Excuse me? There have been a lot of people using my name (or me theirs) over the last two or three hundred years. But I come by it as honestly as any of them: the John Ross after whom the Ross Ice Shelf was named, or the one who was married to Betsy Ross the flag maker, or the journalist who writes about Mexican politics, let alone the leader of the Cherokees, to name just a few.

And considering that I have been active in the folk music communities of the Pacific Northwest for about 35 years, I don't understand why Martin Ryan should think my interest should be worthy of any comment. What the @#$%! are you talking about, Mr. Ryan?

As for the PNW Folklore Society, Maggie D and I are on the same page. Why the mystery? Why not identify the people behind the web site, and any other projects the group is planning or supporting? As others have noted in this thread, there just isn't enough information on the web site to know whether or not to take it seriously.