Folks, about music therapy "gigs": I'm not sure that's the right word; in its original usage it seems to me there is an assumption that there's money involved. As far as I recall, the only times I was involved in that kind of performance I was one of a half dozen or so members of my Monday night jam group playing at a rather posh nursing home where one of our group member's elderly aunt was spending her last days. We received $100 total for each of a couple of gigs there, which bought us post-performance dinners at a Chinese restaurant. The check was made out to one of our members who reported it as professional income so he could deduct the cost of an instrument. We also received free meals at a couple of performances early in our existence and the above mentioned member said we could claim to be "the best group in our price range," but that probably wasn't true. Nashville musician Walter Forbes joins us from time to time and he joked when asked to rate us that there are lots of groups worse than us who were making millions.

I'm realistic about my own skills: I'm nowhere near professional level. I'm a pretty good singer and a mediocre banjo player, I'm better at harmonica than at banjo, which isn't saying a whole lot. I'm pretty good at selling a song and communicating with an audience whose faces I can see. What I'm getting at here is that if I want to perform for audiences, I have to find audiences who don't have to pay for my services... and who aren't expecting professional performances.

So as happy as I am to share my music with folks in hospitals and nursing homes--for their sake--I take great pleasure in doing so. I may be performing a useful public service, but for selfish reasons as well as altruistic.

Oh, and Garg: Thanks for the message. And please recognize that Catspaw contributes a hell of a lot more here than fart jokes.

Charles