Everything's Easier In The Hamptons
THE HARTFORD COURANT

August 27, 2003

WALKER PENS WHILE HE PARTIES

James Walker, the ebullient entertainment lawyer from Wallingford, has been toiling over his first book this summer, but the experience has been made sweeter by doing it amid the million-dollar homes and luxurious golf courses in the Hamptons.

Walker is writing a how-to book called "This Business of Urban Music," to be released by Billboard Books next year as part of a series with other books such as "This Business of Jazz" and "This Business of Classical Music."

The purpose of the book is to help new artists, writers and producers learn how to break into the music industry and how to read a contract. Walker has known of artists who have signed deals and sold millions of records only to end up filing for bankruptcy because they had not understood their contract.

Walker is peppering his advice in the book with real-life anecdotes about his recording artist clients.

Though writing a book can be grueling, Walker finds the Hamptons conducive to good writing. On a recent Friday night he had dinner at the Sag Harbor Inn and Baron's Cove, then was off to the 55th annual Artists and Writers Celebrity Softball Game, sponsored by Cole Haan.

The game featured actors Roy Scheider, Alec Baldwin, Ed Burns (Walker said he was the best golfer), Lorraine Bracco and Chevy Chase, playing against writers Mike Lupica, George Plimpton and Carl Bernstein.

Walker also tied in his "working vacation" with a reception at the home of Alma Brown, widow of Ron Brown, who was U.S. secretary of commerce under Bill Clinton, and a party for Marc Morial, former mayor of New Orleans, now president of the Urban League, and his wife, Michelle Miller, a TV anchor.