Tootler:@ Conrad seems to believe that professionals are denying opportunities to amateurs. Well I'm an amateur musician and I don't find there is any lack of opportunity nor do I find professionals telling me I am not good enough. Quite the opposite; the professional musicians I know are very encouraging.

Absolutely! While I'm nowhere near good enough to get a paid gig,or even to play on a stage, there's no way I'm denied opportunities to perform. In fact, I receive lots of encouragement from people much better than am, whether they're amateur or professional.

I now attend singarounds and sessions regularly and have never once felt anything other than strong encouragement to play, even though I know that my current instrumental skill level is very modest, my vocal talents barely adequate and I have a tendency to let nerves get the better of me. I *could* attend sessions locally (within 30 minutes drive) 4 or 5 times a week if I wanted. I try to limit it to once or twice otherwise I'd end up running out of material.

I just don't understand what Cionrad's on about.

- There are no lack of opportunities to perform for anyone who wishes to, IMO.

- I don't know of ANY folk professionals who live "jet set" lifestyles. This is just a figment of Conrad's imagination, I reckon. Even the most well-known "stars" who visit my town stay in either the local Travelodge or at friends' homes. NEVER in the local 4 star hotel.

- As for "bringing traditional music to the masses" people like Fairport Convention, as well as writing their own material, are assiduous searchers of archives and regularly perform newly-unearthed "trad" songs and tunes at their gigs.

As I said about 600 posts up-thread, Conrad seems to have a chip on his shoulder about being alienated from his local "scene"... which is probably something to do with the attitudes and behaviour he expresses. This seems to have been confirmed by "Skivee". As a player of low competence myself, I'm often pleasantly surprised that people in sessions "give me a hearing"....but I reckon that if I started tootling loudly and tunelessly on a whistle during someone else's performance or shouting out for songs while someone else was singing, I'd pretty soon alinate the local community too, and find my presence at events as unwelcome as Conrad seems to.

But the man has a fixed idea in his head which he thinks is radical and that the rest of us can't understand, and nothing anyone can say will deflect him from his self-righteousness.

He thinks he's a MESSIAH. Actually, he's just a MESS.