Hello all!
This post contains two pieces of good news, and one piece of bad.
To start with the good.
Firstly, I want to thank Georg for his recent comment that has brought to light a new item in the Fluke-family discography; Syntax Meccano Mind Instrumentals. This will soon be added to the discography, but without samples - we don't have the disc! If you do own the disc and could furnish us with some samples of the instrumental tracks, please give a shout.
Secondly, as some of you may be aware (this is, slightly, off-topic), the tour line-up for UK electronic legends is really hotting up for 2010. In an amazing turn of events, Leftfield are reforming to play at the Rock Ness festival in June. I am hoping to attend this event, but it may not be possible owing to work commitments. Along with Fluke's tour announcement, this is looking incredible!
Now the bad news.
I want to use the latter part of this post to publicise a scammer who recently offered to sell me a copy of Fluke's Xmas Demos.
This CD is, as I am sure you are all aware, incredibly rare. I took an unusual step of sending private messages to all users on discogs purporting to own the item.
Eventually, a user named "Surrealcast" offered to sell me the item for $100 (pretty much the same price that the aforementioned Syntax Instrumentals went for on Ebay).
In our private messages, he asked me for a money order transfer. At the time this did strike me as somewhat odd; I've advised people against these countless times as they are notorious for providing no security guarantee.
Anyway, in a fit of adrenaline-fueled excitement at the possibility of owning this album, I sent the money and he told me he was sending it.
It never arrived.
I have attempted to contact him countless times now. He doesn't reply.
He is certainly getting my messages because, when I told him that I was going to message all his Facebook friends to tell them what he had done, he immediately raised his Facebook privacy settings to stop me contacting him.
I messaged his friends regardless.
I will also be filing a complaint with the FBI-run Internet Crime Complaint Center.
However, I want to publicize this guy's details (1) so that nobody else is taken in by this scammer and (2) to ensure that future employers of this criminal can find his details online and know that he is, indeed, a thief.
It seems he doesn't exactly hang around with a great crowd either. One of his friends replied to me: "I'm sorry you are having problems, but I have problems of my own."
Call me naive, call me stupid for sending a wire-transfer instead of insisting on a paypal-based auction, but I did it in the heat of the moment.
Name of scammer: Jonathan Ray
Age: 26 (as of 2010-02)
Gender: Male
Purported Address: 3201 Rustic Meadows Drive, Bedford, Texas 76021, USA
Telephone number (from UK): 0018176848781
Email: Spookydean@hotmail.com
Blog: http://www.surrealcast.blogspot.com
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/Surrealcast
Twitter: @Surrealcast
Web: www.JohnnySurreal.podmatic.com
Discogs: http://www.discogs.com/user/Surrealcast
Update 16th April 2010
Following an investigation by the Bedford, Texas Police Department's Criminal Investigations Unit, it has emerged that the individual's real name is Jonathan Bayne. His real address, according to a search of public records is:
951 BOLES RD
GILMER, TX 75645
He also attends Kilgore Community College
And here, even, is a photograph of this unpleasant individual:
Please feel free to send him as much abuse as you like. I've spent the past two months sending polite email after polite email to no response.
All that I am left to say is: Jonathan Ray, I hope you have an unfulfilled life, a hope confirmed by your morose, self-absorbed Facebook updates.