Thursday, February 24, 2022

The 1981 Listening Post - Donnie Iris - King Cool

 Donnie Iris - King Cool


#360

August 1981

Donnie Iris

King Cool

Genre: Rock

3.75 out of 5


Highlights:

Love is Like a Rock

That’s the Way Love Ought to Be

Broken Promises



Let’s talk about Mark Avsec. 

Who?

Exactly.

Avsec is a musician who co-wrote or wrote just about everything on Donnie Iris’ albums, of which he was a member. He’s a keyboardist and plays other instruments but what I most wanted to address is that he is a copywright attorney. 

He became an attorney because he was “sued frivolously for the song "Ah! Leah!" He won the lawsuit but lost all of the royalties defending himself.

Today Avsec has a successful practice specializing in intellectual property law based in Cleveland, Ohio, having graduated from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1994 magna cum laude.”


Avsec’s bio is on his alma mater’s site and I will post the link. 


Imagine writing that catchy a song, a bona fide hit single, and then losing all the royalties cuz some asshole decided, “Hmm…I think you stole that from me.” After he was exonerated I have to wonder what happened to the litigant. 


Avsec started with Iris in Wild Cherry. Then they went and wrote a bunch of songs together.


Knowing that stuff about Mark I wonder if that plays into the Iris albums only being available from, ironically, illegal rips on YouTube.

Look, I can’t get my shit together to cross blog these reviews on my personal site let alone collect the reviews into book form. Or even write my memoir, which I’ve threatened to do for 14 years. Avsec writes songs, litigates lawsuits, teaches law, produces Donnie Iris records, among other things. 


What I’m trying to say is, Fuck Mark Avsec but also, all hail Mark Avsec. 



The album is chock full of good tunes, although I would say that it’s not as demonstrably excellent as the debut.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8dGFo5vC5c





https://www.csualumni.com/stay-connected/fascinating-alumni-2015-2016/mark-avsec/

No comments: