I give up on you Jim. If you are determined to be miserable, there is nothing anyone can do about it.

One thing I must take you up on though. A couple of posts back you said -

Yes, the clubs did fall into the hands of people who neither understood nor liked folk music - this from a couple of postings up from this one "A twenty verse dirge ,interesting perhaps to a folk enthusiast.....".

If you think Alan Day is somebody who neither understands nor likes folk music, you really are demonstrating how out of touch you are. Alan is primarily a dance musician and has done huge amounts to promote traditional music and deserves more respect. Apart from that, his comment was made in the context of what would appeal to a teenager; the immediacy of a session compared to the more thoughtful atmosphere of a folk club.

Unfortunately, you are determined to cling to every scrap of evidence that seems to prove your doom laden case while dismissing experiences that don't fit as "complacent".