Barry, we visited new york last year and met up with loads of people, al and barbra, charley, the Johnson's et al, they were wonderful hosts. The South Street Chanty sing was excellent.
I think one of the problems in the US (or maybe New York?) is that to be tolerated in the bars you have to be very good or the punters get upset, we witnessed this both singing in bars like Chumleys and a poor pianist getting short shrift at The Greenwich Village bistro on Carmine Street and then finishing the evenings entertainment there! Had we known before we went I think we would not have been so brazen! As it was we "punched above our wieght" and pulled it off. Here people sing and play for the joy of it not neccessarily to please everyone in the place and often in spite of everyone else, Nick may confirm, the Tap sessions are really noisy and they are not for the fient hearted or voiced, we get big chorus', we get by that way.
Peter