There is one point about folk clubs that nobody has yet mentioned.

Without those of us who devoted a large portion of our lives to their organisation, nobody would have heard of Carthy outside of a fifty mile radius of his home, and the same is true for just about every other bookable guest.

Folk music is undergoing a resurgence at the moment, which is mostly taking place in the burgeoning session/singaround scene, but the really talented newcomers to that scene cannot progress without guest booking venues.

The fact is that the Art Centre and Festival opportunities cannot cater to more than a small fraction of their number, so there has to be some move toward re-establishing the places where young hopefuls used to hone their performances.

The OP is well known for his negative attitudes toward any kind of structured environment, including for a very long period Mudcat itself. Not surprising then that he has taken the worst attributes of a very small minority of clubs, and cobbled them together into stereotypical, but totally mythical, venues.

The biggest problem any would be folk club organiser faces today is the erroneous impression given by such sourpuss criticism.

GSS knows more about the first impressions on anyone entering the clubs I organised than I would feel comfortable claiming, and I believe that he would agree with most, if not all, of the above.

Don T.