As the jazz song has it, "It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it...."

I live in Germany and play on acoustic nights at a local music club. I sing traditionals, songs by people like Richard Thompson and my own songs as well. Next month I'm giving a concert there which will be 90-120 minutes of my own songs, some of which, although 30-40 years old, have never been aired before in public. Not a question of 'quality', simply lack of opportunity. As a club member I'm not getting paid for the gig. During the interval the hat goes round and the money goes to swell the club funds so that singers like Colin Wilkie get a booking.

There's a nice story about a professional singer and the NTMC......but I'll leave it in the vault(!)