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Originally Posted by Torn Bassist  Glad your feeling better JPSBassist, a lot of people have been sick with the flu this year and I hope my shot keeps me out of danger. |
I have only ever had the flu once in my life. And it was right after I moved from Georgia to California.
I worked in hospitals in Georgia for years. And ironically I never got sick. You're exposed to stuff daily in a hospital and eventually your immune system kicks into overdrive and you just build all these great immunities to stuff.
The strains of the flu out here are slightly different so because I never do flu vaccinations I got a moderate case about 4 months after moving here and haven't been sick since.
Enter this year's NAMM Show and a very sick PJ Rubal. This thing took PJ out for about 10 days. And in the 3 years I've worked as a consultant to PJ, he's never been sick. He's had colds, etc... but never been in bed for 8 days straight.
It hit me the Tuesday after the show and by Friday I was in the hospital for dehydration. It took a total of 12 days for me to get over it. And today, at 15 days from the first sign of fever and sickness, I'm still weak and still coughing some nasty crap up out of my lungs. But I do feel 1000% better than I did a week ago, and honestly I don't really remember much of the week before that I was so sick.
The hospital did blood work on me and it came back as Influenza A Subtype H3N2... which kills 36,000 people in the United States each year. Like H1N1, it was brought over from birds to pigs to humans and it is so vile and nasty a virus, let me tell you.
I've actually decided I'm getting flu shots from now on. And I NEVER wanted to rely on flu vaccinations to avoid the flu. I'm still a believer that your body needs to build a natural immunity to stuff like this. My experiences in the hospitals where I worked convinced me that you can become immune to most common ailments if you take care of yourself and if you get sick, let your body fight the bug and build natural anti-bodies to it.
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Originally Posted by Torn Bassist Can I ask, how did the USA NS-4 get stolen? was it at the show, or did it happen during shipment? |
OK. A Spector Dealer (I can't say which one) contacted the NY Workshop to verify a serial number on a bass that had been sold and then returned the next week for a refund. It was quickly determined that the bass returned was a Euro model and not the USA that had been sold.
Someone pulled a switch-a-roo and walked off with a USA. Of course their claim was that they sent the right bass back and someone in the dealer's shipping dept. must have stolen it.
I was not given the serial or color... I was asked to quietly look around for any USA NS-4s that may hit the used marketplace and then report back with the color/serial. There are not a lot of USA NS-4 Woodstock Spectors running around.
I think the original plan was to just look for any Woodstock Era NS-4 and see what turned up. I'd then give the information over to Spector and they'd let the dealer handle it if it turned out one of the serials I found for sale was the missing bass.
Time drug on and it looked like nothing was going to happen so I posted the announcement about what had happened.
I knew that it might flush the thief out and it did.
The thief saw my original post, freaked out and called and confessed everything to Spector but spun it that they had mistakenly sent the wrong bass back and everything was now OK... except the dealer hasn't confirmed they got the missing bass back... so everything is NOT OK.
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I know that I've called some people out on some things that seemed harsh at the time.
I know that this upset many of you.
But my main goal is to protect this community. There are a bunch of awesome, hard-working, honest people here.
And in life I've found there are 4 types of people... Sheep, Shepherds, Wolves and the type I despise the most; Wolves in Shepherds Clothing.
There are people that will pretend to be your friend and pretend to be just like you... and their only goal is to get your guard down so they can take what you have. So they can use you and your good nature for their own selfish gain.
What is often the downfall of people like that is that they often can't keep their mouths shut. They are proud that they have taken advantage of this or that person for a profit.
Or they think that Person A and Person E won't talk and compare notes and put 1+1 together and figure out what they are up to.
That's what happened here a couple of months ago. Several people got together and talked and they found that some of the people here were NOT what they were pretending to be.
So what do you do about that? Good natured people don't want to make waves or accuse people of things they know many others won't want to believe because they've had "great" experiences with them (so far).
When I was brought into one of these conversations by someone I know and trust... a Godfather of a Great and Awesome person I love like a brother, and I heard what they'd experienced... I was furious.
This person was so offended and hurt by what had been done to them they didn't want to talk about it... it upset them too much and that's something their health doesn't need.
Yet others just left and decided to not come back. And their absence was felt.
I took the role of being the heavy and saying things that I knew would offend some people. People who hadn't seen the other sides of the people in question.
And I knew about the NS-4. Something no one else would know.
Stuart and PJ are an inspiration to me. I've watched how they deal with artists and dealers and they're always honest and fair. They live and breathe the principles of integrity. I believe this is why so many great people are drawn to their instruments.
To me, keeping that spirit of integrity and fellowship alive in this and all the other communities Spector is involved with is something I am very passionate and something I'm very protective of.
I've been involved in this forum for over three years now. And I'm not someone that picks on people or is ugly or disrespectful. I can disagree with you and I am never above apologizing if something I say offends someone.
But when it comes to protecting this club from people I know are doing things that are just not in the spirit of what we all openly embrace here, I also have no problem calling them out and saying the difficult things that need to be said.
It's because I've always been open and honest that I feel I can do this with integrity. Not that I am judge and jury or anything like that. But even Jeff, who I've had my moments with, will attest that I'm never above saying when I am wrong. And in some of the things that he and I clashed on, I was absolutely wrong and I apologized to him.
The bottom line is that I think this community is an amazing example of what the brotherhood/sisterhood of music should be. And you can do deals and make a profit, or trade for this and that, and NOT take advantage of someone else's good nature.
This is something I will fight for. And those wolves in shepherd's clothing that need for people to remain silent so they can continue to do their deals, they will not survive here for long. Because if I get wind of that sort of thing I'll blow it out into the open and challenge them. So far the moderators here on TB have been very open and fair and I've always discussed with them what I am doing and why. And I'm very thankful they've always been supportive.
As long as people are being treated honestly and fair and everyone can openly share their love of music and Spector here, I'm happy. That's what this community/club should be.
I have another 5 string Spector bass coming today! 
well, talk about raining on my parade! After having UPS hold my bass to be picked up...my wife went to UPS to get it for me...when she got home I picked up the box and said, there's isn't a bass in this box, its as light as a feather! I opened it up and there was a bass case but no bass in the case! 
and the case is a violin shaped case that's too small to fit the bass! 
Wow! What a disappointment! So I called GC and spoke to their shipping dept. and asked where is my bass guitar?!?!?! Grrrrrrrr!!! Ah ah, we just packed it up ready to ship today. I say to the guy, Why do suppose that I ordered a case? I gave clear instructions to pack the bass in the case so the bass would be protected from UPS mishandling it! So now I have to ship this midget sized case back and wait for them to find a case in their store to ship my bass in! Argh!!! I'm waiting to talk with their store manager. Ugh! 
I wanted to play it tonight for a gig too. Incompetents!!!!
