Professional musicians are not "running up the costs of public music." And what, exactly, do you mean by "public music?"

There are some simple, basic economics at work here, Conrad, that you don't seem to be aware of.

At concerts and such, the ticket prices are not set by the musicians. More often than not, the entrepreneur tells the musician what he or she will be paid, and it's then up to the musician to agree, or to turn the offer down and go somewhere else. The musician rarely gets the opportunity to set costs. The entrepreneur is the one who rents the venue, does the promotion, pays the musician, and IF there is any money left over after these expenses, he pockets it.   Which is only fair, considering that he or she took the risk, spent the time and effort making all the arrangements, and did all the necessary promotion, without which, the concert would never have taken place. Most of the entrepreneurs within my experience who are involved in folk music are more interested in hearing the singers than they are in getting rich, and booking them for concerts, often house concerts, which is a good way to cut expenses and have the concert in a comfortable, fairly intimate situation. AND it makes the singer readily accessible to the audience.

You can hardly expect a singer to pay their own expenses to travel all the way from, say, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, or New York to Baltimore and back again to sing for you for no fee and no compensation for their expenses.

No—I am wrong. That IS what you expect.

Folk festivals. I don't know what the arrangements were at the Berkeley Folk Festivals, but the Seattle Folklife Festival, held at the Seattle Center (former World's Fair grounds) every memorial day weekend, is free of charge to the public. And the singers and other musicians don't get paid. They volunteer to perform and / or participate in workshops, and they are almost always available after a performance or workshop to schmooze with anyone who wants to. I've participated in several of these festivals. And there are sometimes as many as 6,000 performers of one sort or another in attendance. And some performers are from out of town. One year, I met and heard one young woman there all the way from, I believe it was Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. And she paid her own traveling and living expenses. Several hundred thousand people attend—free of charge—over the long week end. And I know there are other folklife festivals all over the country very much like this one, so, frankly, I don't really know what you are whining about.

Look. I'll make you an offer you can't refuse. The next time I do a concert or sing at a festival, I'll let you know when and where it is. Then, you can hitchhike to Seattle—or better still, hop a freight train. That's a very traditional, folky thing to do. While you're here, there are lots of bridges in Seattle that you can sleep under. No charge, of course. And since Seattle is strong on recycling, finding free food in Dumpsters might not be all that reliable, but there is a whole bunch of churches in the city who have free lunch programs for the homeless and the indigent. So that takes care of food and lodging.

I'll make sure that you will be admitted to the concert without charge, and after the concert, I'll talk with you for as long as you like, then I'll make sure you get a ride to where you can hop a freight back to Baltimore.

Okay?

Don Firth