Dave's website

**MikeL** · 10.21.01, 01:40 PM

This probably doesn't mean too much to anyone, but we'll see if it does.

On the 17th the registration for davidleeroth.com changed from Akula Communications to:

Diamond Dave Enterprises
1250 East Walnut
Suite 250
Pasadena, CA 91106 US

**Buck** · 10.21.01, 01:47 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by MikeL:
This probably doesn't mean too much to anyone, but we'll see if it does.

On the 17th the registration for davidleeroth.com changed from Akula Communications to:

Diamond Dave Enterprises
1250 East Walnut
Suite 250
Pasadena, CA 91106 US<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

He bought the name so that Akula doesn't sell it to some other party. That party can then sell it to Roth later then for a lot of money if he really wants it, and make a huge profit! Even if Roth doesn't use it, he may again in the future. This way, he has it in a safe place.

This is my speculation.

[ October 21, 2001 at 01:48 PM: Message edited by: Buck ]

**MikeL** · 10.21.01, 01:51 PM

I'm pretty sure Dave held the rights to it before.

**Buck** · 10.21.01, 02:02 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by MikeL:
I'm pretty sure Dave held the rights to it before.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You never know.

**Buck** · 10.21.01, 02:05 PM

Side note:

I remember when this kid came up with sammysosa.com back in 98. He bought the name, made the site, followed Sammy, and then sold the domain to Sammy at the end of the year and it's now Sammy's official site. The kid is the webbie now I think.

Dave may have showed TK the door, and bought the name. But he may have only worked with TK all this time, as an agreement.

Like I said, I don't know the situation.

**DannyTheKid** · 10.21.01, 02:09 PM

Held the rights? When you're talking about Internet domain names you have to consider "rights" in a very pragmatic sense.

Up until recently, if "davidleeroth.com" was registered in the name of Akula Communications (or whoever), Akula Communications could do whatever they wanted with the domain, no questions asked. If David Lee Roth himself called the registrar (and subsequently waited on hold for an unholy two hours, causing his cordless phone to run out of charge... but I digress) and demanded that they do ANYTHING, the Registrar would tell Dave to get authorization from Akula.

Now recently, the only change to this "first come first serve" system is the existence of an independent arbitration service that can determine the "rightful" owner of a domain without a messy, expensive civil suit. Dave would have to show that Akula did not register the domain in good faith, and that they were infringing on his trademark... in this case, his name.

So I'd agree with Buck on this one. If Dave has a Web savvy advisor on his staff, he was probably told that the only way he can make SURE that his online name is secure is if his personal organization is listed as the registrant.

In my eyes, all we can read from this is that The Keepers have been officially sent to pasture, at least in their capacity as publishers of Dave's official Web site.

**MikeL** · 10.21.01, 02:17 PM

While you guys are right in regards to what the registrant can do and others cannot, you haven't considered that there would have been a contract in place between DDE and Akula. Dave could have secured his rights to both control of the name and the site itself through that, and most likely did. Dave's always been somewhat proactive about legalities.

**Goo** · 10.21.01, 02:27 PM

I'm 99% sure it used to be registered to DDE until about 12-18 months ago. I'd imagine the handover and subsequent (quite rapid) handing back was something contractual

**DannyTheKid** · 10.21.01, 02:27 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by MikeL:
While you guys are right in regards to what the registrant can do and others cannot, you haven't considered that there would have been a contract in place between DDE and Akula. Dave could have secured his rights to both control of the name and the site itself through that, and most likely did. Dave's always been somewhat proactive about legalities.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'm not disputing that. I'm just saying that contract or no contract, if Akula's name is on the domain, they can do whatever they want. Any advisor worth his salt would make sure that the domain belongs to the right person immediately after a termination of a hosting agreement.

In fact, back when I used to do this stuff for a living (back when commercial hosting for large companies was frequently done by small, independently owned Web shops) the major metric we used to tell people to judge the shadyness by was whether or not they registered domains in their own name, or in the name of their clients.

I remember once reading a hosting agreement that explicitly stated that the domain was the property of the designer, and upon termination of services the client would have to pay a negotiable fee to gain ownership of the domain (read: blackmail).

Now, do I think Dave signed one of these agreements? Probably not. But, even assuming a best case scenario with a written contract explicitly stating that Akula does not have transferring rights over the domain... the first thing I'd do after showing them the door is get the domain back in my name.

**MikeL** · 10.21.01, 02:32 PM

I can't argue with that.

Do you think TK worked for Akula? We've never really found much out about them. It'd be interesting to know what they did to cause Dave to switch things up. It's not unheard of for Dave to kill long-standing relationships if he feels he's getting the bad end of the deal... [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

**DannyTheKid** · 10.21.01, 02:51 PM

I thought I remember reading once that TK were a group of graphics designers that caught Dave's eye and were commissioned to do a lot of stuff for him, Web site included. They did the CD artwork for his "Best" album, I believe.

Whether or not Akula was just a trade name used by TK... I have no clue.

And you're totally right about Dave killing relationships. No wonder the dude can't get a wife. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

Okay, up until this point I'd been keeping my posts in this thread confined to what I know... now it's time for out-of-my-ass speculation:

My bet is that Dave wasn't excited by the numbers he was doing at his site. Assuming he was the brains behind the promotions they did (and not TK), he planned stuff that was predicated on a LARGE number of people hitting his site. Things like the beauty contests only work if you have a lot of chicks emailing pictures and a lot of guys tuning in to see the goods. You know Dave, he's always got some grandiose vision.

So my guess is he got frusterated by the numbers and decided the Web site wasn't cutting it in present form.

Btw, MikeL, everything you said before was right. I'm just a cynic... and after all, this IS the recording business. When have contracts ever meant anything? [img]smilies/devil.gif[/img]

**MikeL** · 10.21.01, 03:05 PM

I know Akula is an ISP in NY. I think VanEdge said he used to use them. Near as I can recollect, TK set up slawterhouse.com in the wake the failed '96 reunion. It was just basically a bitch-fest about why VH sucks the big one. Eventually they scored an interview with Dave, and I think things moved on from there. Dave realized he needed a presence on the web, and knew of someone who was interested in doing that for him.

Hey DIF, read this thing and remind me again where that autographed album was mailed from. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

When dlr.com first disappeared, I thought it was because he was back in VH. Unfortunately that sort of thing doesn't appear to have happened.

I can understand DLR not being happy about the numbers the site was drawing (or wasn't). They never really advertised the site though, so I don't know that they really wanted big numbers. This summer I'd talked to TK about having DLR do a voice promo for VHF, and plugging dlr.com in it as a sort of quid pro quo. TK seemed interested, but nothing came of it.

It would make sense for DLR to can the website if he had no future plans. Given the show in November, we know that's not the right reason. If it were simply numbers, you'd think he'd contract a new site while leaving the old one up.

That all leads me to think it was a 'you're fired' thing, like you'd said before DtK.

**BrownSound1** · 10.21.01, 03:15 PM

Mike Migliozzi, aka TK, no longer works for Dave. I do believe that DDE did hold the rights to DavidLeeRoth.com, long before this, however.

**DannyTheKid** · 10.21.01, 03:25 PM

Yeah, one of those things only artists can do.

"I'm upset. It must be someone's fault. You! It's your fault!"

Again, though, total speculation on my part.

I don't think anyone in the world of VH is in a gigantic hurry to much of anything. The brothers are in the midst of a well documented flipping off of their fans. Sammy's taking time off to rebuild Cabo San Lucas and chill with his family. Dave's doing a gig here or there, but he hasn't put out a new CD in almost 3 years (has it been 3 already?).

This is just another of those moves that'll ensure that things progress as slowly and tediously as possible for everyone involved. [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

You know, I tend to think that Dave was always at his best when he was telling stories. Not so much the self-referential stories he tells now, but the stories from back in the day when he'd cruise the ghettos and write stuff like "Mean Streets".

If I was him, I'd do what Sammy's doing. Get a group of guys that let allow him to tell his story, and then go do it. In fact, I hope that the sitar player rumor is true and he's a cog in Dave's quest to find his music again.

You could argue that the DLR Band album was Dave being Dave, but I think it was Dave trying to be VHDave. He's twenty years wiser, and he should share some of that wisdom, you know?

Everyone who meets DLR says, "Man, that guy can tell stories."

So that's what he should do. I said this a long time ago on this board, but I really think that he was most honest with the fans when he released YFLM. But people threw it back in his face, and the years since then have been Dave's attempt to apologize for being himself.

Holy CRAP was that ever a random tangent.

[img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]

**DannyTheKid** · 10.21.01, 03:27 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by BrownSound1:
Mike Migliozzi, aka TK, no longer works for Dave. I do believe that DDE did hold the rights to DavidLeeRoth.com, long before this, however.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Wow, TK unmasked. Unleash the hounds.

Actually, I was probably just the last to hear.

And again, what "rights" are we talking about here?