All helpful advice. And, from that other thread, the one piece of very practical advice I liked was to wear glasses w/powerful reading lenses (dimestore kind are perfect) so everything is a blur farther than 5 ft away. Surprisingly, out of sight really is kind of out of mind. Dark glasses wrk pretty well, too.

One thing that helped me was singing in a convalescent hospital. Nearly all the patients had some sort of dementia or another, some dozed thru my songs, some would shout out occasionally, others would sing along, only a completely different song. With an audience like that, it was obvious that they could care less if I forgot words, or blurred a guitar chord. I did it every other week for nearly 2 years and it really helped a lot.

The other thing that helped a lot was getting together with other folksingers on a one to one basis and trading songs back and forth. In a situation like that your "turn" comes around pretty fast, and you get a lot of practice...and you get to hear the other person forget words occasionally, or lose a chord...and you realize it doesn't mar your enjoyment of their playing at all.

Please do it, tho, Ebbie. Don't pass up a chance to lead a song or six at the Gateway. You will regret it all year. Some discomfort is worth putting up with to avoid a lot of regret! You will be good, sound good, even if you get off to a shaky start, because you care and love what you sing. Wish I could be there to hear you.