I agree with Allison. It just reminds me of the best folk festivals I've been to. The ones where if you just want music you go to the structured events like concerts and workshops, and if you want the full mix you sit around in the sessions, playing a bit of music, chatting a bit about life, the universe and everything, whether it relates *directly* to music or not. (I actually think that it all relates to folk music - emotions, thoughts, ideas, interests, social justice, politics, etc etc can all be expressed in music, words, or dance.)

Maybe we need a way for people who start threads and only want to stick to the topic to mark the threads in some way. like "Warning, this is intended to be a BS-free zone". You note, I said *intended to be* because there are just some times when the BS just has to break free and bring a bit of levity to the occasion. I'm thinking of a time in the last year when someone started a thread about sex sites for gay women or something, hoping that we'd get sidetracked into a pornographic/cyber-sex discussion. It took less than no time at all for the humour to cut in, and then after a very short time it developed into a serious discussion about gay and lesbian songs.

I like to think that folkies and blues people are lateral thinkers with a broad perspective on life. That's why I love the meandering way the threads go sometimes.

Helen