"Ok Jim, calm, calm"
This is calm for me Les - you try living off the Atlantic Coast with its pissing rain and forty mile an hour fog - now that's what I call stormy!
Rosma
It's not really what any club presents that's the problem - it's what it claims to be in the order of things that's the problem and what has caused the damage.
Ireland has had the success it has by knowing what it means by folk/traditional.
Not only has it attracted a significantly large new following, but it has now become a respected art form, opening the door too large research and performance grants, but also gaining access big time to the media.
I can turn the radio or television on and can almost certainly find programmes of and on traditional/folk music and any level of understanding and interest most nights of the week throughout the year.
We fought tooth and nail when I lived in the UK just get a central archive of our recorded music - the end result wan the sound archive at the British Library.
Irish music is in no way po-faced - it is played straight and experimented with - room fall all tastes and inclinations.
The kids coming in are in the process of making it their own music in a way we never managed to.
The lesson is a simple one - take yourself seriously, get some sort of consensus and others will respect you, whether the like your music or not.
Jim Carroll