Last night, Tunisia played Rhythms in Centennial (to a packed sold out house). Mr. Points chose to put a letter on every car in the lot stating that we, "Tunisia" are attempting to use his name to jump start our band. That we are using his name to get gigs. We made every attempt to bill the band as Tunisia. This was an oversight by the club. At no time do we represent ourselves as Jakarta. At no time do we ever represent that Mr. Points is in this band. In fact we go out of our way to disclose that he is not in our band or has anything to do with our band. Our website has a concise statement that details our non inclusion of Mr. Points, and no representation of being Jakarta or having Isaac on our events.
Well it's time to set the record straight. As a matter of fact we are running as far as we can away from his name. Mr. Points was fired from the band January 1st of this year due to irreconcilable differences with the other 8 members of Jakarta. The situation had gotten to the point that agents and planners did not want to hire the band as long as Mr. Points was involved. Thus the name change.
We had meetings with Mr. Points to discuss the situation, and to try to come to some sort of agreement that Mr. Points would do what was expected on our engagements. As time went on Mr. Points began to make life miserable for the other 8 members of Jakarta. Over a span of two years, the 8 members tried their best to continue working with Mr Points, but it had become a volatile situation among the 8 members of Jakarta to the point that members were giving their notices to quit the band.
After giving it much thought we the former 8 members of The Jakarta Band decided to move on without the services of Mr. Points.
It's plain and simple. Mr. Points was fired.
The band bio that he had posted on the Jakarta web tells the whole story how Mr. Points felt about the band. Check it out:
About me Isaac Points Lead Vocals, Bass & founder of The Jakarta Band For the past 35 years, Isaac Points has been creating the groove that gets people on the dance floor. Whether it was opening for Stanley Clark and Herbie Hancock, playing bass with Chuck Berry or Tony Bennett, USO tours with Joe Clemons, signing with the Platters or playing amusement parks with Tom Slick and Jinx Jones. This Denver native began his musical career at the age of 9 playing trumpet. At 17 he switched to bass and began working Denver's local club scene. Playing everything from Jazz to Country, Isaac spent his time perfecting his art. In the early 90's a jazz quartet called the Jakarta Funk Attack made its debut at the Rock Bottom Brewery. In addition to Isaac the band consisted of Tim Greenhouse, Robert Johnson (now touring with "A Brief History of White Music"), Robby Chamberlain and Bob Rebholtz. When Isaac added Funk to the mix, Jakarta started packing the dance floors of Denver's best clubs. Jakarta is now the premier wedding/corporate band in the State of Colorado. They are a diverse but funky 9 piece band that can be as large as 11. They were the lead band for the DNC 2004 chosen to perform in Boston and were the premeier band for the DNC Denver & RNC Minnesota 2008. Jakarta guarantees everyone from all age groups to be up on the dance floor dancing all night long. |
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Now Mr. Points has retained the services of an attorney to do what, we don't know. Mr. Points is claiming that we, the 8 former members of Jakarta are keeping him from working. No, the real point is that after years of not giving a damn about the other players around him ( no matter what band he happened to play for), Mr. Points is finding that the hard work put in by the 8 former members was the reason for his success. He is accusing the 8 former members of Jakarta of stealing his clients. What Mr. Points has failed to realize is that we don't do business that way. We the 8 former members of Jakarta contacted every agent and client by letter stating that we are no longer affiliated with Mr. Points. And if said client would rather hire, and do business with Mr. Points, we made available his contact information. On the other hand Mr. Points has been approaching our clients and club owners with threats to take them to court if they hire the 8 former members of Jakarta now called "Tunisia". And to make matters worse he is selling his new group as the 8 former members of Jakarta.
As a matter of fact he has been called on that and lost gigs for lying to clients. He claims that the band is the same except for three members. Look at the picture and you tell me.
To make a long story short, Mr. Points stated in his letter that was left on cars in the Rhythms parking lots that he has started legal action, and his case is now pending in court. Another lie. He has an attorney but nothing is pending anywhere.
We, the 8 former members have been low key on this issue. We did not want to lower ourselves to Mr. Points' level, and still won't. But the since Mr. Points finds it nessesary to lie, threaten our clients, and try to drag our name through the mud, we felt that a statement from the 8 former members was due.
For those musicians that know the situation, you also know that this is the second time a band has walked on Mr. Points. The Funk Attack Band had to fire Mr. Points for playing funny with the money. So this is just another incident of bad gamesmanship on the part of Mr. Points.
Ladies and gentlemen the name of our group is "Tunisia". We are a happy group of musicians these days. With work on a new show, no black cloud hanging over, and numerous opportunities making themselves available to "Tunisia", we really don't have the time to go out and play with Mr. Points. PEACE!
And don't forget, TUNISIA AT JAZZ@JACKS NEXT SATURDAY NIGHT, APRIL 30TH. Make your reservations today. Seats sellout quick for the Tunisia show.
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