Lee & Wolfe Lifted for the Lord

NOTE 8/23/2002: Since posting this story, the guy in question at first removed his radio show and record label site altogether, replacing it with a rebuttal / pseudo-apology, then replacing that with what you will find now. As predicted, virtually everything we point out here has been changed, which is good, and he is no longer charging bands to be on his show or record label. This makes some of these links less fun or not work, but it's a positive change for a bit more good in the world, so woo-hoo! If you'd ever like to hear or read what he USED to have on his site copying us, let us know, we saved it for posterity. The story is still fun...

So this guy on AIM, wesatfogue is his buddy name, starts text-chatting with Wolfe on AIM to compliment our show. How nice. He says he has a big ol' 80,000 watt radio station in New York, and would like to carry our show. Wolfe exchanges pleasantries with him and looks forward, suspiciously, to a new affiliate. Read that chat HERE.

Then Voice Guy, followed by Lee, exchange IMs with the guy, and receive conflicting and obviously bullshitty stories. Read Voice Guy's chat HERE and Lee's chat HERE. Notice Wes fakes a phone call when Voice Guy and I start asking real questions. Fun, huh? He makes up call letters, makes up a staff, and invents some fantastic story about corporations funding him with thousands of dollars, etc., etc. You can even read Wolfe and I discussing it later HERE. Is this Wes guy crazy or evil or what? Why would someone concoct such an elaborate story just for Lee & Wolfe?

With Lee's superhero-like detective powers, we track him down as Wes Leonard at Fogue Records in Bristol, Tennessee, a guy trying to make a living from minor web design, a Christian music label, and now a so-called radio show with a new format. He calls his show "15 Minutes of Fame." Andy Warhol thanks you, Wes. The new format of his show? The Lee & Wolfe format! Really it's too damn funny... the weak Christian version of our show. The copying is not something you notice right away at his "show's" website. Sure anyone can have pictures and audio downloads, etc. But he rips off everything in CONCEPT, and in at least one case, verbatim. Don't believe us? Check out the following:

Lee & Wolfe	15 Minutes of Lee & Wolfe
Staff: Lee, Wolfe, Newsgirl Lindsey, assorted cast	Staff: Don, Co-host, Newsgirl Jessica
Order of show: Intro, discussion, top 5 list, comedy, news, comedy, band interview	Order of show: Intro, discussion, top 5 list, comedy, news, comedy, band interview
bits / ideas: Madlib (duh!), Crocodile Hunter, Political ads, etc. (see comedy audio)	bits / ideas: Madlib, Crocodile Chaser, Political ads, etc.
syndication: real, with 15 affiliates listed here	syndication: fake, with no affiliates listed due to "confidentiality agreements" :-)
website: comedy bits, audio, pictures, syndication, interact, video (including a real TV demo)	website: comedy bits, audio, pictures, syndication, interact, video (including an "upcoming" TV demo)
THIS page we wrote.	THIS page Wes stole.
Listen: Lee & Wolfe from July 12, '02	Listen: 15 Minutes of Lame from July 18 '02 (just before Wes talked to Wolfe)

Listen for yourself. It's pretty much a show done in a studio built in, I'm guessing, a church basement. There are a variety of other little copycat things like jokes in his show closer ("for a transcript, write down everything that was said"), topics for Top 5 Lists ("Rejected Wrestler Names"), his "intro video," complete with newsgirl on green-screen and band performance, etc. Chances are, he'll change lots of things just as soon as he finds out we've caught up to him, so the previous links may not work for very long after August.

The really sad thing about this is not just that he's half-ass copying us in every way he can think of, and trying to make money off the show, but that he's also being dishonest to those bands who use Fogue Records as a label. It's tough for Christian acts to get played anywhere, so they're unfortunately easy to dupe. Wes Leonard is making them think that as a fringe benefit of being on his label, they get to be on some big nationally syndicated radio show. His most recent "shows" on his website make it even more obvious that there's no real radio show goin' on there, with his "on-air" lineup changing and him talking mysteriously about content he can't air. Sad. He has the audacity to CHARGE bands $50 to be on compilation CDs, CHARGE them for a CD review on his "show," and CHARGE them for a 2 minute commercial on his "show." BANDS: Never ever pay a label for anything. Real labels pay YOU.

We're not a Christian show (I reckon that's obvious), but we also don't mind if a band is Christian-focused, as long as they rock. If you're in a band, of any sort, send us your CD for FREE, we'll listen to it for FREE, talk about it if we think it's good (for FREE), and invite you to be on the show if we think that would be cool (for FREE). In the meantime, as we try to find and write to every band that's worked with Wes Leonard at Fogue Records, and the church that supports him if we can, feel free to let Wes Leonard know how you feel. Find him at:

FogueRecords.com
P.O. Box 3291
Bristol, TN 37625
US

http://www.fogueradio.com/


...next thing you know, BOOM, bootleg Lee & Wolfe DVDs in Chinatown! What's the world coming to?   :-) I guess we should be flattered, but as Rachael said, "Now you know how Metallica felt." LOL !


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