[Harp-L] Subject: Re: Dumping on other harmonica players' Videos for no good reason...

[EGS1217@xxxxxxx]

But....I wasn't talking about 'top mechanics'....or even 'top harmonica  
players', so your example doesn't seem to apply, imho.  
 
A top harmonica player - I'll use Jason Ricci as my  personal example - 
would never and HAS never found the need to put  down or insult another player 
in writing in a public forum. That's a fact. 
 
Further, we weren't talking about genuine 'critiques', but of laughing at  
and insulting - whether by innuendo or outright comment and including the  
person's choice of genres. Why is choice of genres even a topic of 
conversation  here?  Is this 'blues-l, jazz-l, classical-l'?  I thought it was  harp-l 
 - everything related to harmonica. Mike's just affirmed that fact -  and 
more power to him for wanting to play his music HIS way.
 
I was also specifically alluding to people who put videos onto YouTube for  
their own use and needs - such as those who want to send them to family and 
 friends living far afield (didn't I already mention this?), or per 
requests from  friends who have no other way to experience their loved ones' music. 
There are  soldiers posted overseas for whom this is the only way to see 
their loved  ones' music. Anyone spare a thought for that?  What must their 
family  members feel like reading nasty comments beneath THOSE videos..and 
trust me I've  seen more vicious and uncalled for comments on harmonica videos 
than I ever need  or want to. 
 
Those are specifically the ones I'M talking about - continuing the  same 
thread from a couple of years ago - when a lot of people here decided that  as 
long as a harmonica video was put up on YouTube it was 'fair game' to be  
brought here to be dissected, and they WERE being dissected. Almost  
invariably the comments were not kind. 'Dumping-on' is most assuredly  exactly what 
was being done. You might consider it 'people talking'...but you  weren't on 
the receiving end of it.
 
 
Perhaps you don't see it as 'dumping' Smokey, or actual 'critiques' because 
 you're very thick-skinned seemingly. Then again - the comments made on the 
 videos I continually posted of your playing many times here 'back when' 
were  invariably positive so you haven't had to personally deal with people  
'dissecting' or insulting you. I wonder if you'd feel quite the same way if 
your  playing was trashed for no good reason?

 
I'm stating here and now - that IF I were ever to put something up on  
YouTube or anywhere else (hardly likely under the current circumstances but I do 
 play at Open Mics at some conventions so who knows what others may do?), I 
am  specifically invoking my personal privacy rights against having anyone 
on Harp-l  posting it here for critiquing and/or dissection without my 
express permission. 
 
 
There are cases on YouTube/facebook/myspace - the internet in general-  
where very vulnerable adolescents have actually committed suicide due to  being 
attacked/vilified/insulted verbally by other people (pick one - I was  
trying to use the least inflammatory word previously). 
 
People - even musicians, have to be aware of the repercussions of their  
actions and even their choice of words.  Where on earth did all the JOY go  
and all this 'righteous' nastiness surface?  This isn't what music is  
supposed to be about, is it?  It's sure leaving a sour taste, if it  is.
 
'Dusting oneself off' isn't easy at all when one is young and  vulnerable, 
and just to reiterate something a lot of us know - most people  posting 
online ARE young. Not everyone out there on the internet is a grown  
professional musician (we ARE talking harmonica here and not your level of  trained 
mechanics who would pretty much be grown adults simply by virtue of  their 
level of expertise). 
 
Sorry, but I don't see how one has anything much to do with the topic in  
question.
 
Elizabeth
 
"Message: 4
Date: Sat, 10 Jul 2010 23:10:17 -0400
From: joe leone  <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Subject: Re: Dumping on other  harmonica players'
Videos  for no good reason...
To:  Harp L Harp L <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>


Here's another way to look at  it. A 'top mechanic' should expect   
questioning of their  questionable performance(s).
Why? Because they ARE 'top mechanics'. A  'journeyman' or 'apprentice'  
mechanic shouldn't be treated in the same  way.
Let me explain in my own 'Mill-hunk' mentality.

A machinist  destroys a tank turret casting by cutting the revolving  
ring raceway  too deep. The casting is worth $42,601.14
The machinist gets a letter of  reprimand, gets upset and goes to the  
union steward, who, in turn  takes the complaint to the
union's leader.

The union leader tells  Mushy (he liked to be called Mushy) that he  
doesn't have a complaint,  he should take the reprimand,
buck up like a man and get back to work.  OK, why?

The union leader tells Mushy:
1... it won't affect your pay,  vacation, sick time, retirement,  
medical coverage, mechanic's status,  seniority, isn't being docked,
or charged for the part and blah blah.  In other words, he isn't  
being punished.
2... Although this is the  first major piece you have destroyed in 16  
years, you have been paid  TOP mechanic for 32 years.
3... Top mechanic rate doesn't allow for expensive  mistakes, THAT's  
what top mechanic means.

So what does this  little parable mean? Well, it seems to me that a  
person who is being  treated like a star should BE a star.
Anyone can have a bad day. So,  pick yourself up, dust yourself off,  
and get back to work. It's not  the end of the world.
I don't see a lot of the comments made as actual  critiques. Most of  
it is opinions concerning spare of the moment  observations.
I think the word dumping is incongruous to the situation. It  all just  
people talking.


smokey-joe