in reference to the vancouver city fest, yes i meant the vancouver city fest not the vancouver folk fest. the "crowd" who ran city fest were never able to see beyond their own "crowd".

after years out there i realized this is something they casn't do--see beyond their own crowd. they can't hear the words of those out side thier crowd and they can't understand even why the "others" are there. i wish i had fifty bucks for every time a member of the vancouver folk ss, who mostly were the organizers of city fest, asked me"what are you doing here"?. this nafter performing for years at folk festivals and even when not blackballed on their stages.

that is a middle class mostly anglo crowd who think they are righteous and entitled to lead folk. if they hear any dissent--and they are usually deaf to it, they can't understand why you are there.none of them that i eveb met have any genuine personal connection to a folk culture, so its a game to them.

not dissimilar to the folk life organizers, they have no personal link to any genuine folk tradition and so its an issue of bureaucratic organization. folk and roots issues don't enter their heads. getting past those attitudes of entitlement takes a lot of effort and skill. however most ethnic musicians don't bother , just move on. working class travellers are happy and gratefull when they bhave a good scene to participate in but as bill morrissey said

"in all my travels, this one thing i've found
the laws they are not made for the man from outs town"

its despicable that folk life used police to threaten buskers selling their own goods and its equally despicable that they now threaten them with reports to the irs,but that's definatley the signal its time to move on.

wouldn't it be nice if these middle class people could hear others,but they don't and they have shown no sign of learning