Part 1

Hey Everyone,

First off, as I promised a few of you, here are some compilations I put together with various Thin Lizzy and Phil Lynott tracks. A few of the tracks can be found on "The Man and His Music" Set, but I tried to put some of the other more obscure tracks in these. I left out the T&L Demos and Grand Slam Demos. The T&L Demos are posted over at DIME and the Grand Slam demos I'm leaving for another day. I didn't have time to make any artwork, as my photoshop has been screwing up lately and I've been kept busy over at DIME. If you've been over on DIME you'll understand.

For the 1978-1982 compilation: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KH18U0XQ

For the 1983-1985 compilation: http://rapidshare.com/files/179510962/1983-1985_Phil_Lynott_-_Rare_Cuts__Demos_and_B-Sides.zip.html

I mentioned last night that I would eventually tell my story about my experiences with Rock Legend (http://www.thin-lizzy.info/) and how I became involved in this 'battle' to try and get more stuff made available to all the Lizzy fans. There's been nothing more inspiring to me than hearing from many of the older Lizzy fans who saw Lizzy in their prime and to listen to their stories. Believe me, there's been times where I'd like to say "fuck it, this isn't worth the trouble and aggrevation I get from Rock Legend and some of the people that run it, but in the end, I know I'm doing the right thing. The messages I get from people thanking me affirms that over and over again.

I've had my YouTube account for a couple years now, but I started posting in February 2008. Thin Lizzy and Black Sabbath have been my top two favorite bands for at least 3 years now. I don't think any other band will come along and knock them from the top two. I noticed there was a general lack of material on YouTube for both bands, and I thought I would try and make a "music video". My very first video was "Don't Let Him Slip Away", one of the outtakes from the T&L Sessions. I had always loved the song and figured that not many people knew about it. Over the next couple months I posted lots of videos, sometimes as many as 8-10 a day. They are quite easy to make and I knew people would listen to the content, as many probably had never heard the material before.

In April, I was approached by a gentleman named Jim Cameron. He is the webmaster at RockLegend and also a huge Thin Lizzy fan. I had known of the website and had always admired the design and layout of the site. I still do. It's great for information. He said he liked the work I had done; keep the Lizzy flag flying...etc. and asked if he could have copies of all the material I had collected. In return, he would offer me a few selections from his collection. We decided we would swap over Rapidshare and that I would send him HALF of my collection, and he would send me half of what I asked for, and then the process would repeat for the other half of the deal. I had no problem with this and I agreed on a couple of selections and I set about sending him copies of the material I had collected. While it wasn't very difficult for me to do that, it was very time consuming. I had about half of it completed, and when it came for Jim to begin completing his end of the deal, he "disappeared".

Of course, I politely emailed him and wanted to know what was going on, and I the first time, I got an excuse and gave me a date that he would send me the material by. That date came and went. I waited another month. Still nothing. In the meantime, I had met another person who had given me a couple of the selections I had asked for from Jim, but still, I wanted Jim to at least be held accountable. I was not pleased in how he handled the situation and I felt in a way he had wasted my time. (I still have all this correspondence in my email, and I don't plan on deleting it. I can produce it on demand.)

Finally in early July 2008, I emailed Jim, and it was not a pleasant email. By this time I expected to get nothing, so basically I told him to forget about it and never ask me for any favor again. I sort of guilt tripped him a bit, but I was raised where if you say you're going to do something, you do it, and you do it right. To my surprise, Jim emailed me 'Catholic Charm', 'What's the Matter Baby', and the demo of 'Fats'. He said that a family situation had come up and that once it was resolved he had "forgotten" about our agreement. This very well could of happened, but damn...be accountable. He could of at least emailed and told me that there was going to be delays, but he just "forgot". Forgot for almost 3 months...right. He didn't put any stipulations on the tracks (which were all in mp3 format), but said they might be good to hold onto as trade bait. He didn't bother to send me any of the remaining things I had asked for, so essentially, I gave him half my collection for these three tracks. I was frustrated, but I was willing to let it go.

So I held onto the tracks for awhile. By this time, I was approaching my 225th video or so. I got my account on RockLegend and actually met Phil Osborne (FJ/Father Jack) for the first time. I read some of the posts and was a little concerned about what I was reading. RockLegend has a really slanted view on Thin Lizzy, but if you go on there here's what you should do.

1) Say how much you love the tribute bands (but NOT the Sykes/Gorham version of Lizzy).
2) Give as much praise as you can to Brian Robertson.
3) NEVER EVER mention the word 'bootleg'...not even with the best intentions.
4) Throw jabs at Gary Moore whenever you can.
5) ...and be sure to pile on when someone does something the forum doesn't like.

Anyway, it's not a really good fan forum because Phil O. and a couple others pretty much run the show and dictate what goes on there. If you show up--no matter how polite you are--if you say something they deem "wrong", such as praising Gary Moore, they'll send the dogs after you. I've seen it many, many times. Someone there asked about Sue Peters and about got their head bitten off. Why would anyone want a part of a forum where you can even express your views on a band freely? It was quite slanted, so I mainly kept silent and didn't stir the pot. I towed the line for awhile even though I didn't agree with how the forums were ran.

In mid July, a promo disc for the now-officially released Derby '75 gig went up for bid on Ebay. This was one of the shows I originally had asked Jim for, and he had agreed to send to me. Of course, he never did, and when this came up, I wanted to purchase it. I was also worried in the back of my mind that the disc might not come out at all (sort of like the Decca-remasters) so I ended up bidding on the disc. I was very close to winning it, but then the bid was driven way up by another person. After a bidding war, I was still ahead at £25 ($60) but lost it in the waning seconds. I was disappointed, but that's life. Here's the kicker though...

It was Jim Cameron who bought the disc.

I learned of this on the RL forums and this just flat out pissed me off. This guy has already not done what he had promised me he would do, and now he intentionally drove up the price for the promo disc of the EXACT SAME show that he promised he would send me, and bought it out from under me, because he, in his own words, was protecting the show so no one would take it upon themselves to bootleg it prior to release. Sort of a bitch move IMHO. He later claimed he didn't know I was the other bidder, but I doubt that. In any event, Jim, Phil O. and a few others had this show for YEARS prior to it's official release and didn't share it with anyone outside their inner circle. The same still goes for many other shows (although this has changed if one goes on DIME lately). The more I thought about, the more it pissed me off. Jim, Phil O., and a few chosen others have tons of material which will never be heard, and that they claim they are saving in case other rare material comes to light. Fair enough, but it's been 23 years and it's not happening, and in the same breath, they'll claim some of these same shows aren't rare at all, so then ask yourself this...why aren't they giving people a chance to hear them?

It was after this, I decided to post the tracks Jim Cameron gave me. To hell with trading for myself. Do something for the fans...do something for all the other old fans that might not get to hear this music before they make like Lynott and leave this earth. You can't take the music with you...so give others the chance to hear it. That's what I did. I posted those tracks. I was never told I couldn't, and after being screwed over twice, I felt it was poetic justice.

Then on August 8, 2008...all hell broke loose. That's for another post though.