CD REVIEW: Talbert St. Claire's Tears of the Forest

[glauber]

Stoning! Stoning! Let's have a stoning!

[billw]

The postings by "Talbert" come across as written by a person who is sweet and sincere: perhaps so sweet and sincere that he doesn't relate to the screwball, twisted, and often dark, humor that typifies many C&F posters. One need only read the commentaries of "wisely" on the main web page to get the flavor of this joint--a flavor which will not appeal to all, and may actually unintentionally offend others. (Try this: post a snippet of Python trivia--see how many voices chime in--we people is crazy.)
It may be true, as "Talbert" stated, that this board is not for him. Understandable. One needs to be comfortable with some rough & tumble give & take, not all of it tactful.

I hope he and "Barb" will take away the following though: There are many here who enjoy his music. Most respect his skill and musicianship, and none of this thread was meant as a personal attack. It's just the usual C & F nonsense--any hurt feelings were accidental.

Emily

PYTHON TRIVIA??? Okay. I changed the name to "Earth Echo". Trivial 'nuff?
Bill Whedon
Serpent Music

[glauber]

But all i said was "this whistle is good enough for Jehovah!"

[Nanohedron]

Stoning! Stoning! Let's have a stoning!

You're just trying to draw me out, Glauber. Ha.

Oops.

[Wombat]

Stoning! Stoning! Let's have a stoning!

Is somebody getting stoned? Who's getting stoned?

[Dale]

I thought I'd provide a little additional background since this thread has turned into something nearly as scandalous as Janet Jackson's breast. (The whole incident which, by the way, Jon Stewart refers to at the "Teat Offensive.")

I say with uncharacteristic sincerity that I am largely responsible for this debacle, up through Talbert's rather shrill and hysterical response on this thread.

Talbert sent me his CD several weeks ago and I told him I'd review it. I didn't particularly care for the CD. I admire his playing ability which exceeds mine by a couple of standard deviations. But it just did not command my attention. As you know, I don't particularly enjoy posting negative reviews and I have been fairly criticized for not posting more negative reviews. So, I stalled on the review, in hopes that the CD would grow on me or maybe I'd be abducted by aliens. Sadly for all of us, neither happened.

Talbert emailed me a couple of times politely asking when he could expect the review and in a series of spasm-like attacks of immaturity and passive-aggressiveness, I did not respond promptly. As in, uh, not at all. I'm not proud of this behavior on my part. So, understandably, Talbert was upset. Perhaps not so understandably he sent me a couple of extraordinarly bitter emails containing personal attacks on my character (I'm not saying they were FALSE, I'm just saying they were personal.) The emails also contained several references to Davy Spillane.

I explained to him by return email that I had stalled on the review because the CD wasn't my cup of tea and he responded with more attacks with lots of exclamation points.

So, I'm thinking--I've kind of done this guy wrong by being a wuss about all of this and so I wrote the review. I stand by it--because I do think that there are plenty of people who would like the CD. I continue to feel that it works better as background music. I don't mean that as an insult.

So, there you go. Mea culpa, y'all.

Dale

[billw]

Well, if nothing else, the exposure will guarantee that Talbert sells some more CDs, even if only to those folks one sees around a good wreck on the highway. Hey, as I've learned in recent history, any exposure is good exposure.

n'est pas, Senor Undisputed?

Good on you for your honesty, Dale.



Bill Whedon
Serpent Music

[jim stone]

Yeah, we've had seven pages about this CD.
A rave review would have gone for 2. I believe
this is a conspiracy--Tal has paid off the
Undisputed to be lukewarm (not like him, is it?
think about that) so that T could blast D
and this thread would take off.

By the way, the CD sounds interesting to me.
Best

[Claus von Weiss]

This is definitely a case for the Spanish Inquisition, so bring in the soft cushions!

[Tyghress]

Dale, you don't need to offer any apology or explanation.

Let me admit that I DO listen to ambient music, or whatever you want to call it, and solo soulful flute or whistle is rather appealing. I have CD's of NAF which are pretty much just that, and have ambient music going in the house to lower my energy level sometimes. I would have considered buying such a CD, except for the tantrum, and the persistent name dropping.

I've ignored abrasive people, argumentative people, and smartasses. But sycophants....I don't THINK so!

{bottling the snarl back up and putting it in my hip pocket} I think it best that I exit this thread and go back to whistling ones. . .thanks. . .

[Talbert St. Claire]

I'm not to comfortable posting on this board. but Dale's comments just
now, were extremely sincere! i'm not one to hold grudges and i appreciate
the reply of anyone who gives "the entire story"! it happened just as Dale
said it did. first of all, i do appologize to Dale for the emails. it does'nt
make good sense to elaborate further because Dale has already explained
things. i'm simply here to say, I DID'NT say things for cd sells. This would be, not only inappropriate, but also a serious lack of consideration for the "best interest of others"!!! if no one purchased the cd, that's there
own business. not a problem at all. there is much more to life than cd
sells!!! I really enjoy being very kind to people. not just to musicians
with a common interest. its interesting that when you give of your time
to others, you seem to improve in "all aspects of life!" example: I'v
read recently that some board members are having a hard time with
understanding there own abilities! guess what? it could perhaps stem
from the way you tend to treat others in your personal-life? what you are inside, WILL COME OUT EVENTUALLY! in my opinion, this i do believe can
hinder your own abilities very directly! having a clean-conscience can go a long way! practice is one thing. having a clean standing, is better than sheer practice! your are alot happier and it reflects your joy, guess what?
even in whistling! to conclude, the reason why i was upset was because
the "POST" by dale stood there for 48-hrs w/out any expressed opinions.
this affected me deeply and I was hurt at the time. had nothing to do
with cd sells. obviously, as a recording-artist, I have several means in regard's to my getting the music out there! not just "chiff". even after this
post, perhaps there will still be some who disregard what i am saying and
attack me. at some point, we must get the words for what they are. I
explained myself quite clearly here. nothing should be misinterpreted!
all the best to all the great whistle makers/players out there! in regard's
to my friend "Barbara", her comments surprised me. it was really nice of
her to go that far! i guess she really did appreciate my free lessons over the past few yrs. must say, she's really coming along well. but I had'nt
heard from her for a short while, she really surprised me.--Talbert

[peeplj]

I can really sympathize with Talbert. When you put a lot of energy into a project, when you work on something until it is literally the best part of you, and then you release it into the world, you have such high hopes of how it will be recieved. And if things don't go quite how you hoped...even on a message board with a relatively small number of folks...it feels like a tragedy.

I can also really sympathize with Dale. He's put an incredible amount of time and energy into making this board work. He's known for his honesty, his quirky sense of humor, and his ability to consistently treat folks better than they deserve. And especially when all of us now, Dale included, have so much else in their lives that pulls them away from the things they value doing, the amount of effort he puts into the board is commendable.

Fact is, there's nobody in this whole thread I don't really sympathize with, everybody from the folks who feel a bit slighted and indignant, all the way to those who are sick of seeing all the tempest-in-a-teapots, and just want to get back on track to whistles and music and friends.

So hopefully everybody's happy, at least more-or-less, and we can lay this thread to rest?

--James

[Wombat]

Yeah, we've had seven pages about this CD.

No we haven't Jim. We have a seven page thread but only about a page or two at the most would be about the CD.

The rest consisted of mystified people letting off steam.

BTW, thanks for clarifying Dale and Tal. Now we know what it was all about.

[CHIFF FIPPLE]

stacy, you have ignored my pm's recenty! you know i have assisted many people on this board regarding technique and such! many have pm me for advice on the low whistle! but now that "dale wisely" has posted a review of my cd not a single person has supported me like i supported them! i gave them free advice w/out thinking twice! that i now know was a big mistake! this is an amature board who cares nothing for a real professional player like myself! even you did not have the decency to even say to me, "thanks for the cd talbert i received it in the mail." i think now i know why stacy! you people are not very nice here! just as davy spillane said to me! now i really know why he told me to keep away from such a place! by the way, keep your whistle's im not interested in playing them!!!! -talbert p.s. dont ever contact me again! - talbert st.claire

Not that I think that pm's should be always made pulblic, but in this case its differrent.
Sure I could have to taken more time to answer Talbert sooner, but I do have a life as well with heaps going on that I cannot cotrol. I offered him a sample as he seemed keen to try my whistles, but he just could wait until I could get to it,January is always insain with orders for whistles,so freebees don't come high on my list of importance.
So it was not just Dale he lost his Rag with.

[Zubivka]

That's informative enough, Stacey. Now I understand better Tyghress irritation by the name-dropping. Spillane plain spill-over.

I wonder if I'll keep firm on the line I defended a few pages earlier (the scapegoat thing), just return to butterless spinach or cast a rotten tomato.

FOOD FIGHT EVERYONE!