The following is NOT my story. Dennis Cramer told it at Augusta (Elkins WV) this summer.

Dennis was a folk newbie. He had never played in front of people. He decided that his first venture into public peformance would be as a busker.

He sets up on a street corner and begins to play and sing. He'd been at it for about 10 or 15 seconds when a drunk wanders up. The drunk listens for a few moments and then screams for the world to hear, "You suck!" Dennis doesn't know how he did it but he kept going. After listening for a few moments more, the drunk screams, "I cannot believe how bad you suck!"

At this point Dennis says he was trying to decide whether to curl up and die or fold his tent and crawl silently away.

But then he had an epiphany. He thought to himself, "Wait a minute. I have been singing publicly for less than a minute, and already the worst possible thing that can happen to a performer is happening to me. It's over with. It's behind me. Now I can get on with it." So he kept on singing. Finally the drunk wandered off, and as he left he dropped a $10.00 bill into the guitar case.