ultrazone jem? - what happened?

[swiggy]

whatever happened to the guy who won the uz jem is he in here? *who are you!!!!!

tell us about the guitar.

[jemsite]

Since i'm not affiliated in any way with jemfest.com or vai.com i'll put it bluntly.

IMHO he has crawled back into the rock in which he came out of. He took advantage of a good spirited (yet flawed) giveaway and treated it like a street fight not a family reunion.

Last i heard he tried to hock all his 'winnings' for a premium dollar, at one point asking a JEM10 and DNA for it. There were some posts on the old forum, all removed by Kevan after discussing it with vai's crew who headed the giveaway.

The fact there is no pictures, hands on report, etc. or forum interaction since speaks volumes. I welcome any information to prove I am mistaken... glen

[bob oakman]

It would have been nice if the actual winner, the guy’s young son, (I assume) could have kept it.

[jem7vwh]

That's really too bad! *This sounds like a perfect case of what seems to be increasingly prevalent in our culture. *That is, people given a bit of charity will immediately try to turn around and make some jack off of it. *It seems to prevail lately. *Anytime someone receives any charity, or just is lucky to find something, they imediately seek out the maximum possible reward for it. *Reminds me of a while ago when some ya-hoo on ebay was auctioning off NBA player Steve Francis' tooth. *Apparently Stevie Francis lost one of his pegs in a ball game and the aforementioned bicuspid landed on the floor in front of said ya-hoo. *The guy picks it up, has it mounted in some airtight collectors box and auctions it off on ebay. *SICK.. *they should've just taken the JEM, said about 200 thank you's, and then played the bloody thing-that's what it's all about anyway

[Rich]

It was the guys daughter that actually won it. I'm *sure* if he had gotten the 10th and DNA for it he'd have sold them to invest in a college fund for her. Yup, I'm sure of it. :sarcasm:

[swiggy]

i cannot believe someone could do that!!
if i had the guitar i would be showing it off everywhere.

I AM OUTRAGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SirCochese]

Glen,

The "Hard Copy" part of me wants to know how he "took advantage" of the "flawed" raffle? *This would be especially upsetting if we somehow though he "cheated". *I wasn't there, so I don't know...just asking.

BoB

[jemsite]

The "Hard Copy" part of me wants to know how he "took advantage" of the "flawed" raffle? *This would be especially upsetting if we somehow though he "cheated". *I wasn't there, so I don't know...just asking.

*I wasn't there either but it was passed on to me as this. He won several prizes by increasing his mathematical odds. He purchased many raffle tix (OK, no problem there - it was going to charity) BUT there was a gaping oversight of allowing him to win MULTIPLE prizes. When the festival ended, he took home the UZ guitar and the CGW Inc/Darren swirl custom too. Not cool.

Worse is he entered the raffle using the guise of his daughter and other family members... which is a disgrace since she was the actual UZ Guitar winner.

This is NOT to place blame, because you don't expect to have such behaviour among kin and safeguards were not thought to be necessary. Do you lock-up your china cabinet when you have house guests? I don't. That said, every contest i've entered says "one price per household" and I believe any future giveaways (if he didn't spoil it forever) will have restrictions... glen

I've also been told by attendees (NOT organizers) that he was a real pain in the back side about Vai not being there. In short not a gracious winner and an even worse guest.

[bob oakman]

Kevan, Where is Ken? Making a new CD to win at JF2K&1 I hope. I haven't seen a word from him for quite some time.

[Gabe Nickelson]

I wasn't too happy with what happened last year, but the fact is they pitched in lots of $$ for the raffle which all went to charity. *That's probably the only good thing that happened in the Ultra Zone Guitar Incident (UZGI).

As Kevan noted, we ARE working on some guidelines for future raffles, on an unfortunate note. *JF99 was really cool and after that year we'd never expect something like the JF2K UZGI ever happening.

Steve has really been supportive of our efforts and really wants to help out for our enjoyment and Jemfest and for the benefit of MANF. *God bless him for his support and interest. *Lets hope no one takes advantage of his generosity in the future. *Kevan and I will do what's necessary to keep raffle gifts in a caring home. *If the sh!t like last year keeps happening, Steve might not be so supportive in the future, understandably.

I'd really like to put the UZGI behind us so we can concentrate on the future! *JF2K1 will be the best Jemfest yet!

Gabe
P.S. I don't think the raffle was 'flawed' - the grand prize just went into the wrong hands. *Anyone else there would have cherished this prize and kept it forever. *New guidelines will be set - we promise this.

[joebalama]

I'm sorry but some of you are out of your minds.

joe

[jay ratkowski]

Quote: from joebalama on 7:01 pm on Jan. 27, 2001
I'm sorry but some of you are out of your minds.

joe

I love when people make these profound statements with no reason to justify them... or no known reason at least. *

[joebalama]

Well allow me to expound.

First of all, I dont know the full story of the UZGI, because it was removed from the forum before I got a chance to read it, which to me, is censorship! *I have been coming to this site for a LONG time. Yes, even before Kevan or Ken were moderators, and I believe that we all should be allowed to read EVERYTHING that is submitted to this forum. If it gets ugly, oh well, we've all seen it before, and everybody gets over it, wether it be a Petrucci/Korn bashing, or how poopy (cant say the "S" word...have been scolded already)the 555 is. Thats what I always loved about this place, everyone could just be themselves.....

Anyway, thats a whole nuther subject...

About the Jemfest giveaway... you guys dog on this dude for winning multiple prizes, but the cash is going to charity.
I just dont get it...and giving back your own cd, or an autographed pic of Steve is a lot different than a one of a kind guitar.(I dont mean that to be derogatory to Mr. Burtch or Mr. Balducci)

I'm kinda buzzed right now, so I'm gonna wait and post more later...

I just think its kinda like sayin that a guy who buys a whole buncha lottery tix, shouldnt win, or he should only win once...pu-lease.....and it was goin to charity, and....yes..I'm buzzed...I'll try later


joe

[jemsite]

In regard to deleting posts, i personally am against it 99.9999% of the time.

In this case I believe it was necessary, even as an outsider not being in the loop completely. Also I believe Rich at Vai.com didn't want bad press or negativity associated with the charitable giveaway, which is understandable.

Either way it won't happen again and that is the most important thing... glen

[Goofy]

That's a shame... *I really wish Ibanez would make more crazy, wacked out looking models. *I really like the Ultrazone Jem and all of those wacky guitars Vai owns like the one with the beast thing and the one with the arm on it.