Word got to me tonight, via Brian and Sue Kozin, of the passing of Joe Moore who started the No Exit Coffeehouse and Gallery in Evanston, Illinois. This is another hard one to take, folks. Joe hired me to play music at his place in 1960 or '61---can't recall which. And I did my folk songs at the grand old place on-and-off for the next 37 years--until I couldn't do it any more.

For sure, there is no way to overestimate the importance of Joe's   oasis/hangout in the lives of Carol Chris and myself. It was all JOE MOORE's force of personality that made it happen. He moved the place to Chicago sometime in the mid 1960s--but unbelievably it was always the same

After Joe moved to Wisconsin and started his folk club bar called the Green Dragon Inn, the No Exit belonged first to Peter Steinberg -- and then to Sue and Brian Kozin. But the No Exit ALWAYS had the stamp of Joe Moore on it---and it was unmistakable.

I'll be back in here to tell you more about Joe Moore---or else I'll resurrect the old Mudcat thread named something like The No Exit Coffeehouse Is Closing It's Doors. That old thread has lots of the ambiance of the place within and between every line.

No matter who owned or owns the place, Mr. Joseph G. Moore and his wife Joann (Jojo) will keep on keepin' on in the tales we who were there then keep on telling.

Joe,

Thank you for making a magic smoke-filled musty and crusty space for us where we could be bad while we sweated and learned to be folksingers! Some few were like Stevie Goodman---who got real good--real fast.

I, for one, needed much more time.

Thank you for, as I said, giving us a place where we could be bad---and where it was O.K.! I loved every minute of it---even the nights I did five sets a night for ten dollars!

Joann, we love you too. Thanks for putting up with us---and for putting us up in Fort Atkinson. That was as close to a paid vacation as we ever had!!

Last call!!

"Time, gentlemen, please!!!"

Love,

Art and Carol and Chris