banner

andelman.com

   
   

  Andelman.com 
|

  Mr. Media  
|

  Rachel 
|

  Big Black Spider 
|

 Articles 

Bob Andelman

Bio


Hotbot Search
  "By Bob Andelman"  

Northern Light Search
  "By Bob Andelman"  

Guru.com
Hiring Information
  for Bob Andelman
 

Order Books
By Bob Andelman


 ARTICLES
 Latest Work
Profiles
Retail
First Person
Murder, I Wrote
Real Estate
Tampa Bay
Meetings
Radio
Business
Sports


BOOKS
 Reviews 

The Corporate Athlete
(Hardcover)

The Corporate Athlete
(Paperback; Jan. 2001)

The Corporate Athlete
(Audiotape)

The Corporate Athlete
(Official Web Site)

The Profit Zone

Built From Scratch
(Hardcover)

Built From Scratch
(Official Web Site)

Mean Business
(Paperback)

Mean Business
(Hardcover)

Mean Business
(Audiotape)

Bankers as Brokers

Stadium For Rent
(Paperback)

Stadium For Rent
(Online)

Why Men Watch Football  

Why Men Watch Football
(Online Soon!)

Big Black Spider
With the
Orange Orange Eyes
(A Story for Kids!) 



Mr. Media Archives  
The Latest  
1998  
1997  
1996  
1995  
1994  

More Andelmans  
 Mimi  
Rachel Photos  

Write To Us!  
Bob
Mimi
Rachel

Hitometer
(Since Oct. 7, 1999)

   

Richard Catalano

"He Keeps the Machine Running"

(Originally published in Pinellas County Review, November 1994)

 

By Bob Andelman

 

Divorce is a grind, a mountain of heartache, with no happy endings, just dysfunctional survivors.

And that's just the lawyers.

Richard T. Catalano, one-half of the Clearwater firm of Clark & Catalano, has handled simple, uncontested divorce cases as well as bloodbaths since passing the bar in 1985. He's seen an endless parade of adult clients who throw tantrums like 3-year-olds and who think nothing of spending $500 in legal fees to gain custody of a $50 knick-knack. He's endured more than his share of conversations that end with "I'm going to get him/her!"

The emotional strain began showing on Catalano three years ago. That's when his wife, Shara, convinced him he needed to broaden his legal horizons. "You seem miserable," she said.

She was right.

Knowing Catalano to be a frustrated musician, Shara suggested they start going out to nightclubs so he could blend his personal and professional interests. "See which bands have potential," she said. "Maybe you can represent them."

Music saved Catalano. He took an interest in three bay area alternative rock bands, Clang, Men From Earth, and Edison Shine, eventually being hired by each to perform some type of legal work. His most enduring relationship, however, has been with Clang.

"They were what they call in the industry 'undeniable,' " Catalano said. "I started going to all their shows; I became a Clang groupie. At a music conference, the leader of the band, Paul Reller, came up to me and said, 'Will you represent us?' I said, 'I thought you'd never ask.' "

Catalano, a graduate of Stetson University College of Law, began enjoying the law again. He joined the entertainment and sports law section of the Florida Bar and became a regular at its meetings. He bought the four-volume Entertainment Industry Contracts. Meanwhile, the young attorney immersed himself in the local music culture.

Catalano, having become a band intimate - the "Fifth Clanger" - wasn't satisfied with the speed of Clang's ascent to stardom. he started his own record label, Rump Roast Records, and issued Clang's 20-song LP, Pol Pot Pie, on 3,000 CDs and 1,000 cassettes. Among the collected chestnuts are original songs including: "Chump Funk," "Triple Homicide," "Hooray for Hollywood," "Dog Man" - about a triple murder in Rochester, N.Y. - and "Shroud of Urine," the last a musical report on the contraceptive device RU-486. There's also a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love." Billboard called Pol Pot Pie "dazzling."

"He's definitely part of the team," said Paul Reller, lead singer and guitarist for Clang. (Reller "daylights" as a professor of composition and director of the electronic music studio at the University of South Florida in Tampa.) "He's a great guy, real enthusiastic about music. And lucky for us, he has some affinity for our music. He keeps the machine running; he's like the central nervous system for the business aspect of the band. He contributes probably more than is apparent."

There's no indication from the walls in Catalano's office or his desk that his career interests vary so much away from divorce proceedings. The only clue is the CD/cassette boombox behind him, a Clang CD already queued up. Hidden away in a drawer is his collection of CD and cassettes, most produced by local musicians. And if one even hints at interest, Catalano can instantly provide a band bio with newspaper clips, performance reviews and mentions of its many awards.

"This is not your normal garage band," Catalano said. "I wouldn't be involved with them if they were. Unless they were great."

Catalano won't say how much cash he's invested in the band except to say "it's been a very expensive lesson." He spends an average of 20 percent of the business week on entertainment-related work, although it doesn't come close to that percentage of his billings. The work includes writing exclusive recording agreements for small record labels, band member partnership agreements, incorporation and d/b/a papers, and product contracts for record producers. "I get their legal house in order," he said. "Most bands I meet haven't even gotten their fictitious names registered."

So far, he still farms out most copyright and trademark work. It's an uphill struggle convincing some bands they even need to copyright their original material and register it with the Library of Congress.

These are the general duties he accepts for client bands. For Clang, he goes a step further, shopping their CD around to major labels in New York and Los Angeles, getting their music heard by people who can do Clang the most good. (In mid-September, the quartet recorded big band tunes behind Tiny Tim for a CD to be released in early 1995.)

Catalano won't reveal the nature of his financial relationship with the band except to confirm he will recoup his investment in Pol Pot Pie if the band's fortunes rise. "It's a gamble," Catalano said. "It was a long-shot that I was willing to take because I believe in the band. If Clang takes off, there could be a lot more music on Rump Roast Records."

Besides his investment, Catalano's very career could change dramatically if Clang hits the big time. He very much wants to expand the entertainment law portion of his business because divorce, while lucrative, is eating him up inside. His partner, Gregory D. Clark, is glad to see Catalano find some distraction from his regular practice.

"This is something he really enjoys," Clark said. "And he's got the dynamic personality for it." Clark, a real estate transaction attorney who described himself as "slow and cautious," said Catalano is anything but. "Richard is just the opposite, the person who gets things done. He's one to push for closure on things. It's a concept more lawyers should adopt."

Catalano accepts divorce clients to pay the bills but takes entertainment work for fun. "Realistically, entertainment will only supplement a law practice because musicians never have any money," he said. "They live a good lifestyle because they gig left and right, but they get paid in cash. The only ones who make any money are the ones who play weddings. The ones who play The Ritz or Gasoline Alley, they make $100, $300 a night. They're not in it for the money. They have stars in their eyes."

Of course, so does Catalano, the second of three sons born to retired Defense Department attorney Joseph J. Catalano. The elder Catalano was the greatest influence in his middle child's decision to become a lawyer. "He's the smartest man I've ever known," Catalano says. "He said, 'I have a lifetime of experiences. Where you're going, I've been.' He always warned me the law was a paper chase. A paper nightmare. And he was right. As usual."

Catalano, a 33-year-old Bronx native who speaks with great speed and animation when the subject moves him, is known in family circles as a peacemaker, the great negotiator. "I would always rise to the defense of one brother or friend," he recalled. His mother, Victoria, teased him about it: "Who do you think you are, the public defender?" The nickname - The Public Defender - stuck.

"He never used to take sides in arguments," said Rich's older brother, John Catalano, a certified public account with Broad & Walls Asset Management in St. Petersburg. "We grew up in New York City playing hardcore, nitty-gritty baseball and football with another family, the LoBiancos. We would knock each other around. Fights, inevitably, would occur. Rich would always be the problem-solver, not the aggressor. He would always try to work out a peaceful resolution."

You can take the boy out of New York but you can't take the New Yawker out of the boy, apparently, said Catalano's long-time friend and Stetson classmate, Jeff Cosnow, a Palm Harbor attorney. "Rich is from the Bronx and listening to him talk about it is like somebody bragging about the old country. It's like an ethnic identity for him," Cosnow joked.

Another friend, Tampa real estate attorney E.J. Richardson, said that Catalano uses Big Apple-ese to his advantage. "He's very forthright," Richardson said. "Always lets you know where you stand. He doesn't mince words and he doesn't waste a lot of time."

"Growing up, I always thought it would be fun to be a lawyer," Catalano said. But after being hit by shrapnel for nine years in the divorce war trenches, he's had second thoughts. "Law wasn't what I thought it would be. I thought, when I started practicing, that law was what was in the law books. What I found out was law was whatever the particular judge says when you're in front of him."

The rules appear especially grey around the edges of divorce, where the cases have already been emotionally draining even before they ever reach court.

"Coming from as strong a family as Richard does," Richardson said, "it wears him out seeing so many people who don't take their relationships as seriously as you do. The fact that Richard would tire of it shows he's a human being, not a machine."

"I'm a firm believer: Everybody loses in divorce," Catalano said. "A lot of people, in a divorce, don't want a fair distribution and fair settlement. They want to punish. I am not the person for them. I had a case that went on for about two years! We settled it on the eve of trial. I felt good; these people needed to get on with their lives. They channeled all their energy and money into the divorce when they had three kids who needed their attention. When it was over, I was very happy for them, but especially for their kids.

"There's a lot of coping involved," he said. "I cope through my family. I'm a happily married man: I love my wife and I have an angel for a son. That's how I cope with it."

Probably the last career Catalano will want for his own son, Neal - born on Jan. 8 of this year - will be as a lawyer. If anything, he hopes to see Neal in the music biz. "One day," Catalano dreams, "he'll take over the helm of Rump Roast Records from me."

BAY LAWYER FILE

Name: Richard T. Catalano

Title: Partner, Clark & Catalano

Birthplace/date: Bronx, N.Y., Dec. 26, 1960

Marital Status: Married

Children: Neal, 9 months

Pre-Law: Father, Joseph J., was a contracting officer/attorney for the Defense Department in Manhattan; Mother, Victoria H., was a homemaker. "She was always there." Moved to St. Petersburg when Catalano was 13; he's a 1978 graduate of Lakewood High School.

First Law Job: Clerk for Benson & Schwartzberg, St. Petersburg, 1984

Subsequent Career: Joined Benson & Schwartzberg after passing the bar in '85; Started own practice, April 15, 1987; Formed Clark & Catalano with Greg Clark in June 1992

Biggest Victory: "Putting out Pol Pot Pie with Clang. Actually getting an album out is more difficult than any lawyer can think."

Biggest Disappointment: "The realities of practicing law."

Lawyers Most Admired: "My father, Joseph J. Catalano. And my partner, Greg Clark, is the best lawyer I know."

Favorite Law-related Book: . . . And Justice For All

Favorite Band: The Beatles, Clang


end

 

©2000, All rights reserved. No portion may be reproduced without the express written permission of the author.


Wash Wear Smile


Free Andelmania E-Newsletter!

Want to hear the latest about the Andelmans? Join our mailing list!
You'll get updates about the family and professional news, too.
Enter your email address below, then click the 'Join List' button:
Powered by ListBot


banner


Try Link-O-Matic for instant hits!