Well the person I spoke with today was very rude, just on her own, and for the rest, it's just typical of how acoustic musicians are so often treated-- could not possibly be serious, busy, working professionals, right, must be just KumBaYah at the drop of a hat, always willing to volunteer... and no, it's not that they want something different, WE would have been the something different... and the problem here is a committee with no captain, with no single member able to synthesize without a leader-- it would have been so simple just to honor both commitments. "Wow, we have several people for this year, how can we spread them arond..." Just clueless amateurs.
Wish I could say better for them but that's it, really. I think they've seen too many beach-blanket movies and westerns. You know, where the instruments come out of nowhere by magic and everyone knows the songs, and the instruments are all in tune.