In the first place, the original poster was talking about some festival in London (of which no-one else seems to have heard), not a club. I seem to recall that 'Penguin Egg' lives in Canada, so perhaps the above remarks apply there, but it is no longer so in London. Under the old licensing laws, it was a necessary evil for 'clubs' to be just that: open only to private members and their guests in order to get round the ridiculous 'two in a bar' rule governing live music. For this reason, they were not allowed to advertise club evenings as public events. Under the new legislation. a venue is either legal or it isn't, depending on whether it holds a Public Entertainment Licence. Club membership is unnecessary, therefore 1960s revival-stylee 'clubs' hidden away in dingy pub backrooms peopled by tankard-clutching, grey-bearded, tie-die-clad cliquey bores and long past their sell-by anyway, can and are fading away. To quote from the publicity from one of a new type of gatherings springing up all over, it provides 'an evening of acoustic/traditional/nu-folk music featuring the best talent from London and beyond. Current, qualified and credible artists in an intimate venue'. And no, it's not one of those appalling open mics for spotty teenagers emerging from their bedrooms with songs about their introspection and woes and an attitude that the world owes them a living if not an immediate worldwide deal, recent guests have included Tom Paley and Tim Van Eyken. And at the risk of letting out a few cats among the pigeons (though possibly not driving said birds from their holes, the most unfriendly club I ever went to was about ten years ago during a visit to my long-left-behind native city of Newcastle. Not a single person spoke to me (other than to tell me I could go on second after the interval). They were all busy inviting each other to each others' ceilidhs and sessions but not one (even BEFORE I'd been on!) said 'hey, you're new, would you like to come along to . . .' Places I tend to drop by at now are those where the organisers take a real interest in who is there, welcoming newcomers and asking why they've come and what other music they like, and making sure anyone who arrives with an instrument is asked if they want to play.