"Singing is what I like to do most. We had music as our central core and we all loved it and we would do anything we could to learn as much of it as we could.


Hank Bradley and Frannie share a Greek tune. photo: Evo Bluestein

"Sweet's Mill is where I met Jeanie McLerie, and I started singing harmony. After playing Irish music for some years, all in unison, it was mind expanding to start singing harmony. Life could not get any better. Singing with Jeanie's rich deep voice was like jumping in a pool and becoming larger than yourself with another person.

"The things that happened at the Mill lasted. The experiences, the music and the friends, the values that I made, I kept. And they're still with me now.

"I was living in Berkeley during 1968 when I first went to Sweet's Mill. I was involved in this place called Holy Foods. I had done all the tie dyed banners for it. They were going up to Sweet's Mill to bring food. When I got there I felt like had come home. Pitu Guli (Balkan band from Los Angeles) was at camp and the Golden Toad (included Will Spires and Bob Thomas). There was the Shady Oak Kitchen (Warren Argo and other folks from Seattle).

"It seemed like it was the right way to live. There was no question. I can't describe what is was like. It's hard to talk about that indescribable thing that is at the center of your soul. We would go there and play music with people we didn't get to play with when we were at home. The music would travel and fan out to all the places that people lived in.

"Virgil fostered it and encouraged it. He made a safe place for us to be. Then once you found out about it, it was a strong attraction. You wanted to go there. It fed itself. It was like a family and it was loving and you could make mistakes and people still loved you."

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