Here is one of the best lessons I've ever been forced to learn.

While singing on the Mississippi River we frequently got to a lock and dam right after a double tow started locking through. We had no choice but to wait our turn. That meant possibly a 2 or 3 hour delay. If it was a meal time, we would have a nice leisurely meal. If it was after a meal, I might do an exta hour-long set (or two). I had to learn to develop patience and find ways to enjoy this gift of extra time on the Father of Waters. These were sixteen hour days generally for me---and I had the pleasure of doing them every other day for five solid months for ten years. I learned to slow down and truly observe the river---it's wildlife and it's moods---it's anger and it's solitude and it's serenity.

Elderly Music is a great resource. Having it there ultimately makes things wonderfully available to us. If their being large causes us a few frustrating days, I submit it beats having to get in my car and drive all the way around Lake Michican's South end in order to visit Elderly in person. That's a trip I always tried to tie in with a trip to E. Lansing to do a gig at the Ten Pound Fiddle and to hang out with Dr. Karen and Bob Blackman. ----------- After visiting Elerly, though, I always considered myself to be lucky if I had cash for gasoline left from my Fiddle paycheck.

Stan and Sandy have done a marvelous thing in setting up Elderly Music---and they deserve all the success they've had and ten times more.

Art Thieme