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Musicians Relief Fund??

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#22
markjazzbassist said:
apparently Mike lives in Fremont Ohio. Only about an hour and a half away from me. very very interesting...:eyebrow:
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Actually, I am the one who lives in Fremont.

Here is what I know, and how I have been involved. I set up an Ohio not for profit corporation, and I found a friendly CPA who was willing to help us file for our 501(c)(3) status at no charge. So, the accountant and I set about preparing the paperwork, and we got to a point where we needed some information from Mike (who has received and presumably been maintaining the donations, etc.). Mike has sent me money from the fund to pay the actual filing fees incurred to date (I am not charging for any of my work on this, and have no intention to do so).

After receiving my first request for information, Mike did get me some of what I needed, and was working on getting the rest. However, I seemed to have lost contact with him a while back, and I still have information that I must get from him in order to complete the 501(c)(3) application.

Tom.
 
#23
tombowlus said:
Actually, I am the one who lives in Fremont.

Here is what I know, and how I have been involved. I set up an Ohio not for profit corporation, and I found a friendly CPA who was willing to help us file for our 501(c)(3) status at no charge. So, the accountant and I set about preparing the paperwork, and we got to a point where we needed some information from Mike (who has received and presumably been maintaining the donations, etc.). Mike has sent me money from the fund to pay the actual filing fees incurred to date (I am not charging for any of my work on this, and have no intention to do so).

After receiving my first request for information, Mike did get me some of what I needed, and was working on getting the rest. However, I seemed to have lost contact with him a while back, and I still have information that I must get from him in order to complete the 501(c)(3) application.

Tom.
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thank you tom:). I'm glad that you are not at fault or involved in the "sketchyness" of this fund. I've always enjoyed you on TB and we've PMed a little and you seem like a nice guy.

well it seems that Mike Winnen isn't responding to anyone. maybe he's out of the country? touring europe or japan? i know he was playing with some decent country acts. I honestly can't see him not responding to us, I mean he's probably got craploads of emails telling him how many PM's he has and such.
 
#25
I have been gone from TB for several reasons; none of which I will get into here. I have responded to anyone that has emailed me directly.

The charity is still in the works. All monies for it were sent to Mike and then Tom for setting it up. Still a good amount of work to do. Life gets in the way sometimes and I have been beyond busy and dealing with a couple family crisis. I had been paying for the website hosting myself. The site is just down until we get things finalized. That was on the advice of someone I know that has done this before.

I have emailed Tom and we will start working on it again after NAMM. Any other info, email me.

BTW, I had only ONE pm from anyone concerning this and that was from Junior. Since I have been gone and don't get my PM's I would not have known. I also have only received TWO emails regarding this in the last several months. I responded to both.
 
#26
SMASH said:
Well, a TBer got a nice bass out of it - http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=383345
That was the cause, wasn't it? Was there money left over?

Yeah, which I think gave it an air of credibility in the minds of some. Presumably that's who Juniorkimbrough contacted (see initial post in this thread). I'm guessing he also contacted MikeBass, who - if I recall correctly - often said he spoke with BigMikeW regularly on the phone. Perhaps that's still the case?
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The bass and the charity were and are to different situations.
The charity was borne from the bass.
But two different situations.

I actually haven't spoken to Mike in a while.

Anyone who wants to know the situation (regarding the bass), feel free to PM me.
If you have not and are making irresponsable speculatons, then I guess you need to grow some and keep quite until you do.
Other wise with nothing to back it up, you're looking foolish.

Peter Parker said:
I thought the money had nothing to do with the bass. I thought the money was supposed to go to medical or living expenses. The bass was given because he was having to sell several of his basses. Though i did find it interesting that during that whole time he was still buying and trading other basses while he waited for the Valenti/TB bass. the whole situation was weird to me and I never really understood what was going on and still don't.
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I prepared a really harsh post, but as it seems some of the comments were deleated from this thread.

The long and short Mr. Parker........I sold everything I owned gear wise (and a lot of non- gear stuff as well) when I got sick almost two years ago.
My gigging supplemented my income greatly. I had one bass and no amp.
Mike took it upon himself to do this.
Being that I was able to gig a bit I borrowed some money from family and got a 5 string.
My "buying and trading basses" as you put it was brought from that.
If you bought something cheap and could flip it and put cash in your pocket to help out, and still aquire something else- you'd be damn sure you would.

So, if there is any question as to that situation, man up and PM me.


For the record, I haven't spoke to Mike in WEEKS and prior to that, it was weeks as well.

I recieved ONE PM regarding this myself.

I personally trust and believe everything that Mike says and has done.

To the best of my knowledge- from Mike's word, ALL of the money collected for the fund has been used strictly for the fund and has been exhusted.

If that is not the case, then Mike should speak into that matter. In fact, I'll call and ask him myself when I get the chance.


I do know what is going on in Mike's life.
Trust me, none of you want to go through this. Don't PM me or ask- it's not my place to talk into his situation.
As much as I agree with wanting to know what is going on, I don't blame Mike one bit for putting his family before this or anything else.

BTW, I'm not going to discuss this publicly on the boards right now.
At least not how I feel this may be thread going.
 
#27
I don't know any of these guys personally, but I think Tom and both Mike's are 3 of the most respected cats on these boards from what I've seen and heard. This does seem to be on the up and up to me, but there is an existing fund to help musicians with medical expenses - sweet relief.

From what I recall, this was going to go beyond just that aspect, but for any of you who need financial help with medical bills, contact them and see what they can do to help. That's what they are there for.
 
#29
BigMikeW said:
BTW, I had only ONE pm from anyone concerning this and that was from Junior. Since I have been gone and don't get my PM's I would not have known. I also have only received TWO emails regarding this in the last several months. I responded to both.
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Juniorkimbrough said:
bump

it's the new year, hopefully this thing will get going very soon
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One quick question, Mike says he received a PM from you on this.
I assume you received some information that was satisfactory. So why haven't you maybe respectfully edited your posts or posted as such to reflect that???

Not wanting to start anything, just curious.
As you know a lot of people don't take the time to read a whole thread, just the first post or two.

And I agree, hopefully this will get some legs soon!
 
#30
The condensed version of the email I received from him was that..."he has been extremely busy and by the beginning of '08 he should have enough time to finish up the things that need to be done".

Yes, it's an answer but I wouldn't consider the response "satisfactory" especially considering it's been almost a year and a half since the money was taken up.

I cannot edit the first few posts so I edited the first one I could about 4 or 5 posts down.

I hate to have to keep bumping this thread but if it's what I have to do to keep the pressure on I will continue doing it.
 
#33
Juniorkimbrough said:
Since I've noticed that BigMikeW has been posting a bit more frequently lately I thought I'd bump this back up.

I've spoke to Tom Bowlus and he was not able to meet up with Mike @ NAMM. Just hoping Mike has some good news of progress for us.
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Mike had to head off to Nashville, and I missed seeing him on Fri/Sat. Bummer (we had a dinner planned and everything). :hmm: But, we have had e-mail and telephone correspondence. I am going to get with the CPA again (once I recover from NAMM) and get Mike a clear list of what we need from him. I'll do my best to keep this thing moving, and when I last spoke with Mike, he promised to do the same.

Tom.
 
#35
Juniorkimbrough said:
Thanks for chiming in Tom!

If there is anything I can do to help with anything at all please do not hesitate to let me know!
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Hey, you have helped a ton, not only by contributing, but also by keeping a hot poker on our hind ends to get this done! Keep up the good work! OUCH!!! :eek: ;) :p :cool:
 
#36
If I had to pick 3 people on this forum who have contributed to my growth as a bass player, directly or indirectly, it would be Tom Bowlus, BigMikeW, & MikeBass. I feel that these 3 people, through there contributions on TB, have helped a lot of bass players grow in their knowledge as a bass player. Not to say no one else on here has helped, but these 3 would be at the top of my list whether they know it or not. I to also contributed to the fund, and would never for a second believe that anything shady is going on. I say we give everyone the benefit of the doubt, relax, and let the parties involved work everything out. I think in the end everyone will be pleased with the outcome.
 
#37
tbone0813 said:
If I had to pick 3 people on this forum who have contributed to my growth as a bass player, directly or indirectly, it would be Tom Bowlus, BigMikeW, & MikeBass. I feel that these 3 people, through there contributions on TB, have helped a lot of bass players grow in their knowledge as a bass player. Not to say no one else on here has helped, but these 3 would be at the top of my list whether they know it or not. I to also contributed to the fund, and would never for a second believe that anything shady is going on. I say we give everyone the benefit of the doubt, relax, and let the parties involved work everything out. I think in the end everyone will be pleased with the outcome.
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Thank you for your kind words! Still, in all honesty, I think we all wish that this would have been finished up (and proudly moving forward!) a long time ago. Some unforeseen and unfortunate obstacles presented themselves, but it seems that we are past those, and I am hopeful that all can move forward with due speed.

Thanks to all of your for your patience! :)

Tom.
 
#39
tombowlus said:
Thank you for your kind words! Still, in all honesty, I think we all wish that this would have been finished up (and proudly moving forward!) a long time ago. Some unforeseen and unfortunate obstacles presented themselves, but it seems that we are past those, and I am hopeful that all can move forward with due speed.

Thanks to all of your for your patience! :)

Tom.
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I echo Tom's statements.
Thank You and lets get this moving along.
 
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