'Way back in March (before I'd ever laid eyes on the Forum, Grab said, "Someone pointed out that motor skills go with alcohol, so your fingers start to lose it, but there's voice-only songs which aren't a problem."

LOL! "Motor skills" include the movement of the lips, tongue and jaws while singing! If your fingers aren't strictly obeying your brain's commands due to an excess of alcohol, that's a clue that your mouth probably isn't working as well as your brain thinks it is, either.

I find it uncomfortable to perform at bars and even to participate in open mikes and circles at bars because (aside from what the cigarette smoke does to aggravate my health problems), even though I almost invariably drink ginger ale there, I feel that I am promoting drinking and driving. Someone mentioned in this thread that bar owners hire bands in order to bring in customers to drink, and this can be extended to all musical programs scheduled at the bars. Whenever I participate in one of those programs, I can't shake the feeling that I'm endorsing a harmful (and illegal) activity – when the listening drinkers around me drive home still impaired – and playing a part in putting them and other people on the road at risk.

Of course I'm not forcing anyone to drink too much... but am I not enticing them to do so if they come to a bar to listen to me, even if I'm not drinking myself? How much more so if I were drinking myself, as people on this thread have mentioned (making the audience "comfortable" by drinking along with them)???

And my car's not big enough to drive them all home!

So I very rarely play any music at bars anymore. In fact, I can't recall the last time I did; last spring, maybe?

Sharon