I haven't been to Indian Neck since the early sixties but went to each of them up until then and helped to raise the money for it, by running concerts, putting up posters, sometimes putting up our own money up front, having endless discussions about who would be a good draw and whether it was our responsibility first to have good performers available to people to introduce them to the music or to raise money for the Indian Neck Weekend.

When you think about it, it is obvious that there is going to be a great deal of dissatisfaction with the guest list at a festival like this. First you have the people who make it possible (assuming they still raise money the way they we used to), they need to be able to attend and they should be able to bring someone with them, no? That seems fair. Then there are people who did good things for us, people who helped out by donating valuable things, I am thinking of the NY Times writer who used to come, I've forgotten his name but he was a well known byline at the time and I still see his name on books; then there are the performers who you really want: we had Blind Reverend Gary Davis, Fiddler Beers, Carolyn Hester, these bing some of the names that come to mind late this evening. When you are all through with these, you get to the sincere, dedicated people who really want to go to the festival. There isn't room for them, not all of them. Then there are the people who are not so sincerely interested but think it sounds like it will be fun. The short of it is that there is disappointment and even anger. I suppose the system is inherently not fair because it relies on the fallible judgment of the "insiders". On the other hand, it has made possible moderful times, wonderful moments of song trading and story telling in a low pressure, informal atmosphere.

I hope Indian Neck can survive the criticism from the people who are left out because there is no room, even though they may "deserve" an invitation. It would be a shame if it disappeared.

Sourdough