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Dino Jelusic's Ray Gillen tribute
#1
I just stumbled on this video...

Apparently this guy is one of the singers in TSO West.  Too bad for me as I would love to see him on East!

Here is his tribute to the late Ray Gillen who had an amazing voice in an underrated band named Badlands back in the good old days.  He also sang on Savatage's Strange Wings back in the good older days. 

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#2
I think Dino is one of the better decisions TSO has made. I've been quite impressed.
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#3
Ray and his old boss Paul O'Neill were just in the news:

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/jake-e-...-had-aids/

Jake E. Lee: "But in between the first and the second [BADLANDS] record, Ray started getting really thin and didn't look quite as healthy. And I never asked him about it. But, anyway, between those two, Paul O'Neill — he was our manager, as well as producing the vocals on the first record — we decided to fire him. There was missing money and whatever. We decided to fire him. And Paul calls me and says… 'Cause the first BADLANDS tour, we cut it off pretty short, because Ray got pneumonia. And then, for some reason, the management said, 'Well, you need to do a second record,' even though we'd hardly really toured on that first one. Which I thought was weird. Anyway, when we decided to fire him, Paul said, 'Well, you can't fire me.' [I said], 'Why not?' And he said, 'Because I have information, and I'll tell Atlantic Records about it.' I go, 'What are you talking about?' And he said, 'Ray has AIDS.' And I said, 'Why do you say that?' And he said, 'Because when he went to the hospital, when he had pneumonia, the blood work showed that he had it. And if you fire me, I'm gonna tell Atlantic Records.' And I was, like, 'You motherfucker!' So, then I said, 'This is gonna be Ray's decision. I'm not gonna say yes or no.' But I did tell him, 'You motherfucker. That's fucking blackmail, and that's just bullshit. That's fucked up shit.' So I asked Ray, and Ray said, 'Well, it's not true, so fuck him. Fire him.' So we did fire him. And he did tell Atlantic Records that. And we got kind of screwed on the second record because of it. They wouldn't even give us tour-support money at all… But, yeah, Paul O'Neill fucked us on that.
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#4
(01-27-2019, 05:21 AM)MikeNY Wrote: Ray and his old boss Paul O'Neill were just in the news:

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/jake-e-...-had-aids/

Jake E. Lee: "But in between the first and the second [BADLANDS] record, Ray started getting really thin and didn't look quite as healthy. And I never asked him about it. But, anyway, between those two, Paul O'Neill — he was our manager, as well as producing the vocals on the first record — we decided to fire him. There was missing money and whatever. We decided to fire him. And Paul calls me and says… 'Cause the first BADLANDS tour, we cut it off pretty short, because Ray got pneumonia. And then, for some reason, the management said, 'Well, you need to do a second record,' even though we'd hardly really toured on that first one. Which I thought was weird. Anyway, when we decided to fire him, Paul said, 'Well, you can't fire me.' [I said], 'Why not?' And he said, 'Because I have information, and I'll tell Atlantic Records about it.' I go, 'What are you talking about?' And he said, 'Ray has AIDS.' And I said, 'Why do you say that?' And he said, 'Because when he went to the hospital, when he had pneumonia, the blood work showed that he had it. And if you fire me, I'm gonna tell Atlantic Records.' And I was, like, 'You motherfucker!' So, then I said, 'This is gonna be Ray's decision. I'm not gonna say yes or no.' But I did tell him, 'You motherfucker. That's fucking blackmail, and that's just bullshit. That's fucked up shit.' So I asked Ray, and Ray said, 'Well, it's not true, so fuck him. Fire him.' So we did fire him. And he did tell Atlantic Records that. And we got kind of screwed on the second record because of it. They wouldn't even give us tour-support money at all… But, yeah, Paul O'Neill fucked us on that.

WOW!!! If true, Paul had a serious dark side to him...YIKES! Surprised if Paul had his real teeth after that one.
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#5
(01-28-2019, 01:54 AM)JustTimTheBigTBone Wrote:
(01-27-2019, 05:21 AM)MikeNY Wrote: Ray and his old boss Paul O'Neill were just in the news:

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/jake-e-...-had-aids/

Jake E. Lee: "But in between the first and the second [BADLANDS] record, Ray started getting really thin and didn't look quite as healthy. And I never asked him about it. But, anyway, between those two, Paul O'Neill — he was our manager, as well as producing the vocals on the first record — we decided to fire him. There was missing money and whatever. We decided to fire him. And Paul calls me and says… 'Cause the first BADLANDS tour, we cut it off pretty short, because Ray got pneumonia. And then, for some reason, the management said, 'Well, you need to do a second record,' even though we'd hardly really toured on that first one. Which I thought was weird. Anyway, when we decided to fire him, Paul said, 'Well, you can't fire me.' [I said], 'Why not?' And he said, 'Because I have information, and I'll tell Atlantic Records about it.' I go, 'What are you talking about?' And he said, 'Ray has AIDS.' And I said, 'Why do you say that?' And he said, 'Because when he went to the hospital, when he had pneumonia, the blood work showed that he had it. And if you fire me, I'm gonna tell Atlantic Records.' And I was, like, 'You motherfucker!' So, then I said, 'This is gonna be Ray's decision. I'm not gonna say yes or no.' But I did tell him, 'You motherfucker. That's fucking blackmail, and that's just bullshit. That's fucked up shit.' So I asked Ray, and Ray said, 'Well, it's not true, so fuck him. Fire him.' So we did fire him. And he did tell Atlantic Records that. And we got kind of screwed on the second record because of it. They wouldn't even give us tour-support money at all… But, yeah, Paul O'Neill fucked us on that.

WOW!!! If true, Paul had a serious dark side to him...YIKES! Surprised if Paul had his real teeth after that one.

I have a sneaking suspicion it is true. Jake E. Lee has never been one to be less than truthful or keep quiet about things if someone asked. I don't think he's ever gone out of his way to carry tales but if asked he'll talk.

I never quite believed that Paul was the angel on earth he's been made out to be by his own publicity machine.
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#6
(01-28-2019, 01:48 PM)NancyL Wrote:
(01-28-2019, 01:54 AM)JustTimTheBigTBone Wrote:
(01-27-2019, 05:21 AM)MikeNY Wrote: Ray and his old boss Paul O'Neill were just in the news:

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/jake-e-...-had-aids/

Jake E. Lee: "But in between the first and the second [BADLANDS] record, Ray started getting really thin and didn't look quite as healthy. And I never asked him about it. But, anyway, between those two, Paul O'Neill — he was our manager, as well as producing the vocals on the first record — we decided to fire him. There was missing money and whatever. We decided to fire him. And Paul calls me and says… 'Cause the first BADLANDS tour, we cut it off pretty short, because Ray got pneumonia. And then, for some reason, the management said, 'Well, you need to do a second record,' even though we'd hardly really toured on that first one. Which I thought was weird. Anyway, when we decided to fire him, Paul said, 'Well, you can't fire me.' [I said], 'Why not?' And he said, 'Because I have information, and I'll tell Atlantic Records about it.' I go, 'What are you talking about?' And he said, 'Ray has AIDS.' And I said, 'Why do you say that?' And he said, 'Because when he went to the hospital, when he had pneumonia, the blood work showed that he had it. And if you fire me, I'm gonna tell Atlantic Records.' And I was, like, 'You motherfucker!' So, then I said, 'This is gonna be Ray's decision. I'm not gonna say yes or no.' But I did tell him, 'You motherfucker. That's fucking blackmail, and that's just bullshit. That's fucked up shit.' So I asked Ray, and Ray said, 'Well, it's not true, so fuck him. Fire him.' So we did fire him. And he did tell Atlantic Records that. And we got kind of screwed on the second record because of it. They wouldn't even give us tour-support money at all… But, yeah, Paul O'Neill fucked us on that.

WOW!!! If true, Paul had a serious dark side to him...YIKES! Surprised if Paul had his real teeth after that one.

I have a sneaking suspicion it is true.  Jake E. Lee has never been one to be less than truthful or keep quiet about things if someone asked.  I don't think he's ever gone out of his way to carry tales but if asked he'll talk.

I never quite believed that Paul was the angel on earth he's been made out to be by his own publicity machine.

I agree, that story paints a whole different picture of Paul that 99.999 percent of us have never seen or heard of. I know Tim Hockenberry shed just a little bit of his displeasure the way things were handled with him. Maybe early on "Saint Paul" was very shrewd and manipulating and hopefully he ditched that side of himself to be what most of us thought he was...that story blows my mind....WOW!!!!
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#7
(01-28-2019, 01:48 PM)NancyL Wrote: I never quite believed that Paul was the angel on earth he's been made out to be by his own publicity machine.

Nope. That was a pretty harsh reveal in that interview, but falls in line with much of what can be found in many interviews from guys who worked for him over the years in TSO. He seemed to be genuinely generous and ridiculously creative, but the stories that have crept out about how he has dealt with some who have worked for him definitely show another side. I never got the Paul-worship that goes on from a lot of TSO fans.
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#8
(01-30-2019, 01:37 AM)MikeNY Wrote:
(01-28-2019, 01:48 PM)NancyL Wrote: I never quite believed that Paul was the angel on earth he's been made out to be by his own publicity machine.

Nope.  That was a pretty harsh reveal in that interview, but falls in line with much of what can be found in many interviews from guys who worked for him over the years in TSO.  He seemed to be genuinely generous and ridiculously creative, but the stories that have crept out about how he has dealt with some who have worked for him definitely show another side.  I never got the Paul-worship that goes on from a lot of TSO fans.

I never worshipped Paul, I like what he had done to bring the music of Savatage out to the main stream. I always heard great things about him until this piece came out. No saint indeed.
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#9
I just put it together with the little things from interviews with former TSO members and figure it's totally true.
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#10
New interview with Badlands bassist Greg Chaisson where he is asked about their relationship with Paul and the sticky situation in how he came to manage and produce them.  (The whole interview is really interesting if you are a Badlands fan, but the bit about Paul is 29:18 - 31:30) :

A couple notable passages:

"We met with Paul O'Neill and he promised us all kinds of stuff, some of it he delivered on and some of it he didn't. All of a sudden he is producing our first record which, I'll just say up front he didn't have a lot to do with that. Jake had way more to do with the production of that record than Paul O'Neill did. It's just that it was agreed that he would have his name on it..."

"One of the happiest days of my musical career was when they let me fire him"


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