I coulda told you all that.
I had the dubious pleasure of "introducing" DNJ to Uncle Dave, even though I'd never met either of them.
My first contact with Donny was when I sold him a Technics keyboard, many years ago, maybe 1997. I asked him by email if he had come across Uncle Dave, because they both lived in the same general area. He looked him up and the rest is history.
When I first got a Solton X1, it arrived about 3 in the afternoon. I had a job at 7:00. I called Dave and he said not to worry, just take it to the job and I could figure it out easily. That made sense to me because I could do that with Yamaha boards. WRONG!
The operating system made no sense whatsoever. I finally dug out a handful of styles that I could use and played the entire four hours with a 4/4, shuffle, waltz, 2/4 and 6/8 style. I brought that baby home and it didn't leave again for about two weeks while I figured it out. As awesome as the X1 sounded, compared to everything else that was out at the time, it was anything but user-friendly until you figured it out. I called Dave back after the job, and he laughed his head off. Unfortunately, it grew back.
Back to friends. I miss by friend HankB so much. When the phone doesn't ring at 10 every morning, I know it's not him calling as usual. Cherish your friends because they can leave at any time.
DonM