mclaren isnt here

Paul Erlich in his message titled:

>Beware of Brian McLaren

writes:

>I know that he's not here to defend himself, but I feel I should warn
>people that although Brian McLaren is a fine composer and promulgator of
>microtonal enthusiasm, his analyses, including music-theoretical ones,
>are plagued with errors.

Is it really fair to attack someone who isn't here?
And "plagued with errors" is far too strong.
In his early posts, Brian covered a lot of ground, wrote
engagingly about topics he feels strongly about,
created and inspired a lot of interesting theory
*and music*, and framed quite a bit of lively debate.

Personally, I miss his posts.

Bill Sethares

William Sethares <sethares@eceserv0.ece.wisc.edu> writes:
> [tuning] mclaren isnt here

>Paul Erlich in his message titled:
>
>>Beware of Brian McLaren
>
>writes:
>
>>I know that he's not here to defend himself, but I feel I should warn
>>people that although Brian McLaren is a fine composer and promulgator of
>>microtonal enthusiasm, his analyses, including music-theoretical ones,
>>are plagued with errors.
>
>Is it really fair to attack someone who isn't here?

A few years ago (2 + 4 months ago) I spent 8 days
in hospital and it took me a few weeks until I got
caught up on my email. What I found was Brian McLaren
making a personal attack on me on the digest.

So I don't have any problem with discussing BM here.

>Personally, I miss his posts.

Personally, he's just another hostile net kook - very
opinionated and ready to insult anyone who stands in his way.

--
* D a v i d B e a r d s l e y
* xouoxno@virtulink.com
*
* J u x t a p o s i t i o n E z i n e
* M E L A v i r t u a l d r e a m house monitor
*
* http://www.virtulink.com/immp/lookhere.htm

In fact, McLaren was never here.

Whatever McLaren might have had to say -- and Paul Erlich is right on in
calling him to task for the flood of errors in his missives; I would have
also added his entirely unprovoked and arbitrary attacks on people who
happened not to fall into his good graces -- the main point is that McLaren
just threw stuff at the list without ever condescending to become a member
of it. That created a lot of ill will and that's a shame because the guy
might have had something to say.

It could be he picked this up from Ivor Darreg, whom one could visit for
hours without ever having to say a word -- which wouldn't have been
listened to anyway -- as he went on expository autopilot. But Darreg,
unlike McLaren, had lived the kind of life that somehow excused all of
that, and my regret that Darreg was not able to express himself in a way
that would reach a wider public remains great.

I'm pleased to hear that McLaren is planning his own web site. Since he is
not interested in exchanging ideas or receiving criticism, it'll be a more
appropriate forum than an open list.