Well, once a guy I was auditioning for, whose name happened to be Richard, warily wanted to know if I was going to sing any songs where I called men "dickheads," which I got to use onstage as a joke for years afterward.

I think the worst things are people who take the table smack dab in front of where I'm singing and proceed to talk loudly and ignore the fact that there's a musician about 6 inches away.

And once, at a coffeehouse I played at every Sunday morning for 6 months or so, I was dutifully counting my tips and waiting for the token $20.00 check. The manager came up and said she'd neglected to request it this week and did I mind? We got into an argument, she ended up waving a $20.00 in my face, screaming "If you need twenty dollars so damn much, you shouldn't be playing here!" Ah, the delights of being a folksinger in the late 20th century.

blt