Margaret Busenhalter-Butt wrote:


"Bruce J. Richman" wrote in message
...
George M. Middius wrote:


Margaret von Busenhalter-Butt said:

I've been browsing RAO going back a few years and noticed that he was
frequent poster who was feisty, witty and, at times, quite charming
until
his apparently untimely death. Who exactly was Steve?

Nobody knows for sure, but he terrified the 'borgs.


Since I knew Steve personally, I can comment. George's comment however,
is
pretty accurate. He certainly was not shy about ridiculing Krueger and
his
favorite target, Bwian McCarty (but that's another story).

Steve was a South Florida high-end audiophile dealer who participated
quite
actively in RAO. To his credit, he made no secret of his biases, signing
his
name with a listing of brands that his store carried (Sunshine Stereo).
He
would answer questions from a dealer's perspective, recommending both
brands
that he carried (such as Quads and Dunlavy speakers) and other brands that
he
did not carry (e.g. Magnepans).

Very early on, as I recall, he pointed out the hypocrisy of the gone, but
not
forgotten, Greg Singh, who was at the time a salesdroid for a Chicago
audio
retailer, but tried to initiallly hide that fact.

Steve, was, at times, over the top, but in person, was much more
"civilized", a
very pleasant guy, and I can honestly say, definitely *not* a
high-pressure
salesman. In fact, I was not a customer of his, but had been asked for
some
help by him to deal with a customer in North Carolina (?), a blind lady
who had
purchased a large, expensive system from Steve, but felt, rightly or
wrongly,
she had been treated unfairly. I was asked, as a psychologist, to help
mediate
their dispute. AFAIK, they ended up settling things amicably.

Unfortunately, several years ago, Steve, who was in his 50's I think, died
in
his sleep from a massive coronorary. His wife, who used to participate in
the
business with him, has since that time written various articles for online
audiophile magazines under her own name.


Thanks Bruce! Sounds like Steve was a rough 'n tumble guy with a heart of
gold. I guess the good really die young. What is his widow's name?


Gigi Krop.


While many on RAO commented on his passing at the time, some with respect
and
some with just a "blank post" in memory (I guess that's a Usenet
tradition),
Krueger was somewhat "unique" and despicable in using the opportunity to
engage
in a rather bizarre and distasteful commentary on why Steve was - in his
eyes -
a bad person. In essence, he spit on his grave, metaphorically speaking.
I'm
reminded of this whenever Krueger complains about people dishonoring his
son's
memory.

That is hardly surprising considering how Krueger has even defecated on the
memory of his own son.

And for the record, I have never been one of those that commented,
other than with condolences via RAO, about Nate's untimely death.


It really seems that Krueger used his own personal tragedy to establish
himself as some sort of Audio Jesus. I wonder if his loss was ever verified?
Maybe he just made it up...at least that would somehow explain his
despicable promo campaigns around it. Not that it still qualifies as
behavior normally associated with humans...






There is much more that could be said about Steve, both pro and con, I
suppose,
but in the interests of brevity, that's all for now.



Bruce J. Richman


Thanks again!

Cheers,

Margaret















Bruce J. Richman