About ten years ago, I was booked to sing (and play) in a northern California pub. I was well known in the area, though I'd never played at that venue before. There was a session that was scheduled from 7:00 to 9:00, and then I was supposed to play at 9. Though I'd never been to that particular session before, I knew most of the people there, and had been invited by a few friends to join them, so I arrived at 7:00, tuned my guitar, and headed for a seat. Before I could get within ten feet of the group, the session leader (who knew of me and knew that I was scheduled to play after them) looked up and said "Sorry- don't join us unless you know all the tunes." Even though I knew the tunes, I was so put off by that remark that I just put away my guitar and slunk over to the bar to wait for my set to begin, and it was years before I'd even consider joining in a session.

On the brighter side, I was visiting a friend in Galway a year or so ago, and we went to his local pub where a session was under way. I was content just to listen, but after a while my friend told the group "Here's a lady from America who's a friend of mine and a singer, so I hope she'll give us a song." I was caught by surprise, but did manage to offer an unaccompanied song. Everyone listened, no one joined in (though I'd not have minded if they did), and once I'd finished I was greeted with enthusiasm and welcomed into the group.

Neither boorishness nor kindness is confined to one side or the other of the Atlantic.

And one more word about people who insist on joining in when you're performing-- I would like to throttle the person who invented those appalling shaky chicka-chicka egg things!

briagha