Black Water Rising Files $10 Millon Lawsuit Against the New Jersey Devils

As reported on page ten of today's New York Post, Brooklyn, New York's BLACK WATER RISING have filed a multi-million dollar copyright infringement lawsuit against the New Jersey Devils. The text of the article can be found below as well as on the NY Post Website:

"The leader of a Brooklyn band wants to stick it to the New Jersey Devils, saying the puck-heads stole one of his songs.

Rob Traynor and the rest of Black Water Rising threw down the gloves and filed a $10 million copyright infringement suit after the NHL franchise allegedly refused to pay up for using 'Rise' in a video.

Traynor's lawyer, Wallace Collins, said the Devils 'are stubbornly stuck on offering an insultingly small amount of money to settle the case.'"

BWR guitarist and front man Rob Traynor released the following statement on the matter:

"Around September 2010 I received a text message from a friend of mine who was at a New Jersey Devils game informing me that the team was using our song "Rise" as their entrance/introduction music. I immediately assumed that this was a random play probably spun by the stadium DJ and really thought nothing of it. I gave my friend a return call and he explained the context in which it was used so I decided to do some investigating.

First, I posted the news on Facebook and got a bunch of responses from Jersey fans that informed me they too witnessed the same at a Devils game. It seemed that "Rise" was being used as their 2010, 2011 intro music for their "Devil's Army Rise Up!" campaign to rally the fans and team. The band and I were excited to say the least, but we were also a little shocked because no one ever reached out to the band to inform us that they were interested in using the song. I am well aware of the laws of copyright and being a member of ASCAP I know about "blanket licenses" that are given to large public venues like the Prudential center where the Devils play, who pay a yearly sum of money to play music from the ASCAP catalogue of which BWR is a part. The music gets played and ASCAP pays the artist a royalty for the public performance of the music, this is basically how it works. But, upon further investigation into the matter I found a video on their official website that also used the song to promote the team, and it was this promotional video that was playing above the ice on giant screens every night the game began, and gave the band no credit at all. This type of usage is not covered under any blanket license and needed to be cleared by the copyright holder, me. The use of a song in a video/movie format needs to be covered by what is called a sync license for a "dramatic performance." The song "Rise" is being used as part of their marketing campaign of which they make millions of dollars without so much as a phone call to ask if BWR wanted to be a part of it! This constitutes blatant copyright infringement. Besides total disregard for permission to use the song, the band was not even given credit in the stadium, so no one but a few fans knew who the music was by. Hence, BWR had nothing to gain from its use and this upset me to say the least.

Yes, I was excited and honored that a big corporation would want to use my music. But, I was angered that it was used without my permission, in defiance of copyright law, and for monetary gain. I guess they assumed that since we weren't a famous band they could do what they wanted with the song and us little saps would scurry away with our tails between our legs, just happy that they were using it. Wrong!

At first, we decided to approach this situation in a positive way by trying to reach out to the Devils camp and by putting out a press release letting people know they were using the song "Rise." After all, they weren't even giving us credit in the stadium and we wanted people to know who the song was by. I attempted to reach out to the NJ Devils camp in good faith with numerous phone calls, but got the runaround over and over again. Finally, after about a month and a half of phone calls I decided to get a lawyer involved who served their legal department with our complaint (cease and desist). To this, they responded. I was put in contact with one of their attorneys and we discussed how we could make this a mutually beneficial situation. After agreeing on what seemed at the time a "fair promotional package" for the band, I was told that their marketing department needed to review the terms and they would draft a license within the week for me to review.

One week turned into two, two into a month, one month into two months, and so on. All the while still using the song and ignoring the numerous phone calls I was leaving trying to find out where this "agreement" was. The hockey season was drawing to a close with still no response. After 10 months I decided to get another attorney (Wallace Collins ) involved and this time took the situation to another level by filing a suit to defend my copyright.

My music was basically stolen and put to work by a corporation for their monetary gain. They used my song to rally their team and fans before every home game and didn't even bother to credit the band. They dismissed and ignored my honest attempts to rectify the situation in the hopes that I would just go away. They banked on the hope that I would become discouraged and lack the means to file a suit against them, and they would get a free song out of the deal.

To me this is actually rather sad, that a corporation as big as the New Jersey Devils would show such blatant disregard for the copyright of a struggling artist and treat us as if we were insignificant pests, unworthy of their attention, after they basically stole my music. I wonder if Metallica would have a problem like this? It seems to me just another example of corporate greed. I'm not going away and I will defend my rights.

The ironic part about this whole thing is that the song "Rise" is about standing up to those that would hold you down. Life imitating art?

We would also like to make it clear that this statement is in no way directed at the players of the New Jersey Devils team who we are sure had absolutely no involvement or knowledge concerning this matter.

We appreciate the support of our fans and wanted to make a personal statement on this matter as it goes to the press and the public."

Thanks.

Rob Traynor
Vocalist / Guitarist for the band Black Water Rising
Writer and Copyright owner of the song "Rise"

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby expected to make a full recovery
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby has been visiting leading concussion specialists around the country and is expected to make a full recovery, the team announced tonight on its website.

The release said, however, that there is no timetable for when he will reach full recovery from his concussion, which was diagnosed Jan. 6 and sidelined him for the rest of last season and the playoffs.

"I appreciate all the support I've received from my family, friends, teammates and fans and from the entire Penguins organization," Crosby said in the statement. "I know they only want the best for my health, and for me to be fully ready when I return to game action."

The team said Crosby was training on- and off-ice but began having headaches again when he reached 90 percent exertion. His workouts then were altered accordingly.

The Penguins open training camp Sept. 16 and the regular season Oct. 6, but his agent, Pat Brisson, said it's not known if Crosby will be ready for those.

"We would appreciate patience and understanding at this time," Brisson said. "There has been a lot of speculation swirling over the past several weeks. We wish we could provide more specific details about Sidney's recovery, but a concussion is a different kind of injury. It's not something you can check with an x-ray. And you can't predict a precise recovery period. It's all about the way he feels.

"He has been feeling a lot better but we want to give him all the time he needs to make a full recovery. He's only 24, and he's got a lot of great years ahead of him."

Cooke's story puts his season in perspective

By Rob Rossi, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Photos
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Matt and Michelle
Justin Merriman | Tribune-Review

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Rob Rossi is the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Penguins beat writer and can be reached at 412-380-5635, via e-mail or on Twitter.

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Matt Cooke couldn't get anybody to answer his wife's cell phone.

About 600 miles separated him from his wife, who was lying in a hospital bed at UPMC Mercy, Uptown. She had fallen ill a day after the Winter Classic, another presumed reoccurrence of a kidney infection. Four days later, as her husband — one of the most infamous players in the NHL for his controversial hits — was frantically calling before a game-day breakfast with Penguins teammates in Montreal, Michelle Cooke was dying.

"I get a hold of a doctor, and he says, 'I think you should come back right now,' " Cooke said. "I got there, and they've got a chaplain giving her the blessing (for recovery) and our kids are in that room."

Seven months later, Cooke warmly gripped his wife's right hand during a lunch at Aviva Brick Oven Pizzeria in Warrendale. He had not played an NHL game in five months and acknowledged the next could be his last — even if he unintentionally hits an opponent in the head.

He said he won't, that he owes that much to the most important people in his world: Michelle and children Gabby, Reece and Jackson.

If he cannot keep this pledge to play within the NHL's rules, the words he said in front of Michelle on Tuesday — "It all happens for a reason," he said — what would that say about him as a husband, a father?

"I don't want to hurt anybody," he said.

So, Cooke said, he has "changed (his) approach" to hitting. He said he never wants to again do what he has done to opponents such as Marc Savard, Fedor Tyutin or Ryan McDonagh — the latter of whom he caught with an elbow to the head late last season, an illegal blow that brought upon Cooke a 17-game suspension.

He said will still hit, but only "the right way," and not because he believes his return to the NHL is under zero-tolerance terms, even though he said nobody with the Penguins or league has used those words.

No more elbows. No more blindside shots. No more of the hits that have garnered him the reputation as the NHL's dirtiest player, a so-called cheap-shot artist who has been suspended four times for illegal hits in three seasons since joining the Penguins.

A week after Cooke delivered what he said was an unintentional left elbow to McDonagh's head on March 20, Penguins teammate Jordan Staal said emphatically that Cooke "is not a monster like some people think."

Having heard his teammate's defense of him Tuesday, Cooke pursed his lips, looked at his wife, then lowered his voice.

"I don't care what they say about me," he said, referring to opponents and the hockey media. "I can take it. I go back to, 'Stick and stones...' but names — hey, your kids hear the names."

Added Michelle: "You never get used to your kids hearing the things people say. He's seen that part of it."

NO EXCUSES

The real-world impact of his hockey life was as easy to miss for Cooke as it is any professional athlete. Until his wife's 10-day hospitalization in January, his responsibility during the season was, by Michelle's admission, to concentrate on playing hockey.

However, from Jan. 2 through March 20, the day doctors cleared Michelle to again attend a Penguins game, Cooke never had a chance to take a breath. His wife, who had four surgical procedures to remove a mass three-quarters inch in diameter that clogged her left kidney's exit valve and infected her lungs and diaphragm, couldn't take a deep one.

Game-day naps were jettisoned for tending to Reece, 10, and Jackson, 7. (Gabby, 18, was attending high school near Bellville, Ontario.) Practices were a brief respite from handling the duties of father and mother while Michelle recovered.

Work never came home with Cooke, who didn't tell his wife he had been suspended four games for a Feb. 8 check from behind on Tyutin. He did not disclose that Penguins coach Dan Bylsma, on several occasions, tapped Cooke on the shoulder during a game and asked, "Are you with us, Matt?"

Bylsma said he has asked Cooke and other Penguins that question before, but he conceded the circumstances with Cooke were different.

"We knew what he was dealing with," Bylsma said. "He never would use it as an excuse for anything."

Cooke said Tuesday that one point must be made clear.

"I don't use (Michelle's health) as an excuse for anything that happened last season," he said. "I'm responsible for my actions out there."

Still, Michelle described her husband as "exhausted, not himself."

"He wasn't used to this," she said. "Before, it was him playing hockey and me being home with the kids, and it wasn't that way when I was sick. He wouldn't let it be that way. He was never getting any rest."

He saw a light in mid-March, though. Michelle attended her first game since the Classic. She, her mom and a friend were at Consol Energy Center when the Penguins faced the New York Rangers in an afternoon contest March 20.

That was the last game Cooke played.

"We finally had a chance to take a deep breath," he said. "Michelle was finally going back to a game and ..." He paused to reflect on the McDonagh hit. "Here I am trying to be strong enough to help her through this, and now I needed her support."

Cooke said he has reviewed 20 hours of hits — his own and those by others such as Rangers forward Ryan Callahan — so he could learn how to deliver a legal check.

Cooke said his new approach to hitting would have changed the way he approached McDonagh. He could have gone after the puck — McDonagh was in the process of dumping the puck from the neutral zone into the offensive zone — with his stick blade. Cooke said if he "had to hit (McDonagh), I'd hit his hands with my body.

"It wasn't intentional," he said, "but there is no excuse."

Cooke, unlike after previous controversial hits, asked Penguins general manager Ray Shero if he could attend a discipline hearing the next day in Toronto. He didn't try to excuse his behavior before NHL brass, Shero said.

Cooke even sent an apologetic text to McDonagh.

"Matt was still upset for a couple of days after that hit," Michelle said. "That was the difference I noticed. This (hit) bothered him."

She said her health scare and the brief change in his in-season dynamic with the kids provided her husband "perspective."

That perspective, Cooke said, is the reason to believe he is a changed man, that he can play hockey the right way.

He is aware the proof will be in his play. He knows he cannot slip up.

He maintains this Matt Cooke is different.

"I'm sure it all happens for a reason," he said. "It all affects you in one way or another. I can't pinpoint and say when (Michelle) was in the hospital and immediately after hitting (McDonagh) that there was this moment, but ...

"I've got this chance, and I need to look at it as an opportunity to show everybody that I can change my approach, that I can play within the rules. The rest of my career can be proving that it's possible to change. It has to be about that. There's no excuse for it not to be about that."

Former NHL tough guy Wade Belak found dead in Toronto hotel at the age of 35
Ken Campbell
2011-08-31 18:43:00

Former NHL enforcer Wade Belak was found dead in a downtown Toronto hotel Wednesday afternoon.

Belak, who turned 35 in July, announced his retirement this summer after a 14-year pro career that included stints with the Colorado Avalanche, Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers and, most recently, the Nashville Predators. Belak appeared in 549 NHL games over the course of his career, scoring eight goals and 33 points along with 1,263 penalty minutes.

Sources said police were called to a hotel in Toronto at about 1:30 Wednesday afternoon and found a body in the room. Belak was in Toronto preparing to appear as one of the competitors on CBC’s Battle of the Blades.

“The entire Nashville Predators organization and family is shocked and saddened by the sudden and untimely passing of Wade Belak," Belak's last team commented in a release. "Wade was a beloved member of the organization, a terrific teammate and wonderful father and husband who will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Jennifer and children Andie and Alex. We offer our full support to them at this very difficult time.”

Belak’s death marks the third tragedy this summer involving a current or former NHL enforcer. Derek Boogaard of the New York Rangers was found dead May 13 due to a lethal mix of alcohol and oxycodone. Rick Rypien, who was preparing to play for the Winnipeg Jets this season, was found dead in his home in Coleman, Alta., two weeks ago.
After finishing this season with the Nashville Predators, Belak had announced his retirement and was planning to embark on a broadcasting career as a television and radio reporter for Predators games. Belak is survived by his wife and two daughters.

Sidney Crosby Will Address the Media Wednesday at 12:30 PM

Sidney Crosby will address the media Wednesday, September 7 at 12:30 pm ET. The press conference will stream live on PittsburghPenguins.com.

Plane crash in Russia involves KHL team
Wednesday, 09.07.2011 / 11:04 AM / News
NHL.com

A plane crash near the city of Yaroslavl in Central Russia has claimed the lives of at least 43 people, according to Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry. The majority of victims are believed to be members of the Kontinental Hockey League club, Lokomotiv.

The crash occurred at 12 noon Moscow time and the weather was sunny and clear, according to reports.

Eight crew members are also among the dead, according to reports. According to Russian aviation officials, two passengers survived the crash, but are in critical condition. According to Sovetsky Sport, one of the survivors is Russian forward Alexander Galimov.

According to Sov Sport, Lokomotiv has confirmed that the entire main roster, plus four players from the youth team, was on the plane. The Lokomotiv roster was full of players with NHL ties.

The team's head coach, Brad McCrimmon, played in the NHL and most recently served as an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings before taking the Yaroslavl job in May. Defensemen Karel Rachunek, Ruslan Salei and Karlis Skrastins, as well as forwards Pavol Demitra and Josef Vasicek all spent a good deal of time in the NHL. Forward Alexander Vasyunov played a handful of games with the New Jersey Devils this past season.

Former NHLers Igor Korolev and Alexander Karpovtsev were listed as assistant coaches for Lokomotiv.

McCrimmon played defense for six NHL teams -- Boston, Philadelphia, Calgary, Detroit, Hartford and Phoenix -- in a 17-year career, appearing in 1,222 regular-season games in the NHL, collecting 81 goals, 322 assists and 1,416 penalty minutes.

He was an assistant coach with the New York Islanders, Calgary Flames, Atlanta Thrashers and the Red Wings. He also served as head coach of the Western Hockey League's Saskatoon Blades.

According to the reports on the crash, the plane, a Yakovlev Yak-42 passenger jet, went down and caught fire shortly immediately after taking to the air, crashing less than 2 kilometers from the airport.

The short- and medium-range Yak-42 has been in service since 1980. It was en route to Minsk, Belarus for a Thursday night game against Dynamo Minsk, Yaroslavl's opener to the 2011-12 KHL season.

Former Montreal Canadiens defenseman Brent Sopel, who is now playing in Russia, tweeted shortly after the crash: "In shock. Prayers out to all of the KHL families."

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said the plane crashed immediately after taking off from an airport near the city on the Volga River, which is approximately 150 miles northeast of Moscow.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has sent his transport minister to the site of the crash, 15 kilometres east of Yaroslavl.

The KHL season opened Wednesday with a game between Ufa and Atalanta, but that game was suspended as soon as news of the tragedy broke.

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, founded in 1949 as the team of the Railways Ministry, is one of Russia's leading hockey teams and came runner up in the Kontinental Hockey League in 2008 and 2009. In 1997 it took the Russian Superleague title and won back-to-back championships in 2002 and 2003.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/NHLers+Brad+McCrimmon+Pavol+Demitra+downed+plane+reports/5364518/story.html

Ex-NHLers Brad McCrimmon, Pavol Demitra on downed plane: reports
At least 44 dead in Russian plane crash

MOSCOW - The start of Russia's ice hockey league has been delayed in the wake of Wednesday's plane crash which killed at least 44 people including members of the Lokomotiv team travelling to their first match of the season.

The tragedy happened when a Russian jet crashed on takeoff at an airport outside the central Russian city of Yaroslavl,

A police source told Interfax that the stricken plane suddenly started listing to the left and crashed about 500 metres away from the Tunoshna airport.

"According to the latest data, there were 45 people on board — 37 passengers and eight crew. Forty-four people died in the crash and one person survived," the official told the RIA Novosti news agency.

Brad McCrimmon, a native of Dodsland, Saskatchewan, was coaching Lokomotiv this season. After an 18-year NHL career, McCrimmon coached the Saskatoon Blades for two seasons - 1998-99 and 1999-2000 - helping the team improve from 16-49-7 in his first season to 34-27-8 in his second season at the helm. He has since served as an assistant coach in the NHL with Calgary, Atlanta and Detroit.

During his playing days, McCrimmon suited up for Boston, Philadelphia, Calgary, Detroit, Hartford and Phoenix.

Initially the Continental Hockey League (KHL) elected to go ahead with the scheduled first match between reigning champions Ufa and last season's runners-up Mytishchi.

But after details of the full extent of the accident were confirmed the match was stopped with five minutes, 16 seconds remaining before the first intermission.

"In such a situation the players of both teams considered the playing after their friends and collegues died to be absolutely impossible," KHL president Alexander Medvedev announced.

The decision about the new start of KHL season will be announced later.

The local capacity 10,000 crowd at Ufa Arena held a minute's silence in the memory of the players who died in the crash.

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl were scheduled to start their new KHL season on Thursday with a match at Minsk against local side Dynamo.

The club, which was founded in 1959, wonthe Russian title in 1997, 2002 and 2003, clinching the league's silver medal in 2008 and 2009.

Yaroslavl also won bronze medals of the Russian league in 1998, 1999, 2005 and 2011.

Czech players Josef Vasicek, Jan Marek and Karel Rachunek were on Yaroslavl's roster this season along with Stefan Liv of Sweden and Slovak Pavol Demitra.

Of 27 names on the roster, several previously played for NHL teams while most were NHL prospects.

Demitra, 37, played for the Ottawa Senators, Vancouver Canucks and several U.S. NHL teams including the Los Angeles Kings.

Robert Dietrich, Jan Marek and Stefan Liv were both NHL prospects and played in the American Hockey League. It would have been Marek's first year with the Russian team.

Karel Ruchunek, was drafted by the Ottawa Senators in 1997 and played about half a dozen games with the team that same year.

Vitaly Anikeyenko, 24, who was selected by the Ottawa Senators as the third round pick overall in the 2005 NHL entry draft, was also on the Russian team's roster. He played for the Russian team since 2005.

Ruslan Salei, in the NHL since the 1997-98 season, played last year with the Detroit Red Wings. He previously played for the Colorado Avalanche, the Florida Panthers, and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

The identity of the lone survivor has not been released.

Crosby doctor expects Sid will play in 2011-12
Wednesday, 09.07.2011 / 1:09 PM / News
By Adam Kimelman - NHL.com Staff Writer

Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby is recovering but isn't to the point where he's able to return to the game yet, and while there's no timetable for that return, his doctors said Wednesday at a press conference in Pittsburgh that they do expect him to return at some point this season.

Crosby hasn't played since suffering a concussion in a game Jan. 5 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. That hit came after he took a hard blow in the 2011 Winter Classic against the Washington Capitals on Jan. 1.

Dr. Michael Collins, the director of UPMC's concussion program who has treated Crosby, said the concussion the star center suffered affected his vestibular system.

"The job of that system is to integrate information," Collins said. "That space and motion system is what was affected in Sid's injury."

Collins also said that type of concussion is one of the most difficult to recover from.

"When I saw Sid he was having symptoms consisted with a cerebral concussion. He was foggy … he had headaches, fogginess, fatigue, light sensitiveness," Collins said.

"At that point in time … I knew we were in for a long recovery."

Despite that gloomy prognosis, Collins is steadfast in his belief that Crosby will return at some point this season. The doctor said when he examined Crosby on Tuesday, he saw drastic improvement.

"I assessed Sid and I could tell you that his data is the best we've seen," Collins said. "It's approaching normal limits. It's not there yet, but I was encouraged by what I saw. Right now I would classify Sid's case in that we're in reconditioning mode. He needs to be reconditioned 100 percent (before he plays). There's no timelines on this, we can't predict when it will occur. But he will be 100 percent normal when he plays."

Crosby added that he won't return until he's 100 percent.

"Ninety percent is good, but at the same time, if there's symptoms, 90 percent isn't good enough," he said. "I'm putting myself in position to get hit and mess that (vestibular) system up again. Maybe I can get by with 90 percent, but I'm not going to roll the ice with that."

Crosby to practice with Penguins, contact excluded
Friday, September 16, 2011
By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said this morning that he will practice with the club in training camp, starting with Saturday's first day on the ice. He has not, however, been cleared for contact, so will sit out scrimmages and contact drills.

"I'm excited to get going," said Crosby, who was diagnosed with a concussion Jan. 6 and did not play again last season.

"I'm pretty happy with the way things have gone the past week or so. Exertion's been pretty high."

Crosby was doing the same thing -- practicing with the team in non-contact situations -- before he began having headaches and other symptoms in April. He expects training camp practices to be set at a higher, tougher pace.

"I think camp will be a pretty good indication," he said. "It's going to be pretty intense.

"I feel pretty comfortable and confident with where I'm at."

Crosby indicated he will be evaluated as camp unfolds. There is no timetable for when he might be cleared for contact or when he might play. The Penguins open the season Oct. 6 at Vancouver.

Ted Carrick, a concussion specialist added to Crosby's care team last month, said in an interview with WDVE-FM that Crosby is "probably as ready [for contact] as most hockey players are" and only needs to get into game condition, but team officials and Crosby's other medical crew members have said all along that they will take things slowly and make sure he is symptom-free and fully recovered.