"Johnny Handle changed his name"
It doesn't matter Dick
What does matter is this ritual display of necrophilia by people who really should be intelligent and sensitive enough to know better
About five years ago Peggy, in a letter to The Living Tradition, made the point perfectly - "Ewan is long dead and no longer in a position to defend himself - he was generous and approachable towards everybody who asked his advice and he enjoyed the company of those who shared his love of the music he dedicated his life to - If you didn't like him, at least let him rest in peace"
I knew Ewan well enough to now that to be a fact - I was one of the recipients of his generosity
It makes me laugh to remember that the subject of the other thread, Bob Davenport, was one of Ewan's greatest knockers in public.
When Bert and Ewan called a meeting in London in the mid 60s to attempt to unite the various folk-faction Bob wrecked it by shouting down everybody who spoke - fellow speakers and audience - I have a recording of that meeting so I know that to be a fact
If Ewan had behaved in that way towards his fellow folk-lovers a fraction as badly as that he perhaps would have deserved some of the nastiness that still hangs over the ageing folk scene thirty years after his death
He didn't
I now live in Ireland where Ewan's work is treated with respect by most
Would that an ailing folk scene in Britain took a leaf out of their book and behaved like adults
Maybe then folk music might have the at least the two generation future Irish traditional music has now been more-or-less guaranteed
Nuff sed - I told you this thread had no useful purpose Dick - it's not even original
Jim