shambles, I can't think of anyone who approaches issues quite like you do...of all the people here whose 'real' names are known, you impress me as the most enigmatic. We know almost nothing about what you do, who you know, what you laugh at..etc..(not that these are required..just noting that it IS a fairly different approach)

...you move from knowlegable musician to devil's advocate to promulgator of philosophical non-sequitors to outright critic... in a highly unusual way. Many of your posts and ideas are worthy, valuble and insightful, but it is often hard to follow when your point is layered and shaded so many ways.

The one time I said a few things to you on ICQ, you made use of a Monty Python sketch in response to me, with no warning...leaving me a bit non-plussed till you explained..*grin*

The Mudcat is a VERY strange place, with people of highly divergent attitudes, beliefs, tastes... and for want of a better term 'auras', coming together with music serving as basic paste, but with all the idiosyncracies that you might get from a random sampling from the streets of London.

ANY question such as you pose will get responses all over the map...some serious, some angry, some puzzled...and you never seem 'quite' satisfied that we have tried hard enough to plumb the depths of the issue. ...I dunno, maybe I am just tired today...I was about to look up a 'serious' reply to your original question...then I read more and my forehead furrowed and I felt like I'd been tricked...not 'hurt'...just led further than I was in the mood for in an unnecessarily obtuse manner.

*shrug*...I guess I'll just keep on keeping on...you and your attempts to analyze/prod/guide the Mudcat are among the least of my worries about the place...but I do wish that perhaps you could double-space your posts...*grin*...all the better to read bewteen the lines.