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Guess who's back,...


Booshy

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Here's the short form of "the saga of Harmony Central"...

 

I left HC and its owner, Guitar Center, in 2013 to take a gig at Gibson. Henry Juszkiewicz (Gibson CEO) could tell I wasn't happy with HC and said he wanted Gibson to take a web site to the next level, and get more people involved in creating and enjoying music. He said "This would be your chance to do Harmony Central right." Henry's very, very smart but also exceptionally perceptive, and he absolutely knew what bait would hook me.

 

A couple days later, he said "You'd make a great CMO." I had no idea what a CMO was, but that put the web thing on hold. I tried the gig for about a year and a half, but I wasn't wired that way. So then I basically became Gibson's in-house consultant, working across all the brands doing all kinds of things...a great gig, still is.

 

Meanwhile Dendy, Phil, and Chris kept the site alive through efforts that deserve the term "heroic." They got Nucleus on board to rid the site of the previous problematic platform change, and managed to hold the site together with duct tape, rubber cement, and possibly ritual sacrifice but let's not go there. HC had switched back to vBulletin, but then vBulletin changed versions and became bug city. So things were better, but still limping along. Traffic continued its downward spiral.

 

In early 2015 GC fired the editors and basically froze the front page with a hideous graphic I won't even attempt to describe. I asked Henry if he still wanted to do a web site, and if so, Harmony Central was probably available. He did, it was, and here we are.

 

Henry laid down a few directives:

 

"You have to have fun doing it. If you're not having fun, you won't communicate the joy of music. And you must continue to be totally neutral - if you want to complain about Gibson or a Fender guitar deserves a great review, that's fine. Be cutting-edge, be humorous, be edgy, just don't be mean-spirited. Think internationally, and remember that mobile is going to be huge."

 

And after that he basically left us alone, except to occasionally approve expenditures, like the upcoming upgrade to the next version of vBulletin and several fixes. So of course, we really want to do everything we can to justify that level of trust. If it wasn't for Henry I doubt there would be a Harmony Central.

 

We haven't really started marketing the site yet ("Harmony Central is back!") because we want to make sure that things are working reasonably well. We can't survive another disastrous platform change. But people are coming back (you're a good example of that), Pro Reviews are back, we're forming alliances with other sites and media to do content sharing, and the word is getting out. Good example: Yesterday started with the Line 6 Helix Pro Review having accumulated 2,100 views, today it has over 6,000.

 

We're still a small team of three editors and me; I have many demands on my time other than Harmony Central, and our resources are limited. BUT in the immortal words of Galaxy Quest..."Never give up, never surrender." We have have no illusions about the time it will take to recover from the damage that HC has endured over the years, but no one wanted the site to die...and it's alive and picking up support.

 

Stay tuned...your return is a harbinger...and you're not alone.

 

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Welcome back! I haven't been here that long. Closing in on three years. But I was here through the recent history Craig just detailed. I never had a lot of the problems with the site that a lot of folks said they had. It's working quite well as far as I'm concerned. Look forward to seeing your posts and replies and getting to know you!:hairphil:

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That's exactly the part I missed. Last time I logged in was somewhere in 2013 so I missed two years. Phil offered me to send me a new password but I decided to register again. So I changed from Senior member with 1000s of posts to a Rookie with one post. Love it...call it a midlife reïncarnation.

What I've been up to:

In short... I'm still married to the most beautiful girl in the world. Our son Skip is turning 12 and we've got a babygirl called Crew.. she just turned 2.

I've built myself a brand new studio and live music. Mixing, producing, mastering, beatmaking or full orchestration, recording,...you name it.

Glad to be back!

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Boosh, if you missed the orientation meeting that's held at the clubhouse every Tuesday, you should know there have been a few changes since you were last here.

 

  • The password for the free wifi has been changed to: TR808 [no spaces]
  • The drink vouchers are now good until 10 PM instead of 7 PM.
  • The breakfast buffet offers several vegetarian options; please remember to order before 1 AM.
  • Valet parking is complimentary, but if your car is a stick shift, you probably want to avoid Herman. Just sayin."
  • Children stay free only if they're learning a musical instrument. Free lessons are available in the oceanside lounge between 2-4 PM.
  • Although we rarely have incidents, if a guest acts in a way unbecoming to SSS, please contact Head of Security Phil O'Keefe at extension 007.
  • Remember to return your towels to the main hamper (between the entrance to the cabanas and the theater) after exiting the jacuzzi or pool.

 

Thank you for your cooperation, and enjoy your stay!

 

 

 

 

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