Bad form to quote oneself, but recently posted to the ROchester Sweeps thread as follows

"It was however regrettable to note that the humpties and diddlers who were unable to have their session in the Vic&Bull were less than gracious in response to their welcome from JB at his songsession, and set up in their own ghetto in the pub garden.

John runs a good mixed session, where all get their turn, whether they be singers or others, and the defection of this crew indicates that they were not content but demanded the right to take over the song session to which they had come.

The unjustified tirade that John suffered (until others stepped in) on Sunday evening was not only itself unmannerly, but also betrayed (by its "its true what they say" invective) that ingrates had been systematically running John down as they sat by the garden fireside, objected to having to take turns, wanted it all their own way, and had (even more disappointingly) not been shushed by any wiser heads in their group.

These latter things (not just the tirade itself) profoundly annoyed my daughter and will tend to militate against her further enjoyment of "folk sessions": a shame since she herself is such a spectacular performer and one of the two or three in total of performers present under 25. Such poor social behaviour is a factor tending to dissuade her from re-attending folk events.

Other such factors, perhaps relevant to other threads here, include navel-gazing snigger snogwriters, amplification (ie "open mic"), the absence of folk song, and lecherous old men who although they are unable to intimidate her may intimidate others. There was a bad example on one night at Sweeps (not, I think, a Cat member), who was fawning over a particularly contemporary singer, and making a fool of himself persisting in trying to kiss reluctant young(ish) women. Oddly, I remember her mother being critical of one or two very respected figures of the 60s and 70s folkocracy who allegedly were more (and equally unsuccessfully) interested in her nether regions than in her voice or guitar work. These were not limited to primary supporters of fatlib.

Thanks to John Barden for running some very good times."


BTW I have just read two posts by the C**ntess in which she typed "me" when it should have been "I".