Dear friends,
what's going on between Uncle Dave and Jim saddens me a lot; I know that it's not the first time that this happens and I know also that what went on in this particular thread is only the ending point of a constant bickering that dates back in time.
To cut it short, I think that the real problem is that BOTH Dave and Jim have a big, over-enflated ego.
Let's start with Jim: there is no doubt that he has a very high opinion of himself; I have often read with interests his threads, where he shows off a brilliant prose, but too often aggressive or maybe even sarcastic. It's evident that Jim considers himself a very talented musician; I don't know if this is true, but in my life I have learned that, no matter how talented you are, there is always someone else who can do the same things better or at least in a different way and however - to put it bluntly- dear Jim, if you are half as good as you pretend to be, you should be a fixture in Vegas by now!
Then, of course, there is Uncle Dave: I know him from more than two years and have to say that I feel very sad everytime I consider how his personal life is going. I know that this is none of my business and I know also that he most likely will shrug and say that his life is much better now than it has ever been before, but I have more than a few doubts about that. What saddens me more than everything else is the fact that a man who is 48 does not realize that his personal troubles are - in my humble opinion- a direct consequence of his behavior. Dear Dave, if you did behave in your family the way you behave on this Forum, to me it's no wonder that your personal life is such a mess; forgive me for saying this, but do you think that it's easy to get along with someone who is constantly 100% sure that he is right and all the others are wrong or at least behind him in the path that leads to the Truth? It's not just this stupid thing about the speakers: is that you have constantly the pretension to give us every kind of advice about everything, without ever adding the magic formula "in my humble opinion". No, dear Dave, it's never your (humble or not) opinion: the way you phrase it, it's simply the spoken truth.
Well, I think that it was exactly this kind of behavior that has provoked reactions like the one we have just witnessed from Jim (but I could mention other Forum members as well, who had similar clashes with Dave in the past).
I have felt more than once the desire to write what I am writing right now and I have finally decided to voice my feelings because I just came back from Brazil, where I spent a fantastic week together with people who made me feel ashamed for my inadequacy as a musician and as a human being as well. I will give you just an example: Julio Adriano, the best guitarist I have played with, is not a professional musician: he has another job, but he spends every Sunday playing (for free) for children who have physical problems.
Coming back and having to witness all this is a bit too much; maybe this Forum is not the right place for me.