Thanks Nicole--at 3 p.m. yesterday (Monday) my ISP developed problems which they say were caused by a meltdown at AT&T's core router, so I couldn't get into any websites, mudcat, mp3.com or anything else...this problem may have affected a lot of internet users in N America, I'm wondering if that's what happened to you too. (and what it was, really. They're not too forthcoming on that!) They say AT&T fixed it as of 11:15 a.m. today.

But my connection to mp3.com is weird--can't play streaming mp3's off the page, lo-fi or hi-fi, but it will play them on Stations. When I try to play them--including my own--I get a "help-screen" message which claims my computer can't play mp3's (wrong) and purports to solve the problem by downloading MusicMatch to me. This just pisses me off so I don't do it. (I use WinAmp which seems to have had some kind of falling out with mp3.com)

Well, enough techie jargon, it's about music!

My pals Nathan Curry and Linda Miller have a new mp3.com site and you should give it a listen too. Nathan has been described as Ottawa's Celtic Kingpin, having hosted hundreds of sessions, played with Wickentree, Six Mile Bridge, and currently working with Linda as a duo and touring as part of Pierre Schryer's band. He's also my old fiddle teacher and a pretty fine luthier of fiddles and citterns. Lots of nice instrument pictures too!

Linda's one of those rare singers that gets everything right..."One-Take Linda" we call her. Lovely contralto voice (something I said as a guess when I had to write some publicity for a concert, turned out to be right.) And one of my favourite people.

So give them a click or three.

Willie-O