Well, I suppose I ought to confess something about my sordid past. Catspaw, are you listening to this?
I know some of you have suspected this about me, so I might as well confess. Well, you see, back in the early 1990's, when I was young and foolish, I got mixed up with a bunch of PP&M groupies. I always liked PP&M's music, and I found a PP&M thread in the folk music forum on Prodigy. The thread went on for about three years. The people were very nice, and we had some great discussions. Some of the people were even kind of like me, more interested in the songs than in the personalities.
The Prodigy group died when Prodigy started charging by the minute, and I followed some of the survivors from the group to a Maine computer bulletin board that was operated by Noel (Paul) Stookey. I had some interesting discussions with Noel, and I met him in person several times. I once sat two feet from him while he sang and played the guitar - his voice is still rich and resonant, and his guitar work is great. If you meet him, WyoWoman, say hello for me. And yes, he knows his tech stuff darn well. He operates an Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Maine.
I made friends with a couple of people who work with PP&M, and for a while, I got backstage passes and even free tickets on occasion. But Noel moved from Maine and time passed by, and I lost contact.
I did come across a few real PP&M groupies, and they were really an interesting phenomenon. They often went to several PP&M concerts in a year, flying long distances to get to concerts. Sometimes, they sent lavish gifts. Sometimes, when they felt their affection was not being returned, they got angry - occasionally to the point of being frightening. I have to say that PP&M and their "people" were very good and very gentle about handling people like that. Can't say I got to know Peter and Mary; but Noel is about as nice a person as you could ever hope to meet.
Bless me, Catspaw, for I have sinned. I have followed purveyors of "pop folk." I confess that even this very day, I listened to a PP&M CD. Am I forgiven, or is there no hope for me? Should I be confessing to Bill D instead?
-Joe Offer-