Dear Abby,

I've often played (over 30+ years)in situations where noboby seemed to be listening and wondered why I bothered. Other times everybody seems to be hanging on every note or word. It sometimes happens like that. Sometimes you can predict what your audience might like. Sometimes you can't.

The main thing is to be true to yourself. If you want to sing something and feel committed to it and the situation and circumstances allow you, e.g. it is an "open session" ...go ahead! A non-response or non-feedback from the audience is THEIR problem. Everyone trying something a bit different or out of the ordinary faces the same thing.

I could play "crowd pleasers" now and did in the past. Now I do material that I like or which is original and at least I feel happier with that!

All the best and keep up the good work!

mcmoo