> Subject: Re: Der Fuhrer Replies

["Ronald Shipp" <ronaldshipp@xxxxxxxxx>]

Wow, what a totally childish discussion.  Makes me feel like I'm in 3ed
grade again...

With that said I do have to interject my two cents here.

1. McCue WAY over reacted.  For someone that holds himself out to be a
public figure in  the Zep community he should be able to take a little more
heat than Buckeye's joking comments without getting so bent out of  whack.
All public figures in whatever forum be it politics, sports, music, etc have
to learn to take a little ribbing from time to time - its the price of being
in the spotlight, and McCue has put himself in the spotlight.

2. I have been a member of FBO for enough years that I don't remember and am
only an occasional poster.  When McCue started his list I thought I would
join it too.  He let me in and within a month he told me that he was going
to have to cut me and a number of other people out because someone he did
not know was inviting people to join his list without his permission and the
only way he knew to solve the problem was to remove everyone he was not 100%
sure of.  Frankly, McCue was polite about it and was not hateful in any way.
My response to him was that I was A-OK with being removed because I did not
agree with much of what was happening on his list ESPECIALLY the Phreaks
ONLY tape trading.  The absolute rants about 'someone traded a Phreaks
exclusive outside the list and I'm gonna kill them when I find out who it
was' just did not sit well with me.  It struck me as the most crass kind of
elitist hoarding possible.  The only good news is that given human nature it
is always ultimately doomed to failure because as ol' Franklin said, the
only way 3 men can keep a secret is if 2 of them are dead.  Thus given human
nature, the Phreaks exclusives will always eventually find their way out to
wider trading circles.  My comments to McCue, which again I will say were
amicable, ended with the thought that by only allowing his personal friends
to join the list (which if that is what he wants is okay with me) he is
possibly missing that new person that truly does has great insight into the
band or a warehouse full of tapes they stole from Page back it the day.  You
just don't know and hence by only associating with people you already know
you can and will miss out on the next great new find.

3. Buckeye, in my handful of interactions with him, has always been kind and
helpful.  He reaches out to everyone and makes them feel at home.  It does
not matter if you were Jimmy Page's personal assistant for 20 years or a
teenager just discovering Zep for the first time.  I also recall Buckeye
hunting down a new source tape and making available to all comers in a
tree - no elitist hoarding here.

In short the self proclaimed elitism of the Phreaks never sat well with me
but if that's what they want, have at it.  It does seem strange that so many
of them continue to subscribe to FBO because to sort through all the post
about Robert's hair just so they can find out if anyone is cracking a joke
about them seams to be a lot of work...I thought they formed the Phreaks so
they did not have to sort through all of the comments about Robert's hair???

My final closing comments are that it is truly a shame that the Zep
community is divided.  It is ultimately to no ones benefit.  If I have to be
in a particular corner though I will be on the side of inclusion not
exclusion.

Regards,
Ron