I am happy to announce the exciting news that the much-anticipated official DVD set from the Frankie Manning 95th Birthday Festival is now on sale! Just $75 for a whopping five-DVD set, here's all the amazing, professionally shot footage that you'll get:[list][li]Frankie's 95th Birthday Festival Highlights, Hellzapoppin' and Jack & Jill Competitions, Performances, Jams and Social Dancing
[li]Memorial Service, Second Line, and Central Park Events
[li]Ambassador of Swing: The Frankie Manning Story (Sunday Night Stage Show)
[li]Frankie's 95th Birthday Festival Bands and Musical Highlights
[li]Tributes, Frankie TV, and Photo Galleries[/list:u]
Relive all those amazing moments if you were there or see why people are calling this the lindy hop event of the century. Head to http://frankie95.com/order_dvd.php to get yours!
All profits to go toward the Frankie Manning Legacy Fund.
Originally posted Sunday, October 25, 2009 (2 years ago)
I need to know who to contact about changing my shipping address for the DVDs. My mail is being forwarded, but I'm not sure how the package will be sent or if the USPS even forwards those types of items.
This is why I didn't go for the "pre-release discount offer". I know people selling stuff and putting on events like to encourage people to pay cash up front way in advance in return for a discount. I also know that sometimes the reason for doing this is to help finance putting on the event or completing production of the product - which can make the consumer an unwitting "investor" in the product or event whose money is placed at risk.
I've gotten burned once or twice by this sort of thing and keep hearing stories like the one about the blues workshop weekend that never happened in the "Hypothetical" thread. Many of the responses in that thread and in the "Another Hypothetical" thread I started said that using ticket sales for an event to finance up front costs of putting it on is over-the-top unethical. I think the same thing applies to producing a product. Customers should not be underwriter/investors. At least not without being told so in advance along with a clear communication to them about the risk involved.
It's a shame that the Yehoodi/Frim Fram crowd and the organizers of the very successful Frankie 95 event have gotten caught up in a situation where people have paid cash up front and are only getting back "the check is in the mail" stories from the people who are supposed to deliver on this DVD. Or, now it seems (based on the post I'm responding to), can't get any story at all.
This is not good for the reputation of all involved ... in spite of the fact that most likely none of the people involved with putting on the event itself bear any responsibility for what's been going on with the broken promises made to the people who placed advance orders for the DVD.
Perhaps its time for those who made Frankie 95 happen to post an official statement of concern (and possibly outrage) on Yehoodi regarding how this is playing out. (And also send it directly to the people who have yet to deliver on their promises, demanding a response.) Perhaps a little social pressure might motivate the people who are sitting on all this money to do the right things:
Stop making delivery date promises they can't keep.
Publically explain their cash flow situation, financial issues, and what's happened to the money they collected so far.
Publically explain what needs to happen in order for the DVD to be released and what obstacles remain that stand in the way of gettting it done.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
Originally posted Saturday, February 20, 2010 (2 years ago)
Racetrack, you're presenting a lot of unsubstantiated assumptions as if you know them as a fact.
Perhaps you could leap to the easier conclusion. There's a whole whack of video to edit from multiple cameras rolling the whole weekend. I assume (perhaps Rik or someone will chime in) that it's volunteers doing the edit work part time and that is going to take a while.
As one of the people waiting for the video, I agree, a bit more communication on where things are at would be more reassuring. I've worked on event videos and know how much work/time it takes so I'm not surprised but most people rely on the word of the organizers.
Perhaps you are right. I don't have any inside information regarding what this situation is like at the "other end".
But "how this looks" is in many respects just as important as "how it really is". The lack of communication really is the big issue here, followed by the possibility that the people making the DVD bit off more than they could chew and were overoptimistic.
In any case, this is the time for forthright and detailed communication, which doesn't seem to be happening. When questions go unanswered and deadlines keep getting missed, it's inevitable that people will start filling in missing details with "worst case analysis" scenarios.
I admit to having done that myself. My previous experience has shown me that in scenarios involving cash-up-front, more than one missed deadline, and lack of responsive communication the "worst case scenarios" are more common than most others after the dust settles.
I was once employed by a company that got caught up in serious cash flow issues in spite of the very best of intentions, so I know how easy it is for this to happen. This company wasn't evil - they were overly optimistic about sales and their ability to fulfill their obligations with very limited funds. And they made their problems worse by being less than forthright with the clients and creditors about the situation. Sooner or later all the "happy stories" came back to haunt them and once that affected their reputation in the business community everything came crashing down and the company had to close.
So I'm not saying something evil or criminal is going on. But I do have to admit that I don't see how this is playing out to be a stellar example of how to run a business venture, make a realistic project plan that is likely to succeed on time and within budget, and maintain open lines of communication with customers and partners that keep confidence high.
I think the main lessons to be learned here are that:
People taking on huge tasks where significant money is involved have to be a bit more uniformly careful about what promises they make.
People in the lindy scene have to be a bit more conservative about taking advantage of "early bird price" deals.
People putting on events and selling products with "early bird price" deals have to be aware of how serious a promise they make when they accept up front cash and how important it is to make communication (with customers, strategic partners, AND the lindy community at large) a top priority.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
Originally posted Saturday, February 20, 2010 (2 years ago)
Because I know I may be coming off sounding all "high and mighty" in my posts here, I think I should provide a little personal background information so you all know where I am coming from and how I got there.
I've put on a lot of small events over the past few decades, been involved in planning a major city project involving the remodeling of the downtown area of a medium sized city (the creation and early operation of the State Street Mall/Capitol Concourse in Madison, WI), and managed a large project involving the production of a public access interactive kiosk for an exhibit at a major museum, among other things.
When trained academically as a theater director as an undergraduate, the "buck stops here" message was drummed into me over and over until I internalized it as absolute gospel. Now that I find myself having to take retraining to make myself employable during the balance of "The Great Recession" as a specialist in meeting & event planning this same message is being drummed into my brain again - this time in the form of no-excuse "best practices" regarding things like project planning, project execution, budgeting/accounting, and communications.
And, over the years, the message that "volunteer" organizers and planners are held to the same professional standards as paid organizers and planners has been drummed into me as well. For example, the downtown business owners and citizens of Madison wouldn't have cared that nearly everyone involved in the planning and running of the State Street Mall was a volunteer if the project had failed due to poor ideas, poor process, poor planning, and/or poor execution. They would just want the names of those responsible and want all of us to be held accountable for the chaos and financial loss we caused.
So, I have to admit I have become a hard-line person with regard to these issues, as well as the kind of hard-line person on issues related to communication you might expect a person to be after getting a graduate degree in a department called "Communication Arts".
But whenever any endeavor involves significant amounts of money, I think this attititude is necessary. That's just the way the world works, and I couldn't change that all by myself even if I wanted to.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
Originally posted Saturday, February 20, 2010 (2 years ago)
So in several hundred words or more with more tangents than a badly written soap opera, you are trying to say something like these 27 words:
People who prepaid are concerned about the lack of communication and missed promises. We ask that the producers provide more information on the status, progress and problems.
Quote - People taking on huge tasks where significant money is involved have to be a bit more uniformly careful about what promises they make.
- People in the lindy scene have to be a bit more conservative about taking advantage of "early bird price" deals.
- People putting on events and selling products with "early bird price" deals have to be aware of how serious a promise they make when they accept up front cash and how important it is to make communication (with customers, strategic partners, AND the lindy community at large) a top priority.
It's all about professionalism - not only careful, realistic planning (you can't just guess how much time and effort it will take to produce a major DVD video project out of tons of raw footage), but also logistical things like having a person on staff who does nothing but project management to make sure that everything gets done according to schedule.
There is also another issue that I am curious about:
Was there a feasibility study done before pre-release sales were made? This project is a more-than-feature length documentary. Production cost alone is an issue. This project is much longer and more complex than Nikki Yanovsky's live concert DVD. I wouldn't try to do something larger than that without expecting the time and cost of a more ambitious project to be at least as high. Can this project really be pulled off more cheaply and easily than your average Michael Moore documentary? What's the cheapest documentary of this length and proposed quality that's ever been made? How long did it take to produce?
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
Originally posted Saturday, February 20, 2010 (2 years ago)
You said you haven't pre-ordered the DVD set. Why do you care about all that? Are you a stakeholder in the production?
As one of the people who did pre-order I don't really care about the financial or production details. It's not my problem and it's nothing more than gossip fodder. All I care about is when I'll receive what I paid for.
Stakeholder? Not financially - I thought putting money up front would tie it up too long. (Turned out I was right).
But I DO want to buy a copy of this if and when it's finished. I think just about everyone in the international Lindy community does. In that sense we are ALL stakeholders.
I also feel that this situation brings to light things that we as a community must do to make sure that moving forward we all pay a little more attention to "best practice" standards in the way we conduct business with each other. The incident discussed (mostly by people that were not directly its victims) in the "Hypothetical" thread was a similar type of situation, and that's the direction that discussion took.
I really don't know if the situation regarding the multiple release delays and lack of communication involving the Frankie 95 DVD will turn out to be the beginning of serious dialogue about the larger issues. I notice that you and I seem to be the only one's posting about this incident at the moment.
FWIW - I hope you do receive what you paid for soon. Time will tell.
I guess, what my point without all the details boils down to is that "an ounce of prevention" could have kept you and many others from being in this situation, and there are ways of keeping things like this from happening in the future.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
Originally posted Sunday, February 21, 2010 (2 years ago)
Edited on Sunday, February 21, 2010 4:00 pm (2 years ago)
I'm sure the community would like to see the production. Yes, the producers have been woefully inadequate communicating with the community on the progress. I'm sure no one disagrees, including the producers themselves.
Your hypothetical suppositions belong in the other thread, not here. There is no evidence of financial trouble as you postulate. It's a part-time volunteer effort on a larger project by people with day jobs and other commitments. It's going to take time. That shouldn't be a surprise. Let's stay grounded in the facts.
The organizers/producers are long time, respected leaders of our community with proven track records, backed by organizations with proven track records. Your hypothetical suppositions are making them sound like a bunch of wannabe Bernie Madoff's. That is disrespectful to them and their efforts.
Were you at the event? Did you see the hard work the organizers put in to the event for the community? Perhaps if you did, you'd have a different perspective.
It would be nice to know when the video will arrive and/or some indication of progress but that's between the producers and those of us you have put our money where our verbiage is.
Originally posted Saturday, March 27, 2010 (2 years ago)
The last I heard, the DVD would be released in early March, and again, that date has passed. While I'm not usually impatient, I'm now annoyed at the lack of communication. (Honestly, I'd be okay with the delays if we were just given more information in a timely manner.)
Also, I thought my address was already updated because of a message I received on Yehoodi 2.0 about my address change question. However, when I received the most recent e-mail with the address update link, the address listed was still my old address. Of course, I updated it, but without any real confirmation (except the "saved" message on the site itself), I'm concerned that it will still be shipped to the wrong address.
I asked Rik about this a few months ago. At the time he hadn't heard much more than anyone else here. He DID make it clear that "Yehoodi is not in any way involved with the production of this DVD." and suggested that "the best people to contact are Tena Morales or Elliott Donnelly".
One thing happened recently that might be of use.
I'm on the email-list for SavoyStyle.com. On March 29 I got an email sent out by Judy Pritchett to all subscribers that contained the following:
Quote Frankie95 DVDs
I hear from the organizers that the Frankie95 5-DVD set is very close to being completed.
We will let you know as soon as we have some in stock to sell to you.
That's the last I heard about this, and there has been no follow-up announcement from SavoyStyle regarding this.
BUT, the "I hear from the organizers" part of this message may indicate that Judy Pritchett may have an inside track on exactly who might have information on this. It might be a good idea for folks who have pre-paid for these DVDs to try to contact her and ask if she knows who to address inquiries regarding the Frankie95 5-DVD set.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
Originally posted Monday, May 3, 2010 (2 years ago)
Edited on Monday, May 3, 2010 8:33 pm (2 years ago)
I was going to post some info I researched regarding who might be the company actually producing the DVDs, but in view of Rik's preceding post - I've decided to pull it off the board again -- for now.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
Originally posted Monday, May 3, 2010 (2 years ago)
I understand they're busy ... and I understand there were production issues ... but a lot of folk have paid in advance for a product they were promised more than 6 months ago and still haven't seen - we've asked for feedback here on Yehoodi and privately, and received nothing (to my knowledge) from anyone directly involved with the production. A little note (regularly, if need be) from those-in-the-know regarding production status and anticipated delivery (even if it changes) is not unreasonable.
Their total lack of communication is not boding well for their potential future attempts at pre-sales.
"Change your thoughts, and you change your world" - Norman Vincent Peale.
I think I would strongly agree with that. The fact that it has taken so long to figure out who to address questions to is disconcerting. People should know who they are doing business with and be able to communicate with them.
The string of "it's almost ready " messages passed through third parties - all of which specified a delivery month that came and went - is also disconcerting.
Neither of these things happen often when people in the Lindy scene do business with each other. In fact I've never heard of anything quite like this in the Lindy scene ever before - and I've been in it for more than ten years, now.
I have come across things like this involving companies with cash flow problems whose owners eventually dropped out of sight leaving clients and creditors holding the bag.
At this time, I'm still assuming that all obligations will be met ... eventually.
But damage has been done. Even if people have the best intentions and eventually come through, creating the appearance of a company "hiding from its customers" leaves bad vibes in the air that don't always go away once matters have been resolved.
This indeed will make it less likely that people in the Lindy community will front money for early-bird discount purchases in the future.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
I have had a response back from Buddy Steves. He sincerely apologizes for the silence, and has said that a revised shipping date for the DVDs will be provided on May 15th.
"Change your thoughts, and you change your world" - Norman Vincent Peale.
Originally posted Monday, May 3, 2010 (2 years ago)
This may finally be a break-through! Hope this communication is followed by solid information later on this month - along with updates until the DVDs are delivered as promised.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
Thought I would find out who Buddy Steves is, seeing as he is apparently the sole contact for information on what's happened to the Frankie 95 CDs.
Here's what the HDSD web site has to say:
Quote Buddy Steves, founding member and CEO of the Houston Swing Dance Society, organized the [Frankie 95]festival along with many related projects. In his usual charismatic way, Buddy did what he does best: he dreamed big and inspired his team to make this event a momentous occasion for everyone. The team launched an official event website, www.frankie95.com and quickly sold out of 1,400 registrations. Volunteers handled all aspects of the event coordination. Major work on the event was done by Tena Morales (Event Organizing Committee Member), Daniel Bosse (Graphic Design, Branding ), Lorenzo Castro (website and backend for registration), and Patty Holmes (registration) and many others. Buddy pulled together major documentary filmmakers from throughout the country to cover the event. A 5 DVD box set of the festival is on sale now (http://www.frankie95.com/order_dvd.php).The festival footage is being added to the world's largest collection of Lindy Hop archival videos, all hosted on HSDS's Swingbud label. HSDS also funded a documentary film of Frankie's life, Never Stop Swinging, which was aired five times on PBS New York throughout the festival weekend.
It seems that HDSD is still keeping secret exactly who is responsible for producing the Frankie 95 DVDs. Buddy Steves is the point person who hired these film makers to do the job, but the above quote only names them as "major documentary filmmakers from throughout the country". It may be the same people who produced the documentary, "Never Stop Swinging".
In any case, all communications (such as they are) regarding the well-being of the original footage and progress of delivery on the DVDs is still coming by way of an intermediary. But it seems that this intermediary, HDSD, is the sole owner of the footage, has made all arrangements for production of the DVD, and is (so far) the only entity taking orders for it.
So HDSD is, in fact, the responsible party for this situation regardless of who is actually doing the production work. It's all up to them to straighten this mess out and improve communications with the people who have paid them up front for the DVDs.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
Its great that Buddy Steves has responded to you, but I think that a statement needs to be made by him, publically, about the delayed release.
All most people have to go by is I heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from this guy on Yehoodi that some guy claiming to be in charge of the DVD has heard from the producers that they might have a new date on May 15th.
The website still says early march and the last e-mail I have from January says march. Until any official word comes from the organisation that is publically posted, I don't think any promises made by any of the organisers has any validity. If they really have an update, why are they afraid to post or give updates. I'm sure we're all on a mailing list somewhere.
For now, I am still assuming the HSDS has the best of intentions - but is making all the wrong decisions about how to handle the situation. The lack of communication with the people who shelled out money in good faith about what's really going on makes them look like an organization that has something to hide.
Appearance can be everything. Even if there are no dark secrets to hide, stonewalling people who are wondering what happened to the money they paid for the DVD set makes it look like there is. The only way out of a situation like this is open and honest communication - an explanation about what's happened so far and what the situation is at this time.
And an explanation for the wall of silence - the lack of communication and lack of clear identification (until this month) of who is in charge.
HSDS has created a serious image problem for itself by dealing with the situation this way. It will take time for them to regain the trust of the community. The sooner they step up to the plate and start the trust rebuilding process, the better.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
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Any update as to when these will be sent out?
I need to know who to contact about changing my shipping address for the DVDs. My mail is being forwarded, but I'm not sure how the package will be sent or if the USPS even forwards those types of items.
I am also looking for who to contact regarding adress changes.
Plus it would be nice to get an update on expected delivery times, as "fall 2009" can be said to be over and done with by now...
So got the email that they are suppoed be done sometime in January...happy to be hearing that I will be getting my videos.
Has anybody received the Frankie 95 DVD set ? I'm still waiting for it, cann't seem to get an answer from the Houston group.. Help....
This is why I didn't go for the "pre-release discount offer". I know people selling stuff and putting on events like to encourage people to pay cash up front way in advance in return for a discount. I also know that sometimes the reason for doing this is to help finance putting on the event or completing production of the product - which can make the consumer an unwitting "investor" in the product or event whose money is placed at risk.
I've gotten burned once or twice by this sort of thing and keep hearing stories like the one about the blues workshop weekend that never happened in the "Hypothetical" thread. Many of the responses in that thread and in the "Another Hypothetical" thread I started said that using ticket sales for an event to finance up front costs of putting it on is over-the-top unethical. I think the same thing applies to producing a product. Customers should not be underwriter/investors. At least not without being told so in advance along with a clear communication to them about the risk involved.
It's a shame that the Yehoodi/Frim Fram crowd and the organizers of the very successful Frankie 95 event have gotten caught up in a situation where people have paid cash up front and are only getting back "the check is in the mail" stories from the people who are supposed to deliver on this DVD. Or, now it seems (based on the post I'm responding to), can't get any story at all.
This is not good for the reputation of all involved ... in spite of the fact that most likely none of the people involved with putting on the event itself bear any responsibility for what's been going on with the broken promises made to the people who placed advance orders for the DVD.
Perhaps its time for those who made Frankie 95 happen to post an official statement of concern (and possibly outrage) on Yehoodi regarding how this is playing out. (And also send it directly to the people who have yet to deliver on their promises, demanding a response.) Perhaps a little social pressure might motivate the people who are sitting on all this money to do the right things:
Stop making delivery date promises they can't keep.
Publically explain their cash flow situation, financial issues, and what's happened to the money they collected so far.
Publically explain what needs to happen in order for the DVD to be released and what obstacles remain that stand in the way of gettting it done.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
Racetrack, you're presenting a lot of unsubstantiated assumptions as if you know them as a fact.
Perhaps you could leap to the easier conclusion. There's a whole whack of video to edit from multiple cameras rolling the whole weekend. I assume (perhaps Rik or someone will chime in) that it's volunteers doing the edit work part time and that is going to take a while.
As one of the people waiting for the video, I agree, a bit more communication on where things are at would be more reassuring. I've worked on event videos and know how much work/time it takes so I'm not surprised but most people rely on the word of the organizers.
Perhaps you are right. I don't have any inside information regarding what this situation is like at the "other end".
But "how this looks" is in many respects just as important as "how it really is". The lack of communication really is the big issue here, followed by the possibility that the people making the DVD bit off more than they could chew and were overoptimistic.
In any case, this is the time for forthright and detailed communication, which doesn't seem to be happening. When questions go unanswered and deadlines keep getting missed, it's inevitable that people will start filling in missing details with "worst case analysis" scenarios.
I admit to having done that myself. My previous experience has shown me that in scenarios involving cash-up-front, more than one missed deadline, and lack of responsive communication the "worst case scenarios" are more common than most others after the dust settles.
I was once employed by a company that got caught up in serious cash flow issues in spite of the very best of intentions, so I know how easy it is for this to happen. This company wasn't evil - they were overly optimistic about sales and their ability to fulfill their obligations with very limited funds. And they made their problems worse by being less than forthright with the clients and creditors about the situation. Sooner or later all the "happy stories" came back to haunt them and once that affected their reputation in the business community everything came crashing down and the company had to close.
So I'm not saying something evil or criminal is going on. But I do have to admit that I don't see how this is playing out to be a stellar example of how to run a business venture, make a realistic project plan that is likely to succeed on time and within budget, and maintain open lines of communication with customers and partners that keep confidence high.
I think the main lessons to be learned here are that:
People taking on huge tasks where significant money is involved have to be a bit more uniformly careful about what promises they make.
People in the lindy scene have to be a bit more conservative about taking advantage of "early bird price" deals.
People putting on events and selling products with "early bird price" deals have to be aware of how serious a promise they make when they accept up front cash and how important it is to make communication (with customers, strategic partners, AND the lindy community at large) a top priority.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
Because I know I may be coming off sounding all "high and mighty" in my posts here, I think I should provide a little personal background information so you all know where I am coming from and how I got there.
I've put on a lot of small events over the past few decades, been involved in planning a major city project involving the remodeling of the downtown area of a medium sized city (the creation and early operation of the State Street Mall/Capitol Concourse in Madison, WI), and managed a large project involving the production of a public access interactive kiosk for an exhibit at a major museum, among other things.
When trained academically as a theater director as an undergraduate, the "buck stops here" message was drummed into me over and over until I internalized it as absolute gospel. Now that I find myself having to take retraining to make myself employable during the balance of "The Great Recession" as a specialist in meeting & event planning this same message is being drummed into my brain again - this time in the form of no-excuse "best practices" regarding things like project planning, project execution, budgeting/accounting, and communications.
And, over the years, the message that "volunteer" organizers and planners are held to the same professional standards as paid organizers and planners has been drummed into me as well. For example, the downtown business owners and citizens of Madison wouldn't have cared that nearly everyone involved in the planning and running of the State Street Mall was a volunteer if the project had failed due to poor ideas, poor process, poor planning, and/or poor execution. They would just want the names of those responsible and want all of us to be held accountable for the chaos and financial loss we caused.
So, I have to admit I have become a hard-line person with regard to these issues, as well as the kind of hard-line person on issues related to communication you might expect a person to be after getting a graduate degree in a department called "Communication Arts".
But whenever any endeavor involves significant amounts of money, I think this attititude is necessary. That's just the way the world works, and I couldn't change that all by myself even if I wanted to.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
So in several hundred words or more with more tangents than a badly written soap opera, you are trying to say something like these 27 words:
People who prepaid are concerned about the lack of communication and missed promises. We ask that the producers provide more information on the status, progress and problems.
Also:
It's all about professionalism - not only careful, realistic planning (you can't just guess how much time and effort it will take to produce a major DVD video project out of tons of raw footage), but also logistical things like having a person on staff who does nothing but project management to make sure that everything gets done according to schedule.
There is also another issue that I am curious about:
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
You said you haven't pre-ordered the DVD set. Why do you care about all that? Are you a stakeholder in the production?
As one of the people who did pre-order I don't really care about the financial or production details. It's not my problem and it's nothing more than gossip fodder. All I care about is when I'll receive what I paid for.
Stakeholder? Not financially - I thought putting money up front would tie it up too long. (Turned out I was right).
But I DO want to buy a copy of this if and when it's finished. I think just about everyone in the international Lindy community does. In that sense we are ALL stakeholders.
I also feel that this situation brings to light things that we as a community must do to make sure that moving forward we all pay a little more attention to "best practice" standards in the way we conduct business with each other. The incident discussed (mostly by people that were not directly its victims) in the "Hypothetical" thread was a similar type of situation, and that's the direction that discussion took.
I really don't know if the situation regarding the multiple release delays and lack of communication involving the Frankie 95 DVD will turn out to be the beginning of serious dialogue about the larger issues. I notice that you and I seem to be the only one's posting about this incident at the moment.
FWIW - I hope you do receive what you paid for soon. Time will tell.
I guess, what my point without all the details boils down to is that "an ounce of prevention" could have kept you and many others from being in this situation, and there are ways of keeping things like this from happening in the future.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
I'm sure the community would like to see the production. Yes, the producers have been woefully inadequate communicating with the community on the progress. I'm sure no one disagrees, including the producers themselves.
Your hypothetical suppositions belong in the other thread, not here. There is no evidence of financial trouble as you postulate. It's a part-time volunteer effort on a larger project by people with day jobs and other commitments. It's going to take time. That shouldn't be a surprise. Let's stay grounded in the facts.
The organizers/producers are long time, respected leaders of our community with proven track records, backed by organizations with proven track records. Your hypothetical suppositions are making them sound like a bunch of wannabe Bernie Madoff's. That is disrespectful to them and their efforts.
Were you at the event? Did you see the hard work the organizers put in to the event for the community? Perhaps if you did, you'd have a different perspective.
It would be nice to know when the video will arrive and/or some indication of progress but that's between the producers and those of us you have put our money where our verbiage is.
On second thought ...
Post deleted for now pending info review by the Yehoodistrator powers that be.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
any updates????????????? Last email of the status of the dvd's said January...well it's March now.
The last I heard, the DVD would be released in early March, and again, that date has passed. While I'm not usually impatient, I'm now annoyed at the lack of communication. (Honestly, I'd be okay with the delays if we were just given more information in a timely manner.)
Also, I thought my address was already updated because of a message I received on Yehoodi 2.0 about my address change question. However, when I received the most recent e-mail with the address update link, the address listed was still my old address. Of course, I updated it, but without any real confirmation (except the "saved" message on the site itself), I'm concerned that it will still be shipped to the wrong address.
Any news on this would be greatly appreciated.
crickets
Might be worth emailing Rik directly, since he started the thread. He may not be getting notifications that y'all are asking about it.
Good suggestion, Keith. I'll do that. Thanks. :)
I asked Rik about this a few months ago. At the time he hadn't heard much more than anyone else here. He DID make it clear that "Yehoodi is not in any way involved with the production of this DVD." and suggested that "the best people to contact are Tena Morales or Elliott Donnelly".
One thing happened recently that might be of use.
I'm on the email-list for SavoyStyle.com. On March 29 I got an email sent out by Judy Pritchett to all subscribers that contained the following:
That's the last I heard about this, and there has been no follow-up announcement from SavoyStyle regarding this.
BUT, the "I hear from the organizers" part of this message may indicate that Judy Pritchett may have an inside track on exactly who might have information on this. It might be a good idea for folks who have pre-paid for these DVDs to try to contact her and ask if she knows who to address inquiries regarding the Frankie95 5-DVD set.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
I've been told to direct all inquiries regarding this to Buddy Steves at bsteves-at-myronsteves.com.
Why It Took Me 13 Years to Learn the Big Apple • My hiphop crew Freeplay performing at the Dance-a-Rama (video).
I was going to post some info I researched regarding who might be the company actually producing the DVDs, but in view of Rik's preceding post - I've decided to pull it off the board again -- for now.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
I understand they're busy ... and I understand there were production issues ... but a lot of folk have paid in advance for a product they were promised more than 6 months ago and still haven't seen - we've asked for feedback here on Yehoodi and privately, and received nothing (to my knowledge) from anyone directly involved with the production. A little note (regularly, if need be) from those-in-the-know regarding production status and anticipated delivery (even if it changes) is not unreasonable.
Their total lack of communication is not boding well for their potential future attempts at pre-sales.
"Change your thoughts, and you change your world" - Norman Vincent Peale.
I think I would strongly agree with that. The fact that it has taken so long to figure out who to address questions to is disconcerting. People should know who they are doing business with and be able to communicate with them.
The string of "it's almost ready " messages passed through third parties - all of which specified a delivery month that came and went - is also disconcerting.
Neither of these things happen often when people in the Lindy scene do business with each other. In fact I've never heard of anything quite like this in the Lindy scene ever before - and I've been in it for more than ten years, now.
I have come across things like this involving companies with cash flow problems whose owners eventually dropped out of sight leaving clients and creditors holding the bag.
At this time, I'm still assuming that all obligations will be met ... eventually.
But damage has been done. Even if people have the best intentions and eventually come through, creating the appearance of a company "hiding from its customers" leaves bad vibes in the air that don't always go away once matters have been resolved.
This indeed will make it less likely that people in the Lindy community will front money for early-bird discount purchases in the future.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
I have had a response back from Buddy Steves. He sincerely apologizes for the silence, and has said that a revised shipping date for the DVDs will be provided on May 15th.
"Change your thoughts, and you change your world" - Norman Vincent Peale.
This may finally be a break-through! Hope this communication is followed by solid information later on this month - along with updates until the DVDs are delivered as promised.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
Re: Buddy Steves
Thought I would find out who Buddy Steves is, seeing as he is apparently the sole contact for information on what's happened to the Frankie 95 CDs.
Here's what the HDSD web site has to say:
It seems that HDSD is still keeping secret exactly who is responsible for producing the Frankie 95 DVDs. Buddy Steves is the point person who hired these film makers to do the job, but the above quote only names them as "major documentary filmmakers from throughout the country". It may be the same people who produced the documentary, "Never Stop Swinging".
In any case, all communications (such as they are) regarding the well-being of the original footage and progress of delivery on the DVDs is still coming by way of an intermediary. But it seems that this intermediary, HDSD, is the sole owner of the footage, has made all arrangements for production of the DVD, and is (so far) the only entity taking orders for it.
So HDSD is, in fact, the responsible party for this situation regardless of who is actually doing the production work. It's all up to them to straighten this mess out and improve communications with the people who have paid them up front for the DVDs.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
Its great that Buddy Steves has responded to you, but I think that a statement needs to be made by him, publically, about the delayed release.
All most people have to go by is I heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from this guy on Yehoodi that some guy claiming to be in charge of the DVD has heard from the producers that they might have a new date on May 15th.
The website still says early march and the last e-mail I have from January says march. Until any official word comes from the organisation that is publically posted, I don't think any promises made by any of the organisers has any validity. If they really have an update, why are they afraid to post or give updates. I'm sure we're all on a mailing list somewhere.
For now, I am still assuming the HSDS has the best of intentions - but is making all the wrong decisions about how to handle the situation. The lack of communication with the people who shelled out money in good faith about what's really going on makes them look like an organization that has something to hide.
Appearance can be everything. Even if there are no dark secrets to hide, stonewalling people who are wondering what happened to the money they paid for the DVD set makes it look like there is. The only way out of a situation like this is open and honest communication - an explanation about what's happened so far and what the situation is at this time.
And an explanation for the wall of silence - the lack of communication and lack of clear identification (until this month) of who is in charge.
HSDS has created a serious image problem for itself by dealing with the situation this way. It will take time for them to regain the trust of the community. The sooner they step up to the plate and start the trust rebuilding process, the better.
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having" - V
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