I'm sorry I missed the opening of this thread. I've been in the 'Olympic City' waiting for Dick Gaughan's concert last night (brilliant!)

Our friend Gil and his media release have both received quite a lot of exposure in Sydney media these last few days and the whole issue has generated a quite inappropriate amount of heat. Mudcatters are better than that, judging by the comments in this thread.

Here in Bathurst we were expecting to host several hundreds of these band members during the Games. Bathurst is about three hours west of Sydney and what with the University campus and boarding schools vacant for holidays, etc, we could easily accommodate them all out here. Now, our Mayor is saying he'd like Bathurst to be compensated handsomely for the decision to 'uninvite' the visitors. He's my elected local government representative, but I don't remember being asked anything about this matter. Oh well.

So many people see the Olympics as an opportunity to make a financial killing in one way or another that the relevance of the Games has almost been lost, IMHO.

I will be taking my 14 year old son to some events in Sydney, at outrageous cost, because whatever else it means, we'll get to see some outstanding athletes competing in a unique event. My wife won't even consider it. Many of my friends are planning to either grab cheap flights out of the country at that time or to rely on TV, and that worries me a little. But I will definitely not be paying the exorbitant amounts being charged for the opening ceremony, with or without marching bands.

I'm sorry I won't be meeting hundreds of Orange County and Japanese band members in Bathurst. I like my fellow musicians, and even some bodhran players (grin) and I don't like to see kids disappointed so, all round, I'd prefer this hadn't happened. But since politicians are convinced the media controls public opinion, it has happened.

There will probably be more glitches before the opening ceremony for the media to jump on, but Sydneysiders (and Bathurstians) are cynical enough about how decisions are reached without Gil's help.

If any Mudcatters want to have a session in Bathurst while the opening ceremony is on, the Bathurst Folk Club will be open to suggestions.

. . . and mine's a Guinness.

Bruce