There is places to play,so go for it?
[I dont feel deprived of live music as a listener, it's the lack of opportunities to play music that's frustrating for me.[/quote]
Surely this must be down to what you have to offer, If you stick your guitar neck out and do your own stuff then go with it and hopefully somebody somewhere will like it , if you are a cover monkey then you better be good at it coz there is a template.
A little bird told me that the awful noise you heard in the Y-not several Saturday's ago was packed to the door, so get out your manual of "how to pull a crowd and keep em":confused