DeG - interestingly, the Willows Folk Club in Arundel has started including "showcase" evenings, when a local regular or a couple of local regulars will get, say, 20-25 minutes of their own on a singers' night (singers' nights alternate with paid guest nights) to do a mini guest spot. So it can work. Obviously the organisers have to be fairly tactful as to how they do it, but they get a regular full house and a regular good crowd each week, so it appears to be working OK without stirring up jealousies. The local Washington Music Club, which meets fortnightly, has started doing the same.