Your original statement said nothing about my playing at the gig in question; you said only that you like my playing on the Vandermark 5 CDs and that I was drunk at the gig you saw. It would be easy for someone to infer that my alleged drunken state was reflected in my playing, and that if I was drunk on that gig I am probably drunk at other gigs as well. You now say I was lucid and my playing was in top form, and that you didn't see me drink large amounts of beer, so I wonder where you got the idea that I was drunk at all. In any case, the point is not whether I played well at the gig, or whether I hold my liquor well, but rather that you told hundreds of people around the world, falsely and on no evidence, that I was drunk on a gig. This is exactly how rumors get started about people. The membership of this list includes a lot of people who are interested in music that I am involved in and who might well come to see me play, or might even be involved in organizing shows I'm involved in. These people care about music and talk about it with each other and with others beyond this list. It is potentially extremely damaging to me for you to disseminate information that could lead to a widespread perception that I am routinely drunk on gigs or that I have a drinking problem. That kind of rumor, once started, can be very difficult to stamp out. In fact, before you posted your reply I got a message (privately to me, and not to the list, I believe) from another list member who saw my correction and who said: <<I don't know Zach Steiner from Adam's housecat except as a fellow Zornlister, and my general tendency is to trust and believe strangers until I'm given a reason not to. Thanks for setting the record straight. I regret that you had to.>> This illustrates the problem perfectly. If you put this kind of horseshit out there, people will believe it. If you can't see why I would take offense at that, I don't think I can explain it to you. --Jeb Bishop ----- Original Message ----- From: "Zach Steiner" <zsteiner@butler.edu> To: "'Jeb Bishop'" <jebbishop3@earthlink.net>; <zorn-list@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2003 6:41 PM Subject: RE: correction
Not only was a complimenting your playing (to which I find few comparisons), but I was complimenting how well you seemed to hold your alcohol. You appeared completely lucid throughout both sets. Never was it my intent to portray you as a drunk who could not even put his instrument together; if one did construe such comments as such, that would quite fallacious. Your playing was in top form and always compelling, it was a shame the quieter sections of your solos were obscured by the din emanating from downstairs. Despite a hyperbole on the number (which I was not consciously counting) of drinks you consumed, I'm not sure why you took such offense to my comments-- which in no way were meant to slander you. If I was really out to slander you, would not I have insulted your playing?
This is not an apology, by the way; just straightening out the record.
Zach Steiner
-----Original Message----- From: zorn-list-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:zorn-list-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Jeb Bishop Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2003 4:31 PM To: zorn-list@mailman.xmission.com Subject: correction
It came to my attention that Zach Steiner posted the following recently:
<<Vandermark's albums (particularly V5) tend to be a bit insipid, especially in contrast to their live shows. Jeb Bishop just shines throughout, despite having almost two 6 packs the night I saw them. [...] >>
While it is nice that Mr. Steiner enjoys my playing, the statement about my alcohol consumption is completely untrue. I never have more than one drink before the end of a gig -- generally I sip on one through two sets.
If "the night I saw them" was the Indianapolis gig, I had had several bowls of excellent homemade borscht, but nothing like that amount of alcohol. If I'd had that much to drink, I'd have been unable to put the trombone together, let alone play anything on it.
Frankly, Mr. Steiner, the fact that you can so blithely make a completely false statement like this annoys the shit out of me. The 'almost' qualifier makes it sound as though you were following me around counting the number of beers I'd had -- it would have to be ten or eleven to qualify as "almost two six-packs," wouldn't it.
You could not possibly have witnessed this, because I didn't drink ten or eleven beers, or even two. But you nonetheless feel justified in publishing this misinformation as if it was something you had first-hand knowledge of. People reading it will then gain the belief that I did this gig totally shit-faced, which is something I would never do.
This was the last gig on a long tour and I was undoubtedly fatigued -- maybe that's what you think was drunkenness. But if you don't know what you're talking about -- as you clearly don't here -- then you should keep your fucking mouth shut, rather than accusing me of being drunk on the job.
I have no interest in hearing an apology from you, by the way. Just trying to set the record straight.
--Jeb Bishop
jebbishop3@earthlink.net
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