Been away from this a couple of days and have thoroughly enjoyed all the recent imput. I think you really clarified if, Ferrara. The folk community has never been monolithic. The 60's community I was involved in to some extent was very localized in a ten or twelve block area, and everybody got to know everyone else, at least on a superficial level. One of the things that tied that disparate together was the promise of "making it." That may be an odd recognition for a community that prided itself on being independent of the materialistic and warlike culture of the time. But, there was a whiff of commercial potential in the air, when Ken Goldstein was romaing the Village and people were getting signed all over the place to very un-lucrative record contracts. As a friend of mine said to me once, "I don't know why no one has recorded you, there are people a lot worse than you who have been recorded." Mostly, people were excited when someone else would get signed to do a record, and those were heady times. When folk music started losing it's commercial appeal, it didn't take longe for the Village to start declining. Much of that community was fed on the vision of sugar plums and recording contracts dancing in everyone's heads. Not that that was all bad. There really was an enthusiasm and sense of community in that small area of a few blocks. It turned out to be pretty short-lived, but it was wonderful while it lasted.

When I go to a folk festival, the circles within a circle are obvious. Especially after hours. But even then, I still feel a general welcome from most people (except for the snobs.) I am at best a primitive fiddler, and one time was playing Forked Deer in D. That was the only key I could figure it out in. Someone came over to me and sneared and said, "NO ONE plays Forked Deer in D!"   And I answweredm, "Someone does now..."

I do think the missing ingredient in here is that we don't have a chance to play together.

Jerry