"All a person needs to do is contact musicians coordinate a location go there and play...."

Okay, Conrad. Sounds simple enough. Why don't you just do it yourself instead begging other people to do it for you?

But, of course, there are a few problems there. First of all, what location? For a folk festival of any size, you need space. Public park? Well, you'd probably have to get a city permit and perhaps a license to hold a public event there before you will be allowed to use it legally. That might cost you a buck or two, so scratch that!

Some farmer's field, kind of like Woodstock? Well, it would be wise to get the permission of the farmer, otherwise he might usher you off the place at the business end of a pitchfork. Or he might offer to rent it to you. Oops! Money again! So, no go with that idea.

As to free events:   coming up tomorrow afternoon, a good friend of mine is throwing a "hoot."

The term, "hoot," short for "hootenanny," is what we call an informal gathering of folk singers. The term started in Seattle back in the 1940s, and Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie picked it up when they were out here once, then they started using the word for their weekend gatherings at Almanac House in New York. It spread from there, and was eventually pre-empted by the ABC television network for their Saturday evening folk music show. Since then, in most places, a "hootenanny" has been a multi-performer concert with the musicians on a stage with the audience not participating but just listening. [See Pete Seeger's The Incompleat Folksinger.]

A "hoot," the way it has always been done around here, is not a "performers over here and audience over there" kind of thing. People just sit wherever they want. If the weather is good, it will probably be in my friend's big back yard. If not, he'll probably hold it in his large, spaceous workshop, or if the crowd is smaller, in his living room. There is no distinction between performers and audience. Sit anywhere you want, and if you feel like playing and / or singing, go right ahead. Just jump in. If you just want to sit and listen, feel free. He usually has a pot-luck, so you might be asked to bring something, and bring your own beer or wine (so maybe that wouldn't work for you, since you might have to spend a buck or two for a package of frankfurters and a six-pack or something). But no admission charge at the door. And none of the singers gets paid. The whole thing is for the sheer enjoyment of it.

So it sounds to me like you want to do something like that, only on a much bigger scale. Well, okay. No problem. Well—yes—a problem. Finding a big enough space for a few thousand people. And the logistics of managing a large crowd. So, wotthehell, Conrad, just go ahead and do it.

But no! You don't want to do it. You want someone else to do it for you!

AND—

"Must be different in the usa. Most people who headline folk events travel across the country by air or whatever and that naturally makes everything more expensive."

Where the hell did you get THAT idea!??

You know, Conrad, you keep using this phrase "jet-set musicians." I really don't know where you get cockamamie ideas like that. Maybe someone like Russian operatic baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky may travel by jet, but his schedule might include singing an opera performance at the Met in New York, followed by another opera the next week at Covent Garden in London, followed by a series of recitals in South America or Japan. Also, it would cost you a couple of thousand dollars to book someone like Hvorostovsky. He has both talent and a great voice, and he has worked very hard to get where he is today. And he draws big crowds that don't mind paying top ticket prices to hear him sing.

I don't know of any singer of folk songs who commands anywhere near that kind of money

Jet set? Not hardly! When I sang somewhere other than Seattle, I usually went by Greyhound. If it's a long distance, then by train. Now that I have my own car, I can drive. But this (bus or train ticket, or gasoline), of course, I have to pay myself, so it's hardly worth the trip unless I get paid enough to cover that, plus what overnight accommodations I might need, AND make a living wage. Not a fortune. Just a living wage.

Otherwise, I simply can't afford to do it, depriving me of the enjoyment of singing for others, and those others, the enjoyment (hopefully) of hearing me sing.

Now, I sing at hoots and other gatherings like that for free. Those, of course, are usually right here in town and only a fairly short drive from where I live. I do it for my own enjoyment, and no money changes hands. But—I have a policy that, other than a benefit that I have agreed to do, if someone is making money off my singing, I insist on getting a cut of it. I think that's only reasonable and fair.

And as to "jet-setting musicians," on his concert tours, the late Richard Dyer-Bennet used to travel by Greyhound or by train. How do I know? He told me so.

Also, when he was on a concert tour, he would often sing earlier in the day at a high school assembly, introducing a lot of bubble-gummers and possibly aspiring rock musicians to the alternative of folk music. And he did this for either small fees or no fees at all.

"The concept of pro musician may encourage some but it also convinces others that they are not worthy."

You, perhaps, if your ego is really that fragile. But early on, even though at first I didn't know from Shinola about what was involved in learning to play the guitar and sing, hearing Walt Robertson (a professional) live, then spending a few hours with Pete Seeger (a professional) well past midnight after one of his concerts, and hearing and talking with people like Richard Dyer-Bennet, Theo Bikel, Gordon Bok, and many, many other professional singers of folk songs, far from convincing me that I was "not worthy," it inspired me to work hard, learn, and strive to be as good as they were / are. And, honestly, I have never met anyone who was so intimidated by someone else's talent and ability that they simply dropped whatever they were doing. Musicians, artists, dancers, writers, et al. Normal people are inspired rather than discouraged, and hearing a good performer, more often than not, encourages them to redouble their efforts.

That's a GOOD thing!!

Is the level of your self-esteem so low that hearing a good singer or musician convinces you that you are not worthy?

Apparently!

No, Conrad. Don Quixote, in his delusions, tilted at windmills, thinking that they were evil giants waving their arms. You, on the other hand, are tilting at imaginary windmills.

The problem you complain of doesn't exist. Folk music is alive and well all over the country. Perhaps there is a mini-drought in your neighborhood, but you can do something about that. If you really want to. That's what people all over the country—all over the world—do.

Don't just whine and complain. If you really think something should be done, then do it. Yourself!

Don Firth

P. S.   "If you just sit back and say 'Let George do it,' you might wake up one morning and discover that Bill did it instead, and you might not like that so well!"
—Pete Seeger