Vic, I appreciate that you write for fRoots, and therefore you feel beholden to defend the magazine and Ian at all times. I'd not use the word 'grovelling' here, as that would be rude, so let's just use 'loyalty' here instead, shall we.

Good to see loyalty.

But, please understand that over the years, fRoots and it's editor have upset more than a few people with things they have published and their 'in yer face' attitude.

If you choose to run a magazine along the lines of "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!", then you have to put up with people going ape-shit now and then.

What goes around, comes around.

I'm not bitter towards Ian, frankly I couldn't give a shite either way about fRoots, couldn't even be arsssssssssed to write about the piece he did on Show of Hands recently. I took one look at the photos he'd used, noticed he'd used one from waaaaaay back, one that I took him to task for on the old BBC board, and smiled...realising that he was sending out a little message there...I chose to ignore it completely, mainly because my nose is way too busy buried inside 'Songlines' to give a shite.

I know how it feels though, to have things written about you that aren't true, and then to be stopped from replying to those things.
It's a form of bullying, in my book..and if Dick is getting upset, well, maybe he has a right to.

Indeed, it wasn't so long ago that Ian let Diane infer that I was racist, on his board. It was only when I said I'd kick his arss from here to kingdom come if he didn't remove it, that he let me put a message on there...although, of course, being Ian, he 'edited' it for me...How kind. (rolls eyes up to heaven)

Some editors love to control. That's what their boards are about. Only those who bow and kowtow to those kind of editors are permitted on there. Only those who want to bow and kowtow WANT to go there in the first place, usually for their own ends, particularly if they're musicians of course, always hoping that the Great God Editor will smile kindly on their begging bowl...

If you build your reputation upon being shitty to various artists, encouraging the most putrid reviews of CDs and bringing your scathing ARSS campaign over to other boards, then don't be surprised if your ARSS gets kicked, hard, over and over.

And you don't have to worry, or lick editor's bums any more, because some editors truly don't give a shite about shite...So there you go.

And now, I'll leave all the ARSS lickers to carry on in this thread with their "Oh, MY, HOW can *anyone* be so beastly about fRoots when it's the most wonderful magazine on the planet?"

Yeah, right!

I'm off to take a look in here...

SONGLINES MAGAZINE

SONGLINES MYSPACE