One of my greatest thrills occurred during a two-week vacation in Britain after my internship. I had just discovered (or rediscovered) British and Irish folk music, and went to the Singers' Club at the Bull & Mouth where Ewan and Peggy were the hosts. They said they had room for an extra floor singer and asked for a volunteer, so I raised my hand. And there I was, a very nervous 24-year-old, on stage between the two of them, playing Peggy's Martin, singing my "Delaware River" song. I only wish somebody had taken a picture... Afterwards, Peggy said to me, "So THAT'S how you pronounce 'Schuylkill'!" (One of her songs begins, "My name is John Jay Curtis, my age is twenty-one/Born in Schuylkill County..." and she pronounced it, as most people would, "Skile-kill." But it's "Skook'l.")

I don't think anyone who's heard the intensity with which Ewan sang political and labor songs (whether or not he wrote them) would call him a charlatan or a fake. But, chacun à son gout, which of course means, "he who doubts me is the son of a goat."

Aloha,
Mark