The Petra Zone

This is a good chance for Aussies to see the Beat the System lineup for the first time in Australia.

http://www.easterfest.com/programme/artists/

Well that's good news, I'm assuming they will do another date or 2 while they are there.
BTW I know this might be splitting hairs here, but actual and official name of this version of Petra is ClassicPetra.

executioner wrote:Well that's good news, I'm assuming they will do another date or 2 while they are there.
BTW I know this might be splitting hairs here, but actual and official name of this version of Petra is ClassicPetra.

How do you know this? I've been trying to get a handle on it for some time. I keep seeing it listed different ways. I know there's some business about John owning the copyright to the actual name Petra. Any help would be most appreciated. It's an odd hang-up of mine, residue from being a reporter, but I want to make sure I'm calling the band the right name.

I'm sure Sue could tell you if John actually owns any part of the Petra name itself.

IIRC, it was told to me that Bob owns the publishing, which back in the day equated to less than 10 points. I have seen docs on-line of the Petra name/logo trademark paperwork being in Bob's name.

There are lots of things to consider. These are possibilities, not necessarily the way things are:
1. John owns part of the business called Petra with his partner Bob. John and Bob make money from Petra.
2. When Bob left, word from Petra road crew and members was that Bob was still in the band, just retired from the road, retaining all publishing and an assumed cut of revenues. Nobody ever told me how much. John owned the touring side of the band. That was the word from on high.
3. Bob did not start ClassicPetra. It is the brainchild of Greg X Volz, who instigated the whole thing, made the calls, got the management team, etc. It could be that the name ClassicPetra was selected out of deference to the current John and Bob deal, and to be the descriptor to the public.

The best business names are ones that describe what is inside or the service provided. McDonalds could not sell mexican food, so they opened up a different concept with a different name for a different market (Chipotle). McDonalds could not rent videos in their stores so they opened BlockBuster Entertainment decades ago. So, you see, having Classic in front of the Petra name is a descriptor. It is not saying it is better. It is describing who is in the band. The majority of the world only knows two versions. The Classic version and then the Schlitt version.

When they were putting out feelers, checking viability with promoters, promoters were saying no when they heard it was Petra, because they assumed it was the last incarnation. When they heard it was the classic incarnation, they were more interested (don't read anything into more interested other than that. I did not say that they all laid cash on the table, although they might have, I don't know.)

All of this doesn't mean jack diddly squat people. There are four ways to be entertained by Petra and the members of Petra.
1. GXV solo
2. John Schlitt solo
3. ClassicPetra
4. Reunion Petra

Go take in a show, by their merch, and get over the rest. People try to over-spiritualize and demonize everything in this business and it makes me nutty. Just accept this as a chance to be entertained by guys that were able to work out their schedules, come up with some resources, make a CD and then do some shows. Why must it be tainted with baggage and speculation? Why does it have to be anything other than what it is...these guys wanting to play together, because they can, playing music old farts will appreciate, giving out a good message?

btw: I hope that people will realize just how much money ISN'T earned by writing, recording and selling music. The music is the advertisement for the concert. Without concert revenues, it is hard to pay the bills. Buying the CDs directly from these guys is also a big help. Though they still have to do all of the accounting and pay percentages to the owners of the music (labels), they net more than had you purchased it from a retailer. The new ClassicPetra CD will enable these guys to put money directly into their pockets. Buy it.

When Bob got off the road -- John owned the touring portion of Petra. Prior to that Bob owned everything (basically).

When Bob came back in 2003 - they were then joint-owners in the touring portion of Petra until the end of 2005, when Petra retired.

The name "Petra" is not a copyrighted name, though logos and such may be. I have heard that ClassicPetra is copyrighted, though I don't know for sure.

Brent is correct - the whole classic Petra is GXV's idea, not Bob's.

And I would have to say that putting 'classic' in front of the name Petra was a good move, differentiating it between the 1985 lineup and Petra -- which in my opinion covers ALL other lineups, including the real original guys back in the early '70s -- and the 20 years with John.

These posts help clarify things. Thanks!

Though I guess the main thing is whether or not there's a space between "Classic" and "Petra," which Idon't doubt matters pretty much only to me.

It does help to think of ClassicPetra as more a brand than a band, if that makes sense. The band is still Petra, but for marketing purposes, it has a different brand.

Looks like when ever the term is used on the website a space is included, so that's probably the way it is.

are we really talking about a space between "Classic" and "Petra"?

bakersfieldpethead wrote:are we really talking about a space between "Classic" and "Petra"?

Hey, we argued about CIT&S vs. CITAS. *shrugs*

And now we all know that it should be CITAS. Just go to petramerchandise.com and download the artwork for the DVD and you'll find out that the file is called CITAS.jpg. Problem solved. End of debate.

You know CITAS is correct, the general unwritten rule with typing a title of an album is all words in the name start with capital letters; at least it is how things were done in the music business before, they used to do it with cataloging albums for retail stores as well.

More Power To Ya
Not Of This World
Wake-Up Call
Unseen Power
Come And Join Us
Captured In Time And Space

……and so on

Daniel wrote:This is a good chance for Aussies to see the Beat the System lineup for the first time in Australia.

http://www.easterfest.com/programme/artists/

If only I lived in Australia.

bakersfieldpethead wrote:You know CITAS is correct, the general unwritten rule with typing a title of an album is all words in the name start with capital letters; at least it is how things were done in the music business before, they used to do it with cataloging albums for retail stores as well.

More Power To Ya
Not Of This World
Wake-Up Call
Unseen Power
Come And Join Us
Captured In Time And Space

……and so on

Can't believe I didn't see this before. The actual written rule for album titles is always capitalize the first and last word and all verbs and principal nouns. So you do not capitalize "and," "or," "in," "the," "a," etc., unless they're the first or last word of the title. Not sure about "this." I tend to capitalize it. So in the examples above, it should be:

More Power to Ya
Not of This World, possibly Not of this World
Wake-Up Call
Unseen Power
Come and Join Us
Captured in Time and Space

I still call it CITAS, though. I think because it's an acronym, you use all words in the title, and all letters in an acronym should be capitalized (since each letter is now a de-facto abbreviation, and all abbreviations are capitalized).

Then I must have had some bad misprinted retail catalogs over the years.