It is no secret to the folks here on Mudcat that folk concerts attract mainly the 50 and above crowd. Because of religious reasons (my Sabbath), The Borderline Folk Music Club of which I am the President, hold its concerts on Sunday afternoons as opposed to Saturday nights.

I really have to work hard at getting audiences. What is my biggest competition? Not other music venues as many may think. It is that many of my potential concert attendees get stuck with the task of babysitting for their grandchildren on Sunday afternoons.

When mommy and daddy are both working hard all week they want a day off. It is very difficult for grandpa and grandma to say no when they are asked to babysit for the children, especially in these hard times when parents can not afford to shell out extra money for a professional babysitter. I would not mind if the parents came to my folk concerts, but because they are young you know that they are going to go to Rock & hip hop events.

For my past 3 concerts I can count at least 50 potential attendees that have had to cancel reservations because they were stuck babysitting the grandkids and belive me, they were not at all happy about it.