"Come on Jim C, are you really such a perfectionist that you cannot tolerate anyone who does not come up to your own perfect standards?"
No SB, my standards are far from perfect, and reading what I have to say, here and elsewhere, would show that to be the case. Knowing the words and being able to sing in tune perfection - do you, does anybody really believe that; have things really deteriorated that much???
Suggesting that basic standards be applied when presenting folk songs to the general public is only a start, perfection is the holy grail of all art and seldom, if ever achievable.
Have I ever used a crib-sheet? No I haven't; when I set out on this voyage nearly half a century ago I would have been booed off the stage had I done so. People believed it necessary to do the work before they went public - the songs were worth it and anything less was insulting to the music and to those who made the effort to turn up.
People fought hard to get folk song taken seriously and to some degree they succeeded; now apparently, the game wasn't worth the candle and the music doesn't merit the effort any more, and by old dude's vaccuuous comments are a perfect example of why.
Jim Carroll