I fully understand the folks who feel threatened by those of us who cheerfully play (for) free, but they're wrong. If I refused to play (for) free, I'd hardly ever get out to play at all. My playing (for) free is really a bit of symbiosis. I get beer and I get transport, so I get a fantastic night out with the lads (a piss-up with tunes, as it's occasionally though inaccurately been described, as we do have our standards!), and I get out every week, and both the pub owners and the pub customers love it (we've been doing it for 20 years, so they might have said something by now!). We're under no pressure, we stop and start when we like and we have a rollicking good time. On the other hand, we want good dough for any weddings and parties, with beer, food and petrol money chucked in. Totally different. But we only get those gigs because people see us in the pubs we play in. We're a cheery bunch of hairy-arsed amateurs and we don't need sniffy pros or semi-pros telling us we're letting the side down by not demanding big mazumas from little rural pubs. Bloody arrogant folkies. Bugger off!