Quote:
Originally Posted by kenobi_on_a_prayer
(Post 1158668)
Of course Jon has been known to stretch the truth, they all have. The point is that he has not changed his story IN THIS INSTANCE. He said before that he got a call from Paul at 3:30 on show day saying Richie wasn't coming. He said in this recent interview that he got a call at 3:30 on show day from someone other than Richie to say that Richie wasn't coming. Ergo, the stories still line up.
|
One of my points was that it's not so much what he says as how he says it - the subtle changes in delivery that alter the meaning enough to get his point across. In Calgary he needed to show how stunned he was by the sudden revelation that Richie wouldn't be there. In the second statement, it seemed that he was trying to plant a seed that "this wasn't the first time it had happened - remember rehab *wink, wink*" when he pointed out that Paul didn't even have to give him the message before he said, "You're kidding..." (which backfired, because it could also imply that maybe Richie
did talk it over with him at some point prior to 4/2/13 at 3:30). Now he's putting another spin on it, "Poor me, we had all these obstacles, the weather didn't cooperate, Tico got sick, Richie didn't show up and gee, he couldn't even be bothered to call himself." Otherwise, why
add "it wasn't even him who called"?
Apparently his ploy has worked in all three cases because even those who finally understand that Richie may have had good reasons just can't seem to get over the way he called at the last minute and left everyone hanging. But based on Jon's second "version" he had
some idea the call was coming. Where did that idea come from? Even if you take into account that Richie stepped away for rehab on The Circle tour and had to be sent home in 2007, given the fact that many people argue that there was nothing wrong with Richie's performances Feb - March on this tour - why would Jon not be surprised that he wasn't going to be in Calgary? Even with his past absences Richie has never, to my knowledge, just not shown up.
And why is Jon just now a) bringing Teek and David into the picture along with himself to b) sit down and ask Richie "what happened"? In all the early statements, when they all they would say was, "It's a personal matter, and that's all we can say" it seemed like they all KNEW what the personal matter was; they just wouldn't discuss it out of respect for Richie's privacy. Suddenly none of them has a clue why Richie didn't show? Not buying it.
My other point is that I'm really tired of being unjustly accused of dogging Jon just because I say something that casts him in a less than glowing light. It doesn't mean that I don't like or respect him, because I do. I have questions about some of his statements, just like I do about Richie's. I believe I even said in my original post that I didn't think
either of them was telling the whole truth. I think Richie is skipping over what he doesn't want to say (and not doing it very well at times) and that Jon a persuasive speaker - it's his business to be - who says exactly what he wants to say, whether it paints the whole picture or not. So when people listen to them they need to listen just as carefully to what they may not be saying.
And I'm probably just wasting computer (and sleep) time anyway because Simon & Garfunkel had it right when they said, "A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest." :cool: