looking back on what I wrote last night.
I think the first folk clubs - run by people like Ewan, were one of the positive spin-offs of their creative endeavours in left wing politics. They were communists in a good sense - trying to forge a music that was of our community.
It still requires a certain amount of idealism and self discipline to sit through through some truly awful but well meaning singer - rather like sitting through a Quaker meeting and tolerating someones tedious strivings towards spirituality. As I get older and my time is running out, I'm not sure my time in creative terms was well spent.
Nowadays people believe in themselves more - you're worth more than that, they say on all the chat shows - however apart from themselves I don't think they believe in anything else.