GRAHAM BONNET: ALCATRAZZ Tour Has Been Huge Success

The following message has been posted on the web site of legendary singer Graham Bonnet (RAINBOW, MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP, ALCATRAZZ, IMPELLITTERI):

"ALCATRAZZ is now touring Japan and has finished three shows in Tokyo/Osaka, and only the last gig in Sapporo is left now. Apparently the tour has been HUGE success so far! The tickets are all sold out, every venue is packed by about one thousand fans, and there have been hundreds of praiseful postings about the performance of new ALCATRAZZ to Japanese forums on the net every night. There were lots of people who were moved to tears when they finally listened to ALCATRAZZ playing their classics live after 23 years! Thank you so much to all the fans who came to see the shows and sang together with Graham! You ruled! Any pics and setlist? Yes, we will put them up together on this site after the tour is completed, so a little bit of patience is appreciated."

Bonnet and Joe Lynn Turner (RAINBOW, DEEP PURPLE) will team up for a tour of Finland in August. The revised dates are as follows:

Aug. 08 - Tampere, Finland - Klubi
Aug. 09 - Helsinki, Finland - Virgin Oil & Co
Aug. 10 - Mikkeli, Finland - Jurassic Rock
Aug. 11 - Jamsa, Finland - Himos Areena

As previously reported, founding ALCATRAZZ members Jimmy Waldo (keyboards),Gary Shea (bass) and Jan Uvena (drums) have sent a "cease-and-desist" letter to Graham Bonnet requesting that he stop calling his new band ALCATRAZZ in violation of their intellectual property rights. An excerpt from the letter, dated May 23, 2007, follows:

"[Jimmy Waldo, Gary Shea and Jan Uvena] are original members of the band ALCATRAZZ and have registered the trademark for the band name with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

"The fact that you would attempt to hold yourself and your new band members out as 'ALCATRAZZ' reflects both a remarkable hubris and also an utter disregard of trademark law.

"For years, Waldo, Shea and Uvena have performed and sold albums as members of the band ALCATRAZZ. They have never transferred to you any rights in the name ALCATRAZZ, nor are you the registered owner of the trademark. Your recent actions — including, but not limited to, the scheduling of tour dates under the name ALCATRAZZ — infringe Waldo, Shea and Uvena's trademarks in the name ALCATRAZZ, unfairly compete with Waldo, Shea and Uvena and otherwise violate, tarnish and dilute Waldo, Shea and Uvena's intellectual property rights. The deliberate reference by your employees and representatives to ALCATRAZZ when they know the references to be untrue makes such unauthorized use willful as a matter of law.

"You have no right to claim that your band is ALCATRAZZ. You toured for years under your own name and then under various other band names. Whether those marketing efforts failed because of a lack of talent or fan appreciation is irrelevant. You are not legally entitled to take the name of one of your former bands and announce to the public that ALCATRAZZ is touring again. It is not. You and some hired cohorts are, and are calling yourselves ALCATRAZZ merely to capitalize on fan appreciation and goodwill associated with that name. By doing so, you and your band members have created and continue to create consumer confusion about the origin or sponsorship of your 'product.' If it is not stopped, you are your band members will be sued. It's that simple."

Bonnet's "ALCATRAZZ" is is currently writing material for a new CD, to be released later in 2007. The band's live show will reportedly incorporate all the ALCATRAZZ classics, as well as highlights from Graham Bonnet's years with RAINBOW, MSG and IMPELLITTERI.