And Kendall's story about the despondent young lady that was smuggled into a lifeboat by an enterprising sailor. At one point there were 6 concertinas covorting around the table, including Jeff's which has to be called "The Mother of All Concertinas." If I could only sing Rick Spencer's "Hexagon Zoombies"! Of course, I have no problem playing the tune...

It was good to hear Tom singing "Jack Tar" accompanied with guitar. It's also an old favorite for me since I first heard A.L. Lloyd's recording of the song on BLOW BOYS BLUES (released on CD by Tradition). This was my favorite sea music recording back in them dark ages of the early 1960's.

We're still having fun with John Masefield's "Hell's Pavement"; it seems to work quite well in my music hall arrangement. And it was great to have Tom's concertina backing up "The Mariner's Compass is Grog."

I wish Allan C. would settle down in this area. I really like his singing and guitar work.

Unfortunately, it looks like Nor and I won't be making it to the shanty swaps again until September because of concerts and other special events. Damn! We probably won't recognize the songs we lead when we hear the "new improved" versions in September.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble