Open Letter to Keith Burke

[Blair N. Cummings]

Keith,

Just under six months ago you joined this forum expressing your frustration with what was then a tangle of political arguments mostly stemming from right-wing web-sites over-reacting to Burt`s rather gentle chiding of the current administration.
Your response was to clear the air by making available for download and discussion tracks most (if not all) of us had never heard and did not own.
The reception was overwhelmingly enthusiastic and the gratitude profuse and public. A caveat was interjected by Mark who was understandably concerned that he may be held legally liable for facilitating unlawful file-sharing. I believe he addressed those concerns appropriately and sympathetically.
Your riposte to that was to withdraw your largesse and to call all of us ungrateful leeches for not having responded with uploads of what you must have imagined to be troves far richer than your own.
I doubt very much that anyone here has a collection of rarities that could hold the proverbial candle to yours, but if you have a wish list, perhaps you should post it rather than accuse us all of holding back.
If, as you suggested in a private coomunication to me, you believe that the songs you provided us did not result in a sufficient exchange of opinion, it may simply be that we tacitly agreed that they were wonderful and that little more needed to be said.
If I may presume to speak for those of us you seem to think only fit for scolding, I would ask that you have a drink or a joint, calm down and either rejoin the discussion or take your spite elsewhere.
With Gratitude For Your Former Generosity.
Blair

[steveo_1965]

Hi Blair,
First of all, I want to say that whatever the issue is, you write very elequantly languagewise...
Yes, I "tacitly" was grateful for Keith's posting of rare Bacharach Tracks.
I know that he "pulled back" when Mark issued his Caveat, understandably so.
But then, he did post some groovy things after that...
Regarding the idea that we are not grateful... well I think I speak for most of us saying that we certainly are...And as for "Holding back"...The truth of the matter is a lot of us don't have, as you have suggested Blair, a lot of material to reciprocate.
I do have a few tracks on disc that could be uitilized, but don't have the means to transfer them to mp3's, or have never tried to make any transfers. I understand it takes a "preamp" to amplify the record needle and cartridge so the computer can pick up the signal. I am not ver savvy in this regard.
I am grateful to Keith for his sharing the rare Bacharach cuts, but I
don't think I have any material that Keith doesn't have - such as "Along Came Joe" a 45 by Merv Griffin on Carlton, "The Night That Heaven Fell"
by Tony Bennett, or "MAgic Potion" on Big Hill records.
I did have more rare 45's in my collection, but gave about 90%t of my 45's away to a friend when he garnered a juebox for his home.
I do have a these few records, tho, and if anyone has the ability to make MP3's out of them, I can send them to them. I also recall having a couple of albums with some rare Bacharach on it: Andy Williams ("Don't You Believe It") and a song recorded by the Cyrkle, which name escapes me at the moment.
Keith, Please know that we do appreciate you.....we just don't have the
fab collection you have.

[blueonblue]

Hi Blair and Keith,
I would like to second what Steveo has just said.
The last song you posted "After All" was a terrific track !!!
Just like to say thank you very much indeed for
all the great songs and videoes you keep sharing with us.
and I just wish I had your knowledge and "Know-How"
Oh....................................and your "Bacharach Collection" !!! lol

Take Care,
"Blue"

[Blair N. Cummings]

I attribute to my own newly re-booted computer the fact that I didn`t receive those tracks, but Keith, you have repeatedly on the forum expressed your dissatisfaction with the tenor of the discussion.
As to venom, I refer you to your post of Oct. 15 in which we are addressed without detectable irony as The Society of the Mostly Misinformed, Unbelievably Ungrateful, and Chronically Critical.
I believe I have thanked you often - and with no intended irony- for your generosity. My point, perhaps over-stressed, was that I am not sure what is motivating your oft-expressed discontent.
Detente,
Blair

[steveo_1965]

Hi again Blair,
Well, I was reading your last post and thot to myself...I'd better not post to this...
"Have wisdom, Steve...know when to leave things be"...
Yes, I was angry also when I read Keith's post on Oct 15 after I, and a few others posted on the Alfie/Cilla Black thing...I thought that although there were a couple of negative comments on Cilla, Most were positive.
I didn't feel Keith's comments were warranted about us being nitwits( I felt he was implying those of us who commented on that post )....in fact my first thought was to leave the forum rather than have to deal with Keith. But I got to thinking., well that's his opinion, and if he feels that way...OK...Now, I DO like the other side of Keith when he is charitable with the downloads and says good things(and he has)...So I decided to just kind of let it be...but Blair, you have called him out on the carpet...apparently based on some sort of private message....and that is your right.
"Well, OK"(in the tone and style of Gerry Spence, the Frontier Styled Lawyer)....now all I can say is "Peace to You BOTH my Brothas"....and
I hope Keith will have the courage to return and post anyway. After all, this is a Forum and it is intended for those of us who are involved with Burt music to speak on things....that includes Mr. Keith!

[KeithBurke]

Steveo-
My Oct 15th reference to "The Society of the Mostly Misinformed, Unbelievably Ungrateful and Chronically Critical" was meant as an inside joke to a specific person (not you or Blair). The person it was intended for got the joke. If it hit a nerve for you please accept my sincere apologies. Perhaps I should have made that more clear in my inital posting.

KeithBurke

[steveo_1965]

Keith,
No problem....I accept..It was a mis-understanding, apparently...Let the sun shine thru... : )

Steveo

[GehVorbei]

I found Mr. Burke repeatedly quite rude and I resent his approach that this forum can be owned by posting "goodies". I don't think there need to be gold or platinum members here.

I'm also still troubled by his total disregard for copyrights even on products as recent as Carly Simon's Christmas Album. I just don't think it makes a big difference if a direct link is posted here or if there's just a notice "contact me,I'll mail it you" on the board.

I personally find it amazing how much of the music we love is available today for legal and actually quite inexpensive downloads. Even rarities. And for example almost all of Dionne's (ammended) Scepter albums are now available trough iTunes where there were just meager greatest hits packages 12 months ago. I am personally hoping for more and even new offerings from Burt, Dionne and Hal...And Paul Anka, Sir Tom Jones, whoever...There is definitely room for a companion piece to the LOL Box with rarities...But if we don't continue to support their offerings in the marketplace, who will???

[KeithBurke]

GehVorbei-

Your choice of phrases such as “his approach that this forum can be owned by posting goodiesâ€￾ and “no need to be gold or platinum members hereâ€￾ are very telling. Those concepts are yours alone . If you review my posts nowhere will you find any indication I either think I “own this forumâ€￾ nor that I think of myself as “a gold or platinum member“. Your choice of words speaks volumes, unfortunately about you, not me.

As far as posting links to songs that are available by commercial means I took Mark’s request not to post those type tracks to heart months ago and from that point forward I only offered those songs which are NOT commercially available. The record shows there have been no complaints from Mark since those initial postings of commercially available songs.

I am particularly baffled by your complaint considering I have access to the records of who has downloaded the songs I have offered links to and you, my friend, have dipped your hand into the cookie jar more often than not. I can only assume you have been “borrowingâ€￾ these files until such time they are (if ever) commercially available.

[GehVorbei]

Keith:

Yes, I believe, I have at 3 occasions recently listened to your uploads to see what the discussions were about.

In general and I know that position is not shared by all or even most menbers here, I would prefer if we started the upload business here altogether. It's difficult where to draw the line. The Carly Simon Christmas CD for example is widely available.

EVERYTHING is available somewhere (i-tunes,ebay,amazon) or will be eventually. I think part of the fun of being a fan is to hunt things down.

All the best to you,

Andreas

[GehVorbei]

If we STOPPED the upload business altogether:-) Sorry, Freudsche Fehlleistung. And with everything, English is not my native language and I might not always get nuances right.

[Rio]

In regard to this aging controversy I keep thinking of what I've been told is a Japanese saying: "Why do you hate me if I never helped you?"

I am deeply grateful to Keith. I think it was extremely unselfish of him to share with us his extremely rare recordings of compositions by our World Trasure Mr. Bacharach.

I also liked when he acknowledged that Mark had a point re commercially available recordings.

I do believe we should have discussed more the work we have been given access to. Many times I thought of asking which songs/compositions posted by Keith you liked most. One difficulty I had was how to frame the questions such that we would know the songs I was referring to. I didn't know exactly which ones were commercially available, or which ones others knew before Keith's posts. So if I asked which songs posted by him impressed you most or which of the songs you didn't know before impressed you most, I wouldn't know for sure what the answers meant. Still, I should have tried something.

I didn't get the Cilla thing. Maybe I didn't follow that thread closely. Either way, especially now that I see Keith isn't upset with Mark, I am not disturbed by the way he referred to possible members fo the Society of the Ungrateful etc (something like that -- funny, actually). But... I felt sorry Keith mentioned that exactly when he posted a recording (of You've Got It All Wrong) that I think is soooo much worse than what I've been blessed to listen to at City Center. Keith himself said there were flaws with the recording. Still, I wanted to respond saying that all of you should hope for an eventual release of another version (after Keith's posts I wonder if there's one from the "City Center cast" somewhere). I was in awe with that song. Partly because of it I attended each of the performances, including the dress rehearsal. Years ago I said in here it was a marvelous piece of work, wonderfully crafted and poignantly powerful (and if you disconsider the ingenuity of Hal's lyrics and how they fit the duet, it was powerful musically as well -- a show stopper). So I felt like thanking Keith for that link while at the same time saying that the recording was very, very far from making justice to the song. His preemptive remarks kept me from doing so.

Well, now that it might be clear how grateful I am, maybe it's fine if I make that comment about a song that Burt himself (I believe it was Keith who posted his remark) thinks if very good (great?).


To sum up. 1) I am deeply grateful to Keith. 2) His contribution would have been greatly amplified if it were not for what I regard as our failure to discuss the works he made available (even those some of us already had, but which are rare and couldn't have been properly discussed by most before). 3) I hope you'll always remeber that Japanese saying (if it is indeed Japanese).

[KeithBurke]

Rio-

As I mentioned to Blair in a private communication yesterday any disappointment I felt about my postings was in the fact they didn't generate lively discussions about Mr. Bacharach's work. It was never my intension to have a lively conversation about the postings or the poster.

I appreciate your support here. I also appreciate the many others who have taken the time to e-mail me privately to offer their support. I can't help believe, as one private e-mail suggested, some of the comments here resemble a “green eyed monsterâ€￾ just a little too closely.

I was particularly blown away by the poster who admitted to downloading my links while taking nasty swipes at the morality of file sharing and at me personally. It smacks of hypocrisy to me. Also the poster who rakes me over the coals (or was it calls me on the carpet) and then says 'I hope Keith will continue to post' has me scratching my head.. It seems the three people who have protested the most are also the same three people who have downloaded most, if not all, of my links. There seems to be something rotten in Denmark.

Anyway, I do have a recording of the production version of 'You've Got It All Wrong" and as always I am more than happy to share (that ought to get it all going again LOL). You know how to reach me.

KeithBurke

[Hank]

Just amazed that anyone should be offended by a forum member who goes out of his way to freely share the gems that must have taken some collecting. Keith - call me anything you like but please keep sharing !

[steveo_1965]

for me, that was never an issue, the posting of music stuff..if you study the threads, my beef had nothing to do with keith posting links for downloads...
it was his alleged attitude on the Cilla postings, but he explained, and that
cleared that up, or so I thot....
OH Well..........