Refreshing this thread because I'd never read the latter half of it, after I posted, and missed the response by Greg of Magpie and the details of the incident posted by Rabbi Sol. Wow, I too am impressed that Magpie issued a refund to the two women, especially since the women had stood up and made a scene during the performance of a song, some 5 feet away from the performers, at a house concert where they would certainly have been obstructing the view of other audience members and interrupting others' enjoyment of the performance. (No common decency, as Sol said.)

I'm even more impressed that apparently Magpie kept on singing their song while the women were creating their scene. Consummate professionals!!!

I also want to relate what I did at a local house concert when I was displeased with the performance: I'd gone to hear a performer whose name escapes me, but who was billed as having an act in which he could make up a song on the spot about anything suggested to him by the audience. Neither the house concert hosts' publicity nor the singer's website mentioned that he did this by parodying popular songs. I hate parodies. I especially hate poorly-done parodies, and that's what this guy was performing. After listening to several of these, I was feeling increasingly annoyed that I'd paid my money to do so and that the guy's songs had been misrepresented as original music.

My solution? When the guy asked the audience once again to tell him what they were thinking so that he could make up a song about it, and when no one else responded, I piped up and said, "I hate parodies." Everyone had a good laugh at that, and the guy responded, "You're at the wrongggg concert!" I said, "I'm afraid I am!" More laughter followed, and then the guy probed a bit to find out more about me, and sang his Sharon Hates Parodies song-on-the-spot! So, both he and I turned a negative into a positive by working my "protest" into the act! I felt a little better afterward about parting with my 15 dollars -- I had been entertained after all. Again, I give credit to the performer for his professionalism.

Sharon