Community Self-Criticism

[Donald E Baltus]

Beauford did not in fact ever tell anyone they suck. The original post was of course obliterated and so this only makes it easier to assert that blatant falshood.

Be that as it may, I know full well now from personal email and PM's emanating from those close to our friend who so innocently pondered the reason for his expulsion from the local session, that our Beauford had him pegged to the wall pretty well by all local accounts. He was in fact the source of pain and annoyance for some time. He was the subject of many an irritated behind-the-back discussion, until the point of intolerability was finally reached, until all subtle attempts to clue him in had failed, and somebody had to be elected to simply call him and ask him not to come if he brought the pipes. They felt they could then at least play over him or around him and he couldn't dominate the session by sheer force of volume and noise. Beauford did not tell him he sucked, he posed the question to the general forum that this might be an obvious possibility in such cases. In this particular case, far stronger words were used locally to motivate the call.

Note even in his own thread, after repeated suggestions as well-phrased as others have claimed Beauford's should have been, he simply didn't get the hint, and pretended to remain in a quandry concerning his expulsion. If nothing else he should not ask the question if he's not prepared for somebody to guess the answer he already knows in spite of his attempts to obfuscate the matter.

Contrary to all assertions otherwise, it is a public service and a service to this and all such individuals to point out the obvious in the most obvious way until they get the point.

I will note however that one man's "you suck" might be another man's "gee, you play pretty well." For instance if this current combatant with Beauford's wit and insight were to relocate to say, Eastern Washington, or Southern Florida, relative to the level of local play, he might well "not play too bad." It's all relative, and it's up to you, or we, as pipers and musicians to go out of our way to make that judgment before others are forced to make it for us. The entire rest of the community judges us all by these individual "thickie" situations where one local piper just doesn't clue in.

For further reference, the last combatant with our Mr. Lerwick's unique perception was likewise certified by numerous local emails and PM's to myself, to be every bit as inadequate a player and in possession of as untuned and unbalanced a set of pipes as was pointed out in the forum by Royce. Likewise, the complainant had spent years in the forum maintaining that he was an accomplished player, featured with orchestras and on professional CD's and the envy of Highland pipers and heads of music departments in major academic centers of learning. The sound file posted in support of his "professional" evaluation of his own pipes (and attendant playing of same) was so patently, even comically in opposition to any and all of these claims that it was immediately excised and hidden, leaving poor Mr. Lerwick standing by his guns in the open, while his challengers hid like cowards behinds the skirts of the moderators.

In both these cases it was the best service to literally slap some sense into them until they were forced by sheer evidence and logic to accept reality as it is. Instead, it became the instant duty of this forum and its moderators to prop up these acolyte fantasies of mastery, rather than correct bad tuning, bad playing, and bad attitudes while they are still salvageable. I simply don't understand how this helps anyone. They will either shape up and pull their heads out and amount to something under this sort of scrutiny, or they will run off crying and get out of it to everyone's relief, even their own in the final analysis.

And lastly, as something of a farewell, in the current case of one of our number being asked to leave his pipes home, only the original poster, who knew full well why he'd been banned from his local session, and had raised an entirely disingenuous question in the first place, took Beauford's response as a specific and personal attack directed primarily at him. And only the moderator leaped eagerly to delete the entire post even though it contained valid and reasoned points with the exception of one colloquial word choice. There's a reason for this:

The irony of our specially appointed moderator is that, while many a legitimate Irish Traditional or Scottish musician has found him or herself throwing on the "village idiot" costume and making a few bucks on a weekend at the Renaissance Festival, our moderator's "Celtic Music" tradition spawns first and foremost from donning the village idiot wardrobe quite enthusiastically, and dragging arse through the mud and straw shouting "Huzzah" and weilding stamped-out sword and home-made pike, swaddled in a great kilt made from mum's old wool blanket, looking like he survived the battle of Cullodden only because he was too drunk from the night before to make it to the field. He originates in fact from an entire community of "Celtic Re-enactors" who feel, if anyone can put on the village idiot outfit, they can also put on a set of pipes and do just as well as "real" musicians with a little practice. I haven't in a single case found anyone to come from this reverse direction (usually on Highland pipes for their first try) to ever amount to anything. This is simply because they don't have a clue about any of it. Not only is our moderator central to a local crew of "Celtic musicians" to have been (as he alludes to himself) encouraged to leave the local sessions, in fact all of them, but in his sojourn here he was never deemed to be at a level where he should ever have even known where the sessions were, any of them. (Well, with the possible exception of what we call the "Slow Session," the requirement for which is to be able to make the chosen instrument sound two or three recognizeable notes in a row.)

The blunt summation of it all is that our moderator, in all his time in my area, and relative to his entire social throng, were the cause of much cringing and weeping and rapid packing up any time they were spotted entering the pub on session night. And I shudder to think that with the availability of uilleann pipes now, and the years of probable gainful employment in this stage of their lives among these former Ren-Fest rowdies, that the potential for dozens of these "Celtic Uilleann Pipers" like the local Highland-piping Renaissance favorite to this day, whom we refer to only as, "Scary Larry," did in past decades.

So really, fun is fun, and dress up is dress up, but how can any of us here continue to be regulated in a forum controlled by the very epitome of all that is evil and embarassing in the uilleann pipe world? 90% of his own contributions have been prattle and most of that centered around his adventures in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronisms) and Clan Tartan (the local chapter of Klan McAsshole, the Cullodonites from hell.) I had my fun in those circles too, but it's certainly no qualification for any sort of musicianship. From current evidence, he's a bit better these days but the ambiance, the gestalte, the stink of the Ren Fest never leaves the True Believer thereof.

I'll be gone now, and if this post remains intact for three days I won't be back. (A smattering of applause) I really don't care to be where I'm not appreciated believe it or not and I really don't want to make trouble, I just can't dumb-down my wit enough to satisfy some of the Holy Joes I guess. Those who know me, even hate me, from other forums know I'll honor my word.

(Let's not make it a contest. 699 more ways to get in here to go if it comes to it...)

[Joseph E. Smith]

The irony of our specially appointed moderator is that, while many a legitimate Irish Traditional or Scottish musician has found him or herself throwing on the "village idiot" costume and making a few bucks on a weekend at the Renaissance Festival, our moderator's "Celtic Music" tradition spawns first and foremost from donning the village idiot wardrobe quite enthusiastically, and dragging arse through the mud and straw shouting "Huzzah" and weilding stamped-out sword and home-made pike, swaddled in a great kilt made from mum's old wool blanket, looking like he survived the battle of Cullodden only because he was too drunk from the night before to make it to the field. He originates in fact from an entire community of "Celtic Re-enactors" who feel, if anyone can put on the village idiot outfit, they can also put on a set of pipes and do just as well as "real" musicians with a little practice. I haven't in a single case found anyone to come from this reverse direction (usually on Highland pipes for their first try) to ever amount to anything. This is simply because they don't have a clue about any of it. Not only is our moderator central to a local crew of "Celtic musicians" to have been (as he alludes to himself) encouraged to leave the local sessions, in fact all of them, but in his sojourn here he was never deemed to be at a level where he should ever have even known where the sessions were, any of them. (Well, with the possible exception of what we call the "Slow Session," the requirement for which is to be able to make the chosen instrument sound two or three recognizeable notes in a row.)

The blunt summation of it all is that our moderator, in all his time in my area, and relative to his entire social throng, were the cause of much cringing and weeping and rapid packing up any time they were spotted entering the pub on session night. And I shudder to think that with the availability of uilleann pipes now, and the years of probable gainful employment in this stage of their lives among these former Ren-Fest rowdies, that the potential for dozens of these "Celtic Uilleann Pipers" like the local Highland-piping Renaissance favorite to this day, whom we refer to only as, "Scary Larry," did in past decades.

So really, fun is fun, and dress up is dress up, but how can any of us here continue to be regulated in a forum controlled by the very epitome of all that is evil and embarassing in the uilleann pipe world? 90% of his own contributions have been prattle and most of that centered around his adventures in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronisms) and Clan Tartan (the local chapter of Klan McAsshole, the Cullodonites from hell.) I had my fun in those circles too, but it's certainly no qualification for any sort of musicianship. From current evidence, he's a bit better these days but the ambiance, the gestalte, the stink of the Ren Fest never leaves the True Believer thereof.

... If leaving this post up for three days is all it takes to see an end to your brand of character bashing, then I think I'll ask to have it permanently enshrined here.

Oh, and by the way, you may want to look over your reasearch regarding your description of my past and my musical abilities, very little of what you have posted above is based in fact.

[Cynth]

JES, definitely leave it up if at all possible.

[NicoMoreno]

Very little of whatever Royce posts is based on fact.

[susnfx]

...Mr. Lerwick's unique perception ...

Yes, leave it. It's worth the whole thing just to be able to read this snippet over and over.

Susan

[Joseph E. Smith]

I plan on leaving it up... but I would like to ask that responses to it remain civil.

[wharfedalecarving]

No one could ever accuse this forum of being dull
I wonder; if per chance we all met up in a bar to enjoy a few "wets" whether any anomosity would exist between us and old scores settled. Or would we be our true selves and be nice to one another
Who needs televised drama when we have it right here
Joseph (the "entertained" UK one)

[rebelpiper]

==============================================

... edited for content. What did I ask us to do? -Joseph.

[Rick]

I plan on leaving it up... but I would like to ask that responses to it remain civil.

Bah!
Just got a brand new packet of troll nuts too..

[Rick]

why dont you post a few mp3 of your playing so we can all take a listen to them and see just how good you are.

God i wish i still knew the url of his webpage.
At least he's good at "mixing" stuff

I was listening to some stuff on his site with another piper at some point, we had a great time!

[ausdag]

Beauford did not in fact ever tell anyone they suck. The original post was of course obliterated and so this only makes it easier to assert that blatant falshood.

Be that as it may, I know full well now from personal email and PM's emanating from those close to our friend who so innocently pondered the reason for his expulsion from the local session, that our Beauford had him pegged to the wall pretty well by all local accounts. He was in fact the source of pain and annoyance for some time. He was the subject of many an irritated behind-the-back discussion, until the point of intolerability was finally reached, until all subtle attempts to clue him in had failed, and somebody had to be elected to simply call him and ask him not to come if he brought the pipes. They felt they could then at least play over him or around him and he couldn't dominate the session by sheer force of volume and noise. Beauford did not tell him he sucked, he posed the question to the general forum that this might be an obvious possibility in such cases. In this particular case, far stronger words were used locally to motivate the call.

Note even in his own thread, after repeated suggestions as well-phrased as others have claimed Beauford's should have been, he simply didn't get the hint, and pretended to remain in a quandry concerning his expulsion. If nothing else he should not ask the question if he's not prepared for somebody to guess the answer he already knows in spite of his attempts to obfuscate the matter.

Contrary to all assertions otherwise, it is a public service and a service to this and all such individuals to point out the obvious in the most obvious way until they get the point.

I will note however that one man's "you suck" might be another man's "gee, you play pretty well." For instance if this current combatant with Beauford's wit and insight were to relocate to say, Eastern Washington, or Southern Florida, relative to the level of local play, he might well "not play too bad." It's all relative, and it's up to you, or we, as pipers and musicians to go out of our way to make that judgment before others are forced to make it for us. The entire rest of the community judges us all by these individual "thickie" situations where one local piper just doesn't clue in.

For further reference, the last combatant with our Mr. Lerwick's unique perception was likewise certified by numerous local emails and PM's to myself, to be every bit as inadequate a player and in possession of as untuned and unbalanced a set of pipes as was pointed out in the forum by Royce. Likewise, the complainant had spent years in the forum maintaining that he was an accomplished player, featured with orchestras and on professional CD's and the envy of Highland pipers and heads of music departments in major academic centers of learning. The sound file posted in support of his "professional" evaluation of his own pipes (and attendant playing of same) was so patently, even comically in opposition to any and all of these claims that it was immediately excised and hidden, leaving poor Mr. Lerwick standing by his guns in the open, while his challengers hid like cowards behinds the skirts of the moderators.

In both these cases it was the best service to literally slap some sense into them until they were forced by sheer evidence and logic to accept reality as it is. Instead, it became the instant duty of this forum and its moderators to prop up these acolyte fantasies of mastery, rather than correct bad tuning, bad playing, and bad attitudes while they are still salvageable. I simply don't understand how this helps anyone. They will either shape up and pull their heads out and amount to something under this sort of scrutiny, or they will run off crying and get out of it to everyone's relief, even their own in the final analysis.

And lastly, as something of a farewell, in the current case of one of our number being asked to leave his pipes home, only the original poster, who knew full well why he'd been banned from his local session, and had raised an entirely disingenuous question in the first place, took Beauford's response as a specific and personal attack directed primarily at him. And only the moderator leaped eagerly to delete the entire post even though it contained valid and reasoned points with the exception of one colloquial word choice. There's a reason for this:

The irony of our specially appointed moderator is that, while many a legitimate Irish Traditional or Scottish musician has found him or herself throwing on the "village idiot" costume and making a few bucks on a weekend at the Renaissance Festival, our moderator's "Celtic Music" tradition spawns first and foremost from donning the village idiot wardrobe quite enthusiastically, and dragging arse through the mud and straw shouting "Huzzah" and weilding stamped-out sword and home-made pike, swaddled in a great kilt made from mum's old wool blanket, looking like he survived the battle of Cullodden only because he was too drunk from the night before to make it to the field. He originates in fact from an entire community of "Celtic Re-enactors" who feel, if anyone can put on the village idiot outfit, they can also put on a set of pipes and do just as well as "real" musicians with a little practice. I haven't in a single case found anyone to come from this reverse direction (usually on Highland pipes for their first try) to ever amount to anything. This is simply because they don't have a clue about any of it. Not only is our moderator central to a local crew of "Celtic musicians" to have been (as he alludes to himself) encouraged to leave the local sessions, in fact all of them, but in his sojourn here he was never deemed to be at a level where he should ever have even known where the sessions were, any of them. (Well, with the possible exception of what we call the "Slow Session," the requirement for which is to be able to make the chosen instrument sound two or three recognizeable notes in a row.)

The blunt summation of it all is that our moderator, in all his time in my area, and relative to his entire social throng, were the cause of much cringing and weeping and rapid packing up any time they were spotted entering the pub on session night. And I shudder to think that with the availability of uilleann pipes now, and the years of probable gainful employment in this stage of their lives among these former Ren-Fest rowdies, that the potential for dozens of these "Celtic Uilleann Pipers" like the local Highland-piping Renaissance favorite to this day, whom we refer to only as, "Scary Larry," did in past decades.

So really, fun is fun, and dress up is dress up, but how can any of us here continue to be regulated in a forum controlled by the very epitome of all that is evil and embarassing in the uilleann pipe world? 90% of his own contributions have been prattle and most of that centered around his adventures in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronisms) and Clan Tartan (the local chapter of Klan McAsshole, the Cullodonites from hell.) I had my fun in those circles too, but it's certainly no qualification for any sort of musicianship. From current evidence, he's a bit better these days but the ambiance, the gestalte, the stink of the Ren Fest never leaves the True Believer thereof.

I'll be gone now, and if this post remains intact for three days I won't be back. (A smattering of applause) I really don't care to be where I'm not appreciated believe it or not and I really don't want to make trouble, I just can't dumb-down my wit enough to satisfy some of the Holy Joes I guess. Those who know me, even hate me, from other forums know I'll honor my word.

(Let's not make it a contest. 699 more ways to get in here to go if it comes to it...)

As the great Homer J Simpson once said "I'm not going to dignify that with a response"


....no. I've changed my mind. C'mon Royce...post us a tune. Let's hear how you play the pipes. That's all that counts. C'mon Royce....post a tune...post a tune...post a tune....on the pipes Royce...post us a tune. I want to hear how you play. I'm nor saying I disagree with what you write, I just want to hear you play.

Cheers,

DG

[Cayden]

At request of original poster I edited to remove quote and the comment I had on it. I left the moderator bit in place as JS had already quoted that.


But where's the moderator now


You may or may not like the way Royce makes his point, at least he has a point to make, sometimes a valid one too but at least a point you can agree or disagree with, one that goe
s beyond 'we're only doing it for a bit of fun'.

[Joseph E. Smith]

But where's the moderator now

Right here, and I am growing pretty tired and disappointed by the childish, self-centered attitudes I have been wading through while reading the posts on this site lately... unbelievable. You all seem to have the desire to see this forum shut down permanently. What does it take to get through to you, that posting here is a privilage and not a right, and as such, has rules that are to be observed and followed? For the love of GOD, knock it the feck off!!!

[Cayden]

I am growing pretty tired and disappointed by the childish, self-centered attitudes I have been wading through while reading the posts on this site lately... unbelievable.!

Ditto, but obviously for different reasons.

You did in fact edit the post I was referring to (and me quoting it) so I wasn't too off there.

[Joseph E. Smith]

I am growing pretty tired and disappointed by the childish, self-centered attitudes I have been wading through while reading the posts on this site lately... unbelievable.!

Ditto, but obviously for different reasons.

You did in fact edit the post I was referring to (and me quoting it) so I wasn't too off there.

I'm sorry, I guess I don't follow you... what are you saying?