Wednesday, November 30, 2005

A Logical Contradiction:
Cutting Deals with Stan Polley
This is another subject that is incredulous about Joey's version of Badfinger history, the purported "deal" he worked out with Polley in 1974 to buy Badfinger out of its contracts. I don't doubt that Joey actually spoke with Polley on this matter, or that they spoke about cutting a deal. What I doubt is that Joey understood the situation - either then or now.

First, as has been clearly stated by many Polley clients, this character routinely gathered money to himself by any means possible. He never gave/sold back contracts if he could still make money from them. Badfinger's contracts still had much more money to yield. Second, this is the same person who pulled a gun on one of his clients, and laughed and taunted other clients when they asked him to be financially reasonable. According to a witness before a Senate investigation committee, Polley worked his way up through the ranks of organized crime. He was mean, tough, and shrewd.

Now, Joey claims he worked out a deal with Polley where Badfinger would buy back its contracts from him. One problem here is that Badfinger didn't have any real money that wasn't already in Polley's bank account. What was Polley's incentive? Did Joey threaten that Badfinger would sue Polley? Polley's history of court victories indicate this would not have worried him. Besides, because of these lopsided contracts, Polley was legally safe in his operation. Did Joey threaten that the band would break up? I don't believe a single member could make a convincing case for this. No matter how you weigh it, this purported "deal" simply does not have any logical conclusions to it.

My theory is that Joey was duped by Polley; a stalling tactic meant to get the musician out of his hair. He knew he could simply agree to anything Joey suggested, and that the musician would soon be on a jet and on his way out of the country. Polley was probably laughing before Joey even made it to the end of the street. Once Joey was back in England, he would no longer be a problem for Polley, and any agreement he made would simply be ignored from that point forward.

Not to be too hard on Joey, but Polley bamboozled people who were far more worldly than any Badfinger member. Badfinger were naive, idealistic hippie kids who were dealing with a very experienced and cunning shark. I can't believe an equitable deal could have been struck between any Badfinger member and Polley. The chasm was far too wide, and Badfinger simply had nothing to offer or threaten him with.

It's funny because several times both Joey & Kathie Molland criticized Bill Collins for being "duped" by Polley. It's also funnier when I see Joey - even today - claiming in interviews that he "worked out a deal" with the devil. I suspect we have an ex-hippie running around who is still being duped by Polley.

1 comment:

Giordan said...

'Badfinger were naive, idealistic hippie kids who were dealing with a very experienced and cunning shark.'

Since Badfinger met the Beatles during the period in which they (the Beatles) were going through all their management and financial problems, I find it hard to believe that at no point did any members of the Beatles organisation offer to share any information with Badfinger that would have helped them cope better. Has anyone else ever wondered about this?