It is unfortunate that the editor's comment that Faye referred to is no longer available on line. It was a little... odd. Can anyone reproduce it here so we can see the point of Faye's remarks?

I havent the patience to type it all out, but it started:

"I come in praise of music in small rooms. I love the wide open spaces and atmosphere of festivals and I've had more than my share of life changing musical experiences in concert halls and in front of vast stadium stages. But when it comes down to it theres nothing like the ambience of somewhere holding no more than a few hundred, or even just dozens. Whether it's a cafe with a stage or a house concert in somebody's home, musicians jamming in a West African compuond or anEnglish pub, a hushed and intimate arts centre theatre or a powerhouse city club, there's a small place for most of the musics I like. Theyre where you feel at one with the performers, as they do with their audiences. I know this because, for my sins, I've not only been audience but performer and organiser too. They are where musicians in many genres learn their trade and often chose to stay playing because they like it like that. They're more human, less pressured, allow evolution and experimentation. The advances weve seen in stage technology in the past few decades have made them better than ever. The UK's smoking ban has also made a really noticeable difference in widening the range of people enjoying going out to live music in small venues again."

This was in the May fRoots which had its big main feature by Colin Irwin on new, youngish artists performing English folk music, only two of who have records out so far I believe. So the original complainers posting saying "There are quite a few young performers trying to break into the scene at the moment- how nice it would be if they could be more publicised; it might even draw a new generation of listeners into the scene" was a really ill-informed comment to make. She did say she only glanced at a copy in her newsagents but It would have helped if she'd bothered to look properly at what she was critcising before inserting foot in mouth!

She keeps good company here though. Any magazine that has Captain Bonkers and Mad Lizzie foaming at the mouth MUST be doing something right!