Charlie,

I'll share my opinion on the D'Urfrey "Pills" paper at the Symposium. Fascinating look at a collection of ancient, and bawdy songs, but the presenter utterly failed to connect it to sailors and the sea. No, let me be fair: she made one mention about how these songs could have been sung in sailor town.

One of the Symposium organizers told me that if they'd known how little the paper would have to do with sea music, they wouldn't have hired her. A case of incongruity between prospectus and presentation.

One silver lining of the rain on Saturday was that the music venues -- all being indoors -- were jammed. Nice for the folks presenting, and perhaps more people actually listened to music that day, instead of visiting with old and new friends. That is one of the greatest challenges, for me, of this festival: deciding whether to spend my time listening to the wonderful music, or foster relationships with fellow get-a-life afficionados. Trying to do both always leaves me feeling like I missed something.

The surging singing in Froshin Hall on Saturday night was terrific -- as if we were on a chantey-storm-tossed ship, rolling and pitching as first "Spanish Ladies" burst on the starboard bow, then "One More Day" hit us in the port quarter. It is possible, of course, that it was the Gosling's that created the sense of the room in motion...

Let's do this again real soon, shall we? Whadiya say, Campbell, how 'bout a chantey fest in Rhodie?

Jerry