Ron, your points are all good ones. And I do see that a discussion of F.A. isn't for this thread. Individually I love a lot of the people there. I'm content to lurk and cluck my tongue at 'em once in a while.

The "biz of acoustic music" is a good way to see it. Thanks for that idea. My baggage and resentments are from the somewhat similar "Arts In The Schools" programs I worked with where the bureaucracy got huge and unwieldy---top-heavy to the point where all the cash went to pay for fancy digs at a prestigious address---while the fees paid to artists---folk and all others to boot----remained terribly minimal. I guess we all see the progressions in terms of our past experiences--and that isn't always a fair way to look at it.

Working out of my car, records melting in the trunk, and hustling my own gigs. Hopefully, filling the calendar--not to mention the gas tank;---all of THAT combined with the romance of the road and the westering instincts we got from Woody and Joe Hill and Boxcar Bertha etc; That was plenty to fill my life with inspiration and meaning for the first 20 years---probably a few more. Some time after that, the road got old along with my body, until, one day, it dawned on me (Dracula's last words) that the six baby rabbits walking backwards on my head were not from a hallucinogen---they were just a receding hare line.

"Dewey Cox" sounds to me like the guy who took 5 Viagra pills and punched a hole in the water-bed -- and drowned. Come to think of it, that was sort of how the film should've ended.

Best regards,
Art