Oh dearie me.
This is about common courtesy to other tributes, not an attack on JT or its members. My comment was quite clearly not directed at either Chas or JT, so why you (Chas) personally feel the need to write "screw you" to an email that wasn't even aimed at you, far less addressed to you, is a mystery to me. Nor was Quest rude to you or JT in the other thread; your response however was. I have no idea whether Quest is a member of a tribute, but i don't see how you could work it out from his one line posts, I certainly didn't draw that conclusion, and I think you have to give him the benefit of the doubt, which incidentally is what I am giving you by not replying to you in the tone that you thought it appropriate to address me... Really, well done on your success with JT etc. and long may it continue but, in all seriousness, if your posts are any indication you do seem to be developing an unfortunate attitude about it. In fact your posts in this and the Boston JT thread remind me of those made by the singer of an until recently well-regarded U2 tribute, whose postings on their now-defunct Yahoo group were notorious and the subject of much amusement all round prior to his downfall...
Yes, your fans are vocal and that's great, but there is a difference between simply being vocal and repeatedly being unable to restrain yourself from making the same point regardless of context. (BTW how did I know in advance that the freedom of speech argument would come up? Because it's used to defend virtually every ill-considered comment that anyone in the USA ever makes, that's how.) Of course you (Carek) have the right to say whatever you want, but with rights come responsibilities, and one of them is to try make the effort to distinguish between when something is appropriate and when it isn't.
I'm glad Chas respects Elevation Canada; I am the bass player in that band, so thanks for the compliments; and I've heard you guys are great, so good for you. However this has absolutely nothing to do with the reason for my post and I mention it only to dispel any doubts that I am secretly a member of ES or whoever pretending to be impartial, which I agree would be kind of sad. (Incidentally, I have always avoided making public comments about other tributes whether justified or not because it would look like a case of sour grapes, as one of you put it. Good advice for all tributeers there I think, and their fans too come to think of it.)
My comment was made in a spirit of fairness. If you care to check you will find I made a very similar comment a few months ago in the Gatherings forum to someone called Clint who invariably talks up a band called U2 Nation, on this ocassion at the expense of New York's UF. I suggested that he plug the band on its merits rather than criticise another act to talk them up, which is basically what happened here when carek made a point of telling us all how he wouldn't be going because "JT does it all for him", whatever that means. (I seem to recall that someone from JT chimed to agree with me back then; it might even have been you, Chas.) I would probably have done exactly the same thing if ES had jumped into a thread about JT for that matter (though I expect you guys would have done it first). Neither have I ever seen or met ES and have no axe to grind either for or against them. Ditto JT, whether the East or West coast version, and that applies to U2nation and UF as well. And finally, THIS IS NOT ABOUT JT, or my own band either, now that my "secret" is out. I know i've said this repeatedly, but it clearly needs to be spelled out, and I don't want anyone thinking this is some sort of juvenile inter-trib pissing contest, at least on my part anyway. I'd hope it's not on yours either, but that's up to you of course.
Hope that clears it up for you.
