WoodenBoat
June 1999
On
the Waterfront
by Peter H. Spectre
Who was
it that suggested an evening of sea chanteys was better than a
root canal, but not much better? It
wasn't me, but don't think for a minute that it didn't cross my
mind as I slipped the Shifty Sailors' "Heave Ho, My Lads!"
into my CD player. Even my little dog Fiona ducked for cover.
But this is a class act: good songs, good singing—harmonious,
in fact—a new take on an old genre, a cut above everything
else. The Shifty Sailors are from Whidbey Island, Washington,
and their CD is available from Shifty Sailors, P.O. Box 53, Greenbank.
WA 98253; 360-678-5019.
The
Weekender
by Pat Detmer
I'm
Coming Out
So here
goes. I'm coming out:
I am
a Shifty Sailor groupie.
I'd been
reading about the Shifty Sailors ever since we disembarked onto
the island three years ago. They were here, they were there. They
would appear at this festival, at that fair. They were mentioned
in columns. Somehow, I kept missing them.
And then
1 finally saw them at the Water Festival in Coupeville.
I was
smitten. There they were in their striped glory, young and old,
barrel-chested and thin, gray of hair and not, bushy-faced and
shorn, and their energy and humor was contagious, their ebullience
enchanting.
It was
John, Paul, George, and Ringo all over again. I did not swoon
and scream or rush forward for an autograph. I have not started
on any work of fan fiction involving members of the Shifty Sailors,
for I have yet to know their names. I'm back at the beginning
stages of this, back where you search Whidbey websites to see
where they will next appear, and where you do things like call
the Coupeville Pharmacy from Seattle to find out if the tickets
for their fund-raising dinner at the Recreation Hall are on sale
yet.
I am
back there at the stage where you are just naming your obsession.
I think
that I am a Shiftiac.
You can
e-mail Pat Detmer at
lslandColumn@aol.com.
From
the desk of
Senator Mary Margaret Haugen
Thanks
to the Shifty Sailors
for accepting my invitation to the Capitol Campus
Something
that never changes from session to session is the stress that
builds throughout the busy few months we have to pass bills. Each
of us comes to Olympia determined to do our best for our districts,
with more total projects than the state can afford, and it’s
always painful when we see projects we consider vital fail to
win the support needed for final passage. This unfailingly wears
on all of us, with predictable results — the stress on everyone
just seems to build and build — that is, until we had the
privilege of a rousing performance by Whidbey’s very own
Shifty Sailors folk music group on the Senate floor last week.
If you’ve ever heard this band of talented minstrels play,
then you won’t be surprised when I tell you their music
lifted the mood of the Senate in mere seconds — and gave
us all a much-needed boost as we headed into the always tense
negotiations of the final days.
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