Okay. This calls for emergency levels of creativity.

There is a woman here on the periphery of the folk scene who, some years back, invited a bunch of the crew to a party that she said was going to be "white tie." She wanted to put on a bash that verged on the elegant for a change. But little did she reckon with the general smart-ass nature of the people she was dealing with.

Well, I had a white clip-on tie (don't remember where I got it—probably a gift) so I wore that with a very loud sport shirt. But I was sartorially far outdone by others. For example, Walt Roberson arrived wearing a white tie. But no shirt. Bare to the waist, except for the tie. Gary Case and Dick Gibbons (the fellow who wrote Sully's Pail) arrived carrying a railroad tie that they had painted white.

And then things started getting really bad!

You say "Then she's moving to Japan - so I won't even be able to retaliate." Well, you could teach yourself to waddle like a penguin, and then at the wedding. . . .   

Don Firth