In the summer of 1959, I think it was, I was working inz New York at the Living Theater. I don't remember where Allan Block's sandal shop was but I used to go by there often. It probably was in what came to be called the east Village. He and several others would often be set up in chairs on the sidewalk playing wonderful music while soaking in the sunshine.

It was explained to me that he was an excellent sandal maker but because of his passion for music, there was an extremely long waiting list to have a pair made.

It was a time when there were a lot of terrific musicians around. John Yellin of the Greenbrier Boys used to show up at a lot of the hoots. Roger Sprung with a friend who had a Brownie Bass with him was another. (I think he was "Brownie".) Every Saturday in a loft somewhaere i Manhattan, 50-200 people would gather to sing, drink a little and smoke. Songs that had marinated for generations in Appalachia were unfurled in Gotham. The dissonances were a part of the charm of that moment.

The Sunday's in Washington Square Park were something to look forward to all week. Earnest young women wearing a brand new Martin played side by side with equally earnest social critics and refrmers who expressed themselves in music and verse. I would run into the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makhem at the White Horse Tavern singing just because they felt like singing.