Of course things don't have to be played with perfect rhythmic accuracy. In fact, there are a small number of very good novelty acts (Lou and Peter Berryman come to mind) who do perform very funny and entertaining shows built around doing some things badly. However, the difference between an act like the Berrymans and Tone Deaf Leopard is that to begin with, Lou does know how to sing and sings very well; her ability to sing slightly sharp (difficult for a good musician) when a song calls for it makes it funny. Not being able to keep a beat or sing in tune to begin with and continuing to perform anyway is a trick more suited to the karaoke bar than the folk club scene, in my opinion.

I'm sure that TDL's friends will take more issue with this, but I begin to see that's what this really is about. It seems to be about friends continuing to indulgently let an act that isn't very good perform, relying on, as Baron Dongler said above, the good nature of the club atmosphere, to ensure that people will clap politely and make clever jokes about the 'genius' of the material and performance.

And Girl Friday's right, none of the clubs I might not visit because TDL are there or are likely to be, would miss me. I'm not a performer. I'm just someone who sits at the back of the room, pays money to be there, participates in fundraisers and raffles, and enjoys listening, because I love folk music and listening to real people perform it well. Ten or twenty of me, I guess, they'd miss. I wonder how many people like me have walked in and walked out without returning and without saying anything?

In the end I just could not help myself and I had to ask this question. Now after seeing the response above from B.Dongler, I wonder how many people are just too polite to say it and to loyal to their clubs to vote wit their feet. So they sit there, night after night, praying for it to be over quickly. And then they do applaud, because, thank God, it's over.