cptsnapper-

I listen to 3-4 BBC regional folk programs a week.
Religiously..... (you uk folk keep paying your taxes thanks! If the BBC wants to take over our local stations go for it!)

Anyway.....

I am impressed with the similarity of the issues in UK and USA
I am particularly interested in the observation that the folk club is giving way to the regional or national commercial festival.

This is what I see so often in my area and in USA. Big gatherings with the same professional circut riding musicians and a decline in local performers with few or no regular venues and of the venues available these are prohibitively expensive.

Places where once I could spend an evening I now find my money gone in an hour or so.

We do have local societies however there too costs of admission to events are high (I believe a ticket should cost slightly less than a CD high is twice the cost of a cd or more, this is not to deny that costs of production are high but just says that cost of attendence is higher than is easily affordable by a large number) Also I find that folk societies have sterilized the tradition with dance in particular seeming to be more of an athletic event (sweat bands, running shoes, towels, healthy foods) than anything that would be anything close to traditional.

Yes I do not see it all but I have gone out to experience quite a bit event to the point of spending much more money than I have to spend.

Conrad