Posted by JULIE (Webmistress) on July 25, 2009, 3:49 pm
Message modified by board administrator July 25, 2009, 11:38 pm

The recent thread concerning repackagings of Jim Reeves' music has gotten totally out of control, with ridiculous insults that will not be tolerated here. So I removed the entire thread. Amy Robinson posted that I was being "dictatorial" and insists that she is "eager to learn about all of Jim's available CDs." Well, Ms. Robinson, if you enjoy spending money on CDs that offer nothing new, and are merely rehashes of the past, you can readily avail yourself of such a list by going to Amazon.com. But what you're going to see there, more often than not, is just the manufacturer's listing without any product review. The whole reason for my site is to elevate the discussion and be discerning, and separate the garbage from what's really worthwhile. Whether it be a lie about Jim's life, or a misleading statement about a CD, I intend to draw the distinction and clarify matters for the fans. You can call that snobbish if you wish, but I dare say we probably know as much about Jim and his music as any two people out there. This website has had a long track record of "world exclusives" and "insider" reporting as it pertains to Jim Reeves, that has rankled some "sacred cows" on the Reeves scene, such that we have been sued for millions, and I mean that literally! (That's one of the untold stories that will eventually be told. Incidentally, the lawsuits from these crazies were dismissed. Not surprisingly.) No one has been more enthused about truly new material on Jim than my husband or me. This dates all the way back to when some unseen video surfaced of Jim on the Steve Allen show. We not only promoted it, I set up a group of volunteer tape dubbers to make copies at no cost. When Studio B footage surfaced, even though it was on a rival site, we not only urged people to view it, I even provided a link! (I dare say the webmaster of that other site would never reciprocate. In fact, it's been years since he's linked to me, even though my link to him has been on my site since Day One). A discussion of the "Kimberley Jim" release on DVD has had a thorough airing here, even though it is a bootleg. Sony's achievement in getting Jim back on the charts has likewise gotten a full airing. I encourage a free exchange of ideas. In fact, when Soundies released the soundtrack to Jim's movie, "Kimberley Jim," on CD they used in their liner notes quotations and anecdotes from my website visitors. But I absolutely, positively, am NOT going to continue to allow people to come on here and promote repackagings of Reeves CDs that contain nothing new. What kind of webmistress would I be if I sat passively by and let some of the posters mislead the fans and divert their attention away from the GOOD stuff that's out there? It costs us hundreds of dollars and hundreds of hours each year to keep this site online. I'm not complaining, because it truly is a labor of love for us. But I am under no obligation to provide free promotion for any of these labels that are exploiting Jim Reeves' musical legacy and doing so with bad sound quality or re-releases of the same old tracks ad nauseum. The exception to that was the new Sony CD. The ONLY reason that was newsworthy is because, for the first time in six years, that company decided to put some money behind promotion such that they managed to get it into the Top Ten, an important fete. I feel a special responsibility to the more than 1,000 first-time visitors we're averaging here every week. These fans deserve to be accurately informed as to Jim Reeves' legacy and recordings. Some sites may not be discriminating. This one is. -- JULIE