Brent Payne <[email protected]>

G Walker, May I suggest that you get your facts right re: G Dimery-Seek.

The ( G )stands for Georgina who happens to be my 72 yr old mother , She has never confronted you in the Churchyard, nor is she likely to.

My mother has sent a letter to the Chronicle and with just cause, you were singled out because of your constant whinging to the Chronicle. All buskers are a source of annoyance to us and many other people around us.

Ask yourself would you like to be shut in a room with the same music played over and over week in week out, I don't think so. The screeching Flutes my mother spoke about, were in fact recorders one played by Blaise Hall, at 72 years of age your eyesight may not be as good as it once was.

To call the family, a rather large one at that ( DIM ) is not something conducive to good health, and to further call their education into question is not something I can recommend. May I suggest you remove the offending article from the "world wide web" and subtract an apology, or the next time you may meet a very real, very angry, Mr G Dimery-Seek's

A family member is also a Barrister.

MY REPLY

Thankyou for your response.
I will certainly amend my site tomorrow with the information you have supplied to me.

Firstly, the City Ranger was party to the first part of the conversation I had with the "angry man". He told ME that he was Mr. Dimery-Seek and asked if I had seen HIS response to my letter?

The simple fact is, which The Bath Chronicle Reception will confirm, is that I had no idea my letter had even been printed, never mind "His" response. It took me a good hour of research to find both articles.

If your mother is responsible for the letter to the Chronicle, my "un-published reply" would stand as my views against anyone who had written such a letter. As are my responses in the letter to the "Angry man" who proported to be "Mr. Dimery-Seek."

I certainly was not "Singled out" because of my whinging to the Bath Chronicle! My ban on the amplifier was issued in Oct 98, and the Bath Chronicle had printed several nice articles about my work.

I am not whinging now. I am trying to ascertain a basic right to perform with an amp, alongside the many who already do and largely responsibly too. I lost a vital source of income and been through a lot of personal turmoil because of the ban.

Please don't get me wrong. I love Bath and I respect it. If my performances hadn't been well received I would have packed up long ago. I have always had the consideration of the businesses and residents near to where I play. I didn't want to ruin something that I enjoyed doing and gave pleasure to a lot of people. It has already been acknowledged that a lot of other of Baths acts got a lot more complaints then me.

That is not to say I do not understand your mother's argument, and that of other residents. I can well understand that the area can be quite a noisy place to live, which is personally why I didn't move there. I too like the quiet, so because we have the freedom to choose our environment I choose to live in a quiet village outside Bath.

Noise from busking and other normal City Center sounds such as drunks shouting, people returning from clubs and parties at all hours, cars mean that City centers are naturally noisy places. My hope was that my music would be more preferable to the background noise that existed before I played. And the compliments I received while playing allowed me to believe that a lot of people agreed.

As for your comments regarding Blaise Hall's recorder, yep I've got to admit it's not one of my favourite instruments to listen to as well, nor the penny whistle, but I do admire the guy's talent. And it's a bit more traditional to Bath then steel drums. But that is why the rules say you can only play for an hour, then move on, with no return for two hours. Something I always did with very few exceptions.

I also chose a set, which would be listenable to a wide-ranging audience. But you're always going to find someone who doesn't like what you do. Someone even dropped a note in my hat last summer saying I was the worst singer he'd ever heard! But he was vastly out-numbered by people who told me quite the opposite, and I'm someone who seeks a majority view as to the final judgement of things.

And finally, your obvious threat of violence if I do not take my website down and issue an apology.

I will certainly amend it, for while I believe in Free Speech, when I open my lips or write I try do so with the best knowledge I have of the facts before me. I believe "The Truth Will out"… so why try and hide it in the first place? Either you or the angry man is lying to me.

Your threat will be passed onto my solicitor who is handling this case for me. I deliberately wrote "Mr.Dim" because the gentleman who lanced into me soon found he had got a lot of his facts wrong, but I stayed calm and patience and tried to gauge his complaints and put my view, which was a lot more based on actual facts. The letter in the paper also took a very "Dim" view of buskers, who use their lives entertaining others. If you knew what it took to even stand out there for just twenty minutes with people watching you perform, with the world rushing by you, you might respect just the first part of our talents.

When I played my songs I did so in the full view of everyone in the square, Security guards in the Abbey and even a security camera. All I can say is that the vast, vast majority of people enjoyed what I did, and am only sorry that your mother either doesn't like the music I play or the way I play it. I can understand how she forms her view. I have met others with the same view as her. But it is certainly not the view of an awful lot of other people, including my own. And the ban on my amp is a classic case of victimization. I understand bullying, I experienced it at school. I won't be bullied now. And I certainly would not be the one to strike the first blow of violence, nor even suggest it. I rely on truth and facts. All I am asking for is the same rights as everybody else. That, is what I am fighting for.

Thankyou though for writing, I didn't expect all the email to be positive and please note it has not been ignored. I have genuine sympathy for your mother's predicament but the noise won't stop just because I've been banned. The problem isn't whether amplifiers are used or not, the problem is that of volume and pitch, and a "screeching flute" I honestly think would be more of a nuisance then me.

At least if I had been playing this summer it would have made Blaise Hall play less! The other buskers are quietly pleased because they get to hog the square again, but means you, your mother and other residents have more of the same flute, penny whistles and violins/viola's! At the very least I did something quite different and broke the monotony.

Thankyou for your views,

Grod Groddler

PS One of my family members is a flower grower.

CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO HOMEPAGE