Sibelius: As this thread has evolved, it's made a lot more sense. It's kinda like the floor singers thread... there are clearly some differences between the folk scene over here, and your way. For a few years, I ran something called a Potlatch, with a friend of mine, Dallas Cline. A Potlatch is a pacific northwest indian gathering where the purpose is to outgive everyone else. I thought it was a good goal for people getting together informally to share music. At the time, I was also running a folk concert series, and there was a steady stream of "professionals" who would come to the Potlatch, anxiously await their turn to show how good they were, and then when I didn't offer tham a booking in the series, they disappeared. The core group was very encouraging, even though only three or four of us had performed "professionally." I learned to play fiddle with a kid in high school who played hammered dulcimer, in large part due to the generosity and encouragement of the people who had to listen to us. Most of the people weren't "professional," and did not have the talent or desire to become one. For a lot of people, that might seem hard to understand. Why wouldn't you want to get good enough to get bookings? For some people, they were well aware of their limitations and just enjoyed swapping songs in a non-judgmental environment. Most of the others just enjoyed music as an avocation... a living room experience. Most of the time, we had a wonderful evening, thoroughly enjoying the best as well as the worst musicians. One of the things that turns me off most is the competitiveness I see so often when people get together to perform. It's one thing to want to get better. It's another to want to look better than everyone else. Everyone with a discernible ego (me included) likes the recognition of playing a song well, whether they are living room singers or professional performers. But, no matter what the experience may be, when you try to make yourself look good by making others look bad, you'll kill any spirit in a group. Maybe that's what you've experienced.

In many of these threads you can see the difference in perspective between those who are trying to make a living out of their music, and those who do it as an avocation. I've always been involved with music as an avocation, so I have a more casual, probably less demanding/discerning perspective than someone like Harvey. It's good to remember that, if we're trying to listen and well as speak here. I need to remember that as much as anyone.

Jerry