That hoky folk scene of the Kingston Trio era was pretty bad, all right, and an easy enough mark for satire. However, embarrassing though it may be, I have to admit that I got caught up in it at the time. I think the same must be true of *many* of us, at least those of a certain age, in the US if not elsewhere.

It wasn't long at all before I moved on to an appreciation of more "authentic" and perhaps less immediately accessibly musical traditions. However, the showbiz hootenanny phenomenon, lame though it may have been, provided multitudes with an introduction to a wide spectrum of musical traditions, which in turn led to exposure to various unfamiliar political viewpoints and unconventional cultures. All in all, a positive development.

Don't ask me why and how it suddendly burst into promience, and then just as quickly was so widely rejected in favor of the several "better," deeper, more honest musical forms to which it served as a precursor. It's a mystery, which makes a rich background for the laughs that "GUEST" [sic] et. al. are sure to provide when "Wind" finally comes too a theater near each of us.