Michael: Stevenson and I talked on the phone regularly, never less than once a week and sometimes more often, even after he was evacuated to Mississippi when the hurricane hit. If there were any signs, I missed them all. He told me that all the edited and unedited footage of the Allen Toussaint documentary was stored in a vault at Tulane University, as are all his other -- masters? In recording we would call them masters, though I'm not sure what the film equivalent is -- and that everything came through fine. If you want to email me offlist you can go to my web site at www.aliveandpicking.com and click on the link that says "email Mary Katherine." I have spoken to both Polly and Nell several times, and can give you updates if you want them.
Thanks to all of you for your expressions of support. I'll pass them along to his daughter. Stevenson was a creative and gentle spirit who loved music, and preserved it by telling the stories of the musicians of New Orleans (and other places)with his own unique vision. The documentaries he produced will be his legacy. And he was also a dear friend for more than twenty years, and I'm so sorry that he couldn't see any way out but this.

Mary Katherine