This Thax/camera flash issue seems to continue to spiral out of control. Let me reiterate my position:

Most of the time at shows, flash is worthless. HOWEVER, sometimes at small venues like Schubas and the Empty Bottle, you can be close enough for it to actually be useful. I can't afford some killer SLR digital camera, but I really like taking pictures at shows, so I'll do what it takes to get a relatively good one with what I've got. I try to keep the flash pictures to a minimum so it's not excessive, but a couple here or there is not that disruptive.

To make a comparison, I don't like smoking in venues (hate it, actually), but if it's allowed by the venue, then I'm not going to get up on stage and complain about it, or wander the crowd telling people how much it bothers me. I put up with it, even though I may find it as "annoying" as Thax find camera flashes.

Speaking of which, Schubas has now joined the Metro in eliminating smoking from the music room. Huzzah! And if they want to also join the Metro in outlawing flash, then they can do so and I'll stop using it there, no big deal.