Mudcatters made a lot of fantastic music at this year's Getaway and a lot of it was recorded. We want to get as much of it as possible to folks who'd like to hear it. However it will take some time.

One issue is, not everyone wants tapes of their performing to be made public.

FSGW policy is that we don't copy any tapes we make unless we have permission from the performers. So many of the performers are professionals; for them, recordings are an important source of income.

BUT. There were lots of informal recordings made last weekend and personally I would feel comfortable that we can trade them back and forth as individuals. Just use some discretion. I would like to hear whether folks like Sandy Paton and Liam's brother have any reservations about this.

AND, there were two sets of professional-quality recordings made, one by Max and one by FSGW member Don Nichols who taped the Mudcat workshop and much of the music of the weekend at my request. (We always tape the concerts.)

We asked attendees to let Max or Don know if they didn't want copies made of the songs they performed. Unless the performers object, Don will copy the Mudcatters' songs that turned out well on the recording, and send it all to Max. But it will take some time. In the meantime, if there are any Mudcatters who haven't talked to Don or Max, and who don't want recordings to be published, (or perhaps just specific songs that haven't been released yet) please e-mail or message me, Dick or Max. My e-mail is zither@erols.com.

For the folks who sang in the concert: Don had an extra set of mikes aimed at the audience that only cut in during choruses, etc where there was audience participation. He said that this changes the sound quality sometimes in the middle of a song. If this bothers you, and you don't mind releasing a really good cut but don't want people to hear a tape of you that sounds kinda funny in places even though it's not actually bad, -- Let Don or Max know that too, OK?

Take heart, people who came to the Getaway and those who didn't, there were some very good tapes made and as much as possible of the Getaway music will be available through Max but it's a big effort to edit, insure we have permission, copy, get it to Max etc so be patient.

Rita Ferrara