What a laugh.

I am not "Garg" what ever a Garg is.

I have been playing banjo for about 40 years on-going in many professional settings, singing and playing guitar and bass and am currently in a bluegrass group. At 53 years old, I am hardly a new kid on the block. Deckman I believe said that the Tijuana Jail song by the Kingston Trio could not be taken seriously by him because they were never in that jail. So what and BFD! A bigger load of crap is hard to find.

My non-agreement with traditional folk purists and neo-traditionalists is hardly anger based. In fact, any thing but. I also bought the Pete Seeger book, the red cover one and actually own the LP that was issued of it. After the initial learning of the basic strum, I had very little use for it and tab. I count my blessings for having a good ear and perfect pitch. I used to play at the original No Exit in Evanston and played for years first in a folk group and then in a country-rock group in the Lincoln Avenue, North Shore, and NW suburban clubs for years.

What I think is that I think different from the folk purists who take themselves way too seriously, are quick to catagorize and criticize.

Rick is right, I am no youngster and I would not go to see Art Thieme.........again. But I did once. He hosted an on-going deal in Evanston for years and I did go once with a group of people who enjoy good time folk music. Needless to say, he wasn't our cup of tea. We had more fun at the Chad Mitchell Trio reunion concert at Park West. Plenty of times I saw groups in Chicago that I enjoyed that were fun-loving like Special Consensus, Aliota, Haynes, and Jeremiah, Ouray, etc.

Purists, elitists, traditionalists listen up! I look for the fun and talent in folk music. I am still active at it and loving it. I could care less who was authentic and who isn't as long as they have talent. I am not looking for or give a rat's ass about Lemon Tree or Puff the Magic Dragon, but I respect who ever wrote those songs. Not to many years from now, when this generation is gone, those songs will still be sung by children and taught as American folk songs. Those who have a problem with that will just have to deal with it.

I'm not here to troll. I have a different perspective and know what I am talking about. Please notice how people attack someone here who is an American folk music fan of a different flavor. name calling, profanity, insults, etc.