Bob,

Did my Dad go to that concert with you? I remember his talking about a Burl Ives concert in Anacortes. Burl Ives was the earliest of the folksingers that he started listening to intently when he was learning songs. Ives recordings are as visceral for me as oatmeal in the morning and hot bread and soup on cold winter evenings.

I am reading through these posts and seeing a tug between personal longings for a hero to keep going, and for him to do what works for him without worrying about the public. So many heartfelt expressions of appreciation. And I ask myself--what would Pete say if he read this thread? He no doubt has friends who drop in at Mudcat, if he doesn't himself. I hope the speculation (where it occurs) comes through as heartfelt concern, and that even with this shift in his activities there is still room for some of the participation that we all hope for.

I like the idea of a prompter offstage--and it isn't an odd idea at all. When Dad was learning his songs, both music and words, sometimes the music took precedence. We knew from the hesitation that he was thinking about it and volunteered the words--he didn't often have to ask "What's the line here?" The four of us had learned all the words because we were sung to at bedtime every night. I can imagine a lot of kids listened to Pete's music at bedtime. He could probably start just about any song and have the entire audience sing it back to him, as was suggested above.

SRS