Hi, Smokey. Yes, I am writing a book as a matter of fact. It stated out to be a history and overview of the folk scene in the Pacific Northwest. But it didn't take me long to see that it was going to be a much larger project than I really cared to tackle, so I decided to make it more of an autobiography:   my reminiscences of the whole thing as I blundered my way through it. I've been working on it for several years now, just sort of letting it flow out as I remembered it (checking with various people as I go, as in, "I know that was in August, but was it in 1963 or 1964?"). So far, I have over 125,000 words written, with a decade or two yet to cover. It's going to require a lot of pruning and editing to turn it into something readable, but until I get it all down on paper, I don't want to interrupt the flow.

The late John Ross, who often dropped into Mudcat, was attempting to write a formal history of the Pacific Northwest's folk music scene, but unfortunately he died of a heart attack recently. And a fellow named Kurt Armbruster has just sent his history off to the publisher and it's due to be released in September of this year. I've talked a lot with both John and Kurt and we swapped a lot of information and did a lot of fact checking for each other. Good to cooperate like that. We determined that although we were covering a lot of the same ground, we weren't stepping on each other's toes because these books would actually complement each other, Kurt and John doing formal histories from somewhat different viewpoints and me from the viewpoint of actually being in there, trying to paddle around.

The current coffeehouse scene? I think it's somewhat similar to the way it was in the 1950s and 60s, although these days they seem to be doing less of having a resident singer who sings four or five sets per evening, and more of having a variety of singers do something similar to house concerts at the coffeehouse on weekends. Some of them may still operate like non-alcoholic night clubs, but I'm not really sure. Check The Pacific Northwest Folklore Society's web site and mosey around there a bit, and you'll get an idea of what's going on.

I've pretty much retired from performing (as in doing coffeehouse gigs and concerts) because of difficulties getting around. Due to polio at the age of two, I used to get around on a pair of aluminum forearm crutches and lugging my guitar case, but within recent years I've had to take to a wheelchair, and that's complicated things a bit, especially things like getting lifted, wheelchair and all, up on a stage or having a couple of bully-boys try to lug me and my wheels up a flight of stairs is just a bit too hairy!! So, like the slightly weird Canadian concert pianist, the late Glenn Gould, I've retired from performing in public save on rare occasions and am concentrating on recording all the songs I know (fast computer with recording software, interface, and a couple of really good microphones). As long as my voice holds up and my fingers stay nimble, I'll try to get them recorded, then see about getting them replicated onto CDs.

Then, who knows? Not planning on going for a bunch of Grammies, but if some of them go platinum, I won't actually burst into tears. . . .

Havin' fun with it.

Don Firth