Like Lorcan Otway I used to be a member of Pinewoods. I presume he means the New York Folk Song Society, and not the Pinewoods Camp near Cape Cod, which is actually run by CDSS. I let my membership lapse when I moved away a few years ago, but I'm back in New York about once a month so I know what he is talking about. They are a tough nut to crack. I don't mean to imply that Pinewoods people are intentionally unfriendly -- they are certainly not -- but they are very inbred, and they tend to associate only with one another, musically at least. If you look at Steve Suffet's core group of regular performers, you find that most of them are Pinewoods people. The rest are from Peoples' Music Network. That shouldn't come as a surprise, since Steve is a long time activist in both organizations, and he doesn't hide those affiliations. If anything, Steve trumpets his connections too much.

Of the two groups, PMN is by far the more open and welcoming, and I do remember seeing Lorcan Otway and his band when they appeared in the PMN concert with Peggy Seeger, Si Kahn, and Billy Jonas in North Carolina a few years ago. So if Lorcan wants to get back into Steve's inner circle, maybe he should pursue PMN membership instead of Pinewoods. Just one man's opinion, of course.