" is no more a storm in a teacup within the context of this thread than is recollection of the Biafran conflict to" whose perpetuation you appear for some reason so peculiarly dedicated.
   poppycock.
"As one club chairman said to a guest performer "We're paying you to sing, not to talk"!
yet more poppycock,
the answer to that is when they circumcised you mr chair they threw away the wrong bit[was the chairman legless?], when club chairmen starting getting jumped up notions and start telling performers what they should do IN PUBLIC, god help us all, club chairmen should know their place, sit quietly in their chair, and venture an opinion in the break ON A ONE TO ONE BASIS.
That club chairman was clearly a power maniac/control freak.
   I had a similiar situation in a folk club at Bicester in oxford , when this BOOR told me off for telling a joke, we pay you to sing not to tell jokes, IF HE DID NOT LIKE ME TELLING ThE OCCASIONAL JOKE, that was related to the song he should have approached me quietly in the interval and made clear how he felt in a private chat.
fortunately i have only met a few of these boors in folk clubs, most people are very pleasant.