Spark in the Dark, Billy Falcon

[Steven Budlong]

Dear Way Corps,

I often get questions about Billy Falcon. He was active, along with his wife Myla, in the mid-eighties in Manhattan when Terry and I were Territory Coordinators.

He was at a hard place in his life and career when I first got to know him. We were walking once from a fellowship we had conducted in Harlem. I asked him then, "what do you need to do right now with your career?" He said, "I miss the studio, I need to record." About ten of us put together an investment plan to produce a tape on his behalf. The arrangement honored "artist rights" and paid the musicians. It further stated that once all investors were paid in full the ownership and copyrights would be relinquished to the artist, Billy Falcon. We did that. In 1987, following the Rock of Ages, we broke even and dissolved the partnership.

Last summer I spent some time with Billy in Nashville. He has flourished as a song writer, working primarily on his own material and with Jon Bon Jovi, both as a credited and uncredited song writer. I would encourage you (just for fun) to go back through the last decade of Bon Jovi's material and see if you can find Billy. I did that several years ago and was right and wrong half the time... interesting though.

Our ministry taught us to dream big when it came to "Word and Culture." Billy did that and his testament is his music, recorded in part in "Spark in the Dark" and more recently in the material you will hear on his web site, billyfalcon.com. I encourage you to go there and listen. Great stuff. You will be inspired and refreshed. I also have to put in a plug for his daughter Rose. She has done amazing work as a songwriter, artist and performer. She had her own album about six years ago which did incredibly well. I also think Billy is on to something, something he calls "The Sowing Circle." You have to go to his website to get a glimpse of that.

Finally, Billy and I agreed to produce a limited number of "Spark in the Dark" CDs last year. We redid the cover art (thanks to Kellie O'Malley), and with Gerry Comito (the original sound engineer) remixed the tracks and added two songs that were not a part of the first release. I am pretty thrilled with it. If you want a copy hit this link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/BILLY-FALCON-Spark-in-the-Dark-NEW-RE-RELEASE-Bonus_W0QQitemZ390074757785QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMusic_CDs?hash=item5ad2447299

On top of that, I have often asked myself "what if" The Way had not demanded the publishing and performance copyrights of their musicians and artists? Look around you at the musicians and artists you loved and respected, and ask yourself this question, "are they not entitled to the fruits of their labor?" Well, according to The Way International, they are not. That attitude is horribly, grossly and pathetically sad. It is evil and ugly. There is no greater violation in life than being lied to, stolen from or raped. That is what The Way did to its artists.

So the next time you hear someone from Pressed Down, Joyful Noise, Branded, Selah or any of the other bands you remember singing a song that changed your life. Go thank them, knowing that in their youth they gave away a most precious piece of their life.

Truly Yours,


Steven Budlong
12th Way Corps (and proud of it)

[Kevin Nye]

Man, I am surely glad that the hot band from the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska never allowed The Way to copy any of their songs! Yes, the fabulous "Silver Platters" had two songs still worthy of becoming smash hits in the realm of Gospel Music. Oh yeah, "Sittin On Top Of The Heap", and "The Chew Song" were songs that truly inspired the souls of many...

But seriously, thank you very much Steve for starting this informed discussion. Youz musician/production guyz are all out of my league, but it was very interesting to see your perspective Steve. Thanks for helping out the son of Mississippi John Hurt too. Always loved his music, and it is terrible to see how he and his family were ripped off.

And you JN folks, thanks for the memories and your beautiful songs. I especially liked the "Chicken Or The Egg?" song that you all did at PFAL '77. "All of the men down at the market place..."

[Cindy Kuchmy Kelley]

Thanks Ted. Your royalty check is being held at the Bema. So too, all you JN'ers. The heart was to give and serve for the Glory of God. He is good for it - He will repay. (You too, David for all the Agape stuff!)

[David Bailey]

p.s. thanks ted. you still be the man.

[David Bailey]

that just about says it john!
nothing more to say.

[John and Janet Ruiz]

Check it out.

[John and Janet Ruiz]

It's an interesting and somewhat humorous notion, Steve. Not if you're gnarled up in it, but I just have to chuckle, as I doubt anyone in the last 10 years is going to pay The Way a 100 k or more for any of the music they have. Seriously, I'm not knocking or making fun but have you been checking out the video representation they put on their site? These little video files you can open and watch and listen to. I recognize the hard work it takes to get anything done - good bad or so-so....but I do have to say - it's not going to happen with that stuff they're pushing out. Take that with a grain of Fig Pep, but seriously. No way. I don't even think they're inclined to pursue high quality "secular" standards, so it's not an issue of concern for this current generation of Wayfers.

Maybe going back a ways, 10 - 15 - 20 or more years, possibly, sure. Certainly many of the artists including Billy and many others - there's a lot of good music and lyrics out there. So in that scenario, I suppose we'd have to just wait and see when that barrel of money comes rolling out of the hopper. Either way it would be GREAT for the artists, because even if the Way Nash sucked that money up like a new Hoover suckin' dirt, the actual writers and performers would stand to get credited and recognized for it.

Nothing surprises me anymore, not when it comes to religion so who knows what might lurk in the heart of Shelby County under those circumstances....?

Here's a classic - the great and humble Mike Finnigan, talking about the work he did on the Hendrix album. Buddy Miles is in it too. Run up to about 4:53 and hear what Mike sez about recording on Hendrix's last and arguably best studio recordings. It's funny, in this light.

[Steven Budlong]

For anyone wondering about whether The Way will try and enforce its copyrights, you may find this both fascinating and disturbing:

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Item 23574 • Posted: Sunday August 30, 2009
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23574/hebraic-roots-version

Fort Worth, Texas – The Way International, an ostensibly Christian group often branded a “cult” (1) and with a history of alleged anti-Semitism (2), has filed a federal lawsuit against The Society for the Advancement of Nazarene Judaism (also known as the Worldwide Nazarene Assembly of Elohim http://www.wnae.org), an organization of Jewish believers in Yeshua (Jesus) as the Messiah of Judaism.

The suit claims that the Hebraic Roots Version (HRV) Bible, the standard version of the Scriptures for many Nazarene Jews worldwide, infringes on the copyright of the Aramaic English Interlinear New Testament once published by the Way. The Way seeks through this suit, to ban the HRV Bible.

The Society for the Advancement of Nazarene Judaism maintains that all translations of the Bible read very much alike and that the Hebraic Roots Version does not infringe on anyone else’s copyright.

This action is the latest in a series of similar legal actions by the Way International which raise questions concerning the free exercise of religion.

In 2007 The Way International sent a letter to The Way, a Baptist church located in Grant County, Kentucky, threatening to sue them over use of the name “The Way”(3)
That same year, they filed a lawsuit against “The Way Ministries” claiming trademark infringement (4).

The term “The Way” is actually a term found in the Bible for the early followers of Yeshua (Jesus) (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23 & 24:14).

In this latest move, The Way International seeks not only to control use of the biblical term “The Way,” but also seeks to ban the accepted Scriptures of a Messianic Jewish Group.

[Ted Ferrell]

Thanks John your post pretty much hit the nail on the head,

After the expense of the first two albums and very limited sales I had to do some real convincing to V.P that I believed we should record JN..When I told him we would do it in house and keep it simple he told me OK do it
So with Mike Wheeler on the board and a two track tape Revox recorder at The Twig Coffee House in St. Marys Ohio we started laying down song after song . Now mind you this was a direct mix so what you played and sang is what you got From those sessions came Joyful Noise 1, 2.and 3. That endeavor paid for itself or at least we broke even. From that point on JN and others produced more albums..

Yes John we gave our time and talent for the glory of God and His Son Jesus Christ We never expected that we would receive royalty checks in the mail

To this day I' m so thankful I got to serve with wonder filled musicians and singers like you. Really John the only one that got ripped off was the devil.

God Bless You,Janet ,And Family
Love You Brother
Ted










To this day I'm so thankful that I got to serve The Body Of Christ with wonder filled musicians and singers .
like you. Really John because of our efforts the only one that got ripped off was the devil

God Bless You ,Janet,and Family.
Ted

[John and Janet Ruiz]

Hi Steve (and Ted). Steve, an interesting topic to be sure. Ted was directly involved with the efforts of the Way Nash and Way Productions from it's inception, so his recall, well, speaks for itself. On the overall topic of ownership, publishing rights and copyrights there's are many many stories to match John Hurt and his son's, unfortunately and it's a sad story but exciting that your work intersected that body of music and his life that way. Good for you and for the history of the Mississippi Delta Blues, in all it's forms and iterations. It's a part of the bedrock of our "American" heritage and music.

In regards to the ownership of the music Joyful Noise wrote and produced I can give you my perspective, which may or may not match anyone else's, so take it for what it's worth. When I went into the Way Corps (4) it was with the intention of doing work with music and what we then referred to as "the Music Ministry". The songs that we wrote and the music produced was certainly ours (and the many others who participated), I doubt anyone would debate that, perhaps from a philisophical view, abstractly, but the product was produced by people, albeit with inspiration and mental and emotional fuel that came from what we believed in and what we were doing. But whoever wrote the song wrote it from "their" heart and it was out of a sense of collective respect for God and the Body of Christ that I signed anything. There were some things I didn't but in regards to JN it was a very special and specific piece of work and time, for me.

Once JN solidified and we went to work it was paid for by the finances of the Way Nash, whose money came from the members of the Way in donations. I don't know the details of the Way's finances over the years but I think contributions and donations over the years of varying kinds and amounts would account for where the dough came from.

In that way I always felt that the Way's people "owned" the music, in an indirect way. I don't mean that by legal definition but rather simply that the music produced was produced for them and with their support. They paid for it, it was on their dime and it certainly honored the music that people like yourself and others heard it and enjoyed it. It was a collaborative effort on all sides. As Ted noted, over the years the charges for the recordings ("albums" and tapes) never made money for anyone. There was a cost to buy them but it was minimal and had no real profit margin factored in once you did the math. The perspective was to do something for "God's people" and to try and move the effort forward, one person at a time if need be. So it was a different kind of endeavor.

Still, if I wanted to record or use one of the JN songs I wouldn't ask the Way for permission, I'd ask the composer. From what I've been told they threw out all of the older stuff anyway, and have no interest in it. Good for them, I don't relish it being associated with that organization at this point anyway, but that's me, others might feel differently.

It was what it was, as they say and I'd have to say - if the love of money isn't the root of all evil it's paying for whatever is, soooooooooooooooo, caution and care is required when moving in the Big Bucks Arena's of business, politics, religion, etc. Lots of it. : )

[Steven Budlong]

Ted, no blame. That is the way we all did things back then. We were blessed to work for the ministry and to give them our best efforts, including our best personal work. Times have really changed though and artists rights have really redefined the industry. But honestly, I appreciate all your work and service to Way Productions. You did a really wonderful job!