jimmy Story, they needed to understand Billy’s life story and film. They didn’t want to hear the truth, they had an agenda, Bob had the truth, they didn’t want that either.” – Glenn DeRosa
Fax transcript:
“There once was a man who lived in a city of ignorance and the people were blinded. Although he offered those who did not understand some water and to remove the veil from their eyes, they resisted. Pause and wonder oh blind little sheep. My ways are too grand for such feeble minds, send me someone with wisdom and then shall I speak. In the meantime, I wipe my butt with peoples’ feeble thoughts of what they think of what I do, all is grasping for the wind, oh little town of wannabes. My farts are incensed with genius.” Jimmy Story / Billy Yeager
After reading and rereading the retraction notice written by XS Magazine, there is no doubt that there are many inconsistencies and contradictions; they stated that Jimmy Story was nothing but a hoax created by a frustrated and embittered musician, yet they also state that Yeager “was correct” and “proved his point” in that “celebrities are more revered than artists, that being famous doesn’t equate to being talented, that the “lost son” of Jimi Hendrix could get more attention than a local musician.”
When XS asked Greg Baker about his thoughts on what Yeager was trying to achieve as Jimmy Story, Baker stated:
“I think Yeager wanted to use the media to achieve that end, tearing down the corrupt media industrial complex, which is contributing to the downfall of society, I am all for this sort of thing. I don’t think anybody did anything wrong.”
DeRosa, “You see? It is right there in XS’s retraction, there is no question that this paragraph jumped off the pages. Why didn’t Spin or NPR use the quote from Greg Baker about tearing down the corrupt media complex?”
If you are going to be in such a hurry that you resort to copying another author’s language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions, you should first make sure they are a credible source, and then also be sure to provide a citation.
Stephen Wissink, then the publisher of XS Magazine, was in charge of making the decision of how to respond to their readers. In Wissink’s apology and retraction, he thought it would be best to tar and feather Yeager, describing him as frustrated, embittered, angry, which is ironic because it is actually Wissink who is embittered; in his own words he states: “Hell hath no fury like a journalist who has been duped.”
But there is more than meets the eye about the credibility of XS and its staff; if I’ve ever tasted bitterness more than this, it was a brussel sprout milkshake: CLICK.
Ken Jenkins has a 24 year military background in aviation, but he has always been an avid music fan too.
Ken became a fan of Billy and built him a custom made guitar.
“I believe there are two camps of people that have an interest in these types of stories, and for two different purposes.
The first group of people are the ones that are witness to the creativity, the message, the artistic value and have an appreciation for pointing out the flaws we have in our belief structures. The ones that know the thin veneer of glitz and glamour is created to sell the product, especially when there is little to no talent or virtuosity behind it.
The second group of people are the ones that can’t wait to have a “Jimmy’s Story” pop up because of the name recognition. This group is looking to capitalize, to make a buck. This group is also the ones that feel duped when they learn the true intent, the real purpose. What? You’re trying to make a point about the woes of our industry? And we couldn’t see that? How dare you! You made us look bad because we were stupid enough to buy what we wanted to sell? This is laughable at best.
That’s Billy Yeager. An extremely talented musician that found the corporate world of music a dog eat dog world, and he was wearing Milk Bone underwear!!”
- Credit: Bob Weinberg / Former XS Magazine journalist
Referring to Jimmy Story, Bob Weinberg wrote in his story for XS Magazine, “Oddly, he’s most lucid when quoting scripture.”
DeRosa, “Everywhere you look there are hidden messages. Look at the outfit Billy made when he is being interviewed as Jimmy Story. He hand painted the XS logo on the jacket, and look closely at the bottom of the image.
Do you really think Jimmy Story is a joke? He is quoting from the book of the prophet Isaiah.”
DEROSA IS CORRECT. YEAGER HAND PAINTED THE GOSPEL OF LUKE, CHAPTER 3, VERSES 4, 5, AND 6 ON HIS PANT LEG.
LUKE 3: 4-6
4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
5 Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
6 And all people will see God’s salvation.’”
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
5 Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
6 And all people will see God’s salvation.’”
“Yeager was speaking out to the public, trying to convey a message about the state of the world, it was a message of repentance from John the Baptist, it wasn’t a joke, and all this is clear in the film. Billy is that voice in the wilderness; he was always concerned with suffering and injustice and was against excess and greed. Since 1985, he knew he was not meant to be a rock star, he was appalled at the music industry. After Jimmy’s Story he continued his career as a filmmaker; in the film A Perfect Song, he is doing the same thing, speaking as a prophet again.” – Glenn DeRosa
Glenn DeRosa reveals another hidden clue about the truth of Jimmy Story.
In the liner notes on the back cover of Yeager’s album Be My Valentine,which was manufactured in 1985 (12 years before the first version ofJimmy’s Story was completed), it states:
“AND JIMMY STORY IS THE WORLD’S BEST KEPT SECRET.”
“In 1985, Yeager already knew he was going to become Jimmy Story and make a movie, so in no way did Yeager ever create just a meaningless hoax ‘to vent his hostilities upon XS Magazine because he was embittered.’ They were the ones embittered because they didn’t like the fact that Yeager had proved his point about the media through them.” – Glenn DeRosa
The Lie
REGARDING THE FILM JIMMY’S STORY, ANDREW FLANAGAN WROTE:
The verb ‘Bamboozle’ (noun: bamboozlement) means to dupe, to deceive by underhand methods.
If there was anyone “bamboozling,” it was NPR, Andrew Flanagan and his senior editors, who duped their readers and listeners into believing that Yeager was nothing more than a talentless fraud.
“One question I would always ask myself is, this guy is either the craziest mother fucker on the planet, or he’s a cinematic genius; I think performance artist is a good definition of why his work is relevant.
There is a grand message he is trying to convey to people and there are only a few that are going to get it.
For me there has always been a method to his madness, I respected that about him, he wants to say something meaningful to the world, there is a sense of admiration there; he is not a cynic, somebody putting a bunch of news hoax bullshit stories about Billy to get people into fear, that’s a cynic, not Billy, he is a true believer, whether you believe in him or not, that is what is so compelling about him.” – Dan Myrick
Dan Myrick is mentioned in several places on http://www.billyyeager.com, and he was relatively easy to contact, so why didn’t either one of these media outlets choose to contact someone reputable who had worked with Yeager?
“I appreciate it when I do an interview on Blair Witch and I can tell that the journalist really did their homework, and they really want to dig into the ways we did the movie, and want an intimate understanding instead of all the superficial crap; Billy’s no different.” – Dan Myrick
Andrew also wrote that the Jimmy Story performance art was “ill-conceived.”
“It was not ill-conceived, it was brilliant and everyone knows this. The media maliciously used every adjective they could find to make Billy look like a loser. NPR’s story is what is ill-conceived.” – Glenn DeRosa
“Jimmy Story was brilliant! He wrote this music that sounded like Hendrix, if you’re a Hendrix fan you go, wow, he pulled it over on them, not a copy of one of his songs, but right down to the way he sang it.
People like Billy fascinated me, he wrote all the time, and if he wasn’t writing, he was writing his movies, and if he wasn’t doing that, he was teaching it.
There are only a handful of guys like him. I know we are on the same path, and I know that’s why we have been a part of each other’s lives all this time.” – Jimi Ruccolo
Andrew Flanagan wrote that Billy Yeager:
Jimmy’s Story was filmed for over 25 years, and it took another 6 years to edit the final version, which is a testament to Yeager’s work ethics, tenacity, and relentless dedication as an artist, which proves one thing:
The Media Lies
Remember that Wall of Rejections?
“There were no rejection letters, I was the one who filmed that scene.
Yeager was in the backyard, I asked him what were all those papers hanging on the postwall, and he said they were supposed to be rejection letters; he wanted to make it look like the character in his movie had been rejected by the record labels for many years.
Back in 1987, I asked Billy to come with me to L.A., because I just recorded my new songs with Ira Sullivan and was trying to get signed to a label. I thought for sure he would bring his music, but he didn’t, he only came to support me.
Billy never submitted his music to labels (before he met Bruce Hornsby), he attended music conventions where he met Chuck Gregory and Walter Yetnikoff, and unless the bigwigs personally listened to his music, he would never leave it with anyone.
In fact, I am the one who had to talk him into bringing that tape to Bruce Hornsby, that’s why he scribbled the note on a piece of paper, nothing was prepared. All these journalists lied and defamed him; they knew he was making a film. Billy was never frustrated, rejected, embittered, he was always laughing. And also, just to make sure this finally goes on record, once and for all, every major label that I visited in Los Angeles in 1987, not only refused to meet me but refused to accept my tape; in fact, once I was angry about it and left it on the counter and the woman who worked there grabbed my envelope, brought it to the door and yelled to me, ‘We cannot accept this because of legal matters!’ and left it outside the door.” – Stan Jeff Brown
What Stan is saying is correct; I checked this myself. All the way back since the 1970s, all record labels refused to open any unsolicited envelope that arrived in the mail, it would always be returned unopened. The only way for an artist to submit their music was if they had a connection, or a manager (not just any manager, but one with a connection too). Below is the standard policy for receiving unsolicited tapes; it is the same for every single record label; this one is stated on Warner Brothers and hasn’t changed in over 40 years.
From 1974-1986, Yeager sang and played guitar in many of South Florida’s top bands, working with artists such as Harold Seay and Inner Circle reggae band. After 10 years of playing in cover bands, he decided to quit for good.
In 1986, he bought his first 4-track recorder (when Billy first began writing and recording his music back in 1978, he had to experiment with small tape decks, recording tracks multiple times, mixing them eventually onto one tape). This was the beginning of Yeager’s songwriting isolation period; for over 6 years, he worked intensively on his own unique style and sound (he even boarded up his windows, so that he wouldn’t be aware of the time); sometimes a day would turn into night, and he would have as many as 3 to 8 written and recorded songs in a 24 hour period. Not a single day would pass where Yeager wouldn’t have recorded at least 3 songs.
In 1991, his friend Stan convinced him to bring a tape to Grammy Award Winner Bruce Hornsby at a concert; Bruce heard Billy’s demo tape, recorded on his 4-track, and the rest, as they say, is history. A simple story, factual by all accounts.
How did this get out of hand? Miami Herald first, then XS Magazine, then John Stacey’s Hollywood Dreams, now NPR and Spin. Each distorted the truth and fabricated parts of the story, each building from one another, leaving someone defamed.
Regarding NPR and Spin, if you are going to republish defamatory statements from 22 years ago saying, “I didn’t know!” you’d better get another cup of coffee.
The truth was written in Billy Yeager’s websites, but NPR and Spin didn’t care about the truth. The documentary Billy Yeager The Ineffable Enigma also provided a lot of information about this “unknown artist that no one had heard about,” but Andrew Flanagan and Andy Cush, who were in a hurry, didn’t bother to watch it; this is technically called negligence and reckless disregard for the truth; in court it can wipe you out.
“We will always have the “different groups” in our society, the ones that care, that have an open mind, that realize criticism is our finest instrument to better ourselves and right our wrongs.
And those that believe the veneers of the world are what they can hide behind to continue collecting ye ole’ dollar, and dismiss any short comings that exist as mere eccentricities of anyone that reports them.
But not so many have the insight and drive to point out the failings of an industry and subsequently point out their shortcomings in a creative and provocative format. That’s where Billy stands out, he’s a Renaissance man that takes life’s lemons and makes a pointedly tart lemonade sans any sweeteners. It’s in your face, it’s the reality behind the walls of perceived comfort, and creates awareness about our excesses, weaknesses, faults and depravity.
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