UPDATE: So Much for Being the Nice Guy
Oops! I had inaccurate information about the previous blog post regarding last night’s Treasure Street party benefiting the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children at Highland Park Village. Yes, it was still just as entertaining, but I was incorrect about Christopher Martin matching the money raised for the one-of-a-kind painting by himself and Scottish Rite patients. Here’s the corrected version:
When the painting hit the $5,000 mark, Martin announced that he would match funds in the form of credit at his gallery. So the person or couple who received the painting for a staggering $22,000 will now have that same amount of credit to by Martin’s art.
Somehow, I misunderstood as I watched the live auction. Between my ears ringing for the marching band (in a good way) and all the chatter surrounding me, I guess I didn’t catch it all.
Dear Ms.Kaufman,
After reading your reportage of last night’s auction, I just wanted to set the record straight. Our experience of last night’s event was so vastly different from your perception.
I am Christopher Martin’s wife, Stacie Martin.
We were elated with last night’s auction and thrilled to have helped Scottish Rite. There was no panic, no pacing, and no sweat - I was videotaping the entire event. We did leave after the auction (almost an hour later) to have a celebratory dinner with our friends and our gallery director.
If Chris’ generous gesture resulted in a higher bid that was the point. In these roller coaster times all of our charities will suffer. Scottish Rite is dear to our hearts, and we will always do whatever we can to support their heroic mission.
Sincerely,
Stacie Martin
Woops!
Vanity gallery.w
Did the previous blog imply that the artist promised matching funds to the charity, rather than an in-kind gift to the highest bidder?
I did read the original article and as an admirer of Christopher Martin’s work I was shocked and appalled that someone would publish for all to see such fallacious things about a man who for those who know him or even if you don’t and you were to do a little research before writing your article you would know that he is devoted to helping the Scottish rite. This is not his first piece donated, he is a long time supporter, these painting with the children are something he is very passionate about. Also it was very insulting for you to imply that this Master Artist would have to raise the price of his art to match the amount raised, its almost as if you were saying he is not successful enough. You said, “The final bid ended at $22,000 to a cheering crowd and a panicked Martin. He took off immediately after the bidding ended, heading to his art gallery. In order to match, Martin is going to need to raise the price on some of his artwork, and get to selling them.” , these kinds of lies are malicious and inexcusable. As a writer it is your duty to publish the truth and if you are unsure of what you are about to release to the public then you should not publish it, you should not feed on the gullible, this a prime example of why the public can not trust what reporters like yourself publish.
Dear Annoyed…I asked a simple question. We are all sinners and none of us saints. Your post though is over the top. Why don’t you ask the highly esteemed Judge Ted Aiken about your Mr. Wonderful?
Tierney, congratulations. You’re headed into Merritt territory with Annoyed’s over-the-top post. Annoyed, dude, I’m positive you’ve never met Tierney because she doesn’t have a malicious bone in her body. Maybe she made a mistake. Lighten up.
My beef with Treasure Street is that some “malicious and inexusable” police office working Douglas at Livingston yelled at me because I didn’t stop when he waved a flashlight in my eye (hard to see when you’re being blinded by a Mag-Lite, Officer Rudeness) and yelled at me (can’t hear because I am totally deaf in one ear and have a very hard time hearing what people are saying unless I see their lips moving which wasn’t possible since I was being blinded by the light) which really bummed me out.
No Girl Scout cookies for you this year, meanie.
Apparently there was a misunderstanding about whether Chris would donate a matching amount or provide a credit at his gallery. Either way, that was very generous of him.
I thought the rest of the posting was pretty clearly a humorous exaggeration of what Chris might have been feeling. I can’t honestly believe that anyone would think he would run back and raise his prices (trust me, they are plenty high already) or that he was in any way upset about the bidding.
For Annoyed to go off on the writer is just silly - they need to get a grasp of what the tone of these kinds of posts are.
I think Annoyed raises some great points - some that I’ve wondered about myself. Is a journalist still a journalist when blogging? Are they held to the same expectations of accuracy or are they free to make up stuff and fill in the unknown blanks any way they want? When anonymous bloggers post, their comments are generally held as nothing more than opinion. When a journalist posts, I think people read their comments as a report of the facts, knowing they are a professional.
What do you think?
Seems the PCP staffers don’t want to take on this topic. Maybe hits a little too close to home.
I agree with B that Annoyed does raise some valid concerns especially considering this blogger however nice she may be is the Society Editor, she is not just some random blogger and should be held to a higher standard. People do make mistakes but for a reporter/editor to publish a false report and misrepresentation of a persons character and to blow it off as merely an “Oops” is definitely unprofessional. To error is human nature, we are imperfect creatures but when one does they should do so with respect and grace.
Is it really over the top to be “Annoyed ” that a person could actually write something that is totally untrue and when they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar they dismiss it as though they did nothing wrong, I can see how this might upset a person.
One would hope that this person would step up and take responsibility for their actions and apologize to their trusting readers and the individual in which they wrote untrue things about.