Dear Julie and also to Mark:
I am very glad to see this thread. My father was a great singer who smoking killed a long lingering and painful death, which first robbed him of his voice. In the end, he was too week to keep from slipping down on the pillows. I would have to lift him back up, because the nurces where not careful enough to rupture his skin which had become so damaged that almost any touch would open serrious cuts. When smoking kills it is a violent and painful event.
Making my living from playing in pubs, I (a non smoker) and my non smoking band, likely take in the equivelt of a pack a day, and that becomes a workers rights issue. Thank God, here in New York, the City Council is drafting a law to ban smoking in bars completely. If you wish to kill yourselfs, fine, but don't take the band with you,
Last night I was visiting my cousin Gini, who just underwent an opperation for lung cancer. She was a heavy smoker. Mark, PLEASE get serrious about smoking now, because I tell you, the most cocky smokers get repentant when they find it is killing them.
The folk music scene is getting small as it is, lets stay healthy.
Larry