This place IS special..it has a very unusual combination of fancy, useful features and knowlegeable, helpful people. Since I have been around from the beginning, it is a way to continue the combination af good friends and wide varieties of music that I enjoyed even before the WWW came into wide use. There are other places on the net/WWW where nice people go and chat, but because the focus of the place IS blues/folk music; and because blues/folk music MEANS that the topics are wide and varied, you sort of automatically get people whose minds and interests go beyond the stereotyped topics of many other places/groups.

If you want to discuss motorcycles, or flowers, or woodcarving, or recipes for noodles, I am sure you can find a way....and some nice people too, but IF this very format and setup were given to some other interest group, it would 'feel' VERY different. *BECAUSE* Max & Dick Greenhaus run it like they do, it is open and friendly..(except for the inevitable conflicts with a few personalities who simply cannot keep from stirring things up). The subject matter gives us a head start, the powers that be keep it working......and the wild bunch of crazies who come by keep it worth while.