I think I must be one of the lucky ones! The two folk clubs I am now involved in - White Lion, Swinton, Manchester and The Bridge, Newcastle have nearly 80 years running between them! I find myself, unusualy, agreeing with the countess. There is an awful lot of dross in some (or should that be a lot of awful dross?).

I don't think that can be blamed for the demise of so many clubs though. Both the Lion and the Bridge have their share of poor performers (Me for instance!) but they are in the minority. On a singers night, in either club. for every bad performance there are five good ones. On non-singers nights they both have top-line local artists. On odd nights the Bridge has the Folk degree stuents performing. On odd nights at Swinton we make sure we book nationaly (and internationaly) known stars. Everyone going to either club seem to know that bit of rough can be ignored for the sake of the abundance of smooth:-)

I think the main difference between the sucessful clubs and those that fold is the attitude of EVERYONE involved, from organiser to artist to audience. If it is inclusive and everyone feels involved we are all quite happy to give a bit of leeway. As soon as anyone starts to say "This is MY club" or "MY night" to the exclusion of others they start on the top of the slippery slope. It is dificult sometimes when you know that an act really is bad enough to put people off but with a bit of good planning they can do one song - early on - when only the organisers and the landlords cat are in. The added advantage is that when people start to arrive they can see something is already going on.

Cheers

Dave