Aaaaah SHOOT!

I probably should not start this, not now, because I am in seriously grumpy mode, been a hard day, got in from lecturing (now that's a form of performance skill) at past 11 pm and been at the VaT to relax.

I have not had the pleasure of hearing you Jim sing, and I don't claim to be better than you Cap'n - I leave it to those here who often hear me sing and play to pass inertial judgment (mostly without safety nets) but   (rant on) FARDLES how conceited can you get?

There is ALWAYS someone better than you and the point of folk is that they don't turn their nose up at you if you can only do something so long as you can and do do something. Before you start laying down the law about how good people have to be - go and get your worst enemy, not your best friend, to compare you with the standards. Go find yourself on Youtube and see if you wince.

Now Dick - can you sing as well as Martin Carthy? Or Peter Bellamy? Or Ian Bruce? Or the late Dave Bryant of these environs? Or the Barden of England?

Or play guitar like Martin Simpson (actually he's a murderous deliverer of a traditional song too) or Martin again, or Dave Reay the killer blind guitarist form Kent - or my old mate Andy/Geoff/who is he this week? Or Brian Rodgers of No Worries (who was here for a while until some politoco got at him for taking a hoilday in Cyprus, and he left, to our loss).

Can you squeeze like the God Kirkpatrick, or the bloke from up north, what was his name, was it Atterson or Anderson or was there one of each?

Can you work and command an audience like - to take a semipro - the late Pete Hicks of this peninsular?

No matter how good we are, there is always someone better and this time you have both delivered yourself like a braggart and succeeded in condemning a whole bunch of acceptable performers - the current bearers of most folkmusic - as being not good enough for you.

Great. Till you get to the big time - like our occasional guest elizaC - you are not good enough for me.

Rant off.