Re: Harp Depot



In recent days there have been complaints about someone who I've happily
dealt with for years and plan to continue doing so.  There has also been
high praise on this list for someone with whom I've not yet done business
but would have nothing to do with if you paid me.  In both cases, I base my
decisions on my own, longtime, personal knowledge of the people involved,
because I know information on Net discussion groups can come from folks
who've been burned both in reality or by mistake, and others who've had
good experiences both in reality or by sheer luck.

I'll say one thing, it's always preferable to avoid public formums to hang
dirty laundry or sling mud where it's clean; especially with relation to a
person's livelihood.  That said, forums like these are indeed valuable for
warning others by exposing genuine fraudulent activities or
misrepresentations of fact or product.  But, more important than that is to
be sure you have YOUR facts straight about the product or activity and can
support your words with those facts before you speak out, or you may end up
being the one "exposed".  And remember, too, that slander and defamation of
character on the Internet, and often on discussion groups, mailing lists,
forums, etc., is more and more being successfully pursued in the courts,
mainly because of the vast coverage of misinformation that is possible on
public Internet venues, which can wreak enormously greater damage on one's
reputation than just a couple people slamming someone else over a drink in
the bar.

It's so tempting to actually see our own words railing against some
perceived malice or mistreatment, and I, too, have been a victim of my own
outrage and misspoke onlist.  But I've gotten better I think. :)  I've also
been the target of onlist false accusations, here on Harp-L and another
list, and the latter was followed up by a rude and vitriolic email offlist
which made my decision to unsubscribe a "no brainer"!  But, umm... the
worst thing I seem to be doing now is omitting the harp content!  Sorry!!!

On that, I'll say that I intend to try out John Hall's new Delta Frost
[i.e., "buy"] at the SPAH convention next week, and inquire about my XB-40
order, too.  [hint, hint, John! heh-heh!]  Can't afford much these days,
but I always buy something at SPAH from my good friend at Harp Depot to
help keep him around a long time, giving the care and good value as he's
always shown me.

More HC, at SPAH, there should be no less than seven owners of the
Renaissance chromatic wandering around the halls of the Harvey Hotel, plus
mine.  The Renaissance has undergone a few small but significant production
changes over the past year [yeah, folks, that's why the price has gone up
to $4000.00, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!]  We will have our
loaner instrument [nice but nowhere near as gorgeous as a brand new one :)]
outfitted with some of these new changes and we hope many who've tried or
own the Renaissance will want to compare this one with past instruments.  I
WILL have my alcohol wipes with me!!  :)))  Or a tall beer! ;)

I won a Chordet 20 at SPAH last year, so I'll probably bring it, along with
Al Smith's manual for the instrument that someone else gave me as a gift,
and hope someone can help me make heads or tails of this thing!  I'm
getting some technique, but am really lost on it layout-wise.  Of course,
no... I haven't RTFM yet.  But I WILL!!  Anyway, any chorders out there
going to SPAH... HELP!

And lastly, I will be renting a car from Tuesday through Thursday, so if
any harmonicists need a lift somewhere, like a beer run, to eat out or
such, I'll be happy to try and accommodate -- even you, Winslow!  ;)

I think I better quit and go back to preparing for SPAH, but I hope people
will try to work offline with harmonica dealers and distributors many times
before lambasting them onlist.  As John rightly points out, list comments
are often permanently out there, even picked up by search engines, and we
need to encourage these men and women in business to enhance the harmonica
experience for all of us.  Along with Harp-L and the rest of Harmonica-Net,
I don't know where we'd be today without them!

Oh, one last Harp Content:  Maybe because it's political, but I'm surprised
no one has yet mentioned [unless I missed it] the appearance of Democratic
Presidential hopeful Howard Dean at a blues club playing........
HARMONICA!!!  It was such a short soundbyte, I don't even remember if he
was using a mic, but it was blues, and then they switched to him playing
pretty fair guitar along with a fellow singing "Baby, What You Want Me To
Do".  Ya gotta like a pol who'll whip out a harp...... and PLAY it!!

Looking forward to seeing a bunch of H-Lers next week in Irving, Texas!

Happy harpin'!
=[BOBBIE]=

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