[Harp-L] A new golden age for SPAH?

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Larry - 

You seem to
care deeply about how well the SPAH board functions, considering your public comments extending over a long period. Speaking purely for myself, might I be so bold as to suggest that perhaps action is called for — if you were to run for the presidency of
SPAH, it might allow you to effect the changes you speak of (provided, of course, that your present assessment of SPAH is accurate).

But how accurate is your present assessment? You accept and expand on Phil's descriptions of how things work, even though he freely admits that he's guessing. Surely you don't speak from inside knowledge, as you have not been privy to SPAH board proceedings for several years.
Douglas Tate was succeeded by Paul Davies, and Paul was succeeded by Tom Stryker, each
with his own personal and executive style. Yet you continue to
inveigh against the bygone days of what you call a "Political machine" and
the "Tate Monarchy" (would it be unfair to say that you don't pretend to be an impartial observer?). 



Could SPAH be better? Of course; what organization couldn't? But the past is gone and I see no point in excoriating one part of it and lauding another while taking no action regarding the present or the future.



Winslow

--- On Mon, 8/4/08, IcemanLE@xxxxxxx <IcemanLE@xxxxxxx> wrote:
From: IcemanLE@xxxxxxx <IcemanLE@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] SPAH convention locations
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Monday, August 4, 2008, 9:09 AM

What is interesting is, during the Golden Years of SPAH (pre Tate), the BOD  
had such a solid and strong vision and follow through, that "staff that 
could 
 
> book the
> hotels, arrange for talent, seminars and  other good stuff on a  
> rotating basis
> around the  country."
 
was in place and building year after year. Basically, Bob Williams did the  
hotel booking, banquet decisions, hotel liason. I did everything else -  
arranging talent, seminars, promo, press releases, etc. - not just Detroit, but
 St. 
Louis and

 wherever.
 The local harmonica clubs were tapped as purely a  
support system, gathering data, doing airport transportation, etc. Once the
info  
was gathered, we made all decisions and followed through. We never depended on
a 
 local chapter or volunteers to do any of the "heavy lifting". All
decisions 
came  from a focused top of the pyramid structure. We also kept
"cliques" from 
running  the convention. It was clean, efficient and worked well.
 
SPAH could still get back on track if they wish. However, it will take a  
tremendous focused vision from the top and a lot less delegating
"minions" to  
make decisions and do the work. SPAH seems to be run by too many committees to 

be super efficient - it became one mungo Political machine under the Tate  
Monarchy and has yet to recover, IMO.
 
The Iceman