Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha....

And this thread is what i love about Mudcat.

The local agent provocateur sets up a false tension and drags in the names of unsuspecting people to goad them into response.

others join in to "defend" the band in question, which has apparently been much maligned in "other places" (though no evidence of this is provided).

Some people say "they're not really my cup of tea".

Other people jump on them for being negative and narrow-minded.

Meanwhile the band themselves, who never wanted to be part of the folk industry in the first place and who have achieved a healthy level of pop/chart success, carry on oblivious to all this nonsense.

Of course, it's once again the fault of the "folk police".

You know, people book bands they think their audiences will like. It's that simple. There are as many different festivals and events as there are different folk audiences. Some bands will always be more popular than others.

As Dave Eyre suggested on a thread yesterday, if you don't like what's going on, change it. Get out there and run an event or a festival. Let's see your innovative and stimulating programming. Show the rest of us how it should be done. Good luck with that - especially in the current climate, when respected and long-running festivals like Trowbridge and Oxford have fallen by the wayside.

Here's a crazy thought. Instead of constantly bashing the people who put massive amounts of time and energy (often unpaid) into providing interesting events for you to enjoy all year round, maybe some of them could do with a little more support right about now.