Jim asked: "Is the Lewes club for which The Snail presented that depressing Q&A, the same one that holds ballad weekends? If so, it doesn't make sense."

Indeed it is, Jim, and it does make sense. I hosted one of those ballad workshops (one day only, actually) back in December, and corresponded with you and others about it on this forum. Several of the ballad workshop participants also sang at the Lewes Arms Folk Club, at which I was booked with Gordon Tyrrall, that same evening. From what you write of your likes and dislikes, I suspect you would have enjoyed thoroughtly at least some of the singers present.

Folkiedave's colourfully imagined "floorspot from Hell" had the unfortunate effect of backing Brian the Snail into a corner from which Jim and the rest of you won't allow him to escape. The fact is that the Lewes Arms folk club is one of the superior ones that I see in my travels, and the standard of floor performers there is well above average. They have a policy of allowing everyone who so desires, to perform one item each, so of course The Snail has to answer that, yes, those insensitive, incompetent and imaginary wankers would indeed be allowed their few minutes in the (metaphorical) spotlight. However, what seems to work in Lewes - admittedly a town where the number of active singers and musicians seems unusually high - is that the good singers tend by their example either to drag the poor ones up to their level or encourage the duffers to hold back.

Speaking as a lover of well-performed traditional song who shares Countess's scorn for the "anything's good enough for folk" attitude, I nonetheless find myself agreeing with the opposed views of Backwoodsman when he speaks about about "the people's music, sung and played for the joy it brings, by anyone who feels inspired to sing and play, in pubs, parlours and public and private places all over the land?" The folk scene (for want of a better phrase) seems at the moment to be drifting - or being pushed - into a circuit where relatively informal performances in small rooms by soloists or small groups, sharing music with a roomful of people many of whom are themselves contributing musically to the entertainment, are being superseded by concerts in which the audience/performer distance, the size of the bands, and the degree of musical sophisitication are all increasing to a degree where any sense of "community entertainment" is in danger of disappearing. I speak as one who plays right across that performance spectrum, but still feels great allegiance to the folk clubs in which I learned my own trade. Sometimes they disappoint me to the point of despair, but sometimes they fulfil my fondest dreams. They certainly won't continue indefinitely in their old format and with their existing, longstanding organisers. But let's not forget the context where this kind of music belongs, eh?

By the way Jim, since you mention Harry Boardman, I was for several years a resident at one of his clubs in Manchester, and while I can report that the standard of both residents and regular floor singers was as high as you might have expected, the range of music they covered was extremely eclectic and by no means confined to unaccompanied traditional singing. Which is partly why it was such a great club.

All the best,
Brian