My last posting was hastily submitted whilst getting ready to go to a singaround.

Interesting comment from a couple of supporters who arrived a bit later was that they'd been around the city and passed many pubs with about one drinker - that included an open mic session with about one singer; and a supposedly rival session (cooler than ours? - the place to be?) - where NO singer/musician was in evidence - again just a solitary drinker and his dog!

So they ended up at our albeit small gathering and shared a few songs.

Being realistic, this is the run up to Christmas - things go a bit unpredicable this time of year; AND the recession is affecting numbers who go out to pubs at the moment - that's clearly coming back to us from all over.

But I repeat my original point - we now have a brilliant opportunity for folkies to get into the media - and tell people there is a whole world of low cost entertainment out there in folk clubs (singaround and guest clubs; free and PayClubs) where people can enjoy live British* based musical culture in an intimate atmosphere.

*if in Britain -I'm talking in a British context - but the point is the same wherever you live in the world.

The folk scene is an antidote to a parade of hyped "Stars" who are obviously competent but generally unremarkable - for which you may pay bloated amounts of Pounds/Dollars. And at most Folk Clubs/sessions I've been to it is not long before you see singers/performers/songwriters BETTER than than the so called Stars which you've been told are the best since... [add name as applicable]. It's purely a case of persuading people to recognise the multidollar hype for what it is and realise that good can be "local" - and people who live locally can be just as good as someone who's just "flown in".

Ian Fyvie