Snail,
"Do you want people to sing the songs or not?"
That's what I have spent the greater part of my life trying to make happen - too late in the day to change my mind now, even if I wanted to.
The question was: "Folk Process - is it dead?".
My answer is 'yes it is' and I have given my reasons for believing so.
Others have said it isn't - as long as you include in the definition forgetting the words and making it up as you go along; or if you are prepared to abandon any definition of the term 'folk' completely - sorry, won't do that!
I agree entirely that I went to the wrong clubs; the problem is (from the 'what is being sung in folk clubs' thread, it is these clubs that dominate the scene now.
What do I want ? Weellllll..... I'd like a wall-to-wall session of good singing from Kevin Mitchell, Len Graham, Antaine ó Farachain, Jim McFarland, Terry Yarnell, Bob Blair, Sheila Stewart, Alison McMorland, Joe Aitken, Roisín al Safti, Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin, John and Tim Lyons, Con 'Fada' O'Driscoll, Rosie Stewart, Roisín White (if there is a predominance of Irish singers here, this isn't necessarily my personal taste, just what's available to me nowadays)... and all the other singers who give me a buzz... Failing that, I'll settle for an occasional evening of a good mixture of traditional songs and newer ones made using traditional poetic forms and musical styles, sung to a reasonable standard by people who sound that the enjoy and understand them.
What I don't want is evenings of 'Blue Suede Shoes' and 'Yellow Submarine'.... and all the other songs that appear to pass as 'folk songs' in some peoples minds.
Neither do I want arrogant clowns using terms like 'finger-in-ear' and '97 verse ballads', whose own tastes run to songs that apparently come with a sell-by date and a break-off point of three minutes, telling me that the music I have been listening to "could not possibly have any relevence today".
Jim Carroll