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Bad Vibrations in Beach Boy Land
Where's Rhonda when they really need some help?
The Beach Boys have been blasted with a $20 million countersuit brought by the man the seminal surf-rockers contend stole photos, recordings and other band memorabilia with designs on hawking the valuable goods online.
Roy Sciacca disputes the band's allegations of thievery--as laid out in their $20 million lawsuit against him in January--saying instead that he is the rightful owner of the goods in question.
"I love the Beach Boys," Sciacca told the Associated Press. "It disgusts me how far this has gone and the lies and so forth."
Sciacca claims he amassed the memorabila by purchasing, not stealing, boxes of wares at a liquidation sale in California nearly two decades ago. His lawsuit further asserts that the Beach Boys' tour manager was present during the sale and gave the go-ahead to purchase the items.
In his federal lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Miami against Brother Records Inc., the band's corporate entity, Sciacca says that the group wrongfully halted a planned Internet sale of the memorabilia last year. He is requesting damages of $20 million or the right to sell the merchandise.
Among the items under dispute: original and rare song compositions, including Brian Wilson's handwritten scores to "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "California Girls" and "I Get Around"; photos, including one of the band with George Harrison; and contracts, including one between Brian Wilson and Mike Love for the 1968 ditty "Do It Again."
The band's lawyer, Ed McPherson, said the countersuit would not dissuade the "Good Vibrations" crooners from seeking to retrieve the goods, calling Sciacca's legal action nothing more than a publicity stunt.
"It's unfortunate that there are people out there that take advantage of situations like this and people willing to buy this stuff," he told the AP.
Sciacca's legal broadside was in response to the Beach Boys' suit, which seeks $20 million from both the collector and Allan Garba, the man who owns the North Hollywood warehouse from which the memorabilia was allegedly stolen.
The Beach Boys' suit claims the two men violated the band's copyright and trademark rights in procuring the mementos.
Filed on behalf of the group's surviving members, the lawsuit alleges that when their storage facility was cleared out in 1994, 13 of 25 boxes were AWOL. The band accuses Garba of removing them without permission and handing them over to Sciacca with the intent of turning a hefty profit.
Per the band's suit, Sciacca contacted a Britain-based auction house last fall to put the items up for sale. Only a last-minute intercession by the band's attorneys kept the mementos off the block.
The aborted sale led the Los Angeles Police Department and FBI to search Sciacca's office, but none of the disputed items were found.
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