Dear Rick,

Ouch! That steam comin' outta your ears is burning me all the way down here in Texas! Please watch closely as I insert foot in mouth, spank myself, and turn into an ass (albeit a cute one) after making such a stupid ASSumption.

The two sentences in your message that set me off were "As more people join there will less emphasis on (traditional, as most know it) folk music. Today it is a community of folks who all LIKE music, but enjoy communicating with each other." Read it wrong, got it wrong, got hit up side the head with a stupid brick . . . I most humbly apologize for raising your blood pressure, and I assure you that you have never said anything to offend me.

I was (wrongly) tarring you with the brush that I'd like to use on the folks who have complained in the past about folks who they considered "riff-raff" -- folks who were not professional musicians -- that have come to the Mudcat since the "good old days". With 20 years of theater and music performance under my belt, that kind of attitude really puts a burr under my saddle. The fact that I never got 'paid' for any of it doesn't mean that I didn't work just as hard at my craft as someone who did.

Again, I'm very sorry that I upset you. Please forgive me for my trespass.

-- Áine (whose face is as red as her hair this morning!)