It's too easy to insist that glamorous women have no talent. It's a kind of chauvinsim that goes along with the "dumb blonde" jokes.

These are talented women who have worked very hard to get where they are. You might not like them, that's cool, but to denegrate them just because they happen to be glamorous is the height of folk snobbery.

Sure, there are plenty of fine, talented people who don't present themselves in a glam fashion and they are worthy of attention. But grow up folks. Folk music has become a form of show business whether you want to admit it or not. Sometimes, the uglier you look, the better minimal audience you attract. Folk is low-key show biz.

And what's more, its always been that way. Traditional folksingers are packaged today and sold at folk festivals by entrepeneurs who make a little cash doing it. The summer camp folk workshop is a business like any other. There is nothing wrong with talented folksingers making a little money by performing for their specific audience. But to trash those who want to make a little more money but still do good musical work by glamming up a bit, seems pretentious and hypocritical.

Look at Joan Baez. If she didn't have long black hair and a pretty face, do you think she would have had the following she had? I think she's great and it didn't bother me that many young ladies wanted to imitate her. But that's show biz too.

Frank Hamilton