Conrad, I bought my first guitar in 1951 or 1952. The first time I got paid for singing was in 1956. I was offered a television series in 1959, and for the next umpteen years, I made my living singing, mostly traditional songs, in various venues, from coffeehouses, to the Seattle World's Fair in 1962, to the Seattle Center Hootenannies in 1963, to colleges, arts festivals, in living rooms and in concert halls all around the Pacific Northwest, Montana, Michigan, Colorado, and California. In Canada, I've sung many times in British Columbia and as far east as Kingston, Ontario. And I have participated in many folk festivals, both singing and taking part in workshops, and I have done more television, on both educational and commercial TV, since the first "Ballads and Books" series. At the Seattle Center Hootenannies, I sang for outdoor audiences of over 6,000 people.

I'm saying this not to brag, but to let you know that I've been there and I've done that.

I am now 79 years old. The last concert I did was with my old friend and sometime singing partner, Bob (Deckman) Nelson in October of 2007, for which we both got paid quite well, thank you!

Bob, now in his early 70s and having recently retired from the carpentry/deck-building business, is doing a lot of singing (concerts) these days. For various reasons, I, on the other hand, consider myself at least semi-retired. I have recently purchased some computer-related recording equipment, including a couple of good studio microphones, and am concentrating my efforts on doing some high quality recording of the many traditional (and a few other) songs I have learned over the years (several hundred) with an eye toward, first, archiving them, and second, putting out a number of CDs. Not unlike Canadian pianist Glenn Gould, who retired from the concert stage to concentrate on recording.

But—were I actively seeking singing jobs and looking for venues where I could sing, I would have no difficulties. Like Bob, I am in the enviable position where all I would need to do is make a few telephone calls letting it be known that I am available, and I could have a long string of singing engagements set up very quickly. Bob is singing actively, but I think he's getting more offers than he can really cares to take (but I should not speak for him).

Also, my wife and I own our own home outright (no mortgage) and we are debt-free; among other things, we pay off our credit card every month, so we don't have to pay any interest. We are not wealthy, but we are financial secure and quite comfortable, thank you.

Nor, as I say, am I currently looking for venues where I can sing.

NOR am I interested in being supported, neither partially nor fully, by having someone extract (extort) money from younger performers to pay me some sort of stipend in order to save me from penury and to honor of my longevity as a singer of traditional songs.

Singers just starting out oftentimes have it tough enough without someone coming along and picking their pockets out of some misguided notion that we older singers of traditional songs need to be saved from spending our declining years sitting in some back alley leaning against a Dumpster and drinking screw-top wine from a bottle concealed in a brown paper bag.

Thank you for the thought, and for caring, but I think you could turn the throbbing power of your brain to more creative and productive pursuits.

Or not.

How about gluing a bunch of garden gnomes to the hood of a brand new Rolls-Royce Corniche? That would certainly spark some interesting comments.

With warm regards,

Don Firth