Photo Credit: Levon Helm Studios / Facebook
Amy Helm files a countersuit against Levon Helm Studios’ remaining shareholders, including musician Brian Parillo and Amy’s stepmother.
The fight for control over Levon Helm Studios in upstate New York continues as the late singer’s daughter, Amy Helm, has filed a complaint against the venue’s other remaining shareholders, including musician Brian Parillo and Amy’s stepmother Sandra. The complaint asserts that the abrupt takeover of Levon Helm Studios back in May was unlawful and occurred without the convening of all shareholders, in violation of New York state law.
State law requires that for shareholders of a company to make changes outside a shareholder meeting, they must provide written consent. Amy’s complaint claims that never happened and that she is still the president of Levon Helm Studios. Therefore, her filing states that control of the company should return to her.
Levon Helm Studios, affectionately known as The Barn by fans, is the former home, recording studio, and performance venue of Levon Helm, musician, actor, and former singer for The Band. The Barn is known for its Midnight Ramble concert series that Helm started with his daughter Amy as a fundraiser for his cancer treatments. The series features performers the musician had gotten to know throughout his music career, including Brian Parillo.
Levon Helm lived there until his death in 2012, and the company has continued on under the stewardship of Parillo, Helm’s former manager Barbara O’Brien, his widow Sandra, and his daughter Amy. But in May, Parillo allegedly convinced Sandra (who is in her late 70s) and O’Brien to assign him their shares, which gave him majority control of the business, which he used to oust Amy as president and install himself as CEO.
In August, Parillo filed a federal lawsuit against Amy, alleging that she had spent years plunging Levon Helm Studios into debt by mismanaging its finances. Amy has denied Parillo’s claims against her, calling them a ploy to extort her.
The elderly Sandra has been accused of financial malfeasance in a separate filing after she was allegedly found to have transferred around $200,000 of the company’s funds into her personal account. An Ulster County judge ruled that she be appointed a guardian to represent her interests, as she is a “person under disability” and is incapable of managing her finances (or those of Levon Helm Studios) on her own.
Amy claims that, back in May, she went to the venue to talk to Sandra about that matter, where Sandra alerted her to Parillo’s plan.
“Brian asked me to give him 40% of Levon Helm Studios. He said he had a plan to force (Amy) to buy the company back from him for $5 million, and I’d be set for life,” Sandra said, according to Amy’s account. “I asked him how (Amy) would be able to afford that, and he said that (her) stepfather would pay the money.”
Amy’s stepfather is Donald Fagen of Steely Dan fame.
Amy Helm’s filing also alleges that Sandra sent her attorney an email asking to withdraw her transfer of her voting shares to Parillo, therefore asserting that Parillo was manipulating Sandra in her legally recognized vulnerable state.
Shortly after Parillo’s takeover, numerous artists canceled shows they had scheduled at The Barn in solidarity with Amy, herself a singer-songwriter.
Meanwhile, Parillo said he disagrees with Amy’s complaint and the way that Sandy is being portrayed in it.
“Anyone who knows her knows that Amy’s account of Sandy is callous and untrue,” he added. “Levon built The Barn to bring people together, and that’s still what it’s for. Keeping music in that room, for the musicians who play there and the neighbors who come to hear them, is the best way I know to honor him. I’m going to keep doing that work, and I hope everyone who loves this place—including Levon’s family—will be part of its future.”