Do I count as a newbie since I just came back recently? I'm a singer, rabid songbook collector and molecular biologist who lives and sings with my beloved Luddite husband (who thinks I spend entirely too much time on the computer) and our 18 year old Siamese cat, Val (yes, she sings, too - you don't want to hear it, though...).

I like ballads about dysfunctional families and transvestites, depressing songs by Richard Thompson, operas about dysfunctional people and gods, and lots of other kinds of music. I have more hobbies than I have lifetimes to enjoy them in: music, natural history, ethnic cooking, reading fantasy and mystery novels, macro photography and flamingos. I live in the folk shtetl of Silver Spring, Maryland, participate in clan get-togethers of the East Coast Folk Mafia and work stage crew for folk festivals produced by the National Council for the Traditional Arts.

Oh, and I think the people I've met and argued with on Mudcat are really the greatest bunch I've ever associated with in 40-odd years or so...