...As I was leaving the next day, Dave the owner decided it was important to give me feedback about my performance and was a little less than complimentary, accusing me of being too shy and telling me I should take a leaf from the likes of Anika Moa.
Well! So far on this trip I had been told to be sexier like Reb Fountain and funnier like Anika Moa. Surely I should also dress like Brooke Fraser and sing like Bic Runga, too. Actually, why even bother calling myself an original artist at all?
As an artist himself I felt Dave should have known better. It's not like you can approach a painter saying, "Well, I really think you should have used more green there. Yeah, it's just a bit too subtle. Y'know, try to paint a bit more like that guy the does all the splotches, yeah, I like his stuff."
Although I tried to take the feedback on board and respond politely and with grace, I found myself leaving very quickly with a bad taste in my mouth and an angry voice in my head huffing: "Guess I wasn't Eggsentric enough for them!"...

(Excerpt from The Cookbook Tour by Flip Grater - launched August 10th 2007)