Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.

Subject: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: The Shambles
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 03:37 PM

The Mudcat UK thread was a good idea and it has been interesting reading about what the weather is like in various parts of the UK and hearing about where people live. There is a colourful description from 'Frank in the Swamps', about where he lives, complete with some exagerated claims about his mosquitos, which can be found in the Jimmy Reed Request thread. As the originators of the the UK thread (somewhat bravely) confessed that they overlooked other parts of the world, maybe all the contributors to the Mudcat would like to use this thread to tell us about who, where, what music and most importantly, what the weather is like in their part of the world?.... This is the WWW after all.

No need to make it too serious, although I know the weather is a serious subject.

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: BSeed
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 03:58 PM

Shambles, you could have started with yourself.

I live in El Cerrito, California, and teach in Berkeley. The weather right now is far too nice for me to be sitting here in front of my computer, but I'm hooked on the Mudcat and...but, as soon as I finish this post I'm going to take my two labradors to the Berkeley dog park where I will run them to near exhaustion so I can have some peace to get some work done around the house. I frail the banjo and am just getting to the point where I can play decent clawhammer breaks; I play enough guitar to accompany my singing, also autoharp and pretty good blues, folk, and country harmonica. I spend almost as much time at www.eBay.com, a great auction site--free for buyers, I don't know how much for sellers as I haven't yet tried to sell anything. I've posted a few of my songs, mostly in a thread called Movement Songs, but also the Missing Mudcat Blues and fa couple of new verses to Abilene which I like as much as anything I've written.

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 04:24 PM

As many have guessed from my Mudcat code I live in Baltimore, Maryland. Actually, I live near Baltimore (30 miles or so) in a semirural bedroom community called Westminster. I grew up here and have watched it change from a farming community to a commuter haven. Can't say I like the changes much.

I perform sporadically, sometimes for money, sometimes for the fun of it. I play 6 and 12 string guitar tolerably well (I won't get by on guitar playing alone). I sing whatever strikes my fancy, much of it would not be called folk by many on the 'Cat.

I bought a new National Tri-Cone resophonic guitar about a year ago. It still plays me, I don't really play it. I have developed some confidence in playing the blues and I'm working on getting better at that.

I'm a single parent with a recently graduated son in San Francisco (looking for work) and another son who will graduate high school this year. At this point in my life they take up more of my money than my time.

I have a fiancee who lives in Baltimore (so I am in Baltimore quite a bit). I work at the world famous Johns Hopkins Hospital as a manager in their community addictions program.

I have developed an addiction to the Mudcat. I haven't decided if it is a positive addiction (and I might not care!)

Roger in Baltimore (some of the time, anyway)

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: The Shambles
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 05:15 PM

O.K Seed. Tell me do you hear Simon and Garfunkel tinkling along in the background as you walk to work, past that fountain? I am lucky enough now to be living on The Isle of Portland in Dorset, (where my wife comes from) although I was born in West London. We did live in the Shetland Islands for about 12 years, where you do get a lot of weather. We have a German Pointer, called Chudley, who we don't get any peace from no matter how far we run him. Two burmese cats, one of which, by the name of Dennis, steals things like ornaments and garden tools from our neighbours. I keep showing him wallets and credit cards but he hasn't taken the hint yet. He is known as Dennis the 'cat burglar' I work part-time helping mainly eldely people, which puts my own problems in perspective and gives me plenty of time to play (in order of competence) bazouki, guitar, harmonica, tenor and five string banjo. I have been writing songs for about the last five years and performing them with my wife and my mate (who also write) with our band The Shambles. I first started playing 'Skiffle' in the early 60s, playing all those wonderful songs from Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, and all, which is one of the reasons I think I like it here so much. It's the songs.

Oh, and it's dark wet and windy outside.

Hey Roger! What's the weather like in Baltimore? Thanks for your help.

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Zorro
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 06:25 PM

Hey Shambles, this is a great idea. It's good to know where folks reside. I've e-mailed to Alison in Australia and to Brian in Wales. I live in Houston, or outside of Houston in Pearland, Texas. I'm a member of the Houston Folklore and Music Society and the Houston y. I took some early retirement after having been with Dale Carnegie Training for 25 years in Houston and in Corpus Christi, Texas, the Rio Grande Valley etc. Now I teach public speaking at a community college, I have the rights to the Balanced Living Program and have r, blues harps, a little Irish Whistle. I prefer playing blues, but love traditional celtic music and American mountain music. The weather here is blue skies and shady, green lights and downhill as long as the Mudcat is up. Otherwise, raining and nasty. Anyone in the Houston area contact me please: [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: BSeed
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 06:35 PM

shambles: I know of only three fountains in Berkeley (other than indoor or backyard ones): a newly refurbished one at the bottom of a hill, a rain-powered one (the mouth of a huge, ridiculous beast ridden by a humanoid archer--rain is caught in the beast's mouth and pours out via its penis [an unknown sculptor erected it at the Berkeley Marina--the city council wanted to remove it but public protest kept it there]), and a fountain at the university named after a dog, Ludwig--the fountain, not the university. If I taught at the university I might walk by it; I teach at the high school (retired, but still working with some independent study kids). Simon and Garfunkle are often in my head, even if they are not played too much around these days. "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme" and "The Boxer" get the most head time. And how come you get to have both a wife and a mate, and one who plays music with you no less? --seed

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: The Shambles
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 07:48 PM

Seed: I said I was born in London. My mate is my friend, me old mucker, me pal (ie male). I'm beginning to sound like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins.

It's funny how these things go I was always a bit ashamed of the 'way wot I spoke'. But I have just finished a song that was in leiu of a Valentine's Day card to my long-suffering wife and it's called My Trouble and Strife. Which, if you don't know, is cockney rhyming slang for 'my wife'. Or as Dick Van Dyke would say 'me old trouble and strife'.

Where was that fountain then in the Graduate?

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Helen
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 09:33 PM

Hi all,

I live in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, which is 100 miles north of Sydney on the east coast. I'd *like* to make you northern hemisphere dwellers green with envy and tell youabout clear blue skies and sunny weather with a gentle breeze, lounging around taking in the sun and then going for a refreshing dip in the pool.....but it's overcast here at the moment although I don't think it will rain today.

I play Celtic/lever harp, flute (not well), & bodhran - (just learning), and am strting to learn some African drumming, also have done some classes in Middle Eastern drumming. I love Celtic music, and especially Carolan's harp tunes. Other than that I'll listen to and like almost every sort of music there is except disco and some country & western & I haven't found much operal that I like. There is a radio station in Oz called Triple-J which plays a bit of alternative style "youth" music and I like most of that. So, it's hard to pin me down on any one style of music being an all-out favourite.

I am also addictive to Mudcat - Roger, should we form MCA (Mudcat Anonymous) or should we just accept ourselves as we are and just enjoy Mudcat and the other Mudcatteers?

Helen

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: BSeed
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 09:37 PM

God, Shambles, it's been so long since I've seen that movie that I don't remember the fountain in it: It may be Ludwig's Fountain, so named because Ludwig played in it for years. As for your "mate," I forgot how few of you Brits share the mother tongue. ;) --seed

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: KickyC
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 11:13 PM

Wow! This is a fun thread! I am from the heartland of the USA good old Iowa! I live in a town right on the Mississippi River called Muscatine. I am about 2 hours southeast of Dyersville (Field of Dreams), 2.5 hours east of Madison County (as in "The Bridges of Madison County") and 1.5 hours from our latest mention on the big sceen, Cedar Rapids. (After surviving the Titanic, Rose went on to be a movie actress, later wed and moved with her new husband to Cedar Rapids.) Like you Bseed, I am a high school teacher, but alas, still working. I teach English as a Second Language which means I teach a little of everything to limited English-speaking students. I love that job ( most of the time.)

I began playing piano when I was a girl and later took up the guitar when I got married and we didn't have a piano. About 3 years ago I began playing the Appalachain mountain dulcimer and my interest in folk and celtic music just took off. From there I went on to learn some tin whistle, recorder, banjo, and harmonica. I bought a mandolin last Feb., but haven't had too much time to get to it. I have just begun to do a little entertaining and that has been a lot of fun.

My husband doesn't play, but he took up an interest in building instruments. He built one of my banjos and two dulcimers for me. It has been a lot of fun!

Oh, the weather here is lousy. We were going to go away fro the weekend, but it is raining and storming. It is too hot for this time of year. 60-70 F. It is supposed to be cooling off any minute now. They always say, if you don't like the weather in Iowa, wait a minute. It will change.

KickyC

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Dawn
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 02:35 AM

Hey! - I thought that's what they say about the weather here in Wisconsin!!!! It was, beleive it or not, 75 in parts of Wisconsin yesterday - unseasonably warm. Today, it rained all day.

Anyway, I listen more than I play, but have three guitars, two keyboards, a mandolin, and a dulcimer. I lean more towards the "singer/songwriter" spectrum than trad, but I grew up with "campfire music" and still help my father out in that department.

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 03:42 AM

I was born in Detroit and grew up in Southeastern Wisconsin, so I call Wisconsin home. Don't know if I could stand the winters or mosquitos now, though - I've lived in Sacramento, California, for almost twenty years. It's beastly hot all summer, but a beautiful autumn day here today, shirtsleeve warm, with a touch of fall color. Four BIG wild turkeys walked down my street this morning - I'm right near the American River, and there's lots of wildlife around. I'm a 90-minute drive from a rather large ocean and a rather large mountain range.
I've fooled around with a number of instruments, but the only instrument I use in public is my voice - church music, and group singing with kids and in the three monthly song circles in this area.
I do background investigations on U.S. government job applicants, but that nasty Bill Clinton privatized my job and made it miserable and I'm going to retire any moment now and spend my days traveling and singing. My three children are in their twenties, and all seem to want a career in punk rock - but they tolerate me and even sing with me at times.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: alison
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 06:35 AM

Hi,

(Helen you couldn't do it.... but I can)..

It's 35 degrees here, and sunny..... it's too humid for my liking and I need a drink.........

As you probably all know by now I'm in Sydney. I've been here for almost 7 years. Before that I was mainly in Belfast although I lived in other places around Northern Ireland.

I have 2 young kids (Ryan is 4, Shannon is 3)and a hubby.... from Holywood, Northern Ireland.

I play a heap of stuff which I've been carting around in this heat all weekend...... not much fun... love the playing though. At the moment I play whistle, flute, bodhran, keyboard, piano accordion, and sing. I'm still trying to teach myself uilleann pipes, button concertina, bones, and saxophone.

I'm in a couple of bush bands and a duo with Alan of Australia, (who lives about 5 minutes away.)

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: DWDitty
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 06:36 AM

So, I'll represent New England - at least for now. Grew up on Cape Cod and now live in CT. The weather here ranges from partly sunny to partly cloudy with periods of sun, rain, sleet, snow, and ice in between.

I play guitar and sing - mostly songs with a bit of humor, but also include folk, blues, jazz, and even a show tune or two. Also, I sing in the church choir so I better include hymns and anthems.

My 19 and 20 year old kids don't sing much, but my 3 and six year olds sing constantly.
DW

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Jack Hickman
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 09:27 AM

Greetings All

It's interesting to note the interesting blend of participants in this thread.

I live in Kingston, Ontario which, for the geographically challenged is on the Canadian side of Lake Ontario at the point whereit joins the St. Lawrence River. It is a historically interesting and visually beautiful area. At this precise moment of time, we are enjoying typical autumn weather, maybe a little warmer than average, with a mixture of sun and cloud. The autumn colours have just passed their peak of beauty, but are still attractive. We have the good fortune of experiencing four very distinct seasons. In a month and a half from now, it will be cold enough to freeze the balls on a brass monkey.

I am retired from having spent 36 years in law enforcement, 25 of which were with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Now I have a little hobby business as a tour guide, which keeps me in computers, but doesn't pay the rent. I also play in the Kingston Ceili Band (http://fox.nstn.ca/~jhickman) as well as being involved in any Celtic session occurring in these parts. I like to consider myself as an accomplished bodhranai(bodhradoiri?)and a very basic tin-whistler. My attitude to music is, if it ain't Celtic, why bother. I enjoy this thread.

Jack Hickman

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 09:44 AM

Gee, Shambles, I didn't know the weather was required. It has been beautiful the last couple of days. Bright sunshine with just a few clouds in the skies. Daytime highs in the mid 70's and nightime lows in the mid 40's. It doesn't get any better than this in October in Maryland.

Maryland likes to call itself America in miniature, that fits for landscape and weather. We have four distinct seasons and they can be severe at both ends. Temperatures in the high 90's in Summer and Low's in the single digits in Winter. Those are extremes and it is usually milder than either of those. It is often quite humid in the Baltimore area however. The ocean is about a three hour drive and the mountains (the tiny Alleghenies, Joe) are about the same distance.

A right nice place, all in all, though chosen more by birth than by choice. Of course, Washington, D.C., is only an hour and a half away, so I'm familiar with big cities and big government.

I would like to hear from those of you who don't often post on a thread, but who are regular readers. This is a subject about which you should be well-informed, YOU!

Helen, just for fun, I may see if I can come up with 12 Steps for the Mudcat.

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Susan of DT
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 09:52 AM

I've been in New Jersey (Princeton area)for almost 20 years, before that Pennsylvania (central and west)and New York (upstate and city), with one year in North Carolina. There are two song circles around here Dick Greenhaus and I go to and Dick gets to another one near him in Connecticut. We usually go to the following festivals: Mystic (CT) Sea Music Festival (June), Champlain Valley (August)(VT), Old Songs (NY)(late June), Greater Washington Getaway (October).
DWDitty: where in CT are you? we should be able to meet you somewhere.
I love ballads and Scottish music. I sing (not well)rather than play.

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 10:00 AM

Susan,

Weren't you playing some strange harp-type instrument at the Gospel Songs Workshop at the Getaway?

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: The Shambles
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 10:52 AM

Hello Roger and everyone else and thank you for describing the weather (and where you live) in such poetic terms, it's the next best thing to being there.

It think some explanation is due for the weather discussion and why it seems to matter more than normal, to someone who lives in a country where sometimes the weather seems to be all we do talk about.

It has to do with a wonderful sketch called The Radio Ham, written by Galton and Simpson and starring the late Tony Hancock. It is a satire on what was then (early 60s) modern technology, (Short Wave Radio) and how we use it.

Home Radio was probably thought of in much the way The Net is today, in that it was possible to talk to people anywhere in the world. The joke was that Tony Hancock was constantly saying how "bloody marvellous" it was to be able to talk to another radio ham in Tokyo, when all they were actually struggling to say to one another was "it is raining here also".

Oh well, maybe you just had to be there?

It is not raining here also, today has been one of those bright sunny autumn days with the leaves just starting to gently fall from the trees. New England sounds like the place to be this time of year.

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Dan Calder
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 11:04 AM

Hello, I'm sitting in Sprighill, Nova Scotia, on the East coast of Canada. Home of Anne Murray and Johnny Mooring (award winning fiddler). The weather here has been lousy for the past week, but today is beautiful: sunny and cool. As in Ontario, as Jack said, the autumn leaves have passed their peak, and are mostly on the ground now. I was born here, my wife was born here, and our two daughters were born here. I'm a grade six teacher, and vice-principal of our two elementary schools (and more years away from retirement than I want to consider at this point). Our population is hovering between 4500-5000.

I have three guitars, two 6-strings and a 12, but I haven't performed in public since my college days. My music tastes have always been good guitar-based musicians. I've always listened to artists like Gordon Lightfoot, John Denver, Stan Rogers, Garnet Rogers...tunes I can play (usually while sitting alone in a little cabin I have on a lake) with some degree of proficiency.

Both of my daughters study piano, and we have a too large 97 year old Hanes Brothers piano in out dining room (which I picked up for nothing a few years ago...just the energy involved to move it).

I've been reading the 'Cat for a few years, now, and have posted a few times. I just thought I would take Roger's advice. I am also throughly enjoying this thread. Keep it up. Enjoy, Dan

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Ralph Butts
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 11:43 AM

It looks like Connecticut rules the Mudcat world (are you there, Barbara?). The Tiger's den is in extreme NE Connecticut (Pomfret), but remember, CT is a tiny state, so Mudcat HQ and the other Nutmeggers are really just down the road.

As to my music, I got out my old guitar a few years ago and put it back to work. My goal was to be able to play the music I liked, so I could hear it any time I wanted. I'd always had a small list of songs and a folder of lyrics, but began the task of adding them to my word processor. I've now got almost 700, which currently live in three (about to become four) loose-leaf binders. I use them to learn the lyrics, often taking a few pages in the car to practice while I'm driving to client sites. I've resolved not to sing out of the books myself or let anyone else do so - they're just for study.

The lyrics are available, in small quantities, from my web page at:

http://users.neca.com/rsbassoc/

You need to send me an e-mail to get them, but eventually they'll be indexed web pages.

My taste is eclectic, but folks like Tom Paxton, Johnny Cash, the Carter Family, the Clancy Brothers, Elvis Presley and Dave Van Ronk are well represented. I also have a lot of turn of the century, barbershop stuff, and 20's tin pan alley songs.

I play fingerstyle on a Gibson LG-1 and have planned my arrangements based on me and the guitar being the only instruments (well, maybe a tambourine on the side). We have semi-frequent singalongs, mostly family. I've never done a gig or written a song.

Good thread! Let's hear from more Mudcatters………..Tiger

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Dan Calder
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 11:56 AM

Help... Can someone tell me why the posts I submit appear twice? It's happened before, so I take great care to make sure I click the "Submit Message" button one time only. Thanks, Dan

(I'm really not trying to get more posting time than anyone else, or draw attention to myself...really...honest.)

Can't give you a sure reason why it double-posted, Dan. Usually it has to do with using the "back" or "refresh" buttons on your browser instead of the navigational tools Max has provided. Whatever the case, I deleted the second post, so it's nothing to worry about. -Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: rosebrook
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 01:22 PM

How fun this thread has been for getting to know more about you all! It has been very interesting. This month marks my one year anniversary for hanging at this Cafe, and I appreciate having had the opportunity to learn so many important musical lessons from my fellow catters.

Speaking of green with envy...I live on Oregon's beautiful southern coast. It's a 10 minute drive to hike along the rugged trails overlooking the mighty Pacific. We have two seasons here: wet and dry, with moderate temperatures consistently during both. When it's wet, it lasts for 7-9 months of the year. Towards to the end of the wet season, it's challenging to play my flute with those darn webs between my fingers...well, maybe the webbed features won't spark anyone's envy afterall.

My musical passions include playing flute and recorder in a Celtic band. We'll be performing at the Eugene Celtic Festival next month! (We've never played outside of this culturally deprived town before..this is exciting!) Living so close to the cliffs of the shore, I play at a lot of seaside weddings. For the past 6 years, I have shared music in my children's classrooms. Last year, I taught 4th graders to play the recorder. That was the grand finale; this year I'm helping in the computer lab.

Speaking of children, ours are 10 and 12. I was the birth mother, and my partner Jeanne is the 'nuther mother (who incidentally is totally into weather conversations, but only plays the stereo.)

I'm looking forward to learning more about more catters!

Rose

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: rich r
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 01:46 PM

Greetings and salubrications,

I sit here in Red River Valley (of the North) probably the flattest large inhabited place in the world. My home is Fargo, North Dakota. I lived from birth through the end of graduate school in Wisconsin, spent 5 years in North Carolina and been in Fargo since. Yesterday was a lovely autumn day with rain, temperature around 40 degrees Fahrenheit and a north wind around 30 mph (50 km), but the mosquitoes are gone. I have been a "folky" since the late 50's, so I guess that now makes me an old folky. I love to play and sing, but the opportunities here are too few. I am a self taught guitar player and my teacher was really not very good. So to paraphrase Phil Ochs, my guitar playing wouldn't suffer much if my hands were webbed. I am borderline cumpulsive about collecting folk music especially from North America in recorded and printed form. The result is I can sometimes pull obscure lyrics out of nowhere and more often have no clue what I actually have. I am another one of them gummint employees. With a degree in molecular biology from Univ Wisconsin, I now do insect DNA research for the US Dept. of Agriculture. I have occasionally stooped to the level of introducing puns into my posts, but that is probably a cry for help or a sign that I need help. The M-Cat is every bit as exciting as a three day blizzard.

rich r (Rich Roehrdanz)

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 03:26 PM

I'm here in Branford, Connecticut, on the shoreline of Long Island Sound. Hi, Ralph and DWDitty, whoever you are. Yay, Connecticut!

It's a beautiful, sunny day, a little breezy, and unseasonably warm for this time of year (72 F). The foliage is spectacular, lots of reds and yellows and oranges on the maples and oaks and beech trees, but it's not peak color yet in this part of Southern New England. It's so warm that there are swarms of ladybugs on every window and even one crazy bloom on a confused azalea. The forsythia thinks it's Spring and has little yellow blossoms along with the reddish-turning leaves. I have pumpkins and potted mums on my front porch, and roses still blooming in the back yard. And the lawn is beginning to pile up with fallen leaves.

Thanks for asking, Shambles. It's really interesting to hear from people around the world, and I feel like I know many of you by your words. We all have this Mudcat neighborhood in common.

We had a "hoot" at our house this past Friday, and spent Saturday showing some overnight guests from R.I. around the area, so no house chores got done at all yet. The music was fine, and wouldn't it be nice to play today, too.

O.K. my break is over. Back to the weeds and the leaves in the yard, although the fiddle and guitar are calling me.

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: malena
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 03:33 PM

Hi, where is the whole Mudcat from - well of course it´s worldwide, but Max, do you sit in Britain or in the US? Myself, I`m from Germany, a small town called Hückeswagen (always sounds funny when Americans try to pronounce that),we have four seasons, which are cool and rainy (spring), warm and rainy (summer), cool and very rainy (fall) and cold and rainy (winter). Sometimes we even have a stretch of good wether, I remember even wearing shorts in summer, but this year has just been terrible. So right now it´s pretty cold and rainy - must be close to winter!

My name is Daniel, I chose the alias of malena, because Daniel was taken... Malena is the name of a famous tango, and that´s what my favourite music is right now, but I´m also into Klezmer, and all kinds of American, Irish, French Styles and and and... Have been playing fiddle for half of my life and started with piano and accordion a few years ago. I talked with Alice (Alice Flynn - where are you in this thread???) a few days ago about the problem of not becoming too much of a profesional if you´re an autodidact an play lots of instruments in dozends of styles - but I love it. I play in two bands, in one of which we play mainly folk-dances, it´s a lot of fun to play for dancers, I like it much more than playing just for listeners.

Oops, it just stopped raining... Daniel

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Doug in colorado
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 03:55 PM

I'm in Colorado Springs, and enjoying the cool clear blue October weather. I cut my musical teeth on Joan Baez/Ian and Sylvia/Kingston Trio type folk music, took up banjo in high school and college, shifted into Bluegrass and rattled around the world with the Navy for twenty years. During a three year stint in Japan I fell in with some expatriate Irish living there and have been heavily into traditional Irish music for the past seven years with various bands in various places. I'm retired from the Navy, building houses and playing music. Doug

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Susan of DT
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 05:16 PM

Roger - It wasn't me. I don't usually go to gospel workshops. I wonder if it was Ferrara with a zither or one of the other Susan's with a MacArthur Harp or something. I do own both a Celtic and MacArthur Harp, but don't travel with them.

Max is in southeastern Pennsylvania, a couple hours from me, which we did not realize when he first picked up the DT.

Barbara Shaw - I wish the Branford sings were Saturday instead of Friday so I could get to some of them.

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Barry Finn
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 05:50 PM

Hi all, from another New Englander, this time southern New Hampshire, been here about 12 years, Boston born & bred though. Spent some time living on Maui, great for sailing, starved for folk music (not Hawaiian folk music though), I probably knew all 7 of the folk musicians living there in 79 & 80. Following that I lived a short time in San Francisco, favorite music spot out side of Boston, lots of great music there, never was staved there.

Weather here is the same as for the other New Englanders, trees multi colored, sunny for the past couple days, very wet prior to that & winter coming's coming on, BBuuurrrr.

Fell into folk music in the 60's along with the great boom & had an interest ever since (shower singing). I first started clearing my throat in the mid 70's durning a workshop run by blues/folk singer Barbara Caans, she kept polking at me until I sang some songs that I had no idea were traditional (prison work songs) or what traditional was (still have questions). This past year while performing prison songs at a festival, she was in the crowd & came up after to say how much she like what we were doing, it was so nice to come back at her & tell her after all these years she was the one who gave me the 1st & most needed push. Since then I started hanging out at an Irish session pub (Brookline's Village Coach House), some of the greats in Irish music came there on a regular basis so I couldn't help myself when I started in on the Bodhran & singing Irish/Scottish songs. I sing in a group with a few others, mostly prison work songs & sea shanties ( mostly Afro American influenced ) both my 1st loves.

DWDitty, where on the Cape were you, my family's on Bass River, spent alot of my summer youth in it's waters?
This is a real nice thread, it's the same type of getting to know you that the Chat Room had in it.
Barry

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: DWDitty
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 06:06 PM

Barry, I grew up in Barnstable - Cummaquid, actually, for those who are into details. Great place to grow up and can't figure out for the life of me why I am not there still.

Susan, I am in North Haven - awfully close to Barbara Shaw. I may have to look her up for one of those sings, although I have never been to one before. BTW, doesn't Rick Von Scmidt live down your way - not to date myself or anything.

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Bobby Bob, Ellan Vannin (Isle of Man)
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 06:11 PM

Today, 18th October, is St Luke's Day. In various places throughout Europe, St Luke's Day is associated with a late Indian summer.

Here in Ellan Vannin, the Isle of Man (middle of the Irish Sea - you'll have to get your atlas out and try to pinpoint the centre of the British Isles), the old weather prognostications have been vindicated with a pleasant day, despite all the forecasters trying to tell us it would be persisting down - which is all our summer has been this year., come to think of it.

It was a good day for a sponsored walk to raise funds for a Manx Gaelic playgroup, and to launch a new Manx Gaelic ABC book.

Lhieuish,

Bobby Bob

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: anne....
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 06:15 PM

First, please have tolerance to my spelling. I'm from Denmark and it's cold and wet here. Some years back my brother put some headphones on me with some music. It was Maighread Ní Dhohmhnaill singing "An Cailín Gaelach". That was what it took to turn me on to Irish music and I started to look for Irish music every where. Thruogh the "Womans Heart" collections I became familiar with some of the female artists of Ireland. But I like also Sarah McLachlan, Shawn Colwin, Indigo Girls, Joan Osborne, Emmylou Harris and many more. I do not play and sing myself, but I am a big listner. I´m 50 and my children are 26, 24 and 22 my grandson is 3.

The mudcat is good for me, since some of theese artist I like to listen to are not so well known in Denmark. Love to all of you anne....

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Animaterra
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 06:57 PM

I'm another New Englander, in beautiful southwestern NH (Keene) where it's Indian summer (75 F) after 11 days of rain. I've traveled all over this country and to the UK and France, but I'll be buried here. The autumn beauty is past its peak but the bronze and falling leaves are still lovely. First and foremost I'm a singer, accompanied by guitar and sometimes pennywhistle or recorder. I would love to fiddle as well, someday! I also direct a womens' chorus and teach public school music to the young ones. My 9 year old daughter sings like an angel and has just been asked to sing the page in Good King What's His Face this Christmas; my 13 yr old son has turned baritone and prefers not to join the family singalongs. Mudcat is truly an addiction; I admit I'm powerless and love it!

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: harpgirl
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 08:08 PM

hi all,
I've just returned from a weekend at Crystal Lake,northeast of Gainesville in Florida hosted by the Florida Fiddler's. We dance and play all night and showcase all the oldtimers in Florida who play the fiddle. Willie Jones and Eddy Keeny are my favorites. I am a fiddle groupie but only play autoharp, rhythm guitar, and sing. It seems like most of the folk musicians in Florida also love to dance (squares and contras). Tallahasse where I reside, has a great music and dance community.
I have been playing autoharp and singing since my days in Ann Arbor. Born in Detroit and moved to Arkansas where I taught at UofA and my son was born. He is sixteen now and likes to sing Irish pub songs and bowl. He's cool.
I have a private practice in counseling and I teach professional CEU courses and do program development as a social worker. I am an old activist and very devoted to social work.
I spend alot of time camping all over Florida and swimming in the springs. I am happiest camped on the bank of a river (the Santa Fe is my favorite) singing and playing my buttonharps by the light of a full moon. I love to collect songs. I don't breed well in captivity!
I am one of three DoneyGals and we play around the panhandle, mostly Irish music. Anyone coming down to Florida should write me about music and camping to enjoy in Florida.
DoneyGals' next festival date is the Barberville Pioneer Settlement Fall Festival, a small, very fun festival north of Deland, Florida first weekend in November. It is always HOT here but we only have hurricanes from August to November!
I am teaching a workshop on counseling aids patients tomorrow so off-line I go. I love the Mudcat and thank you all for being such great human beings! harpgirl aka Abby

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Big Mick
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 08:14 PM

This is one of the best threads yet, and I guess it's time for the ole Big Mick to weigh in.

Born and bred in the Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA area, I spent a great deal of my life in and around the Irish emmigrant community around the towns of Parnell and Grattan which are both named for famous Irish men.

About Michigan, it has a history which is filled with the Irish. From Beaver Island whose town is called St. James and was settled by fishermen from the Aran Islands, to Corktown which is the oldest community in Detroit and everywhere in between you will find the mark of my people. Some of the Counties in Michigan have names like Roscommon, Antrim, Wexford and Clare, all names taken from Irish Counties. Our weather is four seasons, each of them lovely. Right now we are at the peak of fall color and the views on the hills and over the valleys are an absolute testament to the existence of God. Soon the skiing will start (Cross country and downhill) along with ice fishing. The specific part of Michigan I live in is West Michigan. I reside in a large wilderness area about halfway between the cities of Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. If you look on a map of Michigan and find a large lake called Gun Lake, that is where I live with my wife and wee Ciara, who is my youngest daughter. She is 6 years old, and one hell of a fine Irish dancer. She also sings with her old man quite a lot. I also have a 22 year old daughter named Cass, and a 20 year old daughter named Elizabeth, two female cats named Jasmine and Esmeralda. I haven't won an argument in 20 years. :-))

My love for music is lifelong. I was raised around the music of my people. Being a teenager in the sixties, I was exposed to one of the most important times in the evolution of modern music. I had loved folk music in the fifties as a small child, so my tastes in the sixties moved to Baez, Dylan, Donovan, and folk rockers like The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and so on. I also developed a love for the various blues styles and the great artists of those genres. While I was overseas in that one place with bullets whizzing around me, music allowed me to survive mentally during very stressful times. Cat Stevens comes to mind from that time, among others. Music has been a major influence in my career as a labor organizer. Of course, I love the old greats like Pete Seeger, Woody, Cisco, Odetta, and so on, but there is a wealth of great "movement music" being created by young people which has helped me to see the world through their eyes.

I perform mostly Irish and Scottish music, and do educational performances on famous Irish people. One of my favorites in on James Connolly who died in the Rising of 1916. He organized unions in the States before he went home to Ireland and the rest is history.

I play 6 and 12 string guitar, bodhran and various whistles including a Low D Shaw. I am attempting to build a set of uillean pipes this winter(are you listening lovely alison?), and am determined to learn to play them before I die. My band is called The Conklin Ceili Band and has 5 members including me. The other instruments are mandolin, Irish bouzouki, 48 button concertina, hammered dulcimer, banjo, bass guitar and fiddle.

I consider the Mudcat to be one of the most interesting and valuable part of a life that has been pretty damned interesting. You have all touched this life in a special way and I am grateful. Hope I haven't bored you.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 08:45 PM

Susan, didn't I see you at one of the Branford hoots at Dave Green's? I'm only about 3 miles farther. . .

DWDitty, I usually have the Branford Folk Music Society "house hoot" every other month, so the next one here will probably be in December. Try to come to it. You won't regret the effort, because the music is great, everything from folk to blues to Beatles to bluegrass to (last Friday) a medley of minstrel tunes. Ralph, you too. Allan S. was here, and did some great "dreary groaners" with the usual high body count. Dick Greenhaus shows up occasionally.

Big Mick, you may be a musician, but you are also a good writer, and never boring.

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: McMusic
Date: 19 Oct 98 - 12:40 AM

I'll make an entry for southwest Virginia--right by Tennessee. Mountains, hilly fields and spectacular fall colors. The air is cool and clean and the sky is an unmarred blue. I play the guitar and am learning (slowly) to play the fiddle. I'm 47 and with a brother ten years older than I, I've been listening to one style of music or another just about all my life, from Johnny Ray and Bill Haley to the Beatles, Byrds, Dylan, John Stewart and everything in between and alongside. My greatest love is traditional--no matter from where, but esp. Irish and Scottish. I've been writing songs since I was about 18, and am delighted to have discovered the Mudcat. Great, too, to get an idea where all these 'Catters are actually from. Hello to one and all!

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: AndreasW
Date: 19 Oct 98 - 04:33 AM

Seems like I am the only one around here from Germany,
or more precisely Munich (home of the worlds biggest beer festival)
and one of the few Europeans around

Weather today is terrible, raining cats and dogs, temperature is about 8 degrees (Celsius), heavy wind in changing strength and from changing directions.
Greetings to the rest of the world,
Andreas

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: anne....
Date: 19 Oct 98 - 05:08 AM

Andreas, Read the threads again, there is one more from Germany, "malena"/Daniel. Anyway Münich is my favorite city of Germany. Maybee because of the English Garden.

Love from anne

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: DWditty
Date: 19 Oct 98 - 05:15 AM

Let's see. The "average" Mudcatter is 50ish, has grown children (and maybe some not so grown children), started out listening to 60's folk (Dylan, Baez, etc.), moved into folk-rock (Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and, yes, Barbara - Clean Living), now focuses on traditional music (be it folk, blues, bluegrass, celtic (never seen so many who play bohdran)or whatever, and are universally wonderful people.
DW

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Jon Bartlett
Date: 19 Oct 98 - 05:43 AM

Hi, friends-I've not-met-yet, from New Westminster, BC, Canada. I'm in the middle (2.35 am) of editing the next issue of 3/4 Times, the newsletter of the Vancouver Folk Song Society, something I've been doing in one form or another for it seems like 20 years (Come All Ye, Canada Folk Bulletin, the CFMS Bulletin, 3/4 Times). I'm a singer of traditional Canadian and mostly BC songs, but I also like Australian trad and some British Isles. I'm also a loud voice in whatever shanty crew you've got going. I used to sing (with me trouble and strife Rika Ruebsaat) professionally, mostly educational work in schools, but occasional concerts, folk festivals, and the like: now I think of myself more as an archivist (of the growing collection of the VFSS, and a curmudgeonly opinionated critic of the folk music milieu. What I'm interested in these days is questions like "what would modern folk music sound like if it was more traditional (i.e. less sentimental)?" Like I said, curmudgeonly! Jon

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Graeme
Date: 19 Oct 98 - 06:52 AM

Well, I've only seen a couple of Brits in this thread, so I guess I'll chuck my two'penn'orth

I'm in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England and the weather is ..... well, just weather really. We say here that if you can see the hills it's going to rain, and if you can't it already is. Although I don't know which at the moment 'cos I'm at the office and can't see out of the window.

I'm a cartographer by profession, and that gave rise to a love of folk music from the days when I was a surveyor in various wild parts of Britain and stayed in country pubs that had folk evenings.

Separated,46, two teenage daughters, balding ..........................(Arghhhhh!)

Nowadays I sing in a folk club in West Wycombe, held in a 16th century pub - with real English ale (yes - warm and flat but very strong). Sometimes I stop drinking it long enough to play or sing a few songs.

I play most of the "folky" instruments but not very well - so I floor-sing mostly, unaccompanied. I love old European ballads - and Celtic ones too (but I can't sing those too well - I always seem to get too croaky at the sad bits!)

Anyway, if you have - thanks for reading this.

Long live Mudcat and all it stands for!

Graeme

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Pete M
Date: 19 Oct 98 - 07:19 AM

Well DW, you seem to have got the profile fairly weighed off!

I was born and raised in Dover, Kent and although I didn't realise it, had a lot of "folk" songs around during my childhood although we were not what you would call a"musical" family. "Music" at school did it's best to drive us away from any folk songs, they didn't stand a chance really with Rock starting, but if they had bother to explain the background to some of the songs it just might have helped.

Like most? Mudcatters I got involved in Folk in the sixties and the anti Vietnam war protests. Went on to discover Ewan MacColl, Ian Campbell, Hamish Imlach, Matt McGinn and the books of A L Lloyd, Roy Palmer Stan Hugill etc and became more and more interested in the background to the songs especially with regard to the union movement and the fight against capitalism.

I eventually lost touch with the folk scene sometime ago, during which period I moved to New Zealand. Then about two years ago I chanced upon the DT, downloaded the DB, emailed a correction to MacColl's "Joy of Living", got had a nice reply from Dick, and then forgot all about it. About a year ago I checked the site, found the correction hadn't been done(hint, hint), and discovered the forum. As luck would have it, one of the threads at that time was something I knew about (an esopteric bit of knowledge about sailing conditions on the East Coast of England) and I was hooked.

I don't perform in public, althogh I have been known to inflict my singing on Trainees on the Sail training Ship "Spirit of New Zealand" of which I am a volunteer crew member. I have dabbled in instrument making (Psaltry) and my eldest son plays the fiddle in a band for Scottish country dancing. One other son, wife (whom I met at the folk club in Tunbridge Wells), dog and three cats make up the set,

We live in Normandale, Lower Hutt (just outside Wellington) looking out to the Wellington Heads, and across farmland the other way. Wearther is a typical spring day - Clag down below the house, raining and wind gusting to 90 knots!

Best wishes to you all, and thanks for a wonderful site and community.

Pete M

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 19 Oct 98 - 08:00 AM

My name is Bill Foster. I am living now in Florence, Alabama, in the extreme northwestern corner of Alabama, on the beautiful Tennessee River at the Muscle Shoals, where I am a Professor of English linguistics and American Folklore at the University of North Alabama. Autumn comes slowly to north Alabama, and lingers long. Today's high will be in the low '80s, and the low tonight in the mid '60s. I play banjo, guitar, mandolin, fiddle (poorly), Autoharp, and assorted other instruments which cross my path from time to time. Banjo is my primary instrument; I played bluegrass semi-professionally for a good many years, but the clawhammer style which I learned from Uncle Arthur Kuykendall on Sand Mountain is my preferred style. I was born into a family which has lived in the southern Appalachians since the early nineteenth century, and I am a fifth-generation musician, although I can't read music. I grew up submerged in the traditional music of the southern Appalachians, listening to friends and family sing and play music on front porches and in kitchens in and around Big Ridge, Tennessee and Tunnel Hill, Georgia. When the Kingston Trio burst on the scene in 1958, much of their material was already familiar to me, although hardly recognizable. I was a field worker for the Dictionary of American Regional English as well as the Linguistic Atlas of the Gulf States, and I had ample opportunity to collect and swap songs with folk informants. For eighteen years my family traveled widely as The Foster Family String Band; we retired in 1995, and now my wife and I stay busy performing music together. I stumbled across Mudcat a couple of years ago, and I try to visit daily.

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Ritchie
Date: 19 Oct 98 - 08:07 AM

Here We Go... 'the Brits are coming !'

Greetings from Ritchie and as I look out of the office window in Newcastle ,where I work ,the sun is shining brightly and the seagulls and pigeons are flying around in harmony.

The thing about the North East of England is that it has so much to offer in as much as it's so near both the country and the coast and Newcastle is a 'buzzing' city... but it's cold and getting colder...fortunately the people,who are affectionally known as 'Geordies' are generally very warm hearted with a great sense of humour.

As for myself, well I'm married to Brenda ,who I met in 1968 when we were 16 and she has had to put up with me and my love of music for all these years (gosh I wish I had met her sooner), just thought I'd add a little sarcasm in there then ,and we have two sons Patrick aged 16 & Jonathan who is 21 oh yes and a 'Westie' called 'Archie' who is 18 mnths old,but I think in dog years that makes him a teenager.

As for music I love most types, with ,as my kids never tire of telling me,lots of 'favourite records of all time'.. but the only snag is I can't play anything...I think that this is because,when I was younger,I especially liked the blues ,Willie Dixon ,Jimmy Reed,Muddy waters et al and noticed that they were all old guys.Being a young whippersnapper in no particular hurry I thought that I would wait until I was older before I would start to play....drat no one told me that these old men had been playing for years...the time has come and a crash course is needed (tell me that you're never to old to learn , please.)

and as for me ,well, If you're American, people say I look like a cross between Bob Dylan and a white Bill Cosby and if you're English I resemble a fat Micheal Barrimore (in looks only mind).

Just to add that I really like the Mudcat and let me be the first to wish everyone 'A Merry Christmas'

Love and happiness,

Ritchie

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Susan-Marie
Date: 19 Oct 98 - 08:53 AM

Greetings from another New Englander (North Falmouth, Cape Cod, Massachusetts) who's currently living in Maryland just outside Washington D.C. Like DWitty, I often wish I were back in the land of scrub oak and winter beaches, but my work (developing national habitat conservation policy for the National Marine Fisheries Service) doesn't lend itself to small New England towns. I've been thinking about a career change, though.....

I've been singing my whole life, but discovering Celtic music has given me a renewed passion for music. I'd give my right arm to be an accomplished fiddler like Maired ni Mhaonaigh, but singing is what I seem to have a talent for, so I sing every chance I get (mostly our UU church and coffeehouse). I'd like to sing for larger audiences someday, but I'm still prone to stage fright, so I'm slowly feeling my way along.

I have a 3-year old daughter named Kiera (I know, that's not the traditional spelling, but we thought it would easier for teachers to pronounce) who loves to dance to fiddle music and play with my younger sister's violin, so I'm wondering what the right age is for starting lessons. I don't want to force anything on her but if she has an aptitude for music, I want to give her every opportunity to develop it. My husband Rob doesn't share my musical passion but he does like beer so he's amenable to hanging out in Irish bars when we can get a babysitter.

Because I'm basically an introvert and have a hard time talking to strangers in person, Mudcat's been my lifeline to fellow musicians and music lovers. Next year I hope to go to the FSGW getaway and meet some of you face to face. It's been great learning more about you all on this thread.

Hey MAX, can these autobiographies be saved to a page where people could access them by searching for names? I've seen that on other web sites and it's a great way for people to get to know one another.

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From:
Date: 19 Oct 98 - 09:00 AM

My name is Murray Adelman. I was born in South Phila and lived in London (Putney, to the initiated) for a few years and then moved to Sydney where I live at present (and in the future too I imagine.) I will be 59 in a few days. I came here to teach at Macquarie University and did so for 25 years. I retired this year; but I continue to do research.

I played recorders and flute for many years. In the 60s, my wife and I built a clavichord and that was quiet enough for me to have the courage to learn the keyboard which I did. The funny thing is that I always liked to listen to blues and other folk music; but I always played classical.

About a year ago I found myself humming John Hurt's "Louis Collins". I couldn't remember who wrote it or who sang it and I asked a folknick friend of mine who told me about this database called the DT or something. So I discovered mudcat.

In the 60s I was too intimidated by Hurt's playing to try to learn what seemed to be such intricate guitar music. Now the "father William" phenomenon took over and I decided last year to buy a guitar and learn to play it--and I did! I can actually play "Louis Collins" at about half tempo. I have "Let the Mermaids Flirt With Me" just about up to tempo and I have started playing some bottleneck pieces.

Kicky, My mother-in-law grew up in a farm right outside of Muscatine. She lives in Iowa City now. I have been on the farm when her brother and sister still ran it.

Anne, in what part of Denmark do you live? I have spent a lot of time in Aarhus. In fact I wound up in a hospital there for three weeks once where I learned to speak a little Danish (and to bake rye bread). I haven't been there in over five years and I am sure I would have trouble understanding the language now.

Graeme: Did you say "Aargh" because you knew some idiot would ask you why both of your daughters are balding?

Oh yes, as I am posting one day later than Alison, I can say that we are having a cool rainy day. The hot weather she mentioned started some bush fires and I was very happy to see this rain.

For the third time in my life, I am trying to learn to play the harmonica. This time it might take, because a few days ago I suceeded in bending from A to A-flat on my Key of C Blues harp. I find it really different from all other instruments I play because there is no finger dexterity involved.

Murray

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From:
Date: 19 Oct 98 - 09:23 AM

Hi; This is a great thread. I see only one other Nova Scotian.. an Inlander from Springhill..ha.ha.. It is great to see where everyone is...pretty geographically eclectic group. This is a great time for folk music in Nova Scotia.. it has always been here of course, but it seems that lately the rest of the world is sitting up and taking notice. I don't think that many other places in North America has produced such great musicians over the years.Now at last they are being recognized. Right now the Celtic Colours Festival is on and the lineup is wonderful. Too bad you couldn't all be here to see it..some good eh ? Aldus M.

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: Earl
Date: 19 Oct 98 - 10:08 AM

I live in Essex MA. which is somewhere between DWDitty and Barry Finn. I play guitar, mandolin and harmonica and I have recently become an adequate concertina player. My wife and I play as a duo, she plays standup bass, washtub bass and jug. We do blues, ragtime, jugband, oldtime country; about 30% originals. We have a twelve year old son who is beginning to learn guitar. We are also part of an acoustic band called Cheap Champagne which changes personnel and repertoire quite frequently.

Every year we organize the Essex Music Festival, featuring acoustic musicians from the Cape Ann area, north of Boston. This year we had folk, bluegrass, blues, oldtime country, maritime, Celtic harp, and storytelling, and a couple of acts that defy description.

The weather here today is postcard beautiful after about a solid week of rain.

Subject: RE: Mudcat (THE WORLD)Let us know where you are.
From: MMario
Date: 19 Oct 98 - 12:39 PM

another Cape Codder - (Sandwich) but transplanted to Finger Lakes region of New York. Don't play any insturments, but have recently joined with some friends and we sing at every available oppurtunity. something we all find we miss from our mispent youths, and that seems to be missing in the lives of many youngsters today