JenEllen ... I appreciate and relate well to your postings. I was pretty much raised in two camps: the 'formal classical music' career and the folk career. By the time I was 20, I knew that the lifetime commitment necessary for a serious classical music career was not for me. At the same time, I kept a very close friendship with a childhood friend who DID have a very successful career in classical music: concert violin soloist, orchestra conductor, etc. In keeping up with friend Lauren Jakey, I attended many social and weekend events, as his friend. I also spent many hours in the rehearsal halls, and I did some of the behind the scene stuff: traveling, bags, checking in and out, etc. For my money, and from my experience, you can take most symphony orchestra conductors and set them outside on a cold night and hope they die from the weather. The ones I've seen, with ONE exception, are a bunch of little dictators that don't have the manners of a wart hog ... just my opinion.