"Up until now, Jim, you've been saying that folk clubs in the UK are collapsing or have collapsed because their orgnaisers are promoting crap standards whereas in Ireland everything is thriving and blossoming."
To the first part, yes, I most certainly do, and you have gone a long way to confirming it. To the second, no I haven't, nor is it.
Things are moving in the right direction, the music is thriving and blossoming, the singing, though it still has a way to go, is improving. Any problem that it is experiencing stems from your 'no standards' attitude which Comhaltas tends to lean towards - hence last Friday night's debacle. Saturday night's concert was in complete contrast, with an excellent combination of music and singing - and not a CCE official in sight.
There is no club tradition here, but where they do exist, the general standard is high. The same applies to the numerous singing week-ends.
There are a rising number of young singers, Helen Hayes, Alana Henderson, Roisín Al-Safty, Paula Carroll.... which indicates that singing has a future. The general ability is high and the repertoire is firmly rooted in the tradition.
Any problems that do exist, and there are a few, do not arise from the 'dumbing down' process that is being argued for here.
"Anybody who's ever tried to sing and got up in front of an audience and made a bloody mess of it knows that you're not enjoying it when you're making a balls of it, but you are enjoying it when it's working, when all the things you want to happen are happening."
MacColl was advocating working on a song so that you didn't make a balls of it, not getting up and practicing (and making a balls of it) in front of an audience - please use the whole quote, not the bit that suits.
In the long run it is the responsibility of the club organisers to ascertain that the music presented to the audience is of a standard that it can be enjoyed; you don't do that by dumbing down. If you don't live up to your responsibility you are short-changing them. Nobody so far has acknowledged their responsibilty to their audiences - do you feel you don't have one - if you do, what is it?.
A number of people are advocating double standards - one for the guest nights, one for the residents. The club member who turns up every week, no matter who is on, is the person who earns the right to be given the best, not the one who just turns up for the current 'flavour of the month'. Your regulars are your roots into the community and it is they who will ascertain whether the club stands or falls. The idea of not giving of your best on a residents night, and only putting your good singers on when yo have a guest is hypocritical and unfair.
Jim Carroll