Honest to Betsy, weelittle, it's not so bad as all that. While nursing homes are not the most lucrative of venues (typically in the $85- $150 range), the shows are not the trials you make them out to be. Some audiences are more responsive than others but, as I have learned, an inability to applaud does not mean an inability to enjoy and appreciate. Besides, senior doesn't have to mean senile. I play at many retirement communities where the audience is older, to be sure, but as alert and open as any folk audience I have seen.
It is true I do other kinds of venues but, when I am available, I am glad sing for the altes. Hell, I'm one of them.

               Mike