Critics are self-inflated balloons of what? You are a listener by your own admission. One who has excellent taste by your own admission. So criticize all you want. No one is trying to take that right away from you. However, neither do you have the right to be the last word--other than in your own head. If that's what you're saying, good.

Critics damage the careers of others. They do so for good lines in a review. You are not the last word on folk, what constitutes folk, what folk means or does. You are but another voice in the chorus.

Speaking of bright sparks: Want a flick of my Bic?