The Coffee House Reunion was a blast! It was a real pleasure singing a couple of the duets that Bob (Deckman) and I used to do back—ye gods!—forty-four years ago! It brought back lots of good memories of singing together at The Place Next Door in Seattle, doing a number of concerts together, and of the two of us barnstorming in the Bay Area in 1959.

I haven't done much singing in public lately, and it really felt good to be back in the saddle again. Might just do a whole bunch more if the opportunity presents itself. I've been learning a lot of new songs—that is, songs I intended to learn years ago, but never got around to—and I'm beginning to think that I might finally be getting the hang of this. . . .

Many of the singers there I hadn't seen or heard in decades. It was a little weird seeing some of them after so long, because we've all grown in one way or another. Surprisingly enough, a lot more beards now (mostly on the men, fortunately) and a few, after achieving their full height, took to growing horizontally a bit. But then, who am I to talk? It was a real joy to hear them all again, and one helluva nostalgia trip! There was lots of swapping of phone numbers and e-mail addresses, so who knows what might develop?

I also noticed a number of familiar faces from the audiences at the coffee houses way back in the Sixties. It's really gratifying that, after all that we subjected them to back then, they wanted to come and hear us again. Amazing! Another thing was meeting Mudcatters such as Stewart Hendrickson face to face after corresponding with him frequently by e-mail, and Haruo, who also presented me with a copy of his book. Thanks Haruo!

I cannot thank John Ross enough for putting this whole thing together. He worked like a beaver on this. It was well planned, and it ran like clockwork. But at the same time, it was flexible enough to allow for occasional impromptu bits such as people who were scheduled to sing solo inviting others to join them on stage, just as we often did back in "Ye Olde Days" (e.g, Alice Stuart's and Steve Lalor's duets, and Alice, Steve, and Paul Gillingham doing a beautiful, touching rendition of He Was a Friend of Mine). Gorgeous stuff!

John Ross also smoothed the way for me. I use a wheelchair, and John badgered the Powers That Be for a nearby parking permit so that after dropping me off, Barbara wouldn't have to hunt for a parking space; and he arranged to have one of the Folklife Festival staff meet me and push me to the Olympic room so that I wouldn't wear out my shoulders. He also took care of my performer's registration, so I wouldn't need to go all the way across the Seattle Center grounds and back again. And the staff members I encountered did yeoman service. They were courteous, attentive, very attuned to the needs and wishes of the performers, and, with Bob Nelson supervising (thanks, Bob!), were ready at hand to lift me and my wheelchair safely onto the stage and back down again. The whole thing was a great experience. Kudos to all!! And thank you!

Don Firth