""I can't help noticing that his detractors don't seem to have many counter-arguments and seem to rely either on accusing him of some, vaguely defined 'moral turpitude' (nonsense!) or in insulting him.""

Do you then feel, Shimrod, that Jim has the right to insult folk club organisers and make assumptions as to the nature, efficiency, and probable shortcomings of clubs he has never visited, and knows nothing about.

It is not my purpose to insult him, but merely to question the basis of his assessment of the English folk scene from the far side of the Irish sea. He has stated on this thread that for ten years he has hardly spent any time over here, and a lot happens in ten years.

A couple of months ago, Dick Miles was kind enough, on another thread to compliment me on my methods of running a folk club, having guested there several times, albeit many years ago. Had HE said of that club, that I was doing a bad job, and needed to change the organisation, I would have taken note, because HE would have been speaking from personal experience.

As to the generalised nature of Jim's comments, well, each club is unique. The only thing they share is the kind of music they offer, and even that has its variants. If a club is pulling in good numbers then it is being effectively run, and the person best equipped to decide on the style and format is the one who knows the audience and performers, and that would be the organiser.


Jim Carroll wrote:-

""We no longer have the choice of the music we wish to listen to because organisers have allowed folk clubs to become dustbins for whatever people now choose to call folk.
Whatever is performed there is no loger guaranteed to be of a listenable standard because they have accepted that clubs are now a place were singers and non-singers are allowed to practice in public.
Even if you, by the slimmest chance, happen to find a club presenting the music you want at a reasonanle standard, you're not allowed to listen to it in peace because of the droning of a bunch of self-obsessed pratts who haven't got the good manners to listen to a performer without feeling the urge to show how clever they are.
Nice to know our music is in safe hands!!
Jim Carroll""

I have bad news Jim. Most folk club organisers don't run their clubs, or choose the performers, on the off chance that YOU might pop in out of the blue.

Generally speaking clubs seem to have better attendances if the organisers pay some heed to what their REGULARS require, which can be different at different clubs, or even on different nights (e.g. Guest or Singers) at the same club.

It's not an exact science, but the one sure way to kill it stone dead is to try to force all of them into a "one size fits all" mould.

Don T