Yeah, Smokey, it sounds like the economics of the folk scene in the U.S. is pretty much as it is in the U.K.

As far as Conrad's wanting no differentiation between performers and audience, I don't see that working in any kind of really large event. But I've already described the "hoots" or informal gatherings that folk music enthusiasts have been engaging in for as long as I've been at it (since 1952, and I know they were going on for years if not decades before I came along). Simply informal gatherings, more often that not in someone's living room or recreation room. No separation between performers and audience, and any member of the "audience" who feels so moved can jump in at any time. Nothing as formal as a "song circle," and no "rules" beyond simple courtesy and willingness to let anyone who wants to take a turn rather than one or two people trying to dominate the scene.

Oftentimes, some of the older performers at hoots will offer suggestions to the newer ones. Early on, I learned a lot while singing at hoots. I'd do a song, and when I'd finished, Walt or someone might say something like, "Have you ever tried to put a Dm in near the end of the second line before going to the G7?" Good stuff!

And in performances where there is a separation between performer and audience, such as a concert—or for that matter, a television show!!—as far as setting "entertainment" aside in favor of "education," you'd better keep it entertaining or people aren't going to hang around long enough for you to "educate" them. But you've heard the old gag about, "I knew he was a folk singer because he talked for ten minutes introducing a three minute song!" What, I wonder, does Conrad think the performer is talking about during that theoretical ten minutes? About the song and its background! Not giving a recipe for making your own guacamole!!

And as far as performers doing more to "educate" their audiences, my major break as a performer came in the form of being asked to do a series on folk music on KCTS-TV, Seattle's (and the whole area's) major educational television station, which was based at the University of Washington at the time. The series, "Ballads and Books," was funded by the Seattle Public Library. As a result of this educational series, not only did I get a regular paid job in Seattle's nicest coffeehouse, I was asked to do presentations in American History classes in various schools.

How did I first meet Richard Dyer-Bennet? My voice teacher had heard me mention Dyer-Bennet during my lessons. She taught singing one day a week at a school in Bellingham, Washington, an hour and a half's drive north of Seattle, and said that if I could contrive to come to Bellingham and be at the school at 10:00 in the morning, she would see if she could arrange for me to meet him. I did, and she did. Dyer-Bennet was not doing a concert as such. He was performing for students at an assembly. Sponsored by the school's English Literature and Music departments.

And Richard Dyer-Bennet, the "Twentieth Century Minstrel," who did concerts in Carnegie Hall and New York's Town Hall, and often performed wearing white tie and tales, was the nearest thing to a "jet-set" professional singer of folk songs that I can think of. He usually traveled from engagement to engagement (many school assemblies) by train or bus!

Old friend Bob Nelson put together a six-part course relating folk songs to American History. He talks about various historical events, then sings the songs that grew out of those events (much like Burl Ives's radio program back in the late 1940s that I used to listen to). Last I heard, Bob has done his series at six different schools so far. Bob has also been asked to do a radio program on folk music at a local radio station. Entertainment AND education at the same time.

Conrad doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. It's really kind of sad when someone tries to re-invent the wheel when he doesn't even know what a wheel is for.

He needs to go to a home for the terminally bewildered.

Don Firth