Well, I did make my way out to the northern frontier of Seattle to Hendrickson House yesterday evening.

Actually it was pretty direct, the #26 bus to Fremont where the repair surgeon at Dusty Strings was kind enough to assess my 5th string banjo peg; he agreed that the bore hole really needed major filling in but that my idea of wrapping the peg stem with foil would be a reasonable quick fix. 5th pegs should not be glued in but they do need to be friction tight, and the foil is helpful for that. I then had another fine Greek dinner and caught the #5 bus north which took me up Greenwood Avenue to within two blocks of Stew's new abode. Stew and Betty have a nice big living room, lots of room for the 10 or so folks that assembled. Betty plays hammered dulcimer, Stew sings and plays fiddle and guitar. Jerry, whom I've met two times before, sings and plays guitar and banjo. Bob sings and plays guitar and his wife Linn sings and plays fiddle and guitar. There was another fiddler (whose name I've forgotten) who had met my old mentor Bill Bonyun at an educational folk song workshop years ago. Another woman was there who sang and also played guitar. And there was another fine singer and guitar player in residence. Judy, my wife, joined us about halfway through the session, having escaped the dinner party in honor of her boss who is the presiding president of the legislative conference this year.

Most of the folks were leading songs that had something to do with the sea, in my honor. I led off with West Indies Blues, and then in turn Pagoda Anchorage, Mobile Bay, and Midwatches. Judy led A Parting (Goodbye Old Ship). There were also some fiddle tunes, some of which I knew by other names. My only regret was that the session ended around 10 pm, just when folks seemed to be warming up. There also wasn't much time to actually talk with anyone, except for Stew and Betty before others arrived.

Jerry graciously offered us a ride back to our hotel and we did get a chance to remind ourselves of when we first met at a Seattle folk music party back in the 1990's; we both are admirers of Obray Ramsey's singing and banjo playing.

I do hope that Stew posts some supplementary comments of who was at the party and what was sung. Some of the other songs I recall include Sunny's Dream, the Jeannie C, Stew's adaptation of a salmon fisheries poem, Deep Blue Sea, Do-Re-Me, Paddy's Lamentation, Linn's cowboy song, and Bob's rendition of a Bill Staine's song.

I invited everyone to attend the next Press Room session in Portsmouth, NH. Maybe they'll all show up!

There's not a whole lot going on today for me. It's actually raining for much of the day and it's probably better that I practice some of the songs I'm supposed to sing next Thursday at the Stevenston concert. My finger seems to be healing nicely; I didn't need the finger "condom" last evening.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble, adrift in Seattle