broken Taylor guitar on airline

[charlene]

Full Story: http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/story... - In the spring of 2008, Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and my Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago. I discovered later that the $3500 guitar was severely damaged. They didnt deny the experience occurred but for nine months the various people I communicated with put the responsibility for dealing with the damage on everyone other than themselves and finally said they would do nothing to compensate me for my loss. So I promised the last person to finally say no to compensation (Ms. Irlweg) that I would write and produce three songs about my experience with United Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world. United: Song 1 is the first of those songs. United: Song 2 has been written and video production is underway. United: Song 3 is coming. I promise. Follow me at http://twitter.com/DaveCarroll

youtube video @
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

[charlene]

on CNN:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpQNWNN_HS4

[Jesse Joe]

:clap::clap::clap: Dave Caroll !

It made it to CNN, so folks from United Airlines will hear about it, and they did ! :redface:

Great story ! :)

[fezo]

Love it.

Brings back Tom Paxton's Thank you, Republic Airlines. I can't find a youtube of it but here are the lyrics -

Flying through the Michigan skies
with a song in my innocent heart
I placed myself in professional hands
Masters of the traveler's art
When I opened my guitar case
at the end of a beautiful flight
I'm sure you can imagine my feelings
as I beheld this beautiful sight

Thank you Republic Airlines
for breaking the neck on my guitar
I arrived to do a concert with the Kingston Trio
opened my guitar case with a smile "con grio"
Thank you Republic Airlines
What a joy to a musician you are
What a zest you've added to pedestrian skies
It was boring to be flying where the wild goose flies
But the tedium was broken by your wonderful surprise
when you broke the neck on my guitar

Thank you Republic Airlines
for treating my instrument with care
There can be no greater happiness for a musician
than to find his instrument in this condition
Uh-oh, Republic Airlines
in the firmament of travel, you're a star
for you treat each piece of baggage like a child of your own
When you come across an instrument, it's dropped like a stone
May you waken every morning with a new broken bone
like you broke the neck on my guitar

Now I've been traveling most of my life
and the thrill is a long time gone
and the sight of another DC 10
just fails to turn me on
But I feel my heart start pounding
when I get to the baggage claim
and when I see how you handled my instrument
the thrill is still the same

Thank you Republic Airlines
for splintering the neck on my guitar
My guitar case was so strong that nothing could go through it
Way to go Republic, only you could do it
Crash bang Republic Airlines
in the field of demolition, you'll go far
for you took it as a challenge when I turned in my case
and you saw the fragile stickers glued all over the place
May a team of mad flamingo dancers do to your face
what you did to the neck on my guitar

There could no satisfaction greater than if
you should be the next to go the way of Braniff

[Jesse Joe]

Halifax songwriter overwhelmed with YouTube success

Published Friday July 10th, 2009


Sons of Maxwell frontman posts online video regarding guitar allegedly broken by airline last year



THE CANADIAN PRESS

http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/newstoday/article/images/empty.gif

HALIFAX - A broken guitar is turning out to be a major break for Halifax musician Dave Carroll.



http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=326571&size=265x0 (http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/gallery/724842,326571)
The Canadian Press

Dave Carroll of the Halifax band Sons of Maxwell holds his repaired guitar this week in Halifax.


Carroll has become an Internet sensation after posting a revenge song on YouTube about United Airlines' baggage handlers breaking his guitar during a flight in the United States.
His video for the song "United Breaks Guitars" was posted on the popular file-sharing site Monday night and had received more than 600,000 hits by last night.
He's also received thousands of e-mails and a flood of friend requests on Facebook.
"I was thinking I'd definitely get some action on (YouTube) because the song has been resonating so well with audiences as I've been performing it, but I didn't know it would take off like this," Carroll said yesterday.
"It's been a whirlwind and the craziest two days of my life."
On the same day as Michael Jackson's memorial service Tuesday, Carroll's video was one of the most watched on YouTube.
Carroll, 41, said it's ironic that his video has gotten far more attention than anything he's ever done in 15 years as a musician.
"Every musician wants to get their stuff out there. I just didn't necessarily expect it to happen in this way."
Carroll, a guitarist for the pop-rock group Sons of Maxwell, might have to scrap plans to take it easy this summer as he fields calls for appearances.
Since the clip started generating publicity online, Carroll's schedule has been packed with interviews. Even Oprah's people called yesterday afternoon.
Along with e-mailed stories from people who empathize with his broken guitar and damaged luggage, Carroll has received a stream of requests for gigs from as far away as Las Vegas.
The catchy song recounts Carroll's year-long struggle to get compensation for what he calls "a vicious act of malice" at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago last year.
Carroll was flying between Halifax and Nebraska when he switched planes in Chicago. The passenger next to him noticed baggage handlers tossing guitar cases outside the plane.
Initially, Carroll thought his Taylor guitar was destroyed. Even after paying $1,400 in repairs, he said it still doesn't play the way it used to but he keeps it for sentimental reasons. He played it on all eight of his band's albums.
The 41-year-old songwriter spent the past year trying to get compensation from United Airlines. When the airline refused to take responsibility, the songwriter made the humorous music video and posted it online.
Robin Urbanski Janikowski, a spokesperson for United, said yesterday in an e-mail to The Canadian Press that Carroll's story "has struck a chord with us."
"We are in conversations with one another to make what happened right," she said.
"While we mutually agree that this should have been fixed much sooner, Dave Carroll's excellent video provides United with a unique learning opportunity that we would like to use for training purposes to ensure all customers receive better service from us."
Janikowski called Carroll's experience "an anomaly, not the norm," saying United successfully transports thousands of checked bags each day

[charlene]

here's song number two:
pretty darned funny stuff...watch to end..
YouTube - United Breaks Guitars: Song 2

[charlene]

and it never ends:
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2009/10/29/united-carroll-guitar-luggage-lost.html

United loses bags of broken-guitar singer
Last Updated: Thursday, October 29, 2009 | 2:39 PM ET Comments53Recommend55.
CBC News

Sons Of Maxwell singer-songwriter Dave Carroll has become an internet sensation after posting his United Breaks Guitars videos on YouTube. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)After famously breaking his guitar, United Airlines has managed to cause further trouble for David Carroll by losing his luggage — just as the Canadian singer-songwriter was en route to deliver a speech about customer service.

RightNow Technologies, a company that creates customer service software, had hired Carroll to deliver a keynote speech this week at its conference in Colorado Springs, about 100 kilometres southeast of Denver.

Departing from Regina on Sunday, "the only direct flight to Denver was with United. So I flew United and my bag got lost," the Nova Scotia singer-songwriter told CBC News by phone on Thursday.

Carroll was delayed at Denver International Airport, where some United staffers ordered him to wait for his luggage — which they said was simply delayed — while an airport official urged him to leave the baggage claim area.

The bag eventually turned up on Wednesday.

"We will fully investigate what regretfully happened," United Airlines spokeswoman Robin Urbanski told the New York Times after the latest incident began making the rounds in U.S. media.

Popular speaker
Since Carroll released the song and online video United Breaks Guitars — which politely but firmly skewers the airline and its baggage handlers for the summer 2008 incident and refusing to pay for the broken instrument — he has been balancing his musical career with speaking engagements about consumer rights.

After his original video went viral (it's now approaching more than six million views online), he released a second video in August. He has spoken to United executives, who promised to improve their service, as well as at an airline passenger rights hearing in Washington.

The third video in his planned trilogy is forthcoming.

"I'm pretty sure I'm done the song — I just finished it last week. The lyrics that I used sort of encompass what happened here this week so I might not have to rewrite it after all," he said.

The campaign's impact means that Carroll, the primary songwriter of folk group Sons of Maxwell, has been elevated to a sort of everyman-hero status.

"I went to Denver in the summertime and this Texas guy said 'Are you the YouTube guy?'" Carroll laughed, as he mimicked the man's Texan accent.

"People have enjoyed it [and] love it a lot. It's been good for my career so I don’t mind talking about it."

[Jim Nasium]

This story made the BBC news a few months ago, a snatch of the song was played, I went straight to youtube to view it and was very impressed, with the song I hasten to add. When I saw the title of this post I thought it was a broken Taylor for sale on Ebay. I note that the video has over 5 & 3/4 millon hits, pretty good. The video for song 2 does not want to play for some reason, it seems an error has occured, a pity as I would like to see it. Power to Dave Carroll.

[Jim Nasium]

Further to my last, I just tried the second song link, got the error message again, but cliked on the HD icon and up it popped, a guy named Knocked44 left a comment, he was not impressed.

Comment with bits censored

"this guy definitely needs to shut the **** up and ram that guitar, whatever is left of it, up his ***. **** off you western canada hick. Go **** a hole in the tar sands."

Knockeds words not mine.

[charlene]

Further to my last, I just tried the second song link, got the error message again, but cliked on the HD icon and up it popped, a guy named Knocked44 left a comment, he was not impressed.

Comment with bits censored

"this guy definitely needs to shut the **** up and ram that guitar, whatever is left of it, up his ***. **** off you western canada hick. Go **** a hole in the tar sands."

Knockeds words not mine.

Knockeds is obviously not a Canadian - the 'guy' who wrote the songs is from Nova Scotia which is on the EAST coast..not even enar the tar Sands of Alberta..
lol

While he may not like the songs at least 'the guy' is doing something about the shoddy treatment by the airline.