A meet up in Nashville was discussed by us (Tink, AmigaRia, Anthony Torres) in Detroit during one of your roadshows. Then Bobbie and Dawg got hitched and they were going to have a gathering at their farm ..but insurance problems made it happen at the motel. The only thing that survived was the name Pineyfest, which came from the Piney River than ran by their property. And I remember you encouraging it and attending the first 2, (2001 and 2002 or 2002 and 2003) but I think there may have been only one more after that. And roadshow or Pineyfest, you were ALWAYS encouraging, supportive and brought us all together in the spirit of song and creativity.

And JPF had a world wide following as I recall. Judy Hollier actually came in from Australia...and there was someone from England as well (Nigel Quin???) ...lot's of names down the poster list....

And the writer I was thinking about had all kinds of well known hits to his credit..older gentleman ...but was not a known performer.

Marty, in defence of Brian, the business owners I know are not all about money. Most have a vision of what they want to create. Most also know the importance of the "soft assets" like culture and fit.
So easy to say take the money and deal with whatever comes, but if you see something coming you don't like...why take the money?

Tony, disrupting the competition and the market is what businesses do in order to grow. I could tell you really good stories about that but this is not the place.
So not a privilege, simply an MO.

I will add one more story of these early years and what they mean to me.

My father was hit by a UPS truck while cycling in their Florida gated community and things looked grave. The night I found out I had to wait for my flight down at 6am and I could not sleep. To kill some time I came on line to JPF to speak to "my on line family" . The support and outpouring of love was beyond expectation for me and I still have a printout of all that was said that night and in the weeks thereafter. My father died a week later from his injuries...

So yes, those early years were important to me...

If writing ever becomes work I think I'm going to have to stop