And here's a story for you, Pete. The story is true. Only the name of the banjo player has been changed to protect the guilty.

Many, many years ago I went to a concert at a coffee house. Several people had been invited to perform, including me. When I came in through the door, a banjo-playing musician, from here on identified as "The Guy," came over and shook my hand and said, "Ed Trickett!! it's great to see you again." Swiftly getting into the spirit of the moment, I said, "Eric Darling!!! how great to see you." The Guy is not Eric Darling and looks about as much like Eric Darling as I look like Ed Trickett. Even less so. I didn't think much more about it. I figured The Gut was just kidding around.

When it came time for me to do my set, The Guy was up on stage, because he was the Master of Ceremonies for the evening. He looked across the room at me, standing way in the back and introduced me by saying "I'd like to bring up a good friend of mine, now. We've spent many hours playing music together. Let's give a big hand to ED TRICKETT!!!!!!!!" There was nary a "Yeah!!!" in the place. I called up from the back of the room and said, "I'm not Ed Trickett." With no sign of discomfort, The Guy called back, "Who are you?" And I answered, "I'll introduce myself when I get up on stage." This was a local coffee house where I'd played a few times before, and almost everyone in the place knew me. (I'd also been running a monthly folk concert series for close to twenty years, by then, and most of the audience had attending the concerts I presented.) The Guy had met me many times before, but apparently thought I was no one worth noticing.

The Guy is not a member of Mudcat.

Jerry