Last year's Alaska Folk Festival guest artist was a bit of a bust. Actually, a bomb. The board members took a lot of flak about it.

(Out of the goodness of my heart, *G*, I won't mention her name but her initials could be N.G.)

As is the usual format for guest artists, she did a set on Thursday night. Guest artists are required/expected to put on some workshops in the course of the weekend; she didn't, but she did present herself for one question and answer session. It was hosted by a local musician who fielded the questions- she had wanted a pre-'workshop' list of permissible questions but the host put his foot down about that.

On Sunday night, as is the format, she did another show- and did the same show, down to the same patter. She did do one song that she hadn't done on Thursday but that was the only differing thing.

Juneau, Alaska, is too small a town to draw a different crowd. And as it happens, Juneau is a very supportive town; they turn out en masse. But as it became apparent what was happening, masses of people hemorrhaged out of the hall.

She had had a lot of fans in town before that night- but she sure left a sour taste. One of the board members still speaks of her as "What's-her-name".