I won't say who will be there because it looks like the NEFFA people are pretty serious in keeping the schedule under wraps until it is posted to their website. But I can tell you two people who are on the preliminary schedule and who told me they won't be there. Both already sent withdrawal notices. They are:
Tom Neilson -- He accepted an offer to do a concert tour in Hawaii.
Takako Nagumo -- She's a Japanese national who works for the United Nations, and the UN assigned her to attend an international conference that conflicts with NEFFA.
Takako, by the way, is doing a house concert for the Philadelphia Folksong Society on February 25. If you get the chance, please go to hear her. I don't know when or if you will get a chance again. Takako, who is recognized in the Japanese community as the foremost performer of Japanese folk songs and children's songs in North America today, has been at NEFFA and NOMAD for the past two years, and she appeared in a children's concert with Pete Seeger in New York early last year. Her duties at the UN keep her from appearing more often, unfortunately for us.