David McGown wrote:
Steve,
As someone who has contributed my time, effort, a number of projects including a complete system one year, and lastly, my health to make a DIY room possible, I take considerable offense at someone who has, at least by my memory, contributed NOTHING of any substance to make it a success. What is your reason for being a harpy on this, year after year. What are you getting out of this? You certainly cannot claim any bragging rights, unless it is by stealing the limelight from others. If your purpose is trying to motivate us, who nominated you as cheerleader?
The first DIY room we had to pay for, and thanks to a very generous donation by Dave Pogue, as well as from vendors and self donations, we were able to get a room. I think starting the next year, seeing we provided a positive vibe to the show, and before the show became so popular (i.e. rooms selling out), that Gary provided us with a room. That is money out of his pocket. Yes, we helped out at the show as a condition, but still, it was great for him to so that.
But putting together a room AND making it sound good is tremendous work. We admittedly are not as tight of a community as we were several years ago when we had a meet practically every month where we could hear the projects that members were working on and there was alot of support and encouragement. It was much more of the group effort. However, some of us moved on to other pursuits, or have to balance our DIY efforts with other interests or obligations. Life gets in the way.
Personally, I am still flying high with the good words by the late Art Dudley about our room and in particular my GM70 amps in his show report several years back (plus very positive comments by Kevin Hayes of VAC about the same amps). That is an experience I will always treasure. I don't need to prove anything more, and certainly not to you.
David
Ditto to everything David said. We busted our collective asses to create the best room we could for several years running. We worked hard on our gear at home and setting up the rooms at the shows. Steve, I know you helped schlep things around, and that is appreciated. But that work is nothing compared to what David went through, not to mention Roscoe staying with the rooms all the time, even buying a hotel room at the show. He worked evening hours long after the show was closed, tweaking the systems until they were just right. We helped Gary out working the tables and doing whatever else he needed. Finding sponsors was an issue the first couple of years that we did the show. By the way, Dave Pogue was SO HUMBLE that he didn't want anyone to know of his generosity! Very few of us knew just how generous he was! Actually, it was Dave Pogue, who attended the first show, who suggested that we demonstrate our gear and show people what was possible on a DIY basis. That first year basically David McGown's entire system was on display, and he's not kidding about what impact that had on his health, and it wasn't just a sore back, it was life threatening!
It's true that not everyone in the club participated. That's true of any club: a small circle of those really dedicated to the club's focus always do yeoman's work. Sorry, that's life, and all of us have issues that prevent us from doing what we want to do. Let's face it, some people just didn't want to participate. So what? We don't preclude them from joining our group and being a bystander, or irregular contributor. How many people are on this board and virtually never post or reply? So what? That's their prerogative, and we are still happy to have them along for the ride. If there was a cost to belong to the group, annual dues, or such, how many people would still belong? Would you Steve?
Sorry, I had a great time at the shows and met some interesting people. The positive affirmation for our gear was joyous for David, me and so many others. There were other contributors who set up great gear and received no praise at all, for they were overshadowed by the presence of someone like Dave Berning or Joe Roberts. That exact thing happened to Charlie Phelps who lugged in amplifiers that looked and sounded fantastic; that he worked on for a decade to sound that good.
None of us just conjured up gear that just plain worked, it all took hundreds of hours to get that good. That wasn't time spent at the show, but effectively preparing to be in the show (although that wasn't our personal goal). We all understood when the show became popular and sold out rooms, that our "free" room was up. Gary isn't in this as a charity, it's a money making endeavor. No problem.
I don't know what your perspective is Steve. You haven't displayed any gear that you've built. That's fine, again, you helped lug gear into the shows, and that is commendable. But your responses to this thread are just plain disgusting.
Go love yourself
Stuart
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