Bob Brozman legal issues

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Brozman (1954-2013)
From: GUEST,Gene-Adelphi
Date: 05 May 13 - 06:29 AM

RE: Bob Brozman Obit...

To: Murray McLeod, and the other "naysayers", Et Al

Murray, the very LAST thing that ANYONE that has a potential (personal) "interest" in, or personal knowlege of (one way or the other) of this (horrific) "Brozman" situation should do is to "... with-hold comment....", with the exception, of course, of any MORE speculative &/or opinioned commentary, with which I totally agree with you.
However, waiting for an "...official announcement" regarding the factual details regarding Brozman's "alleged" pedophilia, is the equivalent of "...waiting for Godot", it will NEVER HAPPEN THAT WAY MY FRIEND!

The ONLY way that the truth will become known is by some of the serious blues & folk researchers, in residence here, doing the same serious Scholarly research that they do when researching the ENTIRE details of Robert Johnson's death but instead regarding Bob Brozman's death...this IS NOT rocket science my friends!

My personal researches seem to indicate that the "allegations" of pedophilia on Brozman's part are "in fact" true.

If so the ramifications are fucking horrific!!! How many Brozman fans out there have allowed "Uncle Bob" to crash at their house alone with their young children over these 20 or 30 years? How many of their children were NOT believed when telling their parents about "Uncle Bobs" touching? How many such children are in total denial & suffering years of psychiatric intervention? How many such young teens & young adults need understanding and "closure" over such abuse?

Well obviously I don't know (yet), but I'm VERY pessimistic about the ultimate possibilities, nay probabilities!!

I bring to your attention the theory known as Occam's Razor....the quick version goes something like this: In general, the simplest explanation for a given phenomenon, is predictably/generally the "correct" one.

You will not hear the truth from the family or the authorities, however, deep research into the CA court system (before it's expunged) will surely produce the public access documents such as CA vs Brozman, etc. pursuant to which the Subpoena was issued!!

It's there guys...........DAMMIT, go find it! PLEASE!!!

Gene R., Pres.
Adelphi/Sunsplash Records & Films, Inc
BBM Publ., ASCAP
NARAS

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Brozman (1954-2013)
From: GUEST
Date: 04 May 13 - 04:47 AM

I explained the reason for my previous post as having been made not to confirm anything but to hopefully send a message. It was anonymous because I'm a performing musician and want no part of amy controversy. Had I not satisfied myself about the probability of Mr. Atkinson's claims I would not have posted anything, but I am, as I said, not here to convince anyone of anything, one way or the other. I'm afraid that the truth will emerge anyway, but I'm not close enough to events to confirm anything, anyway. Really, all I can confirm is that the people who work in the same musical world never heard of any such behavior and my aim has only been to ease the impression on the part of Bob's wife that his peer group was covering for him.

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Brozman (1954-2013)
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 03 May 13 - 07:12 PM

It would seem to me that further comment, either eulogistic or speculative, would be well advised to be witheld until an official announcement has been made from the relevant authorities which would either confirm or deny that there was an impending prosecution.

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Brozman (1954-2013)
From: GUEST,steve s
Date: 03 May 13 - 05:46 PM

I have done a cursory inet search and communicated with some friends in the biz, and I can't confirm the above allegations. However, "Gary Atkison" is real, and has an association with Brozman. I advise caution esp. anonymous confirmation, as in the post above me.

steve senderoff

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Brozman (1954-2013)
From: GUEST
Date: 03 May 13 - 05:18 PM

If there is a way for the message to get to Bob's first wife, I would only assure her that I never, ever heard another report or rumor of this conduct. Not to say that I doubt her at all, but only to say that the impression that many musicians knew of this and did nothing may not be true at all. I will only add, as tactfully as possible, that many of his peers found Bob difficult on a personal level and were therefore not snowed by him or anything or that sort. I never bought the story about taking his life because he couldn't play like he used to. For any father to do that, that would seem impossible, though the story that he was in pain seemed credible. But that was before hearing this incredible news, which makes it obvious that none of us knew him.

My own inquiries seem to indicate that these awful allegations are true, and my heart goes out to anyone who has been damaged by this, and to their families. My only aim here is to assure them that this was not at all known to those of us in the music business; I wasn't close to Bob but have friends who were, and none of them knew.

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Brozman (1954-2013)
From: GUEST,Potato fingers
Date: 03 May 13 - 08:34 AM

From the Santa Cruz News:


Gary Atkison (ex U.K. tour agent)Thu, May 02, 2013 - 12:01 pm
Because of the number of word restrictions, I am sending this message in two parts.
I'm sorry to burst the bubble here, but if you don't make it easy for readers to contact the editor directly then this sort of thing can happen.
You'll learn my qualifications for making the following statement in a moment. But let's begin with the difficult stuff first. 
Bob Brozman committed suicide on Tuesday evening, 23rd April 2013, shortly after learning that he was to be taken to court for the severe sexual abuse of a child. This abuse happened some years ago spanning a period of time from when his victim was a toddler through to being a young teenager. In more recent years he repeated this abuse on another under age person. All of his victims were well known to him. In addition, I tell can you that whilst he was in the U.K. 1994 on tour, he sexually abused my own daughter who, at the time, was nine years old. I have never forgiven him and I never will.
My name is Gary Atkinson and I live in the U.K.. I was Bob's tour agent between 1988 and 1994. On the back of one major concert at the ICA in London, I arranged his first significant tour here. And even though I had not done anything like this before, I managed to get together for him ten or twelve dates. 
We first met at London's Heathrow Airport. His flight was nearly twenty-four hours late! And he had been in the plane for that entire amount of time. As soon as he walked into the arrivals hall, loaded down with guitars and suitcases, I made him go straight to the bathroom and change into his stage clothes, after which, I bundled him into the car and we took a white knuckled car ride into the West of London where he was to headline a major concert, showcasing some of the finest slide guitarist in the world. After such a long and tiring journey from when he first set off from home, most people would have walked onto the stage, said "Hello" to the audience and then curled up under the chair and then said "Good night". Instead, Bob walked on, looking and acting like he had just had a month's vacation in Hawaii and as fresh as a daisy, he launched into one of the most energetic and powerful acoustic sets that I had ever seen.
Unlike most tour agents and artist's managers I always toured with the artists that I represented. I did the driving, I acted as stage crew, I helped with the sound checking, I would arrange interviews with everyone from music magazines to appearances on National TV and radio. Hotels, restaurants, banks, doctors. You name it. I even got up and joined him with my own guitar for half of the second set. Bob was an immediate success. The tours grew, year by year. By the fourth year we embarked upon the biggest tour so far. Nearly seventy dates, spread just a little over three months, including clubs, theatres, arts centres, concerts, festivals and even private parties that were prepared to pay his highest fee.  And those sixty something dates didn't include interviews, workshops, recording dates etc.
I tell you this because, as a result of all of this activity Bob and became very, very close. From that first meeting at the airport, we got on like the proverbial house on fire. We agreed that we had become like "blood brothers". In addition, he was welcomed into the hearts, minds, venues and often, homes of people up and down and around the British Isles. He couldn't go wrong… Could he?
Reply to this comment
Gary AtkinsonThu, May 02, 2013 - 12:02 pm
When a travelling artist, such as musician, is on the road there is one thing that is at the top of the code of do's and dont's.  Among all of the contracts for every date, interview, TV and radio appearance and recording session, there are also unwritten contracts of trust and moral behaviour. Bob, like so many, lived a here today, gone tomorrow life. He was idolised and had audiences in the palm of his hand. Yes, he put his trust in all of those that were prepared to further his career but he was also put into a position of trust by hundreds, if not thousands of people around the world who just wanted to help Bob Brozman because they loved him and loved what he did as an artist. This came as everything from handshakes by adoring fans or the free use of family homes by patrons of the venues, all done to help him and encourage him on his way.
I'm not going to go into details, but, for me, that trust was shattered in 1994 when Bob tried to take advantage of his "blood brother's " daughter. I confronted him about it and he would not admit to anything. There was a witness. My daughter's friend, also nine years old but she would not speak out. As a result, I quickly wound down the tour and had nothing to do with Bob again… until recently.
The first victim's mother had been relentlessly trying to press charges against Bob for some time. The second mother's victim was also fighting for justice. Bob denied everything and the local law enforcement agency were frustrating efforts by not taking individual allegations seriously. Bob thought he was on safe ground and in doing so tried to paint a picture of crazed opportunists trying to exhort him for his not insubstantial wealth.
More recently, I was contacted by the parents of the victims and from 6,000 miles away I did my best to support and encourage them. At times they were exhausted in their quest to get justice for their loved ones, whilst at the same time Bob proceeded to win the love, adoration and accolades from audiences around the world.
But even more recently as the result of the dogged persistence of the victim's parents a court case was announced. Bob panicked and quickly changed his tact, offering a significant "out of court" payment for the first victim. Of course, this is an admission of guilt in anyone's book. However, Bob would have known that such a settlement does not stop a case going to court and every court has the media reporters in attendance. For Bob the game was going to be up.
All of those years ago, Bob explained to me why he did what he did as a performer. Despite the fact that he really didn't need to work, certainly as much he did on his endless tours around the world, he fed off the audiences before him. He told me that he desperately needed their recognition, approval and acceptance. 
With what was about to happen, coming straight towards him like an unstoppable express train, he knew that all of that trust, the praise and adoration was about to be shattered monumentally and he would be revealed for what he was.
I know that I cannot put everyone right about the real Bob Brozman and I don't blame millions of people for thinking that he was one Hell of a guy because of what they have seen at the shows and read in the papers, magazines and on the internet. But I will inform, where articles such as this have been written.  Either, take the article down or do some proper journalism, find out the facts and tell the truth. The article as it is, is offensive to those involved.

From Bob's first wife:

My friend, Gary Atkinson, just called out the media for these worshipful pieces. Gary came forward and said it, Bob was a pedofile and about to go down. This is why he killed himself. My understanding is many, many people in the music world know. God knows I've been doing my best to receive justice for my loved one for years. Another thing, how many days did it take for the cause of death to come out? Well all one had to do was call the SC County Coroners office, as I did. In the garage, carbon monoxide and notes were left. Yes Bob was a musical genius. He was one when I met him in 1975. But he did great damage to at least 3 families that I know of and has caused decades of harm to at least one mother/daughter relationship. Domestic Violence and crimes against children have a way of affecting generations of people. Yes there are also grandchildren now. Please see Gary's comment on SantaCruz.com. It is in response to an almost unreadable peice of hero worship. He lays it out quite compelling since Bob molested his daughter also. Bob was not a good man and left a heartbreaking legacy.