We could use some clear blue skies and crystal clear waters, right now.
While the dust has yet to settle over
the firing of Bill Brehm, the question arises, “What's Next”?
From what I've seen, nobody is
happy with what happened with Bill. Nobody.
Here's a man, voted
in by thousands and thousands of club members and their clubs, and
only a half a year after he's fired by the PHIP Board of Directors.
Bill had been voted in on the platform of bringing PHIP into the
modern era. He campaigned for many new additions and agendas that
would bring forward thinking, positive changes to an antiquated
system. From day one he was completely ignored. “The Old Guard”,
were exactly that, The Old Guard and they had no time or interest to
hear the young whippersnapper's ideas and suggestions. They had their
old way of doing things and it didn't matter what he, or the
constituents who voted him in had to say. They were going to proceed
as if nothing ever happened.
Teaching the old dogs new tricks wasn't
in their agenda.
As I said earlier,
no one is happy. The votes, opinions, and desires of members and
their clubs, mean nothing to the Oligarchs high on top of the hill.
So, what's next?
One of the things that Bill Brehm had wanted to do was to be more
focused on the Trop Rock, Coastal Americana, Island Americana genre.
Jerry Diaz has pointed out that the by-laws of PHIP state clearly
that the main focus of PHIP is to be a Jimmy Buffett Fan Club.
When the
organization started it was on a very different playing field than it
is now. There were a handful of Jimmy Buffett cover bands
back then, and several inspired songwriters. That
was about it. Trop Rock didn't exist, for the most part, so it wasn't
something that PHIP took into consideration.
Today it's a very
different story. Not only has the culture itself advanced in leaps
and bounds, but Trop Rock has germinated and gone from a few
dedicated artists and songwriters, who's inspiration to others helped
turn it into almost a movement. Myself, I kind of stumbled into it by
chance, being a Nashville published songwriter. I believe Tom and
Coley did as well? Donnie Brewer was a studio engineer/producer...
the stories of how so many entered the genre could be written as a
book with 300 chapters! Hell, on Facebook there's a page called “Make
Trop Rock a Recognized Genre".
It's only my opinion, but at the end of the
day, from what I've seen, PHIP's by-laws need to be reviewed and
updated. Jerry Diaz pointed out in his two posts that he'd like to
start an organization that would be focused on the promotion of Trop
artists. I think that's a fabulous idea! We get great exposure from
the Trop radio stations, such as Bone Island Radio, Tiki Man Rado,
and Radio Trop Rock. Having something additional that would promote
Trop Artists is a fabulous idea, both inside the genre, but more importantly outside the genre.... (We need new fans!)
I think if the
by-laws of PHIP can be changed, it could be a fabulous foundation for
Jerry's idea to take hold! For one, it already has a very, very supportive
audience already connected. It would give Jerry a lot less work to
do. Not as good an idea, but workable would be having Jerry's idea be
a satellite organization of a revised PHIP.
Those still on the
Board of Directors of PHIP, need to move on, for the sake of the
organization, because as things stand now, they are holding back everything the fans and clubs want and voted for.
BRING BILLY BREHM BACK!
If the by-laws
can't be changed and PHIP can't update themselves, the torpedo the
Board of Directors shot this week, could very well do a 180 and be
heading right back at themselves. That's not good for anyone.
PHIP Needs to
change. There is no question of “Do they need to change?”. They
need to change.
We could use some clear blue skies and crystal clear waters, right now.
==================================================================
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