Dear Mudcatters,

Reading through this thread made me think about my old friend Bruce Phillips, known to folk music fans around the country as U.Utah Phillips, the Golden Voice of the Great Southwest.

Bruce used to spend all of his time travelling around the country, entertaining folks at the smallest of coffee houses, the biggest of folk festivals, and just about every venue in between.

He also devoted a lot of his time and most of his money to supporting the various causes and fights that he believed in.

These days, he can't do much of that anymore and he relies on the generosity of his friends for support.

Why? Because Bruce suffers from congestive heart failure brought on by years of smoking.

If you'd asked Bruce about health concerns 10 or 15 years ago, he would have shrugged you off. Not anymore.

Another thing. Bruce used to make this big deal about how he was an anarchist and didn't pay taxes to support the government. Well, evertime he bought a deck of smokes he was handing tax $$ directly to the govenment.

Today, Bruce will be the first to tell you that smoking is one of the stupidest things you can do. He blames his years of smoking on his own stupidity.

Patty in Saratoga Springs, NY a friend of Bruce Phillips since 1969