I was playing in a session at the Maltings in York some time ago and a chap arrived at about the same time and made it known that he was visiting to take a note of what was played for the night. Apart from the slightly starange reaction of some of the people present who reacted as though he was either a member of the KGB, CIA or MI5, it was an interesting experience.

Every tune was diligently written down and recorded. Because of the nature of the session which is mostly English Traditional and Irish Traditional with some odds and ends thrown in noone is going to get rich from the evening :)!

While we were having a break and people were partaking of the rather fine chips that are provided I asked him whether, theoretically, if I sang a song that the money would find it's way back to the source and he said, theoretically, 'yes'.

So I sang Pete Ryder's song called 'Nat Shapiro's Time' gave him all the details and hopefully one day Mr Ryder will be suitably recompensed. I wonder if it actually works?

As an aside I did ask him how he got the job and - like with many weid and wonderful jobs - it was advertised in The Guardian. Better than minimum wage and travel and EXPENSES paid for. Hmmm now there's an interesting part time job for the future - going to the pub for the evening, listening to music and getting paid for it ...