well, I contend that we are living in the last great days of the Roman Empire...I have been active in Folk music circles for 37 years, and for the last 21 in the Washington area....I came in when things were still going great, and have watched the venues, concert attendance, leadership, participation in sings...etc. gradually dwindle......as the average age of the group and cost per person has risen. Sure, there are plenty of neat things still happening..(as Roger can attest to- having come to the Getaway 2 weeks ago-- both adding to and enjoying the weekend)...but...the Getaway, as nice as it was, was barely at critical mass, and with the rising cost of putting it on, I fret about the future. There will ALWAYS be people interested in folk music, but already, there are places where only the SCA..(Society for Creative Anacronisims)is keeping this music alive...and they often just 'parrot' the songs --with little sense of the history and perspective that the Mudcat, as a group shows...

As one thread makes clear, the average age of the serious folkies is rising...and we ALL know that we are not recruiting at replacement rate...and many of the young ones are doing music that is obviously not core 'folk'...not that it is 'bad'...just different. And a lot of what happens is that music is now being done 'for publication'...songs are being written like TV sitcoms...a few good, a lot mediocre...but they are being written to 'be performed' AT us, instead of to be sung with us. So..it is a really tricky thing to establish a venue and make it work..too many ideas of what ought to be played/sung and too few who really 'know' what they are about..

well...I really got carried away with that one...and only said part of what I felt...well, lets see what others have to say...maybe someone can see rays of hope I have missed..