Don Firth was the stuff of legend, as was the likes of Walt Robertson, Sandy Paton, and countless others.

As the shock of his passing has begun to wear away, "Bride Judy" and I find ourselves spinning rememberings stories all day long: "Do remember the time that ....!"

One of the funnier, and I suspose goofier, stories I well remember about Don's muscianship and quirky humor happened at a marvelous hoot at the north Seattle home of Elmar Lanczos.

Elmar couldn't sing a sing on pitch if he had to, but boy did he love the music and did he know the material. His house had quickly become the most popular "hoot House" around. Most every weekend, a gathering would happen at Elmar's. And these hoots were what made us ...

For several Saturday nights in a row, there was this very attractive young lady who would show up at the hoot, quietly come in, and sit on the floor in a corner. Elmar's home was very close to the University of Washington, so there was always an abundance of attractive young people.

Don, being the classical guitarist he was, would often perform a beautiful version of "Greensleeves", complete with all the verses and guitar breaks.

Usually when this attractive young lady would arrive, she would request that he do "Greensleeves" .... night after night ... week after week ... nothing but "Greensleeves." Don would dutifully oblige. Finally he got sick and tired of doing the same old song, so he carefully prepared a new version" of Greensleeves", just for her. Don had warned me ahead of time just what to expect ... and here it came:

When she next showed up at the hoot, and again requested "Greensleeves", he launched into the loudest, most rocous "talking blues guitar lick" possible, and started chanting the lyrics like this:

"ALAS MY LOVE, YOU DO ME WRONG,
TO TREAT ME SO DISCOURTESLY,
WHEN I HAVE LOVE-E-E-E-D YOU SO LONG
DELIGHTING IN YOUR COMPANY!

GREENSLEEVES ... WAS ALL MY JOY ... GREENSLEEVES, WAS MY DELIGHT!"

For some reason, we never saw her again!   bob(deckman)nelson