PROVIDENCE -- They started out as headbangers. They ended up singing "Kumbaya."
A day in court yesterday rescued a rock 'n' roll bash tonight when a nightclub owner and a production company resolved a ruckus over the rights to a DVD that will benefit The Station Nightclub Fire Relief Fund.
Superior Court Judge Susan E. McGuirl commended the two parties for overcoming "creative differences" and returning their focus to the fire victims.
The dispute was over a videotape taken of three Station benefit concerts in early March. The tapes had captured and preserved raw emotions. They also conjured up some new ones.
Who had control of the master tape? Who had the right to distribute it?
The club owner or the filmmakers who shot it?
Paul A. Roidoulis, the owner of The Call and Century Lounge, where the benefit concerts took place, believed he did. He sought a court order on Monday to prevent the filmmakers, Thomas Davies and Stephen M. Taylor, from releasing at a party tonight the DVD that they made with the video.
The project started with rock, and a little peace and love.
A week after the Feb. 20 nightclub fire, local bands such as Fungus Amungus played at The Call and The Century Lounge to raise money for victims.
Dennis Pantalena, a guitarist and a computer programmer, approached Davies and Taylor with an idea. The two men, half-brothers and filmmakers who run a Providence production company called Sibling Rivalry, could record the benefits for posterity.
Roidoulis, the club owner, commissioned Davies and Taylor to videotape the shows.
The plan, according to court documents, was that Roidoulis would sell the videotape through his charity Liquid Blue, set up to raise money for fire victims. Also discussed, the filmakers said, was a DVD.
But when Davies and Taylor submitted their video and DVD to Roidoulis in April, the club owner said he was no longer interested.
Roidoulis, who plays guitar in a band called the Prophets, said in court documents that he didn't like the quality of the video, and that he was concerned about the cost of distributing the DVD.
He advised the brothers that he would not authorize the production, release or distribution of the DVD, he stated.
Davies and Taylor -- who estimated they and their supporters had invested $9,000 worth of volunteer hours on the project -- decided to go ahead with it anyway.
"We felt that we should stand up for our project and stand up for the small business companies and stand up for the little guy," said Taylor, who is 26, and a graduate of architecture school.
The brothers, raised in Rhode Island, contacted all their friends, and "friends of friends of friends," asking for help, and donations. In time, things looked good.
Their DVD garnered positive reviews in The Providence Journal and the Providence Phoenix in recent days. A Web site, public service announcements, and fliers announced tonight's DVD release party at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, with the proceeds going to The Station Nightclub Fire Relief Fund.
But on Monday, Roidoulis filed a restraining order to stop the release, saying the production company had produced an unauthorized DVD.
He also took issue with the name of the brothers' DVD: A Call for Action.
Roidoulis has produced his own charity CD, of the February benefits. His CD is The Call to Action.
Roidoulis stated that the filmmakers were selling their DVD under a "deceptively similar name." Davies and Taylor said they already had their graphic design done, with the agreed upon name, when the deal with Roidoulis fell through. It would cost too much to change the title, so they changed a few words.
Yesterday, supporters who worked on the DVD waited in court, hoping said one, David Busch, "that you can't squelch art."
Judge McGuirl gave the filmmakers until 2 p.m. to find a lawyer. They and their supporters returned to their office, and called every lawyer they knew, and a few in the yellow pages, trying to find some one to work for free.
Back at court at 2 p.m., still representing themselves, they were determined.
"We'll find a way, if I have to go to jail," said Thomas Davies, who is 35, with a friendly face and a long goatee.
Roidoulis arrived, giving a quick nod to his opponents. He didn't want to be -- he said in an interview later -- "the guy who stops charity."
He said he was in court because he wanted to see that the DVD was being distributed properly, since the project was an offshoot of a benefit at his clubs.
This ballad ended on an up note.
The club owner and two brothers decided that they could make, well, if not beautiful music together -- at least something tolerable.
After a long conference with the judge, they decided that when it comes to a worthy cause such as The Station victims, "they're better off joining forces," said Robert Corrente, Roidoulis's lawyer. When the two sides left the courtroom, a woman asked Roidoulis whether she could buy his CD. The other side had their DVD on hand, too. "Buy both," Roidoulis said.
And as they all left, they were overheard chatting about another possible venture -- to videotape tonight's concert, for posterity. "Maybe we'll do it as friends this time," Davies said.
