I've seen Magpie a number of times & helped produce a Phil Ochs song night they participated in. I've also presented a goodly number of house concerts over the years. Sinsull's summation hits the mark very well, yet Bill D's feelings express another side of it for me. (they are good folks and good musicians...I don't go out of my way anymore, ...it's like 'preaching to the choir' for me. I ...prefer a program with a different balance for my $$$.)

If someone truly has no clue about what a performer is about - and with houseconcerts you DO sometimes get that curious first timer to folk music- and they found it too politcal for their taste, it was impolite for them to exit the way they did, yet eminently understandable to me. By giving them a refund (full or part) you show good will. By not giving a refund you're giving the impression that their indignation was an insult to you. You decide what your motivation is - preaching to the choir, as Bill D says, or growing an audience for folk music in general.

There are those of us who are passionate about folk music in many forms, avid listeners, promoters, performers, who at times do NOT want to listen to something saturated with the politics of the day. Call me an occasional escapist, and I'll not deny it. There are a number of performers I love, listen to, count as friends or close accquaintances. who are mainly political issue performers. I respect their dedication, I support their work, but not every freaking minute of every freaking day: it's wearisome. Issue this, issue that, this horror, that horror, the environment falling apart,and on and on.

Enough.

Now... I'm not saying Magpie does this - I'm saying there are times when folks want some sweet old love songs, or he-done-her-wrong-200 years-ago songs, or some social wrong that's centuries out of date songs, or silly songs, or songs of joy. Then if you put one sock-you in-the-eye contemporary issue song in that mix you get a number of things:
1. Variety - political activism isn't the ONLY thing folk music is about
2. Contrast - by standing out from the rest of the set in subject matter one idea may have greater impact.
3. Context - The uneducated find that folk music DOES address issues that have been with us for a long time (infidelity, murder, incest, infanticide) as well as recent ones.
4. Recovery time - One of the great things about groups who do sets of tunes between songs is you've got time to think about the last song before they whack you over the head again.
(5. Humor as a way to get a political point across is much more likely to succeed in persuading those who don't see as you do. Issue-oriented performers have a sad knack of being, or appearing, humorless)

And in a "let's not make a federal case out of this" vein - several areas have had trouble with their municipal governments over the issue of house concerts, (the Pittsburgh area comes to mind) so giving a quick refund seems a good way to calm the waters.

Joanne in Cleveland