Hello.  I hope that you're all doing well.

Recently, Tool drummer, Danny Carey, was interviewed by Rick Beato.  During the course of their discussion, Rick asked Danny about Jeff Buckley, which prompted Danny to talk about a country band that he and Jeff were in during the late '80s and early '90s called, The Wild Blue Yonder.  Rick asked Danny if there were any recordings from this time, to which the latter replied by stating that he thinks he has some DATs (direct audio tape), and that band founder, John Humphrey, has some video.

Skip to the 3:58 mark:

I can confirm the latter, as John has video captures of a rehearsal tape and a live concert at L.A.’s China club, circa 1990, which can be found on his website.  

https://www.johnhumphrey.com/yonder.html

Moreover, I have known about this for years, due to the nature of my YouTube channel (MojoPin1983), which is the most comprehensive archive dedicated to Jeff Buckley footage.

When I was first made aware of this footage, I contacted John and asked him if he’d be willing to share it, but he declined by saying, "It's just that JB got so commercialized after his death that I don't feel comfortable sharing it knowing it will turn up in some sensational doc (I later assuaged those concerns by assuring John that this can’t happen without licensing his footage).  Jeff would be horrified if he had any idea what happened with all his demos etc. after he passed.  Honestly I think Danny and Jeff might more likely be embarrassed by the Yonder footage I have rather than anything else at this point.  A good story but...But like I said, the main reason I'm reticent to share it is because I know that all of this (referring to the handling of Jeff's legacy) would have made Jeff puke.  In the grand scheme of things it's probably going to be more interesting to know it exists but NOT have it" ;-)

I can understand John's sentiment, to an extent, insofar as it relates to certain questionable posthumous releases though, to be fair, it hasn't been all bad; the first few releases following Jeff's death were handled pretty well, all things considered.  Additionally, I think one has to step back and reevaluate whatever Jeff might have thought about certain content being out there in the public realm (such as his unfinished second album), as any perspective has to take into account his sudden passing, which changes the circumstances about what to do with his archival material. 

Unfortunately, as a hypothetical, it's impossible to know whether Jeff would have had a change of attitude, if he could communicate to us from beyond the grave.  Moreover, the footage in question isn't exclusively a Jeff Buckley issue, as it was a side project that he was transiently involved in (in other words: this isn’t Jeff’s music, rather, it is John Humphrey’s) thus, he isn't the only one whose opinion ― whatever that would be ― ought to be considered.  More on what the rest of the band thinks, later.

After some time had passed, I tried to persuade John, again, but he stuck to his guns.  A couple of years passed, and then an interview clip with Danny talking about Jeff Buckley popped up on YouTube.

Additionally, around this time, though I already knew that John Humphrey was born and raised in Toronto, like myself, I accidentally discovered that he went to the same middle school as me (as I saw that we belonged to a Facebook page dedicated to said school).  These two factors prompted me to reach out to him, again, to share this information.  During our conversation, I learned that John lived in an apartment, directly across from the ravine that my parents’ house backs onto; small world.  

Anyway, John and I talked some more and further developed a rapport, but he still wouldn’t budge on the question, so I decided to give up trying to coax him.  A few years passed, then Rick Beato suddenly uploaded a YouTube Shorts video of Danny talking about Jeff Buckley and Led Zeppelin, that I sent to John, which caused us to talk some more.  Throughout the course of that discussion, I once again tried to change his mind, but he gave the same reason that he previously had: (I am paraphrasing) basically, that Jeff would be sick of all the commercial hoopla around his name.

When I gently pressed back by stating that John’s sentiments didn’t mirror that of others that I have contacted about footage who knew Jeff ― most of whom have applauded my efforts to expand and preserve his visual legacy for posterity ― his story changed, and he said that ideally his footage would have been put into a time capsule and become public twenty years after Jeff passed, which undermines his original rationale about commercialism.

With all due respect to John, this seems kind of arbitrary, and we are well beyond twenty years since Jeff died, and nearly forty years out since Jeff and Danny’s time in The Wild Blue Yonder.  Why wait any longer?  I also suggested to him that he could upload his footage to YouTube and schedule for its release to the public at some specified date in the future (this is a feature that YouTube offers, whereby one can upload a video and postpone its public release until a desired date).  Here is how he responded:

“Interesting, the idea of posting a YT (video) privately and have it exposed a couple of decades in the future.  I will research that but don't really trust Google at that level.  Ideally it would be some kind of encrypted block chain entity paired with an unlock key managed by an institution... But maybe in a pinch!”

When recently speaking with Arnold Mitchem (bassist for The Wild Blue Yonder) about the footage, he said, "I think Danny would like to see it also because he’s asked me about it a few times.  Neither him or myself talk to John too much anymore.  It’s all John‘s songs on the footage of the band playing on stage, but there’s some stuff backstage in the green room and other things.  I don’t know what all there is actually.  Just playing guitar (referring to Jeff) and I think singing back up vocals, he didn’t sing lead on anything.  But he’s ripping on the guitar like people really haven’t heard him do on his stuff."

With that said, this is a last ditch effort.  In addition to having the support of Arnold, and seemingly Danny (who I am currently trying to get in touch with via the former, in order to ask about those DATs), perhaps if this petition accrues enough signatures, it might have the effect of causing John to reconsider his stance, which might be partially predicated on an underestimation of people’s desire to see the footage in question.

I don't mean to be pushy, but sometimes my persistence has paid off with respect to working out deals with other footage owners.  It just seems strange that John is reluctant to share this footage, considering how innocuous a request it is, combined with the fact that it’s been advertised on his website, for years; it seems tantalizing.

If you would like John to share this elusive footage with the public (either via my YouTube channel or a channel/platform of his own), please sign your name, and feel free to drop a comment, but please be respectful.  

Thank you all for your time.  Please share the petition on social media and with others that might be interested in this furthering this endeavour.

All the best,

Steven Bodrug