"If you dont understand the folk lifeway then go into rock and roll."

The "folk lifeway" and the "folk experience" that you refer to is nothing more than some vague "noble savage" bit of fantasy about which you have nothing more than a foggy, ill-defined concept, Conrad. And if you have a degree in Anthropology, you must have got it out of a box of Crackerjack. If you DID know anything about Anthropology, you wouldn't keep making the dumb statements you keep making.

You've already been told, again and again, that there are folk festivals all over the country that are free of charge to the public and for which the singers donate their time and talent. And yet, you continue to whine and complain as if this were not the case at all.

Well, if it isn't true in the area where you live, Conrad, that's not OUR fault. And you've already been told, many times by many knowledgeable people here, what to do about it. One more time:

Get up off your lazy ass and organize one. Like WE did!!

But you won't get very far if you aren't a whole lot more polite and diplomatic. In this forum, you have been rude and insulting to, and contemptuous of, the very people who have done, and are continuing to do, more to preserve and promote an appreciation of folk music than you will ever understand. And whom, IF you are REALLY SERIOUS, you are going to NEED in order to bring such festivals about.

"We are different."

You're darned right we're different, Conrad. And thank God for that!!

Don Firth