Robin has just about satisfied himself on the remastering of the Hobart Smith recording. We'll be adding at least one HOT guitar blues piece, and maybe a fine "Shady Grove" on banjo. As soon as I finish work on the "Songs and Ballads of Hattie Mae Tyler Cargill" CD booklet/traycard and get that project off to the printer, I will get going on the Hobart Smith one.

We got a huge boost yesterday in the Waterbury Republican newspaper. Almost the entire front page of their Arts section devoted to Dan Milner/Bob Conroy's new "Irish in America" CD. Since one of the ballads involves the story of an Irish lad coming to work in Scovill's Rolling Mill, part of the extensive brass industry in Waterbury, Connecticut, there was a lot of local interest in the CD. We've been fielding phone calls all day from folks telling us "My old man worked at Scovill's for forty years -- I gotta have a copy of that CD!"

Wonder if I wrote and recorded a ballad about the collapse of the stock market, the Wall Street Journal would... Nah, I guess not.

By the way, Marge Steiner, list mom of the BALLAD-L, is blind, and manages damned well with her computer using the "Jaws" program and Kurzweil software. This is the stuff my Caroline was given by the state Services for the Blind." The scanner does a pretty good job of reading printed material. Marge has been very encouraging and willing to help us get acquainted with the complex equipment. We're novices, and she's a pro! Her note to the BALLAD-L mentioned that the listserv at IU had been down for about a week, but now all is well. So it wasn't your fault, Bruce, although John Roberts wasn't the only one who understood almost nothing in your note about the music program on your web site. Go easy on us, lad! That was really heavy stuff!

Sandy