Early one fateful evening in 1982, a tall blonde walked into the almost empty filk room at Conclave. She pulled her guitar out of its case and quietly listened as us renown singers filled the air with our caterwauling. I finally noticed her (HA! Me not notice a tall blonde!) and cajoled her into singing. Well, that was it for that Conclave. Music soared over the room, and some of it even hung around. Pure tones and stuff like that.
"Mew" has since become a fixture at the midwestern filksings. You can recognize her easily by sight. Like I said she's tall and blonde, plays a handmade beat up classical guitar, and carries a songbook that's thicker than the Oxford Unabridged Dictionary. You can recognize her even easier by listening. She's the one you can hear as you walk down the hall, maybe singing filk, more likely singing Stan Rogers, or Pete Seeger or some other folk. Or some Joni Mitchell. Or a madrigal. Or some Do)wop rock. Or something jazzy. Or a hymn. Or almost anything with words. Or at least a tune.
Well, time has passed, and since those halcyon days Mew has sung backup for Wail Songs, Off Centaur, Thor Records, and Dag Productions. She's sung with dozen of singers. Mew is a good solo performer, but (in my humble opinion) her great strength is that she can blend with other people, find the harmony that was needed to fill out the song, and make everything work. It's a rare gift, and one that too few people approach.
Lest you should think that Mew's only interest is music I should point out that she is also interested in various other art forms including literature, sculpture, movies, paintings, photos, and weaving. She lived in the San Francisco Bay area for a while but now she lives in Ann Arbor with her cat Fang, a computer, 2 guitars, a mountain dulcimer, several recorders, panpipes, doumbeks, a bodhran, tinwhistles, an ensoniq keyboard, a banjo... and lots of books and records.
Clif Flynt