American Green Inc (ERBB)

[neilbolton]

This is even less complementary

Billy Joel's first manger's name is Artie Ripp (no joke). He took Joel to the cleaners via an iron clad contract. Cold Spring Harbor, Joel's first solo album was a technical disaster. The music is good and the songs are fresh but the pressing of the album had technical anomalies like recording speed that made Joel's voice sound high and quivery. Billy Joel hated the result and set out to California, with his best friend's wife (Elizabeth) to live under an assumed name (aka Bill Martin) to break the contract with Ripp. It took Ripp a while to get it, but eventually with nearly a year of no Billy Joel to be found Ripp agreed to allow Columbia Records to buy out his contract with Joel. That freed Joel to embark on new musical endeavors, the first one under the Columbia label being Piano Man. Artie Ripp still holds all the rights to Cold Spring Harbor and The Harbor Sessions.

I saw Artie Ripp interviewed on the ABC News Show called 20/20 about the time Billy Joel had released 52nd Street, many years ago. What a giant Los Angeles ass he was then. I doubt he has changed at all. He openly bragged that he still gets X amount of cents (which adds up to big bucks) for all of Billy Joel's releases. He sarcastically wished Billy Joel to have a long and prosperous musical career. Artie Ripp can best be described as a sleazy shmuck. Billy Joel has never disclosed the exact nature of what Ripp gets from him. If anyone knows I would be interested in hearing about it.

http://www.talkaboutthemusic.com/group/alt.music.billy-joel/messages/84042.html