I've got a bootleg of a live Dylan concert back in 1963 sometime, and he jokes to the audience about how astonished he is to actually get paid for playing music, saying "Gee, I hope I never have to work<\i> for a living!"

He was very talkative and funny in those days, always cracking jokes, and people loved it.

Actually though, making a living in music is a hell of a lot of work, I'd say, as well as being nearly impossible (to make a living I mean) if you're a folksinger.

Erin Benjamin played for the Orillia Folk Society last night in beautiful downtown Orillia at Swanmore Hall. She is an absolutely superb singer-songwriter from Sudbury, Ontario. We took some Jpegs, and I think we can get them on a site for you all to take a look...I'll see about that in a bit.

Anyway, Erin mentioned that it is virtually impossible to make anything except the most marginal living playing singer-songwriter material in Canada UNLESS...you manage to get a "pop" tune released and played a lot on commercial radio. To do so, of course, it has to SOUND like a "pop" tune. I think you know what that means. Just ask Shania Twain, if you're not sure. Or Celine Dion. Erin has written a couple of pop tunes, and she remains hopeful that they will work for her. We shall see.

Her bass player, whose name I can never spell, so I won't even try...is one of the finest musicians I have ever seen...and he makes a living as a schoolteacher. The guy is uncanny. He's amazing. I will try and get his name right and post it later.