I have been worried about Peter Atkinson of the UK, who has dogged my heels like a yapping hound for more than 16 years, attacking everything I release, whether it be the 672 page award-winning book "Jim Reeves: His Untold Story," or my various CD projects.
He has been strangely silent for a few months, after filling 81 pages on Amazon with repetitive personal attacks that are a clear violation of Amazon's Terms of Service. Unfortunately, their system is overwhelmed by people of Atkinson's ilk who can't get attention any other way so they abuse that selling platform to try to stir things up.
Now he is attacking the latest CD, "The Best of Jim Reeves Live In Concert," with a 1 star rating, which he hopes will discourage people from buying it.
But he's doing so under a fake name: "Shelley." If you click on that name, you will find the "reviews" he's posted for other products under a DIFFERENT name -- Peter Atkinson. (We have screen captures of his stuff going back years and years).
So this means he's merely changed his name on Amazon to make it look like it's a different person. There is just no cure for stupid.
This is the clown who even stooped to slur my 24 year old daughter, Sara, when she released her first novella.
(Incidentally, Sara's work is soon to be published as part of a prestigious new anthology which includes work by other authors; and she is wrapping up collaboration with a San Francisco big-name attorney whom you've seen on TV, who is releasing a book later this year and hired Sara to help him).
Anyway, Peter Atkinson describes the new Jim Reeves CD as "CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP," and being "poor quality artwork paper, poor quality recordings, poor quality disks, etc." And he re-uses the same old line, "this was not released it escaped."
Of course, this is all nonsense. The booklet is on high gloss paper, the disk is manufactured by a company that has been in business over 25 years and does work for Fortune 500 corporations as well as other labels, the sound quality is SUPERB.
I'm calling out Mr. Atkinson publicly because he ought to be ashamed of his juvenile behavior which long ago became tiresome. If someone wants to write a LEGITIMATE negative review, fine. But he's just a mud slinger.
IF ANY OF YOU FANS LIKE THE NEW CD, BE SURE TO GO TO AMAZON U.S. AND POST YOUR REVIEWS.
The sales of the latest CD are outstanding -- so much so, it has been re-pressed for the third time last week.
It's an interesting phenomenon we have seen before. When Mr. Atkinson goes on one of his immature and dishonest tirades and attacks my releases on Amazon, there is an immediate sales spurt. Not just on Amazon, but other venues where the product is sold, like the Good Music Store (which sends us sales reports twice a day), and eBay.
My email box this morning was CRAMMED with emails generated by these sources in an explosion of orders all since last night. I doubt Peter realizes that by making illogical, unfair, and mean-spirited attacks on my releases, he is really arousing the anger of scores of fans who have bought VoiceMasters CDs in the past, know them to all contain unreleased material, and be of top professional quality.
It's as if even the fence-straddlers swing into action and hurry up and order the CD because with Atkinson panning it, they know it must really be something special.
He confers sort of a "seal of approval" on it, paradoxically. The more pedantic he becomes in posting posting posting and repeating the same propaganda-like lies about them (in the belief that if you say a lie often enough eventually people will accept it as being the truth), the more he actually SPURS sales.
He's never learned that the best way to harm a release is through complete indifference. Not mention it. Not talk about it. Pretend it doesn't exist, and is not worth your time. Instead, he gets himself all worked up.
Think about it. 81 PAGES of Amazon filled with his crazy comments about matters far afield from the products at hand, even chastising me for not attending the reburial of Mary Reeves 800 miles away, when members of her own family (the Whites) didn't even attend.
So even though I find Atkinson a mild annoyance, it brings to mind the old line, "I'm laughing all the way to the bank."
Re: Self-defeating
Posted by JULIE (Webmistress) on March 28, 2015, 12:21 pm, in reply to "Self-defeating" Board Administrator
Any rational person who would see such a multitude of posts from one person surely would realize that individual was obsessed, and this would nullify any points he was trying to make. You'd have to be extremely obsessed to post that many times, especially the same attacks over and over again.
But I'm glad you called him out. Peter Atkinson became "Shelley" on Amazon, yet he's accused you, Larry, of being a whole bunch of different people writing positive reviews of your products. Does that mean you are also buying all your own CDs too? If there weren't sales to support them, how has VoiceMasters been able to release so many CDs over the years, including on other artists besides Jim? I know there is a big pop star that you are putting out a CD on soon that includes unreleased live and studio material. That should be exciting. -- JULIE
Re: Self-defeating
Posted by Gary Bryson on March 29, 2015, 12:15 pm, in reply to "Self-defeating"
Larry, I just ordered the CD two days ago. I did not order it from Amazon and I have not read any reviews there, but I'm sure it will be up to your usual high standards. Look forward to receiving it.
Re: Self-defeating
Posted by Larry Jordan on March 29, 2015, 5:45 pm, in reply to "Re: Self-defeating"
The only reason Peter Atkinson earned himself a mention here is that it was so much fun to catch him masquerading as somebody else -- "Shelley" -- when he resurfaced after his six month hiatus from Amazon. (Did he get himself banned?) He must have forgotten that when he assumed a new identity, Amazon's system automatically changed all his past reviews so they carried the name "Shelley" too. Unfortunately for him, we had copies of those slanderous posts to which he had signed his name.
What an embarrassment for a guy who keeps attacking other Amazon LEGITIMATE reviewers and falsely claiming, without any evidence, that they are ME. What a delicious irony he himself gets caught posting under assumed aliases. Anybody who really knows me knows I am NOT afraid to speak up or challenge people publicly or in the legal realm. I have done that all my life and have no problem being assertive or signing my own name to things I write.
Julie reminded me that Peter's lifelong crusade to attack us began many years ago when he sent her a cartoon he had created depicting Ed Gtegory and a tombstone. Ed then owned Jim Reeves Enterprises. Julie declined to post the cartoon, considering it in very bad taste as well as totally amateurish in execution. Atkinson went ballistic. Apparently he can't take rejection, and it's become a 16-year long obsession with him to get revenge. Can you imagine such silliness?
Along the way he has received public support from the a handful of other dysfunctional idiots who have nothing better to do with their time than fill their lives with ENVY and HATE.
Atkinson's latest statement on Amazon is that everybody who posts a favorable review of one of my CD releases is a friend of mine. The truth is, the only person I have ever met amongst the reviewers is Doris Gath, who has been a guest in Julie's and my home. I haven't even talked on the phone to any of the others except one that I can recall. I don't direct them what to say. In other words, I don't know most of the people who support me online, though I do in *some* cases recognize their names as repeat customers.
They have merely built up "brand loyalty." They like the things that VoiceMasters issues on CD so they support them and defend them. It's just that simple.
In his latest attack PA refers to Julie and says defiantly "I will post as many times as I want to point out poor products to the real Jim Reeves fans who visit here in order to save them wasting hard earned cash on this rubbish "
So he's become the caped crusader, able to leap tall buildings, run faster than a speeding bullet, and save fans from the terrible fate of buying a CD produced by me! What a rich fantasy life this guy has.
Does he seriously think world famous singers Daniel O'Donnell and Mary Duff would put their reputations on the line to do TV and radio spots (and Daniel even wrote a wonderful article for Ireland's Sunday World newspaper) ENDORSING MY CDs if my productions were just a bunch of crap like Atkinson is trying so desperately to make every potential customer believe?
Enough said about this fool. I'm wrapping up the artwork on a new CD to be announced soon on a major pop artist that will include 25 tracks, both studio and live recordings, that are previously unreleased. Another MAJOR coup for VoiceMasters.
Meanwhile, someone sent me an email saying they had bought a Sony released copy on CD of the "Gentleman Jim" album and were appalled by how poor the sound quality was, as well as the packaging. Maybe the caped crusader should chase after that one next!
Now he's smearing Daniel O'Donnell and Mary Duff
Posted by Larry Jordan on March 31, 2015, 5:50 pm, in reply to "Re: Self-defeating"
I really don't care what Peter Atkinson thinks of my CDs, but it is worth noting that he has once again demonstrated the EXTREME lengths to which he will go to attack, attack, attack. Now he is even maligning Daniel O'Donnell and Mary Duff, who appear in a series of TV commercials promoting Jim Reeves CDs I produced.
Atkinson has posted on Amazon that Daniel and Mary, whom he claims only appeal to elderly people, would "endorse anything for money."
This is downright VILE of Mr. Atkinson.
Daniel, who did a fabulous 90-minute TV special ten years ago in tribute solely to Jim Reeves, has sold 12 million recordings, and sold out venues ranging from the Sydney Opera House in Australia to Carnegie Hall in New York, Branson (where his shows are sold out months in advance) to Sri Lanka. His audiences are comprised of all age groups, from young children to senior citizens. He is revered in his native Ireland and received many worldwide honors. To smear him and Mary as being people who would sell their souls for money is sooooooo far off the mark.
Atkinson picked the wrong two people to malign. Daniel is known in the music industry for his extremely high ethics, uncommon in show biz.
In fact, Daniel O'Donnell is a well-known PHILANTHROPIST, who has raised millions of dollars for a long list of charities, and personally rescued scores of orphaned children in Romania, following political unrest there. He literally saved their lives and did a lot of that behind the scenes with no publicity.
So this is the kind of man whom Atkinson claims would cynically take money to endorse one of my "crappy" CDs, which Atkinson further claims the BBC would never play? (Actually, the BBC has already played tracks from the latest CD extensively).
Mary is also very active in charitable work, including helping raise money to combat cystic fibrosis.
You could not name two entertainers who have more sterling reputations than Daniel and Mary.
But Peter Atkinson is so hellbent on pursuing his crusade against the Jim Reeves CDs so many of you fans have enjoyed that he will stoop this low to assail these fine people. And the so-called Reeves fans who in the past have rushed online to defend Atkinson surely know, if they have one iota of common sense, that his desperation to try to destroy the sales of the Reeves CDs has carried him waaaaaaaaay too far.
To see one of the TV commercials Daniel and Mary are doing, click the link below (then scroll down the page to view the video).
On Youtube, I found a recording of Daniel and Mary singing a song called "Yes, Mr. Peters", which was a hit for Roy Drusky and Priscilla Mitchell in the mid sixties. I always liked the melody to the song and even though the subject matter is adultery, it is still an interesting song to listen to. I was very impressed by Mary Duff's voice on the song. She really has a beautiful voice, as does Daniel.
Re: Now he's smearing Daniel O'Donnell and Mary Duff
I loved Roy Drusky and remember sitting backstage with him one night discussing the Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves plane crashes. Roy (who was also a pilot) flew Randy Hughes to pick up his plane (a Piper Comanche that had belonged to company president Bill Piper).
Also, Jim Reeves was such a fan of Roy's that when one of his songs would come on the car radio, he would pull over to the side of the road and listen.
As for Daniel O'Donnell and Mary Duff's version, it could be a hit today! Their voices blend so well.
As I previously mentioned, Daniel did a 90-minute tribute to Jim Reeves special for U.S. "public television" that was viewed by 60 MILLION people nationwide, around the 10th anniversary of Jim's passing in 2004. (Despite being from Ireland, Mr. O'Donnell is a popular artist on American public television, has raised millions of dollars for them, and was just on the air a couple of weeks ago).
Daniel COULD have sung his own songs, or done a tribute to any other artist. But he is a Reeves fan from way back. So he had beautiful charts written (at great expense, I might add), and did his tribute to Jim from the stage of one of the top theaters in Branson, Missouri. He used a huge orchestra, including strings. I think Jim himself would have loved it.
It was this special that inspired me to start doing overdubs to bring Jim's own recordings up to date. And when I told Daniel that a few months ago, he reacted with a big smile.
Daniel's popularity is unassailable, contrary to the rantings of Peter Atkinson of the UK, who posted vulgar smears on both Daniel and Mary in his Amazon carpet bombing campaign, just because they are helping promote one of my CD projects.
Atkinson made a major blunder this time, because so many people around the world follow Daniel's career and know him to be almost priest-like in his character.
That's what drives a few of his imbalanced critics wild. Daniel succeeded against all odds. He started out life in a remote rural area of Ireland -- just he and two friends who co-managed him. Plus an accordion player -- all of whom are still with him after all these years. There was one point when their van got repossessed, as did all their band instruments because he fell behind in his payments. He even lost his band and had to rely on pick-up bands at venues he played, one of which Daniel said only knew ONE of his songs. "It was a LONG night that night!" he quipped. But he has now played the biggest venues in the world.
When his wife, Marjella, came down with breast cancer, she appeared on TV in Ireland to give encouragement to other cancer victims, and had her head shaved on live TV in a display of courage that I'm sure touched the hearts of all those who viewed this. Daniel and his wife have continued to raise money for cancer research.
This past summer, when Daniel and I met (and he VOLUNTEERED to help me promote my CDs in any way he could, ultimately taping TV commercials promoting "The Great Jim Reeves" 8 CD set I produced), when I walked in the room he was down on his knees talking to an elderly woman in a wheel chair who had come to see him on her 100th birthday. The only other person present was the woman's son. There were no reporters or others around. Daniel was so kind to this woman, (whom he had never met before), and must have asked her 20 questions about her life, her family, etc. He was sincerely interested and was so tender toward this frail little old lady, my daughter Sara (who was with me) and I got a lump in our throats.
THAT is the true measure of the man, and my UK partner, Steve Brink of H&H Music Ltd. and I are tremendously PROUD to have Daniel and Mary promoting our Reeves CDs. We consider it an honor.
To listen to audio samples (and see Daniel and Mary) click the link below...
Larry, I was wondering if Jim knew Roy Drusky. I have never listened to Roy very much, but now that I know Jim liked his singing, I'm going to make it a point to listen to him.
And, I would love to watch that show Daniel did on Jim's music. I'll check Youtube. Do you know another place I might find it?
Re: Now he's smearing Daniel O'Donnell and Mary Duff
Yes of course Jim and Roy knew each other and were friends.
I too have looked for the Daniel O'Donnell Reeves tribute show but can't find it. At one point it had been on YouTube. If you locate it, please let me know.
I suspect he may be selling a DVD with that tribute on it.
Re: Now he's smearing Daniel O'Donnell and Mary Duff
It's strange and I can't explain it,but I don't really care for Daniel o'Donnell s' voice,to me he sounds a little 'bland',having said that,I don't mind George Hamilton IV singing,even if he did 'split' note from time to time,I don't doubt Daniels' talent at all,and I am glad that he brings listening pleasure to millions,long may he continue to do so.
on March 27, 2015, 9:24 pm