"your posts to Mudcat are invariably the worst formatted and hardest to read of anybody's here, "
Put it down to my Secondary Modern education Jack - I invariably post while doing something else.
I didn't think my postings were as bad as you describe - had enough published to believe them not to be - but if they are - they are.
I would never dream of writing a book - on the Critics Group or anything.
It's my intention to gather the material we have assembled into a usable form and deposit it somewhere it will be looked after and made available.
I would also like to see recorded examples of the work done by the Critics made available to anybody who think the would like to try it in an understandable form.
I'm in the process of doing this now for a Scots singer living in Australia, whom I met at the Ballad Conference in Limerick.
My own input would be to explain the whys and wherefores - no more.
As far as I'm concerned - the recordings speak for themselves.
There is one thing I would like to see published.
At the end of regular Critics Group working sessions, Ewan would flop back in his chair and soliloquise - sometimes for up to an hour, on an aspect of song that had been touched on during the session.
For me, these were often the most inspirational parts of the evening.
Ewan actually wrote very little on his ideas and opinions, but he spoke extremely articulately - those interludes cover his attitude to folk song and singing that is to be found nowhere else - they were the best I've ever heard and read on the subject - they would make a fine collection of essays and would certainly clear away much of the gossip, misinformation and distortion on what he was and what he believed.
Jim Carroll