I've been very calm and sensible. I've edited a lot out!

I suppose, though, despite the wearying trudge from one pub to another, the best sessions nearly always happen accidentally, and we wouldn't really appreciate them being organised for us!

But I do think that as musicians we make a contribution to festivals that is taken for granted or ignored.


Crowhugger, my understanding about what the "fringe" is, is that in earlier times (20 years ago) it meant exactly what we've been discussing, eg the informal gatherings of whatever type of art is represented at a festival, freely provided by people who do it for love of their art (whether or not they make money out of it at other times). We're still discussing that aspect because thats how folk music works, but the financial people have discovered that here is another way to make money (I think Edinborough festival (Drama) was the first to discover this, and is probably the most famous (in the UK)), so they have managed to change the meaning to what you originally understood.