Steve, I will be on the air the day of the memorial, but please express my sympathies. I anxiously await your CD's, which I will be playing in addition to some of the recordings that Eric gave me several years ago.

Your points about the lack of recognition by the "folkies" here on Mudcat is well taken. The previous week we lost Bob Norman, a former editor of Sing Out! during a very difficult time, and it was hardly noticed.

I'm not sure if it is a divide between "politicos" and "traddies", but I do see a disturbing lack of acceptance to the current music scene. It sort of reminds me of butterfly collectors. It always bothered me to see a lifeless butterfly pressed between pieces of glass. There is no beauty in looking at a lifeless representation. You don't see the glory that existed in the butterfly as it fluttered amongst the flowers and trees while sharing its work with us.   

Folk music is a living tradition, not a museum piece or a curio to be kept on a shelf, not to be touched and experienced.   Eric Levine lived the music. Traddies seem to forget that the original songs they collected served a purpose that each singer added to.   Eric recognized the power of a song and more than most people, he kept the tradition alive.   The world needs more people like Eric to keep fighting the good fight and to teach us lessons that we are too blind to see.