This is sort of a shot in the dark, since no one has ever said anything to me directly about it, and the many strange questions I've been asked have been outside of any and all context.

There was a time (25 or so years ago) when I was writing a lot of letters. Most of the people I wrote to I did know personally. Arlo and other Guthries, I knew a bit more, uh ... peripherally.

Here's the thing: I was just being friendly. It was a gesture from a writer and musician who a) was very young (and probably spent way too much time reading the works of the Beat Generation writers), b) happened to be in an entirely different country for most of that time, and who c) was often spending about 20 out of every 24 hours asleep at that point in my life. (A whole lot of the awake time was spent puking my guts out. This was long before the tumor was even diagnosed, and while it was infecting and affecting all my internal organs.)

Anyway, I'd feel terrible if it made Arlo and/or his family uncomfortable, and want to apologize if it did. That's why I kept asking if it was OK for me to write at the time -- and since I never got an answer, I stopped.

I certainly wasn't (and am not) in love with Arlo, and didn't mean to give the impression that I was, if I did. I like his work sure, and he seems like a really nice guy, but how could I be in love with him? I didn't (and don't) know the guy socially, and didn't even know very much about him. Marjorie had sent me information about Huntington's disease so I knew about that, but nothing else. We've "met" very briefly on occasion, but only at his shows; and given how many people Arlo runs into at an average concert, I'd expect to stand out about as much as an individual blade of grass stands out in a lawn. I certainly had no idea that Guthries had any ties in the Woodstock area. As is the case for most people, Woodstock was just the name of a concert (and a bird in "Peanuts") to me. That's as much as I knew about it before moving here. The connection never even occured to me -- until several years later, anyway.

When I moved here I <u>was</u> very much in love, true enough -- with Rick. We'd been lovers for a couple of years by that time, and he'd proposed starting a family. I'd said yes. Since this is where he was based, and since nothing else actually worked out for me at that particular time, it all seemed a logical enough. My friend John Carroll (of The Starland Vocal Band) told me that the people here were "the salt of the earth", and that I'd love the place. My career as a singer and percussionist was taking off in a big way, so being close to Manhattan made a lot of sense. Several of the musicians I was associated with were working around this area, as well -- Tom Collins comes to mind, along with John Carroll -- and Paul Butterfield would generally play with the same people I played with in D.C. The list goes on and on ...

And besides, nothing else worked out for me then. It was like destiny was consipiring with fate -- no other options were open at the time.

By the way, since it seems to keep coming up -- I <u>was</u> married (in a civil ceremony) very briefly, about 23 or so years ago. We both realized it was a mistake so we never went through with the religious ceremony, and I never really took his name. He's a Mexican, doesn't speak much English at all, and we haven't communicated since January of '81 ... With Rick on the other hand, it was love at first sight. It's one of those things that can't really end, because it just <u>is</u>. (Go figure.)

Take care, everybody. See you around ... I hope this was the right shot in the right dark, though ...

Muffy, I'm totally in the dark as to the purpose of this post? Was it to get a message out to Arlo that you're not in love with him and those were the writings of a teenager? Was it to let us know you wrote to him in the long-ago past? Please explain

Muffy, best wishes to you on resolving the matter.

<center><FONT COLOR="#000080">--- Edited 1 times, lastly by Nathen on Apr 01, 2003 ---</FONT></center>

I remember the Starland Vocal Band. They were a folk group that had out the hit song Afternoon Delight & a tv show in the 70's. Bill Danoof of the Starland Vocal Band is based in DC now I believe. He wrote a John Denver song, might've been Country Roads...

Oops! A typo. Should be Danoff or either Dannoff...