So sorry to see the Shellbacks have disbanded. You;ve had a long good run of it. My fisrt encounter with Derek was in Boston somewhere around late late 90's or the very early 2000's. He was not with the shellbacks but I beleive he was scouting out the north eastern seaboard in plans of having them over. It was great mmeeting him but sadley I don't think we ever met up later. He then sent me an e-mail about the Shellbacks coming over & I met up with them at the Getaway. I'm most grateful for the friendships that thus developed form those meetings, espically with Carole & Andrew & doubly with Theresa Tooley with whom I've had loads of musical memories with. My funniest moments were when, in the midst of a song jam Theresa pointed at either Ken Schatz or me asking one of us to sing "Won't You Help Me To Raise'Em" a song both of us lead & said "sing that one". Not a woman to refuse, we decieded we'd better both do the song , together. No sooner than the 1st verse Theresa was inbetween us in harmony. Ken & I liked the way the 2 of us sung together so that night at the concert we figured we'd do the same song in concert. We did & got Theresa up to join just like we had done earlier. As we were onstage singing behind my back THeresa get me by my butt & gave me a quick & sudden hard squeezed that make my voice hit an octave higher. My wife couldn't stop laughing & I had to struggle hard to not break out in laughter & keep on going. Last time I saw Theresa was at her place over the last summer with Carole & Andrew, she already knew the Shellbacks were gonna part. I think with all she's been through these last few years it was being part of the Shellbacks & her friends in the group that did her the most good & kept her spirits higher than most folks could ever hope for. I never got to hear her arrangements for "London Julie" & "Yangste River" but when we next meet I will get her back by hearing her sing them back to me & piching her butt while harmonizing with her.
Good Luck to all you Shellbacks

Barry