Art mentioned "912 Greens," Jack Elliott's short little song that he always does at the end of a long rambling story about a trip he took in 1953 with Frank Hamilton and Guy Carawan. There are three different recordings of the song, all with different stories from that trip. And every time I've heard Jack do it in person, it's been different again.

Art's mentioning of it reminds me of a Frank Hamilton story. Back in the '70s and '80s, I used to run the Golem, an 80-seat (we could jam in 100) folk club in Montreal that Jack used to play at. For at least some of that time, Frank's wife Mary worked at one of the airlines that allowed them to travel at little cost and they showed up at the club occasionally.

One night, Jack was on stage and Frank and Mary arrived after the set had started. They came in and sat down quietly. A bit later on, Jack does "912 Greens" and, of course, talks about Frank in his ramble without knowing he was in the house.

At that point, I let Jack know and we got both Frank and Jack up on the stage. Now that was a treat.

Mike Regenstreif