In One Year & Out The Other: What Might Have Been (A Continuing Saga)
Ampersand -- March 1981

Two musicians were on their way to Ampersand's cover recently, but each got uniquely sidetracked.

Delbert McClinton, now Top Ten with "Givin' It up for Your Love," was slated for a flight to Los Angeles recently, there to meet with Ampersand, Rolling Stone, Newsweek and the camera crew of Solid Gold, a TV pop music series. Came Tuesday and no Delbert. "We don't know where he is," chorused McClinton's manager and record label. "But we think he had a fight with his wife and he might be somewhere in Mexico ... maybe."

Tom Petty, triple platinum a year ago with Damn the Torpedoes, an album made in the midst of legal battles, is delaying completion of his newest album because MCA, parent label to his Backstreet Records, wants to retail the finished product at $9.98. Arguing that a whopping price would damage his personal image, Petty adds, "For once in my life, I'd like to make a record without a legal battle. It's just not fair to the kids."

"Maybe," countered an anonymous MCA spokesperson, "If he didn't burn up a million dollars making the record, it wouldn't have to cost so much."