One of the great thrills of my life came in 1978, when I was on vacation in the UK the summer after my internship. I went to Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger's Singer's Club at the Bull and Mouth in London. They have a tradition of "floor singers" in between the featured sets. Ewan said, "We're short one floor singer, so does anyone want to come up?" I, a callow 24-year-old from Philadelphia, raised my hand. Peggy, kind and gracious soul, allowed me to borrow her guitar (I think it was a Martin, so I don't know what the penalty would have been for bashing it), and I stood there on stage, between two of my idols, singing a song--that I had written--about the Delaware River. It was well received, and afterward Peggy said to me, "So THAT's how you pronounce Schuylkill!" (On one of her recordings she sings about a man "born in Skile-kill County," but any Philadelphian will tell you that it's "Skook'l".) Needless to say, it didn't lead to a Grammy...but what a blast!

Aloha,
Mark