Billy Yeager Musician, Filmmaker, Activist, Humanitarian
In New Yorker Magazine’s “The Case Against the Media, by the Media,” one of the questions given to 113 journalists was: “What is the worst sin you have committed as a journalist?”
Here is one of the shocking answers:
“If you really have an ill feeling about a person, you can find information — legitimate, factual information — to turn that person into anything you want. It’s the selectivity of the information. The selectivity of the evidence. And you can get any kind of story, you can ruin anybody’s career. People believe the first time they read something, and it makes an impression on them, and you can’t alter it, no matter how much pleading you do to get it right, you’re lost.” – Anonymous journalist
Once upon a time,
an artist named Billy Yeager fell on hard times. Living out of his car, he put his possessions in a storage facility. When he was unable to make the monthly payments, all his possessions were auctioned off, including master tapes of his songs, films, CDs, cassette tapes and record albums.
One of those records was a test pressing of an album called 301 Jackson St, recorded in 1989–there were only 4 test pressings ever made.
(301 Jackson St. also happens to be the address where Billy Yeager lived for over 13 years in Hollywood, Florida.)
28 years later, the record album was discovered and listed for sale on the website discogs.com.
On January 23rd, 2017, 301 Jackson St. sold on Discogs for the record-breaking price of $18,000.
The news of this record-breaking album was a shock to vinyl record collectors all over the world.
But 8 weeks later, on March 23rd, Discogs cancelled the transaction and sent out an updated press release to all the prominent music news websites.
Soon after receiving the Discogs press release, NPR published its biased and defamatory news article. Shortly after, Spin followed with another calumnious story.
Media outlets from all over the world picked up the story from NPR and Spin, and without fact checking they republished the false statements and malicious accusations written by Andrew Flanagan and Andy Cush.
2000 years ago, Pontius Pilate asked Jesus,“What is Truth?”
Jesus never answered.
In 2018 Time Magazine asked:
One simple truth we can all agree on is:
The Media Lies and that is a Fact.
Who is Billy Yeager?
Yeager is a voice in the wilderness, an artistic archetype of John the Baptist, calling out corruption, greed, hypocrisy, and injustices in the world, and lambasting the unethical corporations, the manipulative, sensational, biased media, the hedonistic pop culture, and the degenerate entertainment industry.
Yeager has been discovered numerous times by people such as Columbia Records Executive Chuck Gregory in 1983, Grammy Award Winner Bruce Hornsby in 1991, Kiss band manager Doc McGhee in 2001, and Rod Stewart in 2005, yet he still remains unknown.
Regarded by artists such as Prince and Jaco Pastorius to be a guitar god, he is also considered by many to be one of the greatest artists of our time.
But through all the discoveries, accolades, and coveted opportunities, Billy Yeager has somehow eluded fame, and instead he has chosen a most difficult path, one that is clearly evident, one that has put him on the chopping block, and one that the media has tried to destroy.
Back in 2005, Yeager was performing at high society events in Palm Beach, Florida, for people such as the Rockefellers, Rothschilds, and Presidents, but Billy and his wife Anais renounced that life of comfort, and headed west to the Mojave desert to produce the film trilogy Jesus of Malibu.
But what really sets Billy Yeager apart, and the reason why he remains the media’s target, is that he’s willing to speak the ugly truth.
“Artists are sometimes the prophets of our age. While Billy can certainly be unorthodox at times, so has every true prophet been as they challenge the thinking of their age. God is working in, through and as each one of us to get humanity to wake up. It’s about time, and Billy and Anais are playing a part in that wake up call.” – Minister Tim Lytle / Unity Church Hawaii
“What accusation are you bringing against this man?”
NPR published and broadcasted libelous and slanderous statements about Billy Yeager, his work, and his life using words such as:
charlatan, huckster, scam, hoax, bamboozle, stymied repeatedly, embittered, relentless failures, fake identities, ill-conceived, quixotic, purposeless obfuscation, trickster – booster.
Billy Yeager has filed a defamation lawsuit against NPR (National Public Radio) for the amount of 350 million dollars.
Yeager’s lawsuit is unprecedented, and it will most likely go down in history as one of the most important court cases of our times for several different reasons.
One of those reasons is that his case is pro se, meaning that he has chosen not to be represented by a lawyer. Yeager is fighting his own case of defamation of character, and why shouldn’t he?
Similar to Rolling Stone’s article “A Rape on Campus,” which defamed a University of Virginia administrator, Nicole P. Eramo, who said the article had portrayed her as the “chief villain,” NPR’s article is also defamatory.Unlike the Rolling Stone’s article, however, it is not just one or two sentences that are slightly skewed by NPR’s journalists; NPR’s story is laden with false and malicious statements.
“There’s no more powerful force in human history than tribalism . . . There’s nothing that gets people to band together more than a perceived common enemy . . . But if you can generate a story that gets the reaction, ‘This is an outrage, I must tell my friends about this,’ . . . then you’re going to do better than just some random feel-good story that will be shared by a smaller percentage . . . let’s find someone who’s done something and skewer him. People share stuff that they actively loathe by saying, ‘Can you believe this shit?’” – David Auerbach / The Case Against the Media by the Media.
“The lawsuit, this kind of energy to me it’s a tough one, especially when you’re trying to do good work; to me that stuff is of this world, so it’s tough, it must be tough for him too. Billy is the kind of cat that would take those millions and he would go do all the things he wants to help the world. If you spent just a little time with him, you’d see he is about truth; that’s what I admire about him, he is down for waking people up.” – Jimi RuccoloBut Yeager’s lawsuit is not only about defending his own character and reputation, it is a fight against injustice and for a revolution for the freedom mind.
“Anais and William have created a forum, an idea and hope for art in the future to be something bigger and bolder in spirit and courage to expand and free the mind! The mind is such a powerful and yet such a fragile mechanism at the same time. It is capable of astounding acts of kindness and courage and just as equally so of every kind of crime and depravity against nature. The freedom of the mind is something we all have to fight for in whatever way we can. The mind is wayward, never resting from searching, and most often, for all the wrong things and for things that do not appease it. The mind is a constant radar honing in on every kind of impression and perception, easily influenced and drawn astray as William and Anais say, ‘by the vanities of this world.’
How do I know? I know because I think it is something we all know deep down inside about ourselves, of the duality of our own human nature. It is the battle between the flesh and the spirit. In the trailer of Jesus of Malibu Anais says, ‘When did man become afraid of his thoughts and feelings?’ It is a good question. Perhaps this is why we strive, why we distract, why we retreat into the numbing monotony and conformity of things that are not who we really are.
Jesus of Malibu is not preachy, pompous or narrow although it can be confrontational in the sense of confronting ourselves to define our own roles in society and to bold action against the status quo. More than anything the film gently suggests for us to be conscious, responsible and inquisitive into the nature of ourselves and the nature of others. Encourages us to fight for the freedom of the mind and soul by breaking through barriers of pop culture, politics, religion, by supporting visionary, ‘transcendental art’ over mass-produced mindless entertainment. Not only for the sake of art but also more importantly, for the sake of our souls, for the health and vitality of our lives. Anais and William believe we can change the world. It is said that the whole is only so good as the sum of its parts. My feelings of my own responsibility in that equation has been set into motion in part by Jesus of Malibu – so thank you for playing your special part in mine.” – Natalie Jaro Link to complete article.
Since the day Billy and Anais met, they have been trying to usher in a revolution for the freedom of the mind.
As truth seekers, the Yeagers are fully aware that in order for this REVOLUTION and for this “awakening” to transpire within our minds, the lies of this world must be exposed.
“Today’s major media journalism is biased, irresponsible, sensationalist reporting that distorts, exaggerates or misstates the truth. It’s misinformation or agitprop disinformation masquerading as fact to boost circulation, readership, viewers, or listeners, and on vital issues lie about or suppress uncomfortable truths to provide unqualified support for state and/or corporate interests – to the detriment of the greater good that’s always sacrificed for profits and imperial aims.” – Hermes PressThat’s why the Yeagers are fighting the Entertainment Industry and the Mainstream Media whom they consider to be contributing to the downfall of today’s society by desensitizing and manipulating the masses, seducing people into a lethargic coma with their bloated and irrelevant, vanity driven, mind-numbing, mind control, fear based propaganda.“For way too many of this world’s ‘followers,’ their manner of thinking remains stilted, stifled and compliant with a society and authority geared toward achieving self-worth through monetary gain and “outdoing” friends, neighbors, colleagues and those whom they merely pass on a sidewalk. And this outlandish, programmed, self-serving behavior has reached a frighteningly dangerous level. Mankind’s self-centeredness shall bring on the demise of life–in all its forms–on our shared planet long before God intends.
Is this something capable of being rectified? By whom and through what means? Who will hear the truisms you convey in Jesus Of Malibu? For those with open minds, hearts built to listen and eyes that collectively permit this film’s message to filter into their senses, perhaps hope remains. The strength of conviction you both expound in the battle against capitalistic, political and societal falsehoods–behind which the majority hides—may be the very catalyst to bring forth a revolution that hits people in the gut, scaring them OUT OF THE FEARFUL STATE in which they reside.” – Amy Adams LINK to full text.
In 2011, writer Dan Mage published an article about the Yeagers and The Revolution For The Freedom Of The Mind.
“The mainstream media may dismiss them instantly as Quixotic anachronisms, speaking a long forgotten and discredited counter-cultural polemic against the dominant culture. The politicians and pundits championing America’s final descent into a new high-tech dark age will condemn them as dangerous political and religious blasphemers.
Anais and Billy don’t give a crap, speaking from an allegiance to the fundamental and indestructible nature of truth, and freedom, even at a time when, in Billy’s words: ‘Nobody is free, and that’s the truth, and the truth is that people don’t want to know the truth.’” – Dan Mage
Verity Healey is a London-based writer and filmmaker who writes for HowlRound, Ministry of Counterculture, and Exeunt Magazine.
“I believe that Anais and Billy are committed artists seeking to bring only consciousness and light, using their creativity to help heal the effects of the malign forces of today’s economic structures and a celebrity obsessed media.
Anais and Billy’s stories are epic painful epiphanies transformed by the deep psychic connections that their bodies hold with the earth. With the desert as their canvas and witness to these personal, internal frontier breaking narratives, it is hard not to fall slightly in love with both of these sincere, thoughtful and spiritual activist artists.
Some will insist the Yeagers’ version of truth is not theirs. But to think this is to miss the point that there is no one singular truth and no, one singular way to it. The point is that Billy and Anais are living their truth wholeheartedly and without compromise in every aspect of their lives. They are real rebels, believing in the values of change, compassion and redemption.
The Yeagers’ protests and performance art all play their part in assuring us that the Yeagers will do anything to promote their message ‘that man must change or perish.’
Their cause is the freedom of the mind because without it, there can be no spiritual evolution.” – Verity Healey
“I am as mad as hell, and I am not going to take this anymore!”
Mistakes by the press are to be expected every so often, but when a journalist lies on purpose to create a sensational story, and is callous about ruining the reputation of someone who is trying to help those who cannot help themselves, then it becomes a crime.
NPR declared:
They Kill Mockingbirds, Don’t They?
It was early May and already a balmy 85 degrees when I exited the plane at Ft. Lauderdale International airport at 7:00 a.m. in the morning. I was heading to a place known as Las Olas Boulevard where I would meet the buyer of the 301 Jackson St. record album.
I get a call, “Hello, it’s Dolph.” I had planned to meet him in Coral Springs at his home, but he informs me he has gone to his other home on the water about 5 miles away.
He tells me to meet him on his yacht.
Taking a right turn onto Las Olas Boulevard, I notice waterways similar to pictures I have seen of Venice. In Las Olas there are gigantic yachts, astonishing multi-million-dollar mansions and the people who live in them, such as Steven Spielberg, Gloria Vanderbilt, Dan Quayle, Connie Francis, even Johnny Weissmuller once lived there.
I find my destination, park the car, and walk around the house heading towards the back. Facing the water, I can see Dolph sitting on the deck of his boat with dark sunglasses holding a book in his hand.
Dolph doesn’t acknowledge my presence at first, but soon he looks up and says, “Sort of like trying to find the ghost orchid, ain’t it?”
“John Laroche!” I say, “John Laroche,” says Dolph.
I have read the book; twice, in fact.
The Orchid Thief is a story about the bizarre world of orchid collectors. The book was produced into a Hollywood movie starring Chris Cooper. Laroche was an horticulturist who was arrested for allegedly poaching wild ghost orchids while working for the Seminole natives. It is one of the most interesting stories I have ever read.
“Ghost Orchid, that’s what you’re trying to find. There exists a very rare hybrid named “X Dactyloglossum mixtum,” only 15 have been known to exist, but the record album you’re wanting to see, there are only 4, maybe only 3, and I have one of them,” says Dolph.
He takes a sip from his large margarita glass and grabs the record album that is laying beside him. “In 2005, a Shenzhen Nongke orchid was sold at auction to an anonymous bidder for $202,000; it was the most expensive flower ever bought, did you know that?” “No,” I tell him. “Would you like to see it?” Dolph asks. “Are you kidding? Yes!” I say. “You can’t, it’s dead,” he replies, “but I will show you the 301 Jackson St. album.”
NPR’s Andrew Flanagan states:
Dolph has his own printed copy of the NPR and Spin articles laying on his desk. He makes himself another margarita and throws the NPR article down on the folding chair next to him.
“You see that? To Kill a Mocking Bird, isn’t it?”
I ask, “To kill a mocking bird?”
Dolph continues, “Do you remember the movie with Gregory Peck? He is telling his children about the day his father gave him his first gun. In To Kill a Mocking Bird, Atticus says, ‘Although they can shoot all the bluejays they want, they must remember that it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.’
The girl who plays Scout goes to her neighbor Maudie, who explains to Scout that mockingbirds never harm other living creatures, they only give pleasure singing their hearts out for us. That is Billy and Anais, mockingbirds, it’s a sin, and I hope your story brings justice.”
The media dubbed the event “The Mysterious Piano.”
After the segments fromCNN and Inside Edition were featured on live television, many people from around the world were inspired by the Yeagers’ message and became supporters of their Jom Revolution movement.
Even though it was vividly apparent that Billy Yeager and his wife were artists and activists, Spin labeled the Yeagers’ piano protest as nothing more than a hoax.
In 1995, Yeager began creating his performance art and media & pop culture protests as a part of his films, such as the time when he painted his skin black as Jimmy Story (his character in the film Jimmy’s Story) and became “The Long Lost Son of Jimi Hendrix.”
“Wake Up People” video was posted on YouTube over 1 year ago and only has 4300 hits.
By comparison Taylor Swift’s most recent music video “Ready For It” racked up over 35,000,000 views on its first day.
The difference between the 2 music videos is comparable to fire and ice. While “Wake Up People” did not cost one single penny to produce, Taylor Swift’s music video had a multi-million dollar budget.
“I burst into tears and sobbed while watching this video. I hesitated to share it because it’s graphic, and it’s painful. However, I decided to share it because it brings it home, because it was a much needed wake-up call for me, and because I want everyone to have the opportunity to ‘Wake Up’ and see that we as individuals, as a society, and as humans are WAY off track. I truly believe we have our priorities badly mixed up.
Seldom does a journalist who works for the mainstream media outlets have the chance to cover a news story about an unknown artist, but when the opportunity presented itself to NPR journalists Andrew Flanagan and Jacob Ganz to inform the public about Billy Yeager, his music, films, and humanitarian efforts, they decided instead to publish and broadcast scathing and defamatory statements and depictions about him, labeling Yeager as nothing more than a charlatan, who invests all his time in creating purposeless hoaxes because he is obsessed with infamy and attention.
Veteran media commentator Raymond Snoddy says: “What we’ve seen this year is that ‘mainstream media’ has changed from a general description into a term of abuse. We’ve seen trust in media ebb and flow over many years but there’s been nothing like this before. These new outlets have no sense of journalistic principles and ethics – of fact-checking and at least trying to get it objectively right.”
NPR and Spin cynically and maliciously distorted the truth and fabricated false information.
“Glitter and obscene excess, side by side with unspeakable suffering brought down on a dying world; this is what I see in the films and videos that the Yeagers fearlessly continue to produce in the face of a hostile political and commercial network, which apparently thinks nothing of using a hastily constructed and poorly documented non-story to bring them down. This type of story brings the haters and trolls out of the woodwork too, and reading the comments to both stories was nauseating.” – Dan Mage
Defamation
When determining whether or not a person’s reputation has been damaged, “the courts will consider what a reasonable person would naturally interpret the statement to mean within the context in which the statement appears.”
The stories by NPR and Spin elicited extremely negative comments on social media; a Twitter user even compared Billy to Charles Manson.
What is the Truth?
“There is no question that Andrew and Andy watched ‘Wake Up People’ and understood the message that the Yeagers have been trying to convey with their art as activists and humanitarians, but they purposely buried it and refused to share it; they wrote extremely biased articles.” – Damon Blalack
The Yeagers are concerned about the injustices in the world and today’s most serious issues such as starvation, sex trafficking, innocent people being imprisoned, child labor, torture, mass media and corporate mind control, human impact on the environment, and the U.S.’s refusal to sign the Mine Ban Treaty.
The Yeagers believe that we are not free to help those in need, or not, as we please; that it is our duty as individuals to rise towards our highest ideals and purpose. The music video “Wake Up People” reveals this.
“Billy was always a very spiritual guy, a lot of his music reflected that, and you see the spirituality underpinning the movie Jimmy’s Story, you can see this guy’s got a spiritual component to him, so I am not surprised he took that road.
Billy’s revealing so much about these people, the human condition, and pointing out some of the hypocrisies that we swim in everyday, so there’s a grander purpose there.
I do feel that he feels that he’s for a grander mission in life; whether you agree with it or not, or agree with his grand mission is sort of irrelevant, at least he has one, which is more than I can say for 99.9 percent of the people out there.” – Dan Myrick
March 23rd 2017
Alice! Help!
Smells like Sensationalism.
NPR code of ethics states: We avoid hyperbole and sensational conjecture.
What a bunch of gibberish!
When I typed “Billy Yeager” into google and landed on his official website, I did not find myself “Not in control, like Alice chasing the rabbit, like a dog chasing a car.” What I discovered was a professional website, laid out with clear and concise information about the artist, his films, and his music, all of it verifiable.
What I also found out was that, for over 25 years, Yeager has been challenging the status quo.
And God sends a prophet
Billy Yeager defies categories, he is a renaissance man, a maverick, a rebel with a cause, a man on a mission to change the world.
Credit: Unity Church Honolulu Hawaii / Pastor Tim Lytle
“Billy Yeager and his wife Anais exude a strong sense of dedication to their mission, a sense of compassion, love and peace, and are a couple of the most beautiful souls I have had the privilege of experiencing.
Like John the Baptizer, Billy is an out-of-the box prophetic voice whose art sometimes gets right into your face.
The fact is that Billy and Anais have produced and created film and music which challenges our culture as well as our current programming.” – Tim Lytle
Mel Lockhart is a jazz guitarist from Colorado. He has played with artists such as Phyllis Diller, Don Ellis and legendary guitarist Michael Hedges. Mel was chosen to be one of the guitarists to perform with the Yeagers at their benefit concerts.“The music business is about how low you can go; it’s just music pornography, people like Miley Cyrus, it’s sad unfortunately, it’s taking a beautiful thing, this art form, and stomping on it in the dirt, and that seems to be the mind set of today’s people. All you need to do is get 1% lie in there and you killed the truth; so it’s not unusual that they kill the prophet, Billy could be one of them, the prophet is not always welcome. I believe in what Billy is doing, I was just about ready to throw in the towel, but I heard Billy and it reignited the passion.” – Mel Lockhart
Are we losing our humanity?
We are witnessing a massive attack on humanity by the mainstream media, which uses deceptive tactics to divert our attention from serious issues, bombarding us to death with trivial news, gossip and celebrities, and hysteria news that create confusion, fear, and division among people. The media should receive an Academy Award for breaking down the moral values and reasonability of society. Given the scope of recent news headlines, fake news, contradictions, and mistakes, one may well ask, “. . . tell me where is sanity . . . ?” (rock band Ten Years After – “I’d Love to Change the World” 1971.)
“The constant interruptions and distractions of our society are, to me, the opposite of philosophy. Getting caught up in minutiae. Getting caught up in things that don’t matter. Getting caught up in things that are designed to exploit and antagonize us and our emotions.
The same goes for every other publisher or platform. Television doesn’t want you to get up and take action, they want you to sit through the commercial break. A news outlet doesn’t want you to be so outraged by an article that you do something, that you decide to change the world, they want you to be so outraged that you sign a Change.org petition and then consider it a job well done.” – Ryan Holiday
It should be noted that the music news being reported by NPR and Spin is not any different than what the blundering mainstream media reports.
Take a look at these “news items” published by Andrew Flanagan and Andy Cush.
This morning, the internet received a tremendous gift in the form of a photo that purported to show two burly men transporting Taylor Swift “in a huge suitcase from her Tribeca apartment into her truck, in the trunk.”
Update! Now, we are sorry to report, Splash is retracting its claim that Taylor was inside that huge suitcase.“I literally just put the phone down from someone on Taylor’s camp,” a Splash representative said when contacted by SPIN this afternoon. It was good while it lasted. – Andy Cush
Does anyone believe this garbage? So Andy Cush is just wasting his time and everyone’s time, while tens of thousands of unknown musicians and songwriters are stuck like a sitting duck on indie music sites such as Bandcamp, iTunes, and Myspace, waiting and hoping to be discovered. Thanks Andy Cush for feeding us this crap; nice “cushy job.”
Half of planet earth lives on $2.50 per day.
Over 219 million children worldwide are victims of child labor, working no less than 10 hours a day with not one single day off.
Here’s Andrew!
NPR’s Andrew Flanagan wants the public to know how popular “Beyonce’s Pregnancy Photo” is.
One Photo And Just A Few Words: How Completely Did Beyoncé Dominate The Internet?
Andrew Flanagan writes: “In the first 45 minutes after it was posted, it had generated half a million tweets, topping out at 17,000 a minute.”
Andrew even includes a graph in his news report:
Here is another graph:
One in seven people on Earth does not have electricity, one in six people on Earth lives in a slum, one in eight persons on Earth goes to bed hungry.
Fact Check
- Over 1,700 millionaires are being made each day in the U.S.
- About 29,000 children under the age of five – 21 each minute – die every day mainly from preventable causes.
- The entire beauty industry is worth an astounding $445 billion globally.
- Millennials spent $26 billion on Diamonds in 2015 alone, more than any other single generation.
- An estimated one million diamond diggers in Africa earn less than a dollar a day and 46% of miners are between the ages of 5 and 16.
- There are approximately 20 to 30 million slaves in the world today.
- According to the U.S. State Department, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year, of which 80% are female and half are children.
- The sex industry sells children from as young as 5 years old.
- The production costs for the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show was over $10 million, making it the most expensive Super Bowl halftime show to date.
These are the issues and injustices that concern the Yeagers, and that is the reason why they are fighting like Rebels With a Cause.
For over a year, Billy and Anais were producing their What 4? benefit concert, performance art, and theater play that was supposed to raise over $600,000 to provide wheelchairs for landmine victims.
There are an estimated 110 million anti-personnel mines in the ground and another 250 million stockpiled around the world.
Because of the stories published by NPR and Spin, the concerts had to be cancelled making it impossible for the Yeagers to be able to do any charity work as artists again.
Jimi Ruccolo is one of the premiere guitarists in South Florida. He has been a performer for over 47 years, and his guitar playing can be heard on some of the most well known television commercials today, but he would prefer to be remembered for his nonprofit humanitarian work.
“I run a non-profit, I teach high risk kids how to play music, Guitars not Guns, it’s not about what you put out there, but what you want to leave.
Billy and I are 60 year old men now, we’ve got nothing to prove, we’re more about what is going on inside than what is going on outside.
As a kid, he was just fearless, I was inspired by his fearlessness.
There is only fear and love, look around, and it takes light workers, people like Billy, myself and others, we are not caught up with this world, we are warriors; Billy and I, we read the same books, we still talk, about why we are really here, what this life is really about, we’re on the same path.
I look at Billy like a type of Prince, his own shift maker; he is up for waking people up, and to me he’s a hero; he is always doing something controversial, he doesn’t give a shit. He’s brilliant, he’s been like that since he was a kid, it is part of his artistic genius.
I don’t think he would have been as effective of a human being if he did become a big rock star; this is why he’s here.” – Jimi Ruccolo
THE MEDIA CANNOT BE TRUSTED
“The business of the journalists is to destroy the truth.”– John Swinton
Consider this quote from John Swinton, former managing editor at The New York Times:
“There is no such thing, at this date of the world’s history, in America, as an independent press.
If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone, and if any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions you would be out on the streets looking for another job.
The business of the journalists is to destroy the truth; to lie outright; to pervert; to vilify; to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes.” – John Swinton
76 percent of people surveyed in 2014 believed the media does not tell the truth.
A recent Gallup poll found that Americans’ trust and confidence in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly dropped to its lowest level in Gallup polling history.
More and more people are becoming aware that the owners of large media outlets have their own agendas and that sensationalism sells.
New Yorker Magazine sent a questionnaire to 113 colleagues working in print, television, and digital media, asking that they would use the opportunity to air their grievances and bare their souls, while promising anonymity, in exchange for candid answers to some uncomfortable questions.
One of those questions was, “What is the worst sin you have committed as a journalist or as a person in the journalism business?”
Here are just a few of the top answers:
- Relentless focus on traffic.
- Being closed-minded and failing to question my own biases.
- Ignoring a possible story because the source didn’t reflect the qualities I’d like.
- Being in a hurry to beat my competitors and get my story published first.
- An anonymous publisher admitted,“This is the lecture I give to my reporters: Nobody has time to read. So you need to give them an overwhelming reason to read your piece. You need to grab them by the face and pull them in, and cover them in the hot stinky garlic breath of journalism.”
The Media fabricates news and lies
CNN: Tom Petty’s daughter angered over early, inaccurate death report.
A memorial was scheduled for his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. But the 66-year-old entertainer was still alive at the time, and news outlets that announced his death Monday were forced to retract their stories.
Anna Kim Violet Petty featured a post with a blistering message to Rolling Stone magazine, which reported Petty had died on Monday afternoon.“How dare you report that my father has died. My dad is not dead yet but your f***ing magazine is,” the post read.
The Media is Controlled
A recent example: Harvey Weinstein and Variety Magazine.
In the mid-1990s, a young reporter at the entertainment trade magazine Variety pitched a story at the weekly meeting that would’ve made Harvey Weinstein look bad.
But Peter Bart, the magazine’s powerful editor-in-chief, shut that story down instantly saying nothing like this would happen again, stating that “We don’t do those kinds of stories about Miramax.”
Another former Variety employee said, “You’d never find a critical piece about Harvey or about his company, which at the time was Miramax, in the paper. You just wouldn’t, it almost became the unspoken rule.”
One former Variety staffer said Bart’s focus was on sales, “Ultimately, that’s what he cared about, it was about not upsetting one of his major advertisers.”
There was a time when it was impossible to sift through an issue of Variety without being overwhelmed with Miramax advertisements.
The New York Times stated that Miramax had purchased over 40% of all Oscar ads in Variety’s weekly edition.
The end result was an editorial product that left many employees working under Bart feeling journalistically compromised, “There was never anything bad said about Harvey Weinstein.”
NPR: “All things considered”
Let’s consider their funding. (From: How Do I Hate NPR? Let Me Count the Ways)
So NPR is better than the rest, because it is publicly funded, right?
“National Public Radio is not any different from any other government or corporate owned mainstream news company.”
But what that figure really represents is a clever bookkeeping trick.
In 1987, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting—the quasi-independent organization in charge of distributing the annual $300-million-plus federal subsidy to public broadcasting—stopped funding NPR directly and started giving the money directly to public radio stations, which then hand it back to NPR in the form of “dues.” That covers about two-thirds of NPR’s $46 million annual budget.
Here is a list of “some of those sponsors”: CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENHANCE
Then there’s the matter of that $198 million satellite NPR uses to distribute its programming: yup, paid for with tax dollars. (NPR also makes a nice chunk of change by renting out the satellite’s excess capacity to a private paging company.)
And without taxpayer dollars, there wouldn’t be any public stations to run NPR’s programs. Of the total $377 million spent on public radio in fiscal 1991, nearly half was provided by local, state, and federal government. Taxes are the lifeblood of the entire industry.
I wonder what the founders would have said back in 1970 if they’d been told that someday NPR would have a science reporter paid for by Hewlett-Packard?
“Thank you for shining a light on NPR VERY WORST of these psychopaths, running a steady stream of corporate advertising on air, while simultaneously begging for your $$ in dog and pony show weekly “fund raising” and floating the myth of being “commercial free” I’d say that they are the MOST connected to the shadow government, with snarky, elite, entitled, “educated” propagandists delivering the “news” to their entitled audience.” – Anonymous Person
“The board of directors? Gimme a break. The guy who owns the outlet determines policy and content – that’s why he owns it, so he can control it. This power to mold public opinion is bartered for ‘favors’ among ‘friends’ – it is the essential tool of spin-control.” – Frank Zappa
The Illusion
In 1983, 90% of American media was owned by 50 companies, in 2011, that same 90% was controlled by 6 companies.
In 1998 musician, filmmaker and activist Frank Zappa had this to say about the media:
“The media keeps me from getting my point of view across, the more abstract and weird they make me look, the less access that I have to a normal channel of communication with the people who might benefit from what I have to say.” – Frank Zappa
Who is the Fraud?
Being a journalist in today’s world confers on you a unique responsibility as well as a unique opportunity for preserving the evolutionary integrity of the human experiment.
The “journalistic truth” is a process that begins with the professional discipline of assembling and verifying facts. Journalists should try to convey a fair and reliable account of the meaning of the facts, subject to further investigation.
Meet Andrew Flanagan and Andy Cush
Andy and Andrew stated:
NOT TRUE.
A simple search revealed 7 music videos by Billy Yeager.
One of those music videos was “Wake Up People” (which was posted on YouTube and Vimeo), and I wasn’t the only one that discovered this, so did this guy HERE
The video had been uploaded only 3 days before Christmas, on December 22nd, 2016, exactly 3 months before both media outlets published their stories.
Why did both Spin and NPR deliberately choose not to mention or feature “Wake Up People”?
It is very obvious that neither journalist wanted to refer to Yeager as an artist, activist, or humanitarian because they had an agenda, and painting Yeager as an insane, cryptic, and farcical character would make for a “better story,” in fact, Andy Cush’s story continues to be featured on the front page as “Editor’s Pick,” go figure.
Neither NPR nor Spin published one positive statement about Billy or his work. Both media outlets purposely belittled everything Billy has created and accomplished in the last 40 years as an artist.
Both Jacob Ganz and Andrew Flanagan defamed Yeager on NPR’s program All Things Considered (“…the most listened-to, afternoon drive-time, news radio program in the country…” – NPR)
NPR’s broadcasts are heard world-wide. According to Nielsen Audio ratings, the total weekly listeners for all programming on NPR stations reached an all-time high of about 37.4 million in the fall of 2016.
Andrew Flanagan’s story incited comments like the one below – laundering money, BTW, is a crime! This gives one a clear indication of how someone’s reputation can be seriously destroyed by the press.
After slandering Billy Yeager, Jacob and Andrew segue into their next story about their “musical idol,” Kendrick Lamar.
“Go tell your mama this dick ain’t for free, this dick ain’t, this dick ain’t, this dick ain’t, this dick ain’t, this dick ain’t for free.” – Lyrics by Kendrick Lamar
The most appalling remark made during the NPR radio broadcast was made by NPR’s Audie Cornish.
After bashing Billy Yeager Audie Cornish segues into the segment about rapper Kendrick Lamar stating:
“Alright, well the kicker this week is new music from somebody who HAS earned their success, right?” – Audie Cornish
Emphasis on “who HAS earned their success.”
What are you implying Audie, that Yeager hasn’t earned anything, except in your opinion just to be ridiculed?
Let’s take a look at the lyrics by the artist that you say has earned his success.
Lyrics by Kendrick Lamar:
I just fucked what’s her name and you ain’t even know it
She got a censored tattoo and you ain’t even know it
Too many bitches got rabies,
And I hate a ho-hoppin’ woman,
Stank pussy-poppin’ woman,
You fuckin’ fool don’t know about you,
But my dick need 70 years on it.
“All my life I want money and power, respect my mind or die from lead shower, I pray my dick get big as Eiffel Tower, so I can fuck the world for 72 hours.” (Lyrics by Kendrick Lamar).
Ethics Handbook:
“Our journalism is most valuable when we marry important truths with engaging narrative. We take enormous pride in the craftsmanship of our storytelling and in the quality of the words, sounds and images we use to help illuminate the world. When we edit, it is to add impact and clarity to our journalism — never to slant or distort. We don’t allow what is sensational to obscure what is significant. We aspire to tell stories that rise above the maudlin and mundane, avoiding shallow sentimentality. Above all, we do our best to faithfully and powerfully convey the truth.”
I smell something foul.
On Wikipedia it states that Audie Cornish is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.
I cannot believe Audie Cornish’s condescending attitude towards Yeager; I suppose that artists like Kendrick Lamar are the ones that Audie Cornish admires.
I was mortified while listening to the Kendrick Lamar version of the song UOENO:
“Put Molly (the drug) all in her champagne—she ain’t even know it. I took her home and I enjoyed that—she ain’t even know it.”
Did he just say what I think he did?
You’ve drugged a woman, kidnapped her, and raped her, while she was unconscious?
With the recent headlines about Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, ETC, including NPR’s own Michael Oreskes whom chief executive Jarl Mohn kept on the job for months despite knowing about three sexual harassment complaints, I find it beyond disturbing that NPR is supporting such an artist.
A sample of “sounds and images we use to help illuminate the world”that NPR is promoting:
Below is another music video I found, published on March 26, 2012, proving again that both Spin and NPR lied when they stated:
“Little Train” must not have been vulgar enough to merit any recognition from NPR’s music team and Audie Cornish.
The lyrics of the song tell the story of an imaginary world, a place where the little things matter the most.
Miami New Times former music journalist Greg Baker has always believed in Yeager’s music, films and message.
“If you’re going to look at motives, I am more fond of Billy’s agenda, he has a purpose, spiritual, cultural, social, at least he’s trying to do something positive, not just make more money. If you’re going to make comparisons, he has a stronger case, more legitimacy than the rest of that stuff out there.” – Greg Baker
Despite of what transpired from the stories by NPR and Spin, Baker feels that the final outcome of the 301 Jackson St. record album will be a positive one for Billy and will shed a new light about today’s bad journalism.
“These negative articles that supposedly blew up in Billy’s face, I don’t think they did, I think they did just what they are suppose to do (expose the hypocrisy of the media?). Check your resources, do your work, don’t just jump. He’s a totally serious guy, he’s a serious filmmaker? Then he’s a serious filmmaker, end of story.” – Greg Baker
Where does the media get this crap?
The affirmation “Kendrick Lamar may be the greatest rapper alive and the most celebrated male musician on the planet,” was from another journalist who works at NPR; his name is Otis Hart.
Here it is again, only this time it is USA Today quoting Billboard Magazine senior editor Alex Gale who said, “He’s absolutely one of the best, and you could make the argument for the best artist of the 21st century.”
There are literally 100s of these to be found online.
“Scripted” by Public Relations Firms.
With $35 billion in annual revenue, the big three PRP firms (Omnicom, WPP, and Interpublic Group —together employed 214,000 people across 170 countries) are key components of the transnational capitalist class. The PRP industry’s primary goal is the promotion of capital growth through hegomonic psychological control of human desires, emotions, beliefs, and values by massively influencing the world with their propaganda.
In 2003, an article from the Guardian conservatively estimated that 50-80% of news and business stories originated from Public Relations firms who create specific stories to support the capitalist elites’ goals and interests.
If you find this hard to swallow, simply watch the video below, then ask yourself:
What IS going on?
“The powers that be, decide who “makes it.” They can go into any neighborhood, find the next guy standing outside of Piggly Wigglys, with a rhyming dictionary, and make him their stereotypical gangstaboy, who will become the next puppet and poster child . Rap (and hip-hop) are being used as a selling tool of a thug-lifestyle, it is a huge promotional tool for incarceration and imprisonment, infiltrating the ghetto with drugs, crack, crappy music that promotes cheating, lying, and laying with every whore you can find. Make babies, increase population, enter a world of crime, go to prison, make white man rich. Music industry executives are heavily invested in private prisons, they promote gangsta rap to influence young people to get into a life of crime leading to higher incarceration, which increases profits for investors, that’s all. The white elite capitalize on the black man and also the white boy who thinks, “If I turn up my radio loud enough with my gansta rap music,” when he arrives at the gym, and parks next to the girl with the tattoos, nose piercing, and pregnant pit bull in her back seat he’s gonna connect and get a piece of ass, cause they are two peas in a pod. Look around. It is all manipulated and induced on the public, and it’s working.” –Dolph
They say a picture is worth a thousand words:
Here is another picture:
Karen from Damon on Vimeo.
NPR’s “Mission” and Hypocrisy.
Our Mission
- Our purpose is to pursue the truth. 2. Diligent verification is critical. 3. We take great care to ensure that statements of fact in our journalism are both correct and in context. 4. In our reporting, we rigorously challenge both the claims we encounter and the assumptions we bring. 5. We devote our resources and our skills to presenting the fullest version of the truth we can deliver, placing the highest value on information we have gathered and verified ourselves.
- 1. Truth was not pursued
- 2. No verification
- 3. Statements were incorrect and taken out of context
- 4. Claims encountered were not challenged
- 5. Clearly biased: by omission, by selection of sources, by story selection, by labeling, and by spin
Below is the Yeagers’ mission statement, which is posted on the Jesus of Malibu website:
- Credit: www.jesusofmalibu.com
This mission statement was posted in 2006 and has never been changed.
But NPR stated:
“It’s been said there are three types of people in the world, there are sheep, there are wolves, and there are sheep dogs.
The majority of people tend to be the sheep, comfortable in their surroundings, blissfully unaware of the financial trappings of their existence, and content to avoid the unpleasantries of the world.
There are the wolves of the world that prey on the sheep for the purposes of power, greed and any form of personal gain. Although not nearly as many as there are sheep, the wolves wield a much greater power than the unsuspecting sheep.
And finally, there are the sheep dogs. The protectors of the sheep. The ones that are willing to meet the wolves on their own terms and attack them. The ones that are willing to present the horrors that wolves will bestow upon the sheep, even if there’s no audience that cares to listen. Billy Yeager is one of this world’s sheep dogs.” – Ken Jenkins
If NPR wants to help “illuminate the world,” why did they choose to hide the truth, and lie about Billy Yeager’s work, mission and purpose?
Bye Bye Miss American Pie
“Today we are afraid of simple words like goodness and mercy and kindness. We don’t believe in the good old words anymore because we don’t believe in the good old values anymore. And that’s why the world is sick.” – Lin Yutang
Andy likes to “tweet” his feature articles, but he likes to also share his own personal thoughts for the day.
Perhaps this gives people a better perspective of why Andy was not interested in writing about Yeager’s spiritual path:
Andy tweets an image of an abused pig and places his name right on the ass. I find this sad.
I don’t understand why someone would post these type of messages on their twitter. To me it seems like Andy Cush has a regular habit of self deprecation, belittling himself as a type of hobby.
For some peculiar reason, on August 29th, Andrew wants his followers on twitter to know that Jesus’ resurrection is something to laugh-out-loud about.
Andrew writes: “C u “see you” in three days lol”
Something to laugh-out-loud about? Am I the only one who doesn’t get it?
Perhaps this gives people a better perspective of why Andrew was not interested in Billy’s spiritual endeavors either.
Andy Cush and Andrew Flanagan appear to be two examples of today’s desensitized, hedonistic-urbane, and ultra-hip millennial “me, myself and I” generation. Millennials are known as the most cynical and distrusting generation ever recorded in history.
Alexis Bloomer gives her two cents on her generation
“We’re just existing, we’re not really contributing anything to society, we listen to really obscene music that degrades women and pretty much glorifies drugs and crime, we idolize people like Kim Kardashian, and then we shame people like Tim Tebow.We’re lazy, spending time online “making friends” instead of “actually building relationships, and place too much value in Facebook’s “relationships appearance” and how many followers they generate.” – Alexis Bloomer
Something stinks.
Tabloidization by media scholar Frank Esser:
In the digital age, it’s about getting views and shares. But the same rule applies as it has for more than a hundred years of tabloid press; you make up BS to get people’s attention.
Never mind that it’s not true, and that you’re violating fundamental journalistic standards by spreading lies—you need readers and will do anything to get them.The Truth about the Media and their Lies.
Ryan Holiday’s book, “Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator,” offers a penetrating look at the incentives of media.
Holiday, himself, is a practitioner of the dark arts of media manipulation and uses these techniques to make a living.
“Usually, it is a simple hustle,” Holiday writes. “Someone pays me, I manufacture a story for them, and we trade it up the chain — from a tiny blog to Gawker to a website of a local news network to the Huffington Post to the major newspapers to cable news and back again, until the unreal becomes real. Sometimes I start by planting a story. Sometimes I put out a press release or ask a friend to break a story on their blog. Sometimes I ‘leak’ a document. Sometimes I fabricate a document and leak that. Really, it can be anything, from vandalizing a Wikipedia page to producing an expensive viral video. However the play starts, the end is the same: The economics of the Internet are exploited to change public perception — and sell product.”
By the way, Andy Cush worked as a writer at Gawker.
Why was Gawker shut down?
A defamation lawsuit that busted them flat.
Goodbye lying news media outlets, one down, and more to go.
Billy Yeager – Musician, filmmaker, activist, humanitarian
ABOUT
BIO
Billy Yeager is a self-taught musician. He has written and recorded over 2600 musical compositions. In his early 20s, he won several National Songwriting contests. He produced his first album, What’s It Gonna Take, in 1983. Over 22 of South Florida’s top musicians, such as Dennis Noday, Rex White, Jay Drake, Alan Layton and Diane Sherrow, recorded on the album.
On his second album, Be My Valentine, produced in 1985, Billy played every instrument. The album was recorded at Circle Sound Studios, which is the private recording studio of the Inner Circle Reggae Band. Yeager was the guitar player for the Grammy Award winning band from 1985 to 1986. Both Bernard “Touter” Harvey and Ian Lewis were involved in the engineering and production of the Be My Valentine album.
Billy has played and performed alongside musicians such as Doug Ingle (Iron Butterfly), Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel), Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge), Butch Trucks (Allman Brothers), and Pat Travers.
In 1987, Yeager recorded with Ira Sullivan, Eddie Higgins, and Peter “Mars” Cowling on Stan Jeff Brown’s album Transformation Paradox. Yeager also recorded with Jaco Pastorius, who considered Billy one of the greatest guitarists he ever performed with.
In 1983, Yeager recorded a jam session with Jaco and then they went to jam live at the Tipperary Pub in Deerfield Beach, Florida. The performance was filmed on VHS by the bar’s owner and was last seen being auctioned online.
From 1974-1986, Yeager sang and played guitar in many of South Florida’s top bands, working with artists such as Harold Seay and Inner Circle reggae band.
In 1986, Billy quit playing in cover bands and bought his first 4-track recorder (when Billy first began writing and recording his music back in 1978, he had to experiment with small tape decks, recording tracks multiple times, mixing them eventually onto one tape). This was the beginning of Yeager’s songwriting isolation period; for over 6 years, he worked intensively on his own unique style and sound (he even boarded up his windows, so he wouldn’t be aware of the sunlight and time); sometimes a day would turn into night and he would have as many as 3 to 8 written and recorded songs in a 24 hour period. Not a single day would pass where Yeager wouldn’t have recorded at least 3 songs.
During these years Yeager confined himself to a small apartment in Hollywood Beach and took a part time job as a janitor. He would wake up every day at 3 a.m. and returned home at 8:00 a.m. This would allow him to write and record songs during the rest of the day.
In 1991, Yeager gave a copy of his original music to Grammy Award Winner Bruce Hornsby backstage at a concert. Bruce called Billy personally from the road while he was performing with the Grateful Dead; Hornsby was so excited by the demo cassette tape that he personally wanted to help Billy receive a record deal with a major label.
Bruce Hornsby, in an interview with Miami New Times, said (regarding the many demo tapes he received), “The bad news and sad truth is that most of them are really terrible. I’ve been inundated with them for years. Billy’s is really different. It’s possibly the only one I’ve ever heard where I thought, ‘This is something.’ Most of these tapes are so badly done. I mean, why don’t they take more pride in what they are doing? Billy was different. Billy has songs that reach people.”
The demo tape was recorded on a worn out 4-track Fostex recording machine, in Billy’s apartment. Billy played all the instruments; he used not only the common instruments such as drums, bass, guitar and keyboard, but also a mandolin, glockenspiel, bagpipe and harmonica. He also sang on the tape and did all the background harmonies, which sometimes were as many as 5 and 6 parts. Bruce’s manager, Tim Neece, acquired a development deal with Capitol Records, who advanced Billy money so that he could record his songs in a state-of-the-art professional recording studio.
Billy received a management deal with Larrikin management (Gerry Georgettis, road manager for Pink Floyd, Tool, Cold Chisel, Sponge, Henry Rollins), but Bruce and his management company still continued to submit Billy’s songs to the major record labels from1992-1995.
However, in 1992, the music industry had changed and the record labels were mainly interested in signing rap and grunge music, and Yeager fell between the cracks because he was an adult contemporary artist.
“Despite fans like Hornsby and dozens of encouraging letters from recording industry executives, he was not signed to a major record label. From a dresser drawer he takes out a letter written to him by an industry powerbroker. It is effusive in praising his talent, the quality of his tape, his great potential_and ends by saying there will be no offer forthcoming because there isn’t a hit single in the batch of tunes.” Greg Baker
“His eclectic style made him difficult to categorize: rock and roll mixed with jazz alongside reggae rhythms and African pop influences, brooding ballads and high-energy hooks, a gravel-scratching voice backed by sweet harmonies. Lyrics that spanned the reaches from the romantically sentimental to the belligerently defiant. And that guitar_ one as supple and smooth as Herb Ellis, the next a raging reminder of Jimi Hendrix. And Yeager disliked the idea of being known for his guitar virtuosity alone.” Miami New Times
The Shift to Filmmaker – Jimmy’s Story
“Every musician in America should see this film.” Faust Pierfederici
Jimmy’s Story is a combination of several film genres: documentary film, mockumentary, pseudo-docu, docu-fiction, and cinema verite.
Jimmy Story is the name of a fictional character that Yeager created for his film, in which a musician ponders the meaning of life.
“Billy Yeager’s Jimmy’s Story shows not only the trials and tribulations of the journey of trying to make it into the music industry, but also the triviality of the whole idea of becoming “somebody” special, of being a “star”. The film captures reflections of his childhood and the words of wisdom from his father, Ray Yeager.” Aaron Morris (Miami International Film Festival)
The film was featured on an edition of the Bravo/IFC cable show Split Screen hosted by John Pierson; the segment was filmed, edited and produced by Dan Myrick.
Jimmy’s Story also features many people, close friends and neighbors, such as Billy’s landlord, who developed into one of the most prominent characters in the film.
Some of the most cherished segments in the film are Jimmy Story’s visits with The Old Gang. When Billy returned home from his early morning janitorial job, he would often head out with his cameras to the beach bench located on Jackson St., at Hollywood Beaches Broadwalk, where The Old Gang would hang out every day.
Billy Yeager as Jimmy Story with The Old Gang at Hollywood Beach, Florida.
Billy filmed and recorded conversations with The Old Gang for over 12 years.
In the very beginning, there were 6 members, but as the years went by, they all passed away. Yeager kept recording until the last gang member passed on.
During the filming of Jimmy’s Story, Billy’s landlord also passed away.
Despite his struggle with cancer, Billy’s father, Ray Yeager, wanted to keep performing in the film until the end. Soon after the first screening of Jimmy’s Story, he passed away.
Ray Yeager with his Big Ole Red homemade guitar, in 1965.
Dark hair and 6 feet 7 inches tall, with a homemade guitar made out of a dresser drawer, country singer and songwriter Ray Yeager stepped off the bus in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1965, and 5 minutes later, he was signed to a 5-year recording contract with MGM Records.
Everyone who knew Ray believed he was going to be a big star, but it never happened; Ray simply walked away from it all.
The film is a parable and a riddle. Throughout the film, Ray speaks his own words of wisdom about the small things in life and the meaning of success. In one scene, Ray and his son sit in the cemetery by a tomb reflecting on the meaning of life and death, purpose, and acceptance.
Yeager chose to begin and end Jimmy’s Story with a quote from The Book of Ecclesiastes: “all is vanity and chasing the wind.”
Creating a film with a vision.
Billy began to realize the negative side of the corporate music industry and began to loathe what he had once desired.
Understanding the significance of producing a film and presenting it to the public, and infused with a sense of purpose as an artist, Yeager decided he wanted to challenge the audience’s perception about fame and success, and society’s obsession with celebrities, while also exposing the media and the press that promote sensational news and trivial matters to the public.
In 1995, Billy began to film his “Jimi Hendrix / Jimmy Story performance art and pop culture & media protest.”
Billy, as his character Jimmy Story, painted his skin black and promoted himself as Jimmy Story, the long lost son of Jimi Hendrix.
The Lost Bolero Tapes
Yeager wrote and recorded music which he called “The Bolero Tapes”; these recordings were supposed to be original Jimi Hendrix compositions that were believed to be lost.
Some publications wanted to get an opinion from the experts.
The music was forwarded to those who had closely worked with Jimi Hendrix, such as Buddy Miles and Mitch Mitchell.
Yeager’s songs sounded so much like Hendrix that the experts were convinced.
“Working as close to Jimi as I did, I would have to say, I know the Hendrix sound, if someone were to try to fake his music compositions, I would be the one who would know. This kid, son of his, whoever he is, the song “Devil’s got a Sweater” is definitely a Jimi Hendrix composition. There is no doubt in my mind.” – Buddy Miles
“Working with Jimi, listening to him jam, rehearse, write music, I know if I hear a song that was composed by Hendrix, I can tell instantly, from phrasing, chord structures, movements from bridge to chorus, etc. With regards to Jimmy Story and his mother Sunshine, I do not know about, but I can tell you, these songs cannot be faked. Jimi was working on music before he died called the Bolero Tapes, if this is the music and this is his son, from the musical stand point, there is no question about it, you can fake a guitar, maybe a little of his voice, but lyrics, and melody, it’s not possible, from what I hear this kid is the real deal, and I would love to play with him.” – Mitch Mitchell
Jimmy Story’s performance artwork was a success; Jimmy Story was featured as a “Cover Story” on WSVN (Miami television) and in XS Magazine, Broward’s alternative newspaper. Billy used his “Jimi Hendrix / Jimmy Story performance art and pop culture & media protest,” including the behind-the-scenes footage, towards the end of Jimmy’s Story movie.
“They are blinded, but not with wine. They are drunk and they stagger, but not with wine. To whom shall I give the message? Whom shall speak the message?” Jimmy Story, XS Magazine
Glenn DeRosa was responsible for much of the filming of Jimmy Story’s performance artwork segments; Billy added Glenn as one of the producers of the film in 1996. Billy’s aunt Bunny Yeager was also an associate producer.
Jimmy’s Story was completed in 1997 and premiered at the Palm Beach International Film Festival in 1998, winning an award for Best Documentary.
“An outstanding film that is a remarkable achievement, I can’t imagine how much work went into this very personal original film.” Heath McKnight (Awards ceremony at The Palm Beach International Film Festival.)
From 1997 to 2003, Yeager edited over 6 different versions of the film.
Award winning filmmaker Rick McKay was also attending the Palm Beach International Film Festival with his film Broadway: The Golden Age. Ironically, right after reading a small town newspaper article about Jimmy’s Story, he met Billy walking down the street in Lake Worth, Florida, where he was staying at the Gulf Stream Hotel.
Rick asked Billy for a copy of his film. Unbeknown to Billy, Rick secretly submitted Jimmy’s Story to the Dahlonega International Film Festival, where Rick’s film was going to be screening a week later.
“Billy was creating reality television way ahead of his time, I loved the film and I suppose you could thank me for being partially responsible for Jimmy’s Story.” – Rick McKay
Heralded as a major achievement, Jimmy’s Story won an unprecedented 4-awards at the DIFF, including Best First Film, Best Documentary, Best Folk Film, and Best First Time Director.
Dean Treadway, the program director at the DIFF Film Festival stated, “This great film, this near masterpiece of amateur filmmaking, a Sundance reject that deserves to tower above most of their eventual winners, is about one man’s perseverance in believing that there is a better future out there, one that has him doing exactly what he feels he’s meant to do. Out of the 700 films submitted Jimmy’s Story is the one that moved me most to tears of joy and frustration.”
The Controversial Performance Artwork.
However, there was a major fallout with some members of the press, who did not embrace the message of Jimmy Story’s performance artwork.
They labeled Yeager’s Jimmy Story performance art simply as a “Hoax.”
Yet, within that same retraction letter from XS Magazine, they also state that Yeager
“was correct” and “proved his point” in that “celebrities are more revered than artists, that being famous doesn’t equate to being talented, that the “lost son” of Jimi Hendrix could get more attention than a local musician.”
Miami New Times writer Greg Baker was also quoted about Jimmy Story’s performance artwork and pop culture & media protest as saying “I think Yeager wanted to use the media to achieve that end, tearing down the corrupt media industrial complex, which is contributing to the downfall of society, I am all for this sort of thing. I don’t think anybody did anything wrong.”
Over 20 years later, the media still tries to marginalize Yeager’s work; of course…, after all, they are “The Media.”
A Perfect Song
Yeager’s next feature film was called A Perfect Song, which he wrote, produced, and directed; he also composed and recorded all the music for the film.
The film was made with no money. Yeager shaved his head and gained 35 pounds for the lead role of Lloyd. He also performed the role of Lloyd’s brother, which he filmed before he shaved his head.
Yeager won best actor at the Delray Beach Film Festival in 2004.
Credit: Gary Brice / Billy Yeager as Lloyd underwater
“This film has real charms, what’s great is the sincerity of a creative obsessive character playing a creative obsessive character musing about God and creativity. There are scenes of Lloyd producing ambient music in his gadget studio, plus delightful local color, including Florida fauna and a sympathetic tour of the legendary Coral Castle.”
Delray Beach Film Festival, 2004
The Highwaymen / The Other Side of the Road
The Highwaymen were mostly self-taught painters who painted on inexpensive Upson board. The name refers to African American artists, mostly from the Fort Pierce area, who painted landscapes and made a living selling them, door to door, to businesses and individuals throughout the state from the mid-1950s through the 1980s. They also were peddled from the trunks of their cars.
In the early 1990s an interest in “outsider art,” or art which is created by artists who are outside mainstream society, developed in the art world and in 1995 an article was written for a journal by Jim Fitch, who coined the group the “Highwaymen” because of their tactics of traveling I-95 and A1A to sell their artwork. Not long after this, the New York Times wrote an article on the Florida Highwaymen and two books on the group were published, causing the value of Florida Highwaymen art to skyrocket.
In 1999, Billy Yeager began to seek out all the existing members of the group, including many that were not mentioned in the books that were published.
In 2000, Yeager produced a film documentary called
Gary Brice was the production coordinator and cameraman. Together, Gary Brice and Billy worked for over 1 year on the film.
Yeager was taught how to paint Florida Landscape paintings on masonite boards by one of the original Florida Highwaymen, Livingston Roberts, also known as “Castro,” who was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2004.
Blue Daze by Billy Yeager
Billy used his paintings for the covers of some of his handmade CDs.
On the documentary The Highwaymen The Other Side of the Road,
Yeager discovers where the Highwaymen gather to paint and captures rare moments with artists Charles Walker, Johnny Daniels, Jimmy Stovall, and Livingston Roberts all gathered together talking about the old days, Alfred Hair, Al Black, and the lost Freddie paintings.
Yeager interviews Alfred Hair’s family and others who knew Alfred personally.
Yeager with Charles Walker and Livingston Roberts in Ft. Pierce, FL.
Yeager also finds Jimmy Stovall, who once painted with the 5 original Highwaymen when he was only 16 years old, and stages a reunion with Livingston Roberts in his backyard. (They hadn’t seen each other in 25 years.)
Livingston states on camera, “There’s a real Highwaymen, he was here from the beginning.”
- Jimmy Stovall with Alfred Hair’s very first painting on canvas.
Today their 100,000 plus paintings have gathered significant interest and have become quite collectible. At auctions these particular painters works have been recognized with high prices. In recent years there has been many forged paintings sold on eBay and at many galleries. Because there are over 26 artists and they signed their names scratched with a nail into the paintings that were still wet makes it easy to purchase similar Florida scene paintings and forge the artists names who only knew how to print.
Billy Yeager with Charles Walker
Livingston Roberts showed Yeager not only how to paint but how to recognize authentic Florida Highwaymen Paintings.
In 2002 Yeager was featured on FOX NEWS:
Jesus of Malibu
Jesus of Malibu Official Website
Billy and his wife Anais met in 2005 and spent the next 7 years making their film trilogy Jesus of Malibu.
The film was completed with no financial backing and not even a one person film crew.
Sebastian Beach One Fine Day
After completing Jesus of Malibu, the Yeagers returned back to Florida to produce a documentary surf film resembling the old style surf films from the late 1950s and 1960s.
Drew Kampion, former editor of SURFER, SURFING, and SURFERS PATH magazines stated, “The wonderful thing about this creative product of the combined wills and imaginations of Anais and Billy Yeager is how profoundly it succeeds in quietly crystallizing an alternative reality in the here and now.”
The film premiered at the NYC Surf Film Festival in 2012.
The Film that Changed the World
In 2013, the Yeagers were contacted by Maltese Productions, who offered to produce a film documentary about their story and the making of their film Jesus of Malibu.
The Film That Changed the World Official Website
Click image below to watch music video created by Nick Duggan and Billy and Anais:
The Yeagers continue to create art, music and films to change the world.
Their mission is to raise consciousness and help those who cannot help themselves.
Von Weinberg
Billy Yeager Musician / Filmmaker / Activist / Humanitarian / Performance Artist 