The Mudcat Café

Subject: The Mudcat Café
From: Max
Date: 01 Oct 96 - 12:00 AM

I thank you all for all your kind emails. Many are full of wonderful information and information requests. They all induced me to create this forum to share with the rest of the world. For I think we're all in it for the same reasons... the enjoyment of this art form called music.

I hope you all enjoy this new service. It is still very new, so some debugging may be needed.

Thanks again,

Max D. Spiegel - Publisher - The Mudcat Café

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From:
Date: 02 Oct 96 - 03:43 PM

Thanks very much for picking up the Digital Tradition database! It has been a favorite and much used site on the web. And the message forum is a great idea. A much needed source for folk music fans!

Warm Regards, -Shawn

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From:
Date: 03 Oct 96 - 08:30 PM

Max... Congratulations and great job! Looking for tunes is one of the most frustrating of obsessions for a "play by ear" Hammered Dulcimer player, like myself. With the help of people like yourself to find the music to some of these fascinating tunes I hear & the remarkable assistance of a particular piece of software which will play back that music so I can "hear" it....who knows how far I can go..eh?

Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou...... Lucy Anderberg Northern Ill.

I will pass this address onto members of our group. (H.A.N.D.S.)

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From:
Date: 11 Oct 96 - 10:35 AM

Hello Max, I have told all my musicain freinds (and it seems some not so friendly) all about your beautiful site here at The MudCat Cafe. Again I would like to wish you all the best .

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Dale Rose
Date: 15 Oct 98 - 06:29 PM

Sometimes we need to be reminded of things. Thanks again, Max, Dick, Susan, and all those nameless (to me) people who help get the good news out there to us all.

Message located with Max's nifty new search feature.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Zorro
Date: 16 Oct 98 - 06:55 AM

I'm not sure what I did during pre-Mudcat, but I didn't enjoy it quite as much I'm sure. The Cat is the second thing I look for when I get on line. The first is my e-mail so that I might check my status with a certain lady. It goes up and down in a hurry. Keep up the good work. You are much appreciated.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: The Shambles
Date: 16 Oct 98 - 03:34 PM

As a fairly recent visitor to your establishment I would like to say thank you very much for all the help and pleasure that I have found here. Don't know why it works so well, just glad and grateful to you that it does. The new search bit has opened up a lot more too. The coffee is bad though!

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Joe Offer
Date: 16 Oct 98 - 04:24 PM

Looks like it took me until January 5, 1997, to find this site after the Xerox site shut down. Gee, I sure was slow back in those days. I checked to see how many messages I've posted since then - this is #2149. I didn't realize I was quite so talkative...
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Mountain Dog
Date: 16 Oct 98 - 06:53 PM

Keep it up, Joe; your batting average is the stuff of the Hall of Fame!

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Maj Marvelous
Date: 16 Oct 98 - 07:31 PM

Many Thanks to Mudcat for getting me in touch with one of your own, The Oldtimer, Gene. His assistance to me has been unheralded. Thanks so much

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 16 Oct 98 - 08:33 PM

G'day,
I'm the same as Zorro, while I read my emails, Mudcat's loading in the background, it's the default home page in my browser.

Congratulations Max, on all your hard work and continuing innovation.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Big Mick
Date: 16 Oct 98 - 10:02 PM

Max,

You know how I feel about the opportunity to network with all these fine people. You, by your developement of the Mudcat Cafe, have given me access to friends around the world. I am indebted to you.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Oct 98 - 10:45 PM

I suppose I found Mudcat in about Nov96...(having Dick G to send me there...)been being resident "purist snob" ever since...*grin*....what an amazing place!! Knowlege, humor, music....guess I'll stay for awhile...

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Art Thieme
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 12:43 AM

Max,

Given an amount of personal isolation recently that I never thought I'd experience, this site has kept me able to be puttin' my two cents into the folk world in a way that keeps me giving back stuff that I've so graciously been handed for free by so many selfless mentors and womentors over the last 40 years. The give and take--the yin and the yang of it---the karma---that's what's happening here. Every time we give, we get! Hell, Mudcat is more fun than chocolate. And much less fattening. You'd think I could learn that better than I have!!!

Love to y'all,

Art

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: BSeed
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 03:11 AM

Max, I hope you finally found your name in my song--the "Missing the Mudcat Blues" were inspired by my real sense of panic when you shut the threads down briefly last Sunday. I don't know how it could possibly be as good as it is. --seed

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: BSeed
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 03:13 AM

Or to put it another way, "It feels so good it must be sinful." --seed

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: BSeed
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 03:14 AM

Hey! Was that a kicker for a country song? --seed

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Big Mick
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 01:03 PM

We have all been giving accolades (and rightly so) to Max for giving us the land upon which we have built the city. But reading Art's post above, reminded me that it's only land and buildings, or a site and hardware, without all of you. Let me begin by saying that Art Thieme has enriched this site by his presence from the beginning. And he has enriched my life by his acts of kindness (he knows what they are) in a very personal way. I have found in him, a true friend in our cyberspace town, and it is people like him that have taken the great gift of the Mudcat and given it life. The same goes for Joe O., Roger H., Bseed, Frank i.t.s., Barbara, Harpgirl, Alison (I grow faint just typing her name in ***GRIN***), northfolk, BillD, Alan of Australia, Graeme, Maelgwyn, The Shambles, Dale Rose, Takeo, Zorro and on and on.

So in addition to the thanks we seem to be spreading for Max, I want to add my personal thanks for all of you for enriching my life.

All the best to all of you,

Mick

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Barbara
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 02:09 PM

The Friend speaks my mind. (That's Quaker for 'ditto')
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: BSeed
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 02:33 PM

How right you are, Mick. The people make the Mudcat, and Max brought us all together. I nominate him for sainthood--not that agnostics pull much weight with the Vatican. --seed

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 02:55 PM

Two very important names were mentioned way up above in this thread, and I want to make sure they're not forgotten - Dick and Susan started the Digital Tradition Folk Song Database some ten years ago, before many of us had even touched a computer. They're not as noisy or noticeable as some of the rest of us, but their guidance and vast knowledge has been with us all the time. Besides all that, they seem to be genuinely nice people.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 04:43 PM

I had the pleasure of meeting Dick and Susan, Joe, and they are genuinely nice people. I walked into a large room at a strange camp trying to figure out how I register for this Folk Getaway. This guy walks up to me whom I don't recognize and says "Hi, Roger!" with much enthusiasm and pleasure in his voice.

Of course, I was wearing my Mudcat T-shirt and it's easy to suspect that I wear a 3X. That's all the information Dick needed to guess who I am. He and Susan took time to introduce me to the other Mudcatters who were about. Sunday night we had a short chat about the joys of Mudcatting and about the folks we wish could have come (see Big Mick's listabove and include Big Mick).

I am grateful to each and everyone.

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: BSeed
Date: 17 Oct 98 - 06:46 PM

I've been dreaming lately of a Mudcat convention--kind of a reunion of people most of whom have never met. I think Chicago is the best place, fairly centrally located in the US, and most important, the home of Art Thieme. A motel with a meeting room or three, and of course a bar--we want our Irish brethren and sistren to attend. Or a park near the city where we could have an outdoor festival..."You can say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one...." --seed (not the quote; that's lennon, of course)

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Jenny
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 12:04 AM

Roger ... I'm so jealous! I was all registered and set to go to the Getaway and had to cancel at the last minute due to my grandmother's passing away. Dick and Susan were to be my roomies. It sounds like you had to kind of "time" I was looking forward to. I'm already setting my sights for next year. I found this site last February and look forward everyday to reading, contributing, and sometimes lurking (when I'm just too tired). This site has all the elements of a good song ... joy, humor, sadness, sin, sex, empathy, sympathy, and a great melody! I've had the pleasure of communicating with some of the "Cats" outside of the threads, and have gotten to know them a bit better. So ... hats off to the inspirations of them that made it happen. BTW ... thanks for all the kinds thoughts about my grandmother ... it meant so much to me. Jenny

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 01:01 AM

While Joe Offer credited Dick and Susan (above) for founding the Digital Tradition database, I'd like to give credit also to Dennis Cook, whose data base was merged with Susan's to form the original DT. Dennis isn't a Mudcatter (yet, at least), but he was at the Getaway mentioned by Roger and Jenny above.

Roger--sorry I didn't get to meet you at the Getaway. Dick mentioned to me that you'd arrived, but I had to leave fairly early on Sunday.

--Charlie Baum

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Jon Bartlett
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 01:38 AM

Greetings to all from New Westminster, BC, Canada, where we've just had the good fortune to meet and host Dick and Susan. Aren't they wonderful? This is my first posting but I'm sure not the last. Our Vancouver Folk Song Society will shortly be posting our entire Archive listings to the net at geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/3254. We run Retreats in Summer and Winter and Mudcatters would be more than welcome.

Salut, Jon

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Guy Wolff
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 10:54 PM

I just got this conputer so I'm new to typing but am so very happy to find ypur site.Thanks for all the hard work that shows in it all.I'm just starting on my second{vanity pressed} CD and am so happy to find out who wrote the things I'm doing .It makes one look less foolish when calling BMI and ASCAP,though still just as broke. I still don't get the arangement fees. Say you are inspired by Rye Cooder's arangement of Leadbelly's Irene Good Night but do something else with it Who do you pay.I guess this should go in the new tread dept.buthere I am. Huge thanks again!....

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Art Thieme
Date: 18 Oct 98 - 11:11 PM

SEED,

You are a huge perspiration to me too.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: BSeed
Date: 19 Oct 98 - 12:59 AM

Gargoyle, Peoples' Park is an interesting suggestion for a festival--we could get a lot of the Telegraph Avenue street people, many musicians among them. People have been known to camp there, as well, usually in blanket rolls next to their shopping carts. Of course, the police roust them from time to time... --seed

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 20 May 00 - 09:34 PM

This is the beginning. The first Thread in the Mudcat Cafe, and a snapshot of some of the Pioneers. See anyone you know? This thread will be in the Mudcat Classic Threads FAQ.(oh, Joe O, please erase this post, if you would.)

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 May 00 - 10:00 PM

Note that there were only four messages posted to this thread in 1996, and then nothing until it was resurrected in 1998. You will find a few familiar names in the 1996 posts - Gene Graham and Bill D, for two. A person named Gargoyle joined early on, too. I think it was December 1996 that I discovered Mudcat.
Nice place, I'd say.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 20 May 00 - 10:28 PM

Art, I guess we differ in priorities.
For me it is chocolate first, Mudcat second and everything else is 3rd or less.
Can't thank you enough Max
Sincerely,
Little Neo

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From:
Date: 21 May 00 - 01:32 AM

Out of curiosity, when did the Digital Tradition database show up here? I don't remember the first time I showed up here. It had to have been after Xerox dropped the DT.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 May 00 - 03:10 AM

George - Max's message in the thread on the History of the Digital Tradition makes me think that the forum came after the Digital Tradition came, but that there was a Mudcat before the database came here.
Max or Dick or Susan, can you give us the straight poop?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: bbelle
Date: 21 May 00 - 03:42 AM

It was nice to see this thread again ... thanks ... Jenny

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Peter T.
Date: 21 May 00 - 10:31 AM

Can you bronze a thread?
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: GUEST,Sheila
Date: 21 May 00 - 11:15 AM

I don't know how in the world I ever came upon this site but it certainly was my lucky day! You "regulars" are the stuff heaven is made of. Too bad I have a day job otherwise you couldn't tear me away. S.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: The Shambles
Date: 21 May 00 - 11:43 AM

This quote was put in the 'Just do it' thread, by McGrath of Harlow on 19th May 2000. It seemed to sum up the Mudcat.

"I am inclined to think that a hunt for folk songs is better than a hunt for heroes". Beethoven.

I have not seen any direct contributions to the forum from this Beethoven person, but he/she does appear to know what they are talking about.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Art Thieme
Date: 22 May 00 - 12:46 AM

Aye, I guess Camelot is still here in the misty haze of these latter days after all. Many of us are some bloodied but our heads are still unbowed. And the knights and fair damsels seated at our own 'round table' -- the whole world 'round here in cyberspace -- are still what make the wonder of this place -- this Cafe -- the close to perfect nourishing oasis we needed on an often nasty and dry landscape. Shame on me if I ever lost sight of the fact of it's existence. Max, you pulled Excaliber from the depths of the lake yet another time. HERE is as good a place as any for us searchers to hunt after AND FIND that elusive whisp of philosophy we call the Grail. It is right here, you know -- lurking in different threads for different folks. Some of those threads have yet to be written - but no doubt about it -- the whispy Grail thing is there obscured and covered as always in white and/or red samite. It's "blowin' in the wind" for us to notice, grab and keep in our heads and in our hearts.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Dale Rose
Date: 22 May 00 - 01:04 AM

So well put, Art, that I don't have the words. Thank You.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Peg
Date: 22 May 00 - 02:49 PM

Lovely words, Art. (hence the name)

The grail imagery is fitting.

Peg
channelling Percival

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Amergin
Date: 22 May 00 - 03:25 PM

Speechless at your words, Art. Beautifully put. Thank you, Max, for setting this Cafe up. It's a great place.

Amergin

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Max
Date: 22 May 00 - 07:26 PM

Thanks all, the SuperSearch does allow us to find jewels over the years huh? I vividly remember the day I posted that message. Life sure was different for me then. I must say I stumbled upon my 2nd greatest creation that day (the first being my daughter). Your kind words then and now make all the effort over the years not only worth it, but some of the best time I have ever spent.

Joe, I am not really sure the exact date that I got the DT. I know I first contacted dick and got ahold of the DT somewhere between May and October 1996.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Amos
Date: 22 Jul 04 - 02:58 PM

Well it's now 2004, and it has been almost eight years since you made that kick-off, Max. Somehow, you've kept it going through thick and thin. I gotta hand it to you, it has been a wild and wonderful ride, but a richly beautiful result, in sum, and greatly, greatly appreciated.


A

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Megan L
Date: 22 Jul 04 - 03:18 PM

there are days when getting in the door is a challenge, but it is always worth the effort. Thank you Max for a site full of warmth and fascination.

Meg

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Arkie
Date: 22 Jul 04 - 03:49 PM

Max, thanks for creating a gathering place for folk with our peculiar interest in music. I know it has been a challenge but it has been a fantastic ride. Your efforts along with Dick and Joe and the others who have pitched in are much appreciated.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: fat B****rd
Date: 22 Jul 04 - 04:11 PM

Yes indeed, many thanks Max. But where are all the people from 1998-2000 ?

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: harpmaker
Date: 22 Jul 04 - 07:45 PM

Max, 'tis great. Well done!
Art, Thanks.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Mudlark
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 12:34 AM

I no longer remember how I came to the Mudcat, but I'll never forget the wonderful friends I've made here, and the pleasure of having a comfortable, folkie place to hang out, when I'm in need of company or a music hit, or have a question, musical or otherwise, that needs answering. A truly remarkable resource. Thanks to all that have made it possible, and keep it going.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 02:34 AM

"It is still very new, so some debugging may be needed. "

... and de buggers are still around ....

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: mooman
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 04:13 AM

fB

Well I'm still here!

Peace

moo

(and thanks Max for a continuing great site despite the efforts of a very few who try to spoil it for everyone. You are immensely tolerant.)

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Flash Company
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 04:24 AM

I'm a relative newcomer to Mudcat, having been told of you by an old singing friend that I hadn't seen for years.
Its great to have a space to share with like minded people and swap songs and stories.(Bit like a good Folk Club should be really)
Over the months I have been with you, you have made me both laugh and cry on many occasions. Just a thought, why don't all the nice people on the internet get the press publicity instead of the nasty ones?

FC

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 05:24 AM

Sensationalism!

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Fibula Mattock
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 05:37 AM

I bought a book last weekend for 50p. It was about the Internet, and it was written in 1994. Of the 200 or so pages in the book, about 3 (count 'em!) talked about the World Wide Web. This was back in the glory days when there were no advertisements on the net and thin, directory books of sites were published - ahhh, nostalgia! A few example sites were given. I flicked through, and out of the page jumped the words "the Digital Tradition". Yup, there it was - precursor of our beloved Mudcat, immortalised in the pages of a well out-of-date techie book (my favourite sort of techie books - hours of amusement!).
Long may it continue!

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 09:14 AM

where would I be without Mudcat?

I had a bit of an inkling over the past month while I was computerless & could only access the internet briefly on the browser at work. I read my incoming mail most days & took a quick squizz at Mudcat on some days. My nights were filled as always, but reading, embroidery & knitting were continued all evening without stopping 10-ish to drag out the laptop & log on for a few hours in the World Wide Web, ie. Mudcat!!

It was wonderful to get back to to my routine.

Thanks to Max &everyone who makes it what it is - a wonderful community.

sandra

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Charley Noble
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 09:22 AM

Mudcat has been a great creative resource for me in the brief 4 years that I've been posting, and it's the one website that I consistently boot up. Thanks, Max, for keeping this website going.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Willie-O
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 02:10 PM

A piece of our history...

I'm kind of amazed this thread isn't locked tightly away, but that says much about the kind of place this is.

W-O

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Fidjit
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 02:16 PM

This is one of those cosy cafes that you drop in to to find your friends. They're always there that's what friends are for.

Thanks.

Chas

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Amos
Date: 16 Feb 07 - 11:00 AM

WHile I would not go so far as to say that 'what friends are for' is to wait around in a café against the possibility you might drop in so they can be there for you, I do believe that wonderful friendships have been formed from the nucleus of the Mudcat Cafe, and that it is in many respects a really brilliant piece of social design.

A

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Max
Date: 16 Feb 07 - 12:41 PM

We're almost done debugging.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 16 Feb 07 - 12:46 PM

Whoopeee!!!!
G.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: GUEST,Noreen
Date: 16 Feb 07 - 02:09 PM

:0)

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Jeri
Date: 16 Feb 07 - 05:37 PM

"We're almost done debugging."

You know, a whole science fiction/horror movie could be based upon those 5 words.

Now, as long as people's handles show up on posts in ALL views, and things refresh to the right page, you'll be fine. When you're done debugging, you may want to warn us so we can get dogs and make sure Arnie's prepared to fight the evil machines. ('Terminator' reference)

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 16 Feb 07 - 05:58 PM

"We're almost done debugging."

Just as long as you're sure, guys, that the light at the end of the tunnel is not the headlight of an approaching train....

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Stewart
Date: 16 Feb 07 - 07:54 PM

Is this now the longest running thread?

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: JennyO
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 06:40 AM

Subject: The Mudcat Café
From: Max - PM
Date: 01 Oct 96 - 12:00 AM

.....I hope you all enjoy this new service. It is still very new, so some debugging may be needed.




Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Max - PM
Date: 16 Feb 07 - 12:41 PM

We're almost done debugging.



LOL, Max!

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Charley Noble
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 11:07 AM

refresh!

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: buddhuu
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 11:34 AM

Cool. :-)

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Artful Codger
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 12:18 PM

I don't understand: I keep clicking on the links, but I never get any coffee!

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 04:56 PM

Don't worry AC. In this place you make your own coffee. That way it should be just to your liking!

I note hat earlier Shambles complained that the coffee was bad. Obviously he can't fend for himself!

Keep up the good work Max, and as we sang at Llantrisant "We'll keep a welcome in the hillsides"

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: gnu
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 05:18 PM

Working out the bugs... and a few buggers along the way... hehehe. I was reminded of that by the last

Ahem. Decorum.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Tootler
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 06:26 PM

Try Jerry Rasmussen's kitchen table, AC. He usually provides pretty good coffee.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Leadfingers
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 06:41 PM

SCARY !! Its FIVE years since I was sat drinking coffee with Jerry and Ruth ! And that was after a STORMING evening with Max and his band after the '05 Getaway !!

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Oct 10 - 02:35 AM

It's over three years since Stewart asked, but this is indeed the longest-running thread, and always has been. I don't understand the math of all this, but somehow threads 1, 2, and 3 are more recent than this one, the immortal Thread #4 - which, coincidentally or not, begins with Message #4, which is the very first message in the very first thread.
There are no messages 1, 2, and 3.

14 years, hey? It's been a pretty good run. Let's hope for many more years. I was going to say that we should run at least until Max gets old and grey....but I think I noticed when I saw him a few weeks ago, that Max was already getting a bit of grey hair.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 27 Oct 10 - 03:26 AM

that's the magic of Mudcat, Joe, it defies mathematical calculations!

sandra

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Oct 10 - 10:21 AM

If he'd lived a little longer, I know my father (John Dwyer) would have discovered and become a regular participant here at Mudcat. He died in November of 1997 and as a computer user was on the cusp of discovering this kind of music site. It would have suited his reference librarian's heart to research and post lyrics here.

SRS

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: GUEST,DrWord
Date: 27 Oct 10 - 03:32 PM

what so many of you have said. I may be an infrequent contributor, but when I am online, I'm on Mudcat. Like SRS' father, the 'cat suits this retired librarian's heart. Thanks, Max & Joe & Dick & Susan and the whole Mudcat community. Keep on pickin!

Dennis

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Art Thieme
Date: 27 Oct 10 - 06:49 PM

So far I'm still here hangin' out --- still thanking Max and so many of you who are also survivors.
Art

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Fidjit
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 06:23 AM

I'm just happy to be a part of it all. Thanks Joe & Co

Cha

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: jacqui.c
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 07:42 AM

I don't like to think of life without Mudcat. It's a real life changer.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 10:16 AM

I guess so, Jacqui! Your story is just part of the Mudcat magic!

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Crowhugger
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 02:51 PM

This has been my home page & online hang-out for more than 10 years, though you wouldn't always know it because often I just enjoy reading without posting. It's the best place I've found to enjoy talking with other music- & folklore-loving people. And it never ceases to amaze me how quickly the most obscure-seeming questions are answered! I often follow that type of thread just to be amazed anew.

When I'm not here it's because I'm eating, sleeping, running the dogs, making music or hanging out with my wonderful husband. That's it, 5 fundamental things in my life and Mudcat is one of them. Thanks to Max, the mods and everyone who makes Mudcat Cafe such a comfy and interesting online living room.

~CH.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 02:53 PM

Well, so far it's been fun.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Max
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 03:08 PM

Wow, 14 years. Who'd've of thought. Folks... I'm the lucky one. Thank you all for keeping me company and teaching me so many wonderful things. 3.5 million messages on 90,000 topics, in 14 years, unbelievable.

Much love, -max

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 03:12 PM

...but maybe we're slipping, Max. We didn't get around to celebrating our October 1 birthday until late October.

Happy Mudbirthday to all of us.

And thanks, Max.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Suffet
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 04:03 PM

Will there be some sort of 15th anniversary celebration next year?

--- Steve

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 04:57 PM

Many thanks to Dick and Susan, Max and Joe - I've met so many new friends as a result of being invited to a Mudcat BBQ (hosted by the Ducks) at Whitby festival in 2001! (and am pleased to have met all 4 of you in Whitby too, though in different years).

Kitty

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: JohnH
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 05:29 PM

Virtual card and flowers and thanks for the shoe site!
J.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 05:45 PM

Should do something to celebrate next year...let's all go to Max' place!

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: SylviaN
Date: 28 Oct 10 - 06:18 PM

Yes, let's celebrate - especially friends old and new.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 29 Oct 10 - 05:06 AM

Having been on since 2006, I think it's a good no-fuss design of a forum; although, ideally (cat among the pigeons!), it would be owned by the United Nations, with Max and Joe working for them...and a "translate" button to encourage discussion with folks in other lands would be nice. (I'd type the Happy Birthday tune in D, but, alas, it has a copyright on it.)

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 29 Oct 10 - 05:54 AM

...sorry - only just noticed there is a "translate" button.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: C-flat
Date: 29 Oct 10 - 07:36 AM

In the last 10 years I've learnt a lot from this site, not just music-related, and found some great songs.
It's a nice place to be around, even if all you want to do is "lurk".

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Ebbie
Date: 25 Feb 13 - 11:17 AM

Thanks, Bill D, for dusting off this venerable thread. Faces and names may have changed over the years but the sentiment remains.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: gnu
Date: 25 Feb 13 - 11:41 AM

Time flies... eh?

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Feb 13 - 12:25 PM

I still haven't figured our why Thread Number 4 is the very first thread...

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Beer
Date: 25 Feb 13 - 12:29 PM

Not sure I follow you Joe. What is thread no.4?   What was the first thread BTW?

adrien

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 25 Feb 13 - 12:32 PM

Date: 25 Feb 13 - 11:17 AM

Thanks, Bill D, for dusting off this venerable thread. Faces and names may have changed over the years but the sentiment remains.
Has a post gone walkabout?
The immediate prior post was 2010, so it looks as if Ebbie has ressurected it.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Beer
Date: 25 Feb 13 - 12:39 PM

That also confused Nigel.
ad.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 25 Feb 13 - 12:41 PM

adrien - this is thread no.4 - see threadid=4 in the web address line. And I think Joe is saying this is the first thread and it's not no.1.

Mick

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: maeve
Date: 25 Feb 13 - 12:42 PM

The revival of this thread was inspired by this other thread.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Beer
Date: 25 Feb 13 - 02:23 PM

Thank you Mick and maeve.
ad.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 25 Feb 13 - 08:02 PM

Thanks to Bill, & everyone who posted on this thread over the years/decades!

I've had a lovely nostalgic time.

sandra

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Beer
Date: 25 Feb 13 - 08:13 PM

We sure lost a lot of good one though.
ad.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 26 Feb 13 - 12:40 AM

Wow, Thread #1, I barely recognized you! But then we've all gained a few posts since 96, haven't we. Well, see you in a few more years. Take care of yourself.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: skarpi
Date: 26 Feb 13 - 01:43 AM

why can´t go in to Members photo and info .??

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 26 Feb 13 - 06:20 AM

Alas, Skarpi, they were victims of the Great Tea Trolley Disaster of '02... (apologies to Frank "Bristow" Dickens.)

RtS

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: bbc
Date: 02 Oct 16 - 01:52 PM

I'm happy to have had my part in putting faces to the names on mudcat. Lots of good friends & lots of good information, through the years!

Best to all,

Barbara

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 03 Oct 16 - 05:12 AM

long live Mudcat!

sandra

Subject: RE: Mudcat FAQ - Newcomer's Guide
From: Mo the caller
Date: 14 Feb 24 - 03:05 AM

Daft question for those of us who are here already, but
What is Mudcat?
I was giving someone a link and couldn't find a summary either here or on the Homepage.
On the table of content in this thread there is Introduction, but nothing happens when I click it.

Subject: RE: Mudcat FAQ - Newcomer's Guide
From: Monique
Date: 14 Feb 24 - 05:41 AM

There's one on Wikipedia.

Subject: RE: Mudcat FAQ - Newcomer's Guide
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Feb 24 - 05:17 PM

Hi, Mo - the Introduction is the introduction to the FAQ. The Wikipedia article is a pretty good description.

Here's the very first thread from Mudcat (don't ask why it's thread #4):

https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=004

As you can see, it has no set purpose and no set rules, just a discussion forum built around a folk song database. There are those who specify what mudcat is and what it isn't, but I think most of us appreciate its lack of structure and purpose. It has been growing organically for 27-1/2 years.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: keberoxu
Date: 14 Feb 24 - 07:21 PM

In the past I have much appreciated the observation
that serious research has its place in this forum,
and if the question what is mudcat were put to me,
I would include the research observation in my answer.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Reinhard
Date: 15 Feb 24 - 12:05 AM

> Here's the very first thread from Mudcat

which is the very thread we're writing to

> (don't ask why it's thread #4):

Threads #1-3 probably were deleted spam ;-)

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Feb 24 - 01:24 AM

No, threads 1 and 2 are still there, but 3 doesn't load. They're kind of out of sequence time-wise.

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Feb 24 - 06:05 PM

Ooh, nostalgia! I har it's not what it used to be...

Subject: RE: The Mudcat Café
From: keberoxu
Date: 23 Feb 24 - 07:12 PM

Long live the Mudcat, in any case.