Howard
I have been arguing for a long time on what I believe should be on offer at folk clubs and from the responses, I think I have been able to form a reasonable picture
I am still in touch with some in the same position as myself who make forays into the clubs and give up - some of them are/were once highly regarded singers
Some of the people here have argued for the type of things that cause us to leave in the first place
When you get a regular poster telling you that you should look elsewhere for folksond you don't get closer to a 'horse's mouth' statement than that
Look - all of you - I don't cmain that there are no clubs catering for folk songs
I just suggest that if the number of clubs is anywhere near close to how many clubs, then there are not enough and, if not many of those do the real stuff, then the red light should be flashing for all who love folk song
Rod Stradling has intimated that the general situation has influenced his sales of Traditional CDs - 3 cds sold of England's finest source singer

On the other hand, I've just met the widow of Tom McCarthy the late Clare piper (and a dear friend)
She's not long returned from London where her piper daughter, Jacqueline and her piper husband Tommy Keane played to a packed house at the Musical Traditions Club
The audiences are out there for good traditional stuff
Troll alert - by the way
Someone has opened a thread in my name denigrating the refugees who froze to death in the truck (Fast Food thread) and someone has put up a racist attack on Travellers on the Irish Music Sessions thread
While I am honoured to have been noticed byt the scum-life on this planet, am appalled to see this forum infested by vermin
The subject matter of both of these leads me to suspect who it is, but I ahve no proof - so I have passed on my suspicions and left the matter in respoonsible hands Jim   
Jim