James Damiano pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1746, declares under penalty of perjury that:

.1979 Years ago I read an unauthorized biography about Bob Dylan, in which the author made reference to a man who at one time was considered to be the president of CBS Records. His name was John Hammond, Sr. He was family to the Vanderbilts, Attended Yale law school, the most sought after record producer in the United States, and had signed Pete Seeger to Columbia Records 1960. In fact John Hammond Sr. was and probably will always be considered the most influential music executive in the world by music industry professionals.

. After years of working in the music industry, Mr. Hammond established himself as a legend and accomplished a reputation as having the best ears in the business by signing a fascinating number of legendary artists to the record world.

. Artists like Billy Holiday, Count Basie, Charlie Christian, Duke Ellington, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen along with many other artists including Stevie Ray Vaughan were John Hammond affiliates.

An article downloaded from the internet is displayed below about Mr. Hammond.

. http://www.bluespower.com/a-mb.htm

. Major talent scout, John Hammond Sir brought Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Leonard Cohen and Bruce Springsteen to Columbia Records. Hammond also worked as a producer with such early greats as Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman and Count Basie

Inspired by the book I read,taht mentioned Mr. Hammond, I decided to take a long shot and called CBS Records on the phone. The operator answered and I asked to be put through to John Hammond's office. The receptionist rang his office and Mikie Harris answered the phone.

I told Mikie that I was a lyricist and asked her if she had a few seconds to listen to one lyric. She replied yes by saying "Shoot." I then recited a lyric to her that I had recently written and said "the lyric is: Just think how beautiful you'd feel if you knew your love was real."

Within a few seconds I could tell Mikie liked the lyric. I in turn did not want to push to hard on the first phone call fearing that I might put her behind schedule, so I tried to inch my way out of the conversation politely while trying not to show my emotions but before the conversation ended between Mikie and me, she made it explicit that she wanted me to call again.

She repeatedly told me to feel free to call her there at the office. So began a relationship where we would converse through actual meetings or correspond over the phone, that lasted close to seven and a half years.

Mikie told me that her name would be appearing in the credits on Stevie Ray Vaughan's album that was released in 1983.

When the album was released it listed John Hammond Sr. As Executive producer and Mikie Harris as Production Assistant. Stevie Ray Vaughan later recorded on Bob Dylan's "Under the Red Sky" album, released in 1990.

Mikie Harris is a board memeber of the National Academy of Popular Music which sponsors the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

The article below appeared on the internet: (Taken off the internet)

Brian Slawson While playing marimba on the streets of New York City to finance his studies at Juilliard, Brian Slawson was discovered by Mikie Harris, assistant to Columbia Records talent scout John Hammond. Bach On Wood, Slawson's debut album on CBS/Sony, earned a Grammy nomination. Slawson has since released Bach Beat and Distant Drums, which features cameos by blues great Stevie Ray Vaughan, jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and drummer Michael Shrieve. Slawson has performed with Leonard Bernstein, John Cage, Aaron Copland, Isaac Stern and Jessye Norman. His pop credits as drummer and percussionist include Pat Benetar, Peggy Lee, Johnny Mathis, Marie Osmond, The Mamas and Papas, and Ben Vereen. Slawson is Principal Timpanist with the Orlando and Brevard Symphony Orchestras, and Resident Percussion Instructor at the Academy of the Performing Arts.

1982 I (James Damiano) registered my first copyright with the Library of Congress in Washington DC. In 1982. The library registration number is PAU 409-107, Titled Collective songs by James Damiano. The computer print out of the registration describes the registration as lyric sheets and one Cassette tape. This tape included Dylan's 1994 hit song "Dignity" { Lyrical hook and melody line } In 1994 Bob Dylan released a song titled "Dignity" who he claims to have independently written.

Dylan's copyright produced in this litigation by his attorney’s states that Dylan's first registration made to the Library of Congress was December 5th, 1991.

At the 1995 Grammy awards Dignity was nominated for a Grammy by the National Academy of Popular Music.

Since the beginning of my involvement with Mikie Harris, I had been sending her tapes that I recorded at home on my cassette deck. After of about a year and a half of talking on the phone, sending lyric sheets of my songs to Mikie as well as bringing cassettes with my music up to her at CBS Records, Mikie asked me if I would like to audition for Mr. Hammond.

None of my songs at that time had been recorded in a professional recording studio. I accepted the invitation to audition for Mr. Hammond and Mikie told me that she would call me back in a week to set up the time and place. A week later Mikie called and told me that she had set up the audition for three months from that date. The audition would be at Mr. Hammond's office in the Media Sound Building in New York on West 57th Street at Eleven O'clock in the Morning.

I started practicing fifteen hours a day seven days a week. The three months seemed like forever. The morning of the audition Mikie called me and told me that she would have to cancel the audition. I told her that I couldn't believe what she was telling me. She knew I quit my job three months prior, to practice for the audition.

Finally after while she told me that she wanted to keep it out of the news and that Mr. Hammond was in the hospital. She then assured me that once Mr. Hammond was out of the hospital she would reschedule the audition.

A few months later Mikie called and rescheduled the audition for a few months from that date. I was excited and called a person who I was working with at the time named Allen LeWinter.

Allen worked with Don Kirshner and was associated with the band Kansas. Allen and his wife were living in a beautiful high rise condo on the East side. I loved going up there. They had a spectacular view from their balcony, and gold Kansas albums hanging on the wall.

Allen told me that his wife wrote scripts for soap operas. Allen was a cool guy, well mannered, polite, modest, just your all around classy person. Kind of an artistic guy whose greatest attribute was his sincerity. It seemed, Allen's job was to seek out talent in the suburbs. Everything else goes without saying.

Allen respected Mr. Hammond immensely and was looking forward to going to the audition with me. When I told Allen that the audition was back on we made arrangements for me to pick him up at his condo the morning of the audition.

Again I started practicing and practicing fourteen hours a day when Mikie sent me a book titled "John Hammond on Record." I was all practiced out, I couldn't practice anymore, so I read the book.

The book put me in semi-shock. It identified Mr. Hammond as the most influential music executive in the world. The days counted down to three nights before the audition and I couldn’t not sleep. The following night I couldn't sleep, till finally the night before.

It was twelve midnight the night before. I laid in bed trying to go to sleep but still could not It seemed impossible. My adrenalin wouldn't stop pumping. One A.M. rolled around, I was still wide awake and I hadn't slept in a couple days. Around two thirty I went downstairs grabbed a bottle of tequila and started drinking. Within a half hour I finally fell asleep.

The audition was for eleven o’clock in the morning. I woke at seven, jumped in the car, drove to New York, picked up Allen and we drove cross town to the audition. We parked the car, I grabbed my guitar and we started to walk to Mr. Hammond's office when I started feeling ill.

Allen quickly started trying to help me pull myself together with words of support, by calmly saying "You can do this " while I was thinking "he must be crazy, he doesn't understand how sick I feel" anyway I had no other alternative but to believe what Allen was saying to me and to simply pull myself together. We entered the building and the receptionist called up to Mikie to tell her we were there, she hung up the phone and told us that Mikie said for us to go up.

When we got to the office Mikie was waiting and quickly asked me if I'd like to tune my guitar. I said yes and she brought me down into a recording studio where she pointed to a piano and said "You can tune your guitar to this piano, it's the piano that Billy Joel records on."

My first reaction was " Now that's a dose of reality not to many musicians could swallow." and with that thought I had to wonder what she expected from me. My second reaction was "Now that's inspiration. I started tuning the guitar, when all of a sudden a string broke. I put down the quitter and said to Allen I'll be right back. I jumped up, ran down the stairs, stopped at the receptionist and asked her to get me some packets of salt, I ran a couple blocks down to the car and asked the valet where my car was. He pointed me to it and I ran down and grabbed a case that had guitar strings in it.

I ran back to the building , and as I ran past the receptionist she handed me the salt, I ran back up the stairs, put on the string, tuned the guitar, licked some salt and followed Mikie back up to Mr. Hammond's office .

Mikie told Allen and me to have a seat and that Mr. Hammond would be in a couple minutes. We waited a few minutes, then Mr. Hammond walked in. Mikie introduced us. We all shook hands, Mr. Hammond sat down at his desk and started out the conversation with a comment about Bruce Springsteen.

We talked for a while and Mr. Hammond asked to hear one of my songs. I played four songs for Mr. Hammond. One of which was titled "Living Proof." Mr. Hammond also read a song of mine that when I handed it to him I explained that I had written the song on an electric guitar and that since I only had an acoustic guitar with me, that I'd rather not try to play it. Mr. Hammond politely understood and said that he would like to hear it with music after it was recorded. The song Mr. Hammond read is displayed below:

I've got a plush A frame

overlooking the Ocean

With a fireplace to keep us warm when it's cold

A Cathedral ceilings

For romantic evenings

And lights that turn down low

In the garage there's a brand new silver blue porche

It's a 911- E

And all these luxuries

Can be yours for a while honey

If you just say yes to me.

Just say yes to me honey

Just say yes to me

Just say yes to me honey

And give up your dignity

I like playing golf racquetball and tennis

And I bet on all the sports

And I'm part owner of a nice little cottage

Lodged up at a ski resort

My boats docked down at little creek marina

I just got a set of new sails

On warm summer nights we'll sail out on the bay

And watch falling stars make trails

It's a good life when the money's right

You can satisfy your curiosity

And all you have to do honey

Is just say yes to me

Just say yes to me honey

Just say yes to me

Just say yes to me honey

And give up your integrity

My bank accounts bigger than the houses I own

Bigger than all three

Live in maids clean all day

To give us more time to be free

Well go out every night

Where you can show off all your New clothes

And expensive jewelry

And all you have to do honey

Is Just say yes to me

Just say yes to me honey

Just say yes to me

Just say yes to me honey

And give up your dignity

The song that Mr. Hammond read at the audition was untitled at the time but identified with two separate names. One of the identification of this song was "Just say yes to me" the second was "Dignity".

I copyrighted "Dignity" with the Library of Congress in 1982 which included the melody line and lyrical hook of Bob Dylan's song "Dignity" Twelve years later Bob Dylan was nominated for a Grammy for a song titled "Dignity" released on his 1994 Bob Dylan's Greatest Hit's album and also on his MTV Bob Dylan Unplugged album.

The relationship between Mr. Hammond, CBS Records, Mikie , and myself continued for over Eleven Years. I kept submitting material. Musicians that I was playing with at the time would come up to CBS Records with me when I went to bring new songs that I had written up to Mikie.

In 1982 Mikie sent me a Christmas card stating ;

Dear Jim, "Wishing you a splendid Christmas and a most prosperous New Year." (signed) - Love Mikie, Randy, Duke and Nikkie too. December 1982. { A copy of this letter is displayed on the photo page) Plaintiff's attorney Steven M. Kramer refused to produce this Christmas card to the court }

Mikie invited me to stay at her home for weeks at a time where I wrote and experimented with songs on her baby grand piano all the while submitting more and more material to her.

1986 I ( James Damiano) met Danny Gallagher in 1986. Danny was in one of Bruce Springsteen's first original bands "Doctor Zoom and the Sonic Boom". Rumor has it that Springsteen was sleeping on Danny's couch when he got signed to CBS Records. Nevertheless Danny and Springsteen still remain friends as of today {August 5th 1997).

Danny was a great steel guitar player. I asked Danny if he would put a steel guitar track on "Steal Guitars" (also identified as "Dignity" on James Damiano's 1982 copyright registration) and he agreed to do so. He also told me he that had a friend named Mario who played a great electric guitar and who did some touring with members of the New Riders of the Purple Sage. Danny set up the recording session at Mario's home, we set up the equipment and recorded "Steal Guitars." (also identified as "Dignity" on James Damiano's 1982 copyright registration)

The Declaration of Danny Gallagher {Displayed below} Danny Gallagher a musician who recorded the dobro guitar track on James Damiano's song "Steel Guitars" (also identified as "Dignity" on James Damiano's 1982 copyright registration) declares under penalty of perjury that: I am a musician and I play the dobro guitar. I reside at -- _____________ Terrace __________Ireland. I recorded songs with James Damiano in the year 1986. I Danny Gallahger declare that in 1986 I played and recorded the dobro guitar track on James Damiano's song " Guitars" (also identified as "Dignity" on James Damiano's 1982 copyright registration) The song I am referring to in statement #5 of this declaration is the same song that is playing in the background of this taped statement or declaration. A week after James Damiano and I recorded the song "Steel Guitars" (also identified as "Dignity" on James Damiano's 1982 copyright registration) Mr. Damiano told me that he went to New York to submit a copy of it to Mikie Harris at CBS.

{Plaintiff's Steven M. Kramer refused to submit Danny Gallagher's Declaration to the court, until the reconsideration motion. When Plaintiff asked Mr. Kramer why he was not submitting Mr. Gallegher's Declaration in his opposition brief to Defendants summary judgment motion, Mr. Kramer replied that "He didn't want to appear weak to the court"}

Mario Phillips a musician who recorded the electric guitar track on "Steel Guitars" aka (also identified as "Dignity" on James Damiano's 1982 copyright registration) during the same recording session with Danny Gallagher and James Damiano declares under penalty of perjury that: My full Name is Gregory S. Phillipps (aka. Mario) I was born in _________________Washington. I reside at _____________________Washington In the year 1986 I played and recorded on an instrumental song of James Damiano's. Said song in #4 was recorded at the address I was living at in New Jersey Danny Gallagher also played the dobro guitar on this song The song I am referring to was played to me on the phone by James Damiano. I recognized the song as the song James, Danny and I recorded in 1986. Dear Jim: Thanks for 'sharing' your lyrics / poetry with me. To me, your work represents a lot of time and effort but, from an artistic point of view, I feel that it is representative of poetry rather than a song in today's commercial market of music.

Since no tape accompanied the words, I have no way of knowing what your ideas are with regard to the music.

I just wish that there was some way for me to be of help to you, but with things the way they are, especially regarding Mr. Hammond's health, my hands are tied. Our office has (at least since I've been associated with John) been actively involved with publishing, which is something I suggested you try to your material several years ago.

I still maintain that this is the best route for you. Publishers can reach major artists and guide you with regard to your material. On the basis of the material that you have just now presented to me, I think it might stand a stronger chance of being recognized as a volume of straight poetry rather than songs.

Because of Mr. Hammond's policy with regard to his relationships with artists he has worked with, I will not be able to present your material to Bob Dylan.

Jim, I wish you the best ( but surely you know this by now after all these years ) and I'm only sorry that our office can't be of assistance to you. Take care……Mikie.

The above letter was the letter James Damiano received after working with Mikie Harris on songs for seven years.

{Mikie Harris was never deposed in this litigation }

Plaintiff contends that many statements in Ms.

Harris's letter are false and purposely

misleading.

Taken from deposition disc also

on video taped deposition. Scott Patterson

testified in a video tape deposition below:

Please note: All depositions besides Plaintiff's

are video taped:

2 A. He never -- it was kind

of like in 3 the beginning he had things to talk

to me about 4 and then he came to the store and

I think he made 5 the connection because I knew

Tony and I also had 6 met Mikie Harris through

Tony Tiller and I knew a 7 lot of those

people.

Patterson Deposition

15 Q.

Now, Mr. Patterson, when did you 16 first meet

the plaintiff in this action, James 17 Damiano?

18 A. I guess it would be around '88. I'm 19 not

sure of the date.

I had met Jim at 20

Broccoli-Rabe Studios when he was recording

there 21 and I worked on a couple of his

sessions. That is 22 my extent of meeting Jim

until last year when he 23 came up to my store.

24 Q. And you were working at Broccoli-Rabe 25

Studios in 1988? 24 1 Patterson 2 A. Right. I

did assistant enengineering 3 on and off there.

4 Q. Was that a formal position, assistant 5

engineer, or was it on an as-needed basis? 6 A.

As-needed basis. 7 Q. Who owned Broccoli-Rabe? 8

A. Brian Draigo. 19 Q. Was there a chief

engineer? 20 A. Yes. 21 Q. Who was that? 22 A.

Phil Pfisterer. Phil and I had a 23 production

company together called I-n-d-i-e Music 24

Productions 13 Q. Do you know when Mr. Damiano

recorded 14 music at Broccoli-Rabe Studios? 15

A. It would probably be around '87, 16 because

in '88 I worked with Tony Tiller out in 17 Sammy

Fields. 23 A. Yes. The relationship between

myself 24 and Tony Tiller came through Phil

Pfisterer, not 25 through Jim Damiano. Phil met

Tony Tiller through 26 1 Patterson 2 Jim Damiano

at a party, 17 A. I met Tony Tiller through Phil

18 Pfisterer, who was my partner. Phil met Tony

19 through Jim Damiano at a party at Tony's

house. 20 Phil went with Jim to the party. 21 Q.

Did Mr. Damiano ask you to come to 22 this

meeting? 23 A. Yes. 24 Q. What did he tell you

the purpose of 25 the meeting was? 58 1

Patterson 2 A. He never -- it was kind of like

in 3 the beginning he had things to talk to me

about 4 and then he came to the store and I

think he made 5 the connection because I knew

Tony and I also had 6 met Mikie Harris through

Tony Tiller and I knew a 7 lot of those people.

8 Q. When you say a lot of those people, 9 who

else other than Tony Tiller and Mikie Harris? 10

A. Tony Tiller and Mikie Harris -- he 11 asked

how he could get in touch with Mikie. I had 12

worked with her son, Duke, he has a band called

13 Marble. 14 Q. In working with Mikie Harris'

son, 15 that had absolutely nothing to do with

James 16 Damiano? 17 A. No, not at all. I didn't

even know 18 Jim knew Mikie. I had met Mikie --

Tony had a 19 party at his house and I met Mikie

there. 20 MR. SNYDER: Mr. Kramer, could you 21

go outside to do that. 22 MR. KRAMER: Oh, sure.

23 MR. SNYDER: Thanks. 24 Q. When you met Mikie,

that again had 25 nothing to do with James

Damiano and his recording 59 1 Patterson 2 of

music or anything like that? 3 A. No. Actually,

Mikie -- we were at a 4 party at Tony's house,

and Mikie -- we started 5 talking and it ended

up she knew a lot of people 6 that I knew

through the studio and stuff.


14 Q. And then you say, "Oh yeah. No, he

15 knew that, everybody knew that." Is the "he" --

16 is it fair to say that the "he" there is Tiller,

17 that Tiller knew that Mr. Damiano wanted to meet

18 Dylan? When you used the pronoun "he" --

19 A. Right.

20 Q. -- is the "he" Tiller?

21 A. Yeah, I guess so. I don't really

22 recall that. I knew that Jim wanted to meet Dylan

23 but, you know, but I don't know --

24 Q. I'm just asking who the "he" is?

25 A. The "he" would refer to Tony, right.


153


1 Patterson

2 Q. Okay.

3 A. But I don't know, I don't recall

4 saying that.

9 A. Okay.

10 Q. Going down to the sixth paragraph

11 from the bottom --

12 A. Okay.

13 Q. -- where you're stating the word

14 "especially." Do you see that?

15 A. Right.

16 Q. Okay. Do you recall, Scott, giving

17 your opinion of Mr. Damiano's song-writing ability

18 with these words? We will leave out a couple of

19 the words for obvious reasons. But your comment

20 that "Your writing is very intense, I mean you

21 know how to work words" --

22 A. Right.

23 Q. -- is that an accurate statement?

24 A. Right. Yeah, he is very good.





Produced in this litigation is part of the contract with Broccoli Rabe studios and Mohammad Marhoumy who is a private investor for the Damiano project.

Declaration of Mohammad Marhoumy In a declaration Mohammad Marhoumy a personal investor of James Damiano's declares under penalty of perjury that:

I Mohammad Marhoumy state that I have read the following statement and I am willing to testify in a court of law that it is true that on or about July 1987, James Damiano and I drove to New York to attend a meeting with Anthony Tiller. Anthony Tiller was working for CBS Records . This meeting was in reference to James Damiano's songs. Mr. Tiller and I discussed the financing of a musical project of James Damiano's music. At this time I entered into a verbal agreement with Mr. Tiller. I was obligated according to the agreement to supply the money for the project. After this meeting with Mr. Tiller I invested ten thousand dollars. This money was paid to Brian Draigo of Broccoli Rabe studios in Fairfield New Jersey, where Mr. Damiano recorded "Another Justification" and My Cousin JoAnn" . I Mohammad Marhoumy am willing to testify in a court of law that the above statement is true.

Mr. Marhoumy signed the above declaration on January 2nd , 1995.

Mohammad Marhoumy was also deposed in this litigation by Bob Dylan's attorneys. When Mr. Marhoumy was asked by Orin Snyder (Dylan's attorney) Mohammad testified

Orin Snyder - Question. "And my question to you, sir is that after those weeks and after you started paying monthly on the ,000. Your feelings of disbelief about Mr. Damiano's claims of having some connection to Bob Dylan"

Mohammad Marhoumy - Answer. "If you want an answer, I'll give you answer. I don't think that Jim was the one that made me - gave me that disbelief. It was Anthony. I think Jim was just maybe lied to. Like I was. That is how I perceived it. I took him for a victim just as much as myself. If there was no connection to Mr. Dylan, it wasn't because of what he said to me, it was because of what Anthony said to me."

The following transcript is from Mohammad Marhoumy's deposition.
Please note: All depositions besides Plaintiff's are video taped:

Exhibit 14

2 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
3 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x

4 JAMES DAMIANO, :

5 Plaintiff, :

6 -against- :Case No.
95-4795
7 SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, INC. and :
BOB DYLAN,
8 :
Defendants.
9 :
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x
10
May 9, 1996
11 11:28 a.m.

12 Deposition of Non-Party Witness MOHAMED MARHOUMY,

13 taken by Defendants, pursuant to subpoena, at the

14 offices of Parcher & Hayes, P.C., 500 Fifth

15 Avenue, New York, New York, before Robert E. Levy,

16 a Certified Shorthand Reporter and Notary Public

17 within and for the State of New York.


A p p e a r a n c e s :
3
STEVEN M. KRAMER & ASSOCIATES
4 Attorneys for Plaintiff
150 West 56th Street
5 65th Floor
New York, New York 10019
6
By: STEVEN M. KRAMER, ESQ.,
7 of Counsel

8

9 PARCHER & HAYES, P.C.
Attorneys for Defendants
10 500 Fifth Avenue
38th Floor
11 New York, New York 10110-3899

12 By: ORIN S. SNYDER, ESQ.,
-and-
13 STEVEN HAYES, ESQ.,
of Counsel
14

15
Also Present:
16
JAMES DAMIANO
17
RAM SUNDRANI,
18 Videographer
4 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED

5 by and between the attorneys for the

6 respective parties hereto that the sealing

7 and filing of the within deposition be, and

8 the same hereby are, waived; and that the

9 transcript may be signed before any Notary

10 Public with the same force and effect as if

11 signed before the Court.

12 IT IS FURTHER STIPULATED AND AGREED

13 that all objections, except as to the form

14 of the question, shall be reserved to the

15 time of trial.


2 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: Good morning. We

3 are on the record. My name is Ram

4 Sundrani. I'll be the video operator for

5 today, May 9, 1996. I represent Doyle

6 Reporting located at 369 Lexington Avenue,

7 New York, New York.

8 We are here at the office of Parcher

9 & Hayes located at 500 Fifth Avenue, New

10 York, New York. This is the case of James

11 Damiano versus Sony Music Entertainment.

12 This is the deposition of Mohamed Marhoumy.

13 At this time counsel will identify

14 themselves.

15 MR. KRAMER: Steven Kramer for the

16 plaintiff.

17 MR. SNYDER: Orin Snyder and Steven

18 Hayes for the defendants.

19 THE VIDEOGRAPHER: At this time I'll

20 have the court reporter swear in the

21 witness.

22 M O H A M E D M A R H O U M Y, (residing at 10

23 Darnay Road, Morristown, New Jersey),

24 having been first duly sworn by the Notary

25 Public (Robert E. Levy), was examined and


5


1 Marhoumy

2 testified as follows:

3 EXAMINATION BY

4 MR. SNYDER:

5 Q. Good morning, sir.

6 A. Good morning.

7 Q. Will you please state your name and

8 spell it?

9 A. Mohamed, M-o-h-a-m-e-d, Marhoumy,

10 M-a-r-h-o-u-m-y.

11 Q. And what is your address, sir? 12 A. ------------- Morristown, New

13 Jersey.

14 Q. What is your telephone number?

15 A. 201----------

16 Q. What is your date of birth?

17 A. November --------

18 Q. Sir, you've never been deposed

19 before, have you?

20 A. No.


20 Q. Thank you. And sir, you are aware

21 that Mr. Damiano has sued Bob Dylan and Sony

22 Music, is that correct?

23 A. Yes.

24 Q. And you are aware, sir, that his

25 allegations include allegations that Bob Dylan


24

1 Marhoumy

2 used his lyrics and music?

3 A. Yes.

4 Q. If Mr. Damiano is alleging that some

5 of the words and music that Mr. Dylan allegedly

6 used were words and music that came out of the

7 recording session --

8 A. Uh-huh.

9 Q. -- then do you have a 50 percent

10 interest in any revenues that Mr. Damiano might

11 receive in connection with his claims if they

12 arise out of these recording sessions?

13 A. Okay --

14 MR. KRAMER: Talking about from the

15 lawsuit, in other words if an award is made

16 by a jury, is that what you are referring

17 to?

18 MR. SNYDER: Let's just read the

19 question --

20 MR. KRAMER: It is unclear.

21 Q. I'll rephrase the question. You are

22 aware, sir, that Mr. Damiano has sued Bob Dylan

23 and Sony Music?

24 A. Yes.

25 Q. And his claims are that Mr. Dylan


25


1 Marhoumy

2 used some of his lyrics and music in Mr. Dylan's

3 songs, that is Mr. Damiano's claim, correct?

4 A. Uh-huh. Yes.

5 Q. And if Mr. Damiano is claiming that

6 some of the songs that Mr. Dylan allegedly stole

7 were songs which you helped to produce, and if Mr.

8 Damiano receives a judgment in this case, let's

9 say, against Mr. Dylan, --

10 A. Uh-huh.

11 Q. -- based on his claims, based on

12 those tapes, do you have a 50 percent interest in

13 that judgment?

14 A. I would say if this allegedly stolen

15 music was on that tape that I produced, the man

16 wrote thousands of songs.

17 Q. I understand.

18 A. I'm not even sure, I'm not sure which

19 ones he claims that Bob Dylan's stole. If the

20 stolen music, as he says, was part of my tape that

21 I paid for, yeah, I believe I'm entitled to it,

22 but if it is not, then I'm not.

23 Q. Well, hasn't Mr. Damiano told you

24 that some of the songs that he claims Mr. Dylan

25 used were songs that were on your tape?


26


1 Marhoumy

2 A. No, actually he didn't.

3 Q. Never discussed that?

4 A. Never discussed that. That it was --

5 we only did one tape. It had like eight songs, I

6 believe. I don't know if -- actually, the tape

7 has no lyrics. The tape we did was just music.

8 So it couldn't be from my tape.

9 Q. Well, one of Mr. Damiano's claims is

10 that Mr. Dylan used his music?

11 A. There is lyrics to the music but they

12 are not on the tape. The tape we have that we

13 produced has no -- well, no, it has lyrics, excuse

14 me, it has lyrics, only one song does have

15 lyrics -- there are eight songs on the tape. One

16 song doesn't have lyrics, one song, My Cousin

17 Joann. There is no lyrics on that song, but the

18 rest of the tape has lyrics so it is possible. I

19 don't know. I don't know which lyrics he is

20 claiming that Bob Dylan stole. It could be one of

21 the songs that we have, and if it is, yes, I

22 believe yes, if he made an agreement with somebody

23 else, that is fine, then his half of that, and if

24 it happened to be one of the songs that I paid

25 for, then I should be entitled to something. If


27


1 Marhoumy


2 it is not, then I'm not entitled to it.


3 Q. Mr. Damiano wrote this statement and

4 asked you to sign it, correct?

5 A. Yes.

6 Q. And you read it before signing it,

7 correct?

8 A. Yes.

9 Q. You knew this statement was going to

10 be used in connection with a court case, correct?

11 A. Yes, this is true.

12 Q. And you knew that because it was

13 going to be used in a court case, it was important

14 that the statement be truthful, correct?

15 A. Yes.

16 Q. And accurate?

17 A. Yes.

18 Q. And complete?

19 A. Yes.

20 Q. You understood that the purpose of

21 this statement was to set forth the facts that you

22 knew related to this case, is that correct?

23 A. Yes.

24 Q. And that is your signature, correct?

25 A. Yes.


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1 Marhoumy

2 Q. Why don't you tell us what the

3 circumstances were that brought -- withdrawn.

4 Did you have a conversation with Mr.

5 Damiano before signing this statement about

6 signing the statement?

7 A. The only conversation that I remember

8 is he was suing Bob Dylan. And they were putting

9 together a list of witnesses, and they wanted me

10 to testify. Do I have a problem to testify based

11 on what happened, and that is the only part I was

12 involved with him as far as business when it comes

13 to that. This is the truth. So I signed it.

14 Q. When you say they were putting

15 together a witness list?

16 A. Him and his attorney.

17 Q. Do you remember who his attorney was

18 at the time?

19 A. I've never met his attorney until

20 this morning. I didn't know what his name was or

21 who it was.




10 Q. Okay. Sir, when did you -- have you

11 ever met an individual by the name of Tony Tiller?

12 A. Yes.

13 Q. And when -- how many times have you

14 met him?

15 A. Only once.

16 Q. And why don't you tell us the

17 circumstances leading up to your meeting Mr.

18 Tiller?

19 A. Okay. I believe it was 1987 and Jim

20 was working for me at the dealership and I know he

21 was into the music, and you know, writing and

22 listening to music, and he had mentioned that his

23 music is being read by Bob Dylan, and I mean I

24 don't -- I'm not familiar even at that time who

25 Bob Dylan was. I'm not a big music fan of Bob


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1 Marhoumy

2 Dylan or anything, but my wife heard about him and

3 she was like, well, he is this and that, she told

4 me about who Bob Dylan was. I didn't believe him

5 in the beginning. I didn't believe him. He

6 wanted to produce a record that he believed it

7 would end up in Bob Dylan's hands and he needed

8 money to produce that record. It was going to be

9 approximately ,000. Somewhere around that

10 number. And he was looking for somebody to invest

11 into that and share whatever profit that would

12 come out of this.

13 And at the time, I was into

14 investments. I just bought a few family houses, I

15 had just all kind of credit cards, I had American

16 Express Platinum and that gave me a ,000 check

17 limit with it, I just got in the mail just at the

18 time he was talking to me about this, and I

19 thought about it for a while but I wasn't about to

20 make a decision just based on his words, and I

21 wanted to meet with somebody that would concur

22 with what he is saying.

23 And he mentioned Sony Records, CBS

24 building, that he goes there, and he meets with

25 this -- supposedly a big shot with that company,


33

At the 1995 Grammy awards "Dignity", off of Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Volume 3 album, was nominated for a Grammy in the best rock song of the year catagory.

Doctor Greene who graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard who prepared the music comparision analysis of "Dignity" and "Steel Guitars" stated in his analysis "The melodic arc found in both "Dignity" and "Steel Guitars" is more than a collection of shared pitches.

It seems to embody the melodic shape or character of both songs. When played on it's own, It is reminiscent of both compositions.

Bob Dylan and people in Bob Dylan's entourage solicited James Damiano's songs and music for over fourteen years. These people included Tom Masters, Richard Fernandez, Bob Dylan's publisher Jeff Rosen, Mikie Harris, Tony Tiller, Mike Reed, Bob Dylan's publicist Elliot Mintz and a few of Dylan's attorneys and former attorneys especially Orin Snyder and Steven M. Kramer