Jayto..I too love to jam, but around here a jam ain't the same thing as a band that will play for free, and rarely rises to the level of proficiency of a typical band, free or otherwise. (The exceptions are the rare music store impromptu jams and the sessions at celtic festival time.) When there's magic...oh yeah...

Many local audiences do the sports bar thing, the theatre thing, the rented movie on someone's big screen thing, stay at home to avoid public intoxification or police attention, gather at a friend's place, and even the internet claims people.

I suspect there's a wide difference between city and rural audience demographics.

As for me and my seat in an audience, I'm often asked why I didn't attend something or if I attended something, and the answer usually is that I had my own gig somewhere. I've missed some pretty good acts because I was playing some other dump to unappreciative folks. The cost of doing business...um, music.

Peace, Mooh.