One of the great things about technology (as opposed to so many miserable things about it) is the fact that performances can be accurately recorded, so in a sense we will always have most of the people listed above, many of them in startlingly wonderful filmed performances. I'm thinking particularly of an Elvis Presley performance I saw several years ago on public television: Elvis, a bass player, and his drummer pounding on a guitar case in a small studio. Elvis was dressed in jeans and some kind of shirt--normal, everyday clothes unlike the pimp suits he wore on stage, sitting in a chair playing accoustic guitar and singing quietly to a small group sitting around. It had the feel of a house concert...the guy could flat out sing as well as anybody anywhere when he didn't have to shout over an orchestra.

I'll have to agree, though, that tape or film or vinyl or CDs, while valuable, will never replace live concerts--I saw Tom Paxton about eight years ago, unforgettable. And the Dry Branch Fire Squad and the Austin Lounge Lizards, Laurie Lewis and Tom Rozum, I'd like to have those performances on film or DVD, but I wouldn't trade the memory of them live for the record.

Since the question was asked in the future tense, I immediately thought of people who are getting old--Doc Watson was the first. Pete Seeger, of course. Last weekend I saw Earl Scruggs playing with Bela Fleck and his bluegrass group. Earl will be missed, and thank God for Bela. I saw Ralph Stanley a few years ago...is he still alive? David Grissman was playing with him. A great concert...Ralph, at his advanced age, was still picking as fast as anybody; the banjo was getting a bit heavy for him, so after a few numbers he passed it to his son (and later auctioned it off).

But, to add a couple of names to the list of the dearly missed, past tense: Maybelle Carter, Cisco Houston, Phil Ochs, Nat Cole, Paul Robeson, Peggy Lee, Jesse Fuller...

--seed