Is anyone on the forums a 5 Star member?

This is just my experience, so not sure how it works in all cases.

....Since when Nick???

Wow, people change.

Usually a member is discussed among Collabs, a consensus is reached, and the member is asked to be a Reviewer.   Spec Collabs are farther & fewer between and require a good amount of contribution and proof of knowledge/listening experience.

I kept thinking that the only 5 STAR thing I would want to visit and know ... is one of those fancy places with  some amazing food and all the attention you can possibly get when you stay in those places ... somehow, at least you know that they MEAN IT!   

I had, for a long time, a higher expectation for the folks that are "ADMIN's" and have those 5 STAR rankings ... and specially in knowing how they could/should/would show themselves as an important part of PA and standing for its hopes and values about the music ... but seeing one of these point fingers and accuse people of anything, instead of politely disagreeing and perhaps extend the courtesy to explain their thoughts ... is disheartening for me ... 

I'm not exactly uneducated, for example, but one of the most important things for me, for many years has been to NEVER/EVER consider someone's education an important value in the arts ... and this would include becoming a part of a group of folks that spend their time telling others that they know how things are everywhere ... which is sad ... 

I often use the example of the painting GUERNICA (by Picasso) as a young man looking out the streets of Madrid during the Spanish Civil War, and I got to see almost the same thing in Portugal during its 1950's government (until it finally fell) and then the hordes and all the animals hit the street ... and did the same thing for every reason you could think of, from Christian Puddings, to Socialist Eclairs!

I would not want to see anything like it, however, I am sensitive to ADVERTISING and PUBLICITY ... guess what was used the most in those days ... and is used now ... to guide misinformation all around ... so you and I can not know or find out what is going on!

We're all bozos on this bus, and we all see just about the same things ... except that some don't think it was important, because it didn't happen in America ... well, let me tell you  ... I was in Chicago in 1968 and 1969, and working in the Rathskeller in Madison when Kent State happened ... you know what? It wasn't too different, and I shed a lot of tears ... I knew that a lot of music and arts would be destroyed because of it, and considered "bad" for you ... and the media still plays that game about that time ... people too screwed up and stoned, and all that ... never once considering that there were just as many folks that were not stoned ... heck, I never had a joint in my hands or smoked one until California, and that would have been the fall of 1971!

I want us all to be excited about helping all that music, and much more from around the world ... to appear, and be seen and appreciated, and PA has done that ... and for that I am happy and thankful, even if some "Admin's" think I'm against them ... which I am not!

PEACE