I've known Deckman (Bob Nelson) for years. We met in 1953 or so. In 1959, we started singing together at a local coffeehouse, then barnstormed the San Francisco Bay area seeking fame and fortune. Didn't find it (I'm tempted to say "Thank God!"), but we met some wonderful people and had some marvelous adventures.

Miken (Mike Nelson—no relation to Bob the Deckman). I've known him since the very early Sixties. Sang in a lot of the same coffeehouses. At the time, Bob and Mike looked a lot alike. Lots of people assumed that they were brothers, and lots of others confused the two. A few good stories there. . . .

Mark Cohen and Mary Garvey. I met Mary when Seattle Song Circle first got started in 1977, and Mark when I hooked a ride with him up to San Juan Island to do a performance at English Camp. The performance, as I recall, was set up by Stilly River Sage (Maggie, John Dwyer's daughter) who was one of the park rangers there at the time. I've known Maggie since she was a sprout.

Stewart. Been over to his house a couple of times for song fests. And he asked me to do some guest columns for his regular column, "Musical Traditions" in Victory Review magazine. Bob (Deckman) has also written a guest column or two.

Marion. She passed through on her busking tour some time back. I met her at Bob's.

Charlie Noble. He did a house concert at Stewart's   Franz was there. Genie was there also, but I met her first at a big gathering at Bob's (Deckman's) a few years ago.

Lemme see. Alaska Mike blew through town and we had a gathering (Mike, Bob, a couple of other folks) at Barbara's and my apartment on Seattle's Capital Hill.

Haruo. He came to the 2003 Coffeehouse Reunion (Geezer's) Concert at the 2003 Northwest Folklife Festival.

Oh, yes! Sandy Paton! I knew him back in the early Fifties when I first got interested in folk music. Sandy was acting, painting, and learning songs at the time, then he left for parts unknown. The last time I saw him was at the 1960 Berkeley Folk Festival where he was one of the featured performers. He introduced me to Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl at a post-concert party.

Maybe others as well. I'll ponder the matter.

Don Firth