I hereby dub Phil Hardy as St. Phil Hardy in your hearing…
I am a player of Chieftain whistles, my hands and mind have adjusted to them and therefore I’m “hooked” on them you might say. Well listen to this…
Phil, as most know makes the famous Chieftain brand and has stopped producing Bnat for whatever reason for the time being. I am producing an ambient Christian worship album for which some of my work is in B. So I set out on a world search to find me a Chiefy in Bnat. NOWHERE on the planet could I find one. I finally got a call from a friend who know’s everybody in the whistle world and he found ONE, one and only one at a retail shop in California who’s name I will withhold. I found out “after hours” so I called and left a detailed message that I would TAKE the Bnat Chieftain and call back the next day after work to pay for it. I got a call during that day from a sales guy and he said, “Yes we got the whistle and it was no problem”. I found this message when I got home. So I call up the store and with great joy said that I was calling to buy it. The guy on the phone checked his computer and said, “You know this is a uncommon key for people to buy and we don’t sell them very often but funny enough this whistle was sold just an hour ago to someone from Jamacia NY, are you calling from Jamacia NY?.” I reached through the phone and strangled the guy to death and the police carted me away and charged me with murder 1 and I’m now typing this post from jail…
Ok that last part wasn’t true…
He said it was already sent to post and nothing he could do about it. He had the nerve to sugest a Susato in its stead. So, sadly I hung up the phone and cryed into my pillow. Ok, that didn’t happen either but I did cry a email to Phil asking him if he had any leads to let me know. Here comes the cool part…
Phil emailed me back and said, “Hey if you need it that bad you can have mine.” So he’s sending me his own Chieftain Bnat…
I hereby in your hearing dub Phil Hardy, St. Phil Hardy. The christening of his full figured statue including the ponytail will be held at the Whistler’s Hall of Fame Friday at 7:30.
People can say what they want about the man, in my books actions speak louder than anything and this is an awesome gesture worthy of recognition, IMO…
Thanks Phil, you won’t read this for a week or so but good on ya.
Not the first time for me eighter. Phil is an awesome fellow. He must be one of the nicest people on this earth.
When my non-tuneable low-D was out of tune (although it wasn’t, the accordion I tuned to was out of tune, but I thought it was the whistle) I sent it to Phil. He must have discovered that it was perfectly in tune. But he didn’t say anything about it, he just sent me a tuneable one instead, no charge at all. Those are quite a bit more expensive.
I don’t care eighter what anyone says about him. For me, he will allways be one of the nicest fellows I’ve ever dealt with.
Ok, I gotta confess, I’m note the pope and I really don’t have the power to saint Phil Hardy, it’s all just my ego getting the best of me and I’m so very sorry! I just want the best for my Phil, he really is a good person…(Dabs tear from his eye with a tissue and sobs uncontrolably.)
And I really can’t knight him either as i’m thankfully not a/the queen…
Not Nero, never Nero! Shhhhhhhh, I’ll be good I really hate the coliseum and those big crowds… I love lions though…expect the being devoured by them part but the cubs are sooooooo cute…
The history of the Chiff is littered with many acts of kindness among the members. The vast majority of these go unmentioned in the forums.
Little acts of kindness are by nature, private.
After all, it would be an awful shame if somebody with a cynical mind came along and said something concerning a whistle maker giving out free samples of his work being just self publicity/promotion.
If I were to be sent such a gift I would never mention it on the boards for fear leaving the person vulnerable to the very cynical comments I refer to above.
The PM button can save so much trouble and strife.
Good points, Dubh. I’ve received free whistles from makers and given some pretty nice whistles away to other listmembers. I’m no saint. I suspect that if every person who received a free whistle from a maker started a new thread, all sorts of posting records would be set on the whistle forum.
I agree that details should be left out. It’s one thing to post a general “Wow, Phil really knows how to treat his customers!” thread with fairly vague details, but it’s another to give those details. I certainly understand the excitement and the desire to give praise and credit where they are due.
However, I can see two simple problems.
First, as listed above, some could think that it’s a publicity stunt, or some side-door promotion. Doubtful, but possible.
Second, and I thought this immediately; I wonder if Phil may somehow now feel some sort of moral obligation to give away more whistles. Will die-hard Phil fans come to almost expect a free whistle at some point? Again doubtful, but possible.
If I gave someone a hard-to-find or expensive whistle and they posted on the forum. I’d wonder how many people’s (forum friends) feelings might be hurt because I hadn’t given them one. probably none, but the thought would still cross my mind. A general, “Wow, Jason’s a nice guy who did me a big favor” might be OK, but too much detail can cause problems.
Not meaning to sound negative on you William. It’s a great story and would definitely be hard not to tell! But, maybe if it ended with Phil quickly hooking you up with exactly what you wanted - and at a steal!
I know exactly where you’re coming from; honestly giving public thanks for a selfless favor. It’s a great thing that should be expressed. However, we just have to keep in mind that there are other ramifications at play.
Me too, on all points, Chas (and Dub.) Sometimes the nice stuff has to be public, as when there is a raffle or a collection for some specific purpose or someone is asking for donations of spare whistles to give away to children. But not only do generous exchanges go on here behind the scenes on a very regular basis, some members also sell whistles at absurdly low prices to ensure that they go to a good home. A lot of good stuff is happening constantly here behind the scenes simply because we form a closeknit community of friends whose behaviour to eachother is, well, … friendly.
I liked Williams story… it has drama, despair, hope and redemption.
I’ll give credit to those on this board to be able to tell the difference between a great story versus an opportunity to go begging Phil for this or that.
From the short time I’ve been on this forum I can say that I’ve had several really great things happen in exchanges and sales and so on, far more than this Phil Hardy happening. This story to me was just so frustrating and hair pulling and then really awesome that I just felt compelled to share it. Maybe I could have left Phil’s name out of it or not talked this point or that or just not have shared it at all… all these things would have been the right thing to do. The thing is I wanted to post it and so I did… Some will be excited, some happy, some irritated, some angry and some will just pass on by cause its just another post on a whistle forum. If i’m learning anything here its that there are so many different types of people here and I am sure to bless someone and put someone off at the same time. Much like life in the “real” world and at the end of the day we do what we do and then we go to bed, just like me…right now.
Hmmm, there’s something I recall about praying loudly on street corners and how the rewards thing works.
And yet the world is a multifarious place, where sometimes rewards can feed hungry children etc …
As for “saint Phil” - I don’t think Phil could live with that. What I will say is that Phil seems to operate on a completely other level - frequency if you like. At that level, many things become possible and Phil has realised much using his “channel”. The energy in the man is astounding. Who has a yardstick to measure that? The only measure here belongs to Dale.
By recognising the otherness in Phil, I must also recognise the underlying energy of the whistle community. There is much good done here at all levels = continually - whether you see it or not. To lionise any one member might be to deny the value of the whole. I could never agree with that and I don’t think Phil would either.
No matter how well regarded, humans are only 5-holed (metaphorically speaking)
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