Didn't think we'd be seeing this thread again!

Eldergirl - thinking about the difference between the kind of people who get asked to do spots and the kind who don't (e.g. me), I think there are three ways of looking at it.

We don't get asked because...

1. We're just the wrong people: we don't have the looks, the charm, the ready banter, the knock-you-dead instrumental skills, the voice that you could listen to singing the phone book.

This is the most obvious explanation, but I think it's wrong. There are people out there with amazing instrumental skills, utterly beautiful voices or both (the bastards!), but there are others whose names we all know who have neither. And it can't all be down to looks and charm.

Alternatively, perhaps:

2. We're not doing the right things: making the rounds of the local (and less local) clubs, being seen at festivals, identifying five or six numbers that go down well and concentrating on them - and let's not forget actually letting it be known you'd like to do a spot.

And perhaps we're not doing those things because we don't want to badly enough, or at all. Personally I like learning new songs, I like having my weekends free and I'm quite fond of getting seven hours' sleep - so I don't repeat songs a lot (even if they went down well the first time), I don't go to festivals & I don't do that many weeknight singarounds. Which means that nobody outside a couple of overlapping groups of singers knows who I am - & nobody ever asks me to do a spot. As my Dad used to say, you pays your money and you takes your choice.