Lorcan, here are two pieces of advice. First, listen to Big Mick and to Barbara. Go solo, and hire just as many back-up musicians as you need for a particular gig. Remember, a lot of us have heard the Sorcha Dorcha CD, and it's clear that Lorcan Otway is what it's all about, or at least almost all about. Why pay for eight musicians when all you need are a guitarist, a fiddler, and one female singer? Second, in the words of the great Bob Dylan, "Goodbye New York! Howdy East Orange!" (For those who don't know, East Orange is in New Jersey, close to New York and even closer to Newark.) Why pay Manhattan rent for a tenement slum walk-up, when for the same money or less you can live modern apartment that's twice the size in Edgewater, right across the river? You will still be close enough to the New York folk scene so you can bitch and moan to your heart's desire, but at the same time you will be connected, physically, culturally, and spiritually, to the mainland of North America. Our state motto: New Jersey -- don't let first impressions fool you.