Sometime in the mid-Sixties, I interviewed a very charming humorous poetess named Felicia Lamport Kaplan who lived in Cambridge. I believe that her husband, the Kaplan part of her name, was then on the faculty at Harvard Law. Felicia LK had recently put together a book of verse with the memorable title of "Scrap Irony".

The inteview went far longer than either of us anticipated because I was fascinated by a Broadway show she was working on, collaborating with Tom Leher. For her part, she was very interested in my experience at The Living Theatre with Judith Malina and Julian Beck. We spent several hours trading stories but now, several decades later, I can't remember any of what she told me. I have always been curious as to whether their Broadway show ever was completed.

The New Years Eve before last, I did spend at a local cabaret theater where a trio of singers and a pianist perormed and evening of songs of Tom Leher. Although there was a lot of grey and aggressively bleached blonde hair in the audience, the humor of the songs did reach through to all and people in their twenties were laughing at Leher's wit just as appreciatively as those people in their seventies.

As for Mark Russell - I don't think that it is particularly fruitful to compare the two. Russell took it upon himself to turn out a huge body of work, week in and week out. There is no one else who has been able to keep up his kind of political au courant musical satire on the day's news. He must be nearing seventy now but he performs with real excitement and he enjoys connecting with his audience. I think he would be quick to agree that his songs are not meant to last but there are some, perhaps from around the Watergate period, that may well persist because the memory of the specifics that inspired them will be around for a while. I enjoy the work of both Russell and Leher.

Sourdough