Two linguistics professors meet at a conference. The Spanish professor says to the Irish one: "Tell me, do you have an equivalent in Irish of our expression "Manana"?
The Irish linguistics professor thinks for a bit, then says, "Well, we have several such expressions, but none of them conveys the same sense of....urgency"
I was playing a session last month (I think) and a woman came over and said her mate was in a bad way and they were phoning an ambulance, so could we please be quiet. Which we did. For about three minutes. Then we launched into full on tunes again and this woman was dragged around the session to the ladies loo (which was behind us). About ten minutes later, the paramedics came in, navigated around the session (which was big and loud as there must have been about four or five border pipers along with the assorted flutes, banjos, fiddles, guitars, etc), and went to the loo. They came out later carrying the patient and did the session miss a note? Nope. Kept playing right on through the drama.
We once had a fellow who insisted that we needed some percussion, and started doing a sort of bones thing with his bare hands, flailing his arms whithin inches of the box player's face. We told him to go away, and he finally did.
1977 or so in Carlow.
The old, slightly strange fiddler, stopped mid tune and said:
"The cuckoo! Does she have a mother? Or is she a bastard?"
Then returned to the tune.
Rory McLeod joined in on Trombone once.- Stag's Head Camden, in London
Bombard - one tune only - The Crane, Galway
BagPipes - two pipers in the Sherlock Homes in Edmonton, Alberta, playing "Hellbound Train".
Swedish Keyed fiddle - beautiful instrument, in the Crane
Dumbek
Djembe
Strange yiddish/klezmer tunes on sopranino recorder
Vacuum cleaner - actually that wasn't a session, it was a gig, but mostly Irish music.
Double Bass
Autoharp
Oh yes - a dancing cow toy - the Crane in Galway, always the best for surprises!
Sean-nós singing by a German with perfect Joe Heaney inflections (according to Gerry Shannon)
this link however is relavant.
Willie doesnt like sessions. or inbred people. Most of you on this site may qualify it seems, including myself.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0E2eJHzMIY
you have questionable taste in youtubes - I think I might have seen you at my session once - were you the guy wearing fatigues playing the homemade washtub bass?
that's nothing like telling the teacher - that's like warning your friend not to go into the bathroom just then because someone's projectile vomiting all over the floor in there
Water started dripping through the ceiling and pattering on the seat between me and the mandolinist next to me. It was out of rhythm, so we complained and had it stopped.
I think Casio keyboards are a joke and consider them to be children's toys. If you are going to bring a keyboard to a session to play it as a piano, you should bring something such as a Roland or Kurzweil keyboard which can do a halfway decent imitation of a real piano.
One session I attended had a simple rule - if you stop in the middle of a tune, you remove a piece of clothing. Here in Vermont, it would not have been a problem.
In the warm, humid and beer-soaked mountains of North Carolina, in July, it was definitely more fun.
That reminds me of the time a punter sat next to me mid-tune (the fiddle player who had been there had got up to go to the bar) and started snorting cocaine off his hand. Classy.
Wormdiet, what type of beer do you soak your mountains with in North Carolina?
SilverSpear, have you ever the following You Might Be A Redneck joke: "I near drownded myself when I tried to snort some Coca-cola."
Correction: I meant to say, "Have you ever heard the following You Might Be A Redneck Joke..."I near drownded myself when I tried to snort some Coca-cola".
things seen or heard in a session
things seen or heard in a session
this is just a silly list of things I have witnessed, over the years, in our session.
it has no relevance, but I typed it up.
tunes
~ w/twiddly bits
~ w/out t.b. (bare bones)
mazurkas
strathspeys
gossip
jokes
banter
song(s)
visual props
flip chart
pets (dog, cat, * alligator . . .)
viola
cello
basson
drum kit
pipes (small, uilleann . . .)
dancer(s)
~ step
~ belly
gaelige
YouTube clips
someone leaving in a huff
gig rehersal(s)
money exchange
* we've only had an iguana in session
# Posted on May 11th 2009 by Ben Steen
Re: things seen or heard in a session
What was the iguana doing?
# Posted on May 11th 2009 by DrSilverSpear
Re: things seen or heard in a session
we had beatboxers once - also breakdancers, an opera singer, and a jazz saxaphonist
# Posted on May 11th 2009 by airport
Re: things seen or heard in a session
Didgeridoo
Shawm
...I was the latter, and we did a tear-jerking rendition of Silent Night.
# Posted on May 11th 2009 by Mark Harmer
Re: things seen or heard in a session
See you later, alligator..!
In a while, crocodile..!
Manana, iguana..!
...I made up the last one, that's the honest truth.
# Posted on May 11th 2009 by nicholas
Re: things seen or heard in a session
A samba drum.....we all had a go !
# Posted on May 11th 2009 by Guernsey Pete
Re: things seen or heard in a session
Manana...reminds me of my favourite Irish joke:
Two linguistics professors meet at a conference. The Spanish professor says to the Irish one: "Tell me, do you have an equivalent in Irish of our expression "Manana"?
The Irish linguistics professor thinks for a bit, then says, "Well, we have several such expressions, but none of them conveys the same sense of....urgency"
# Posted on May 11th 2009 by Mark Harmer
Re: things seen or heard in a session
Dancers, step and belly, but no set or sean-nos? What's the world coming to!
# Posted on May 11th 2009 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: things seen or heard in a session
airport, I'll come breakdance at your session. I still got my windbreaker and suede Pumas from the late 80s.
# Posted on May 11th 2009 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: things seen or heard in a session
We had the gardaí in a few times!
# Posted on May 11th 2009 by 52Paddy
Re: things seen or heard in a session
I was playing a session last month (I think) and a woman came over and said her mate was in a bad way and they were phoning an ambulance, so could we please be quiet. Which we did. For about three minutes. Then we launched into full on tunes again and this woman was dragged around the session to the ladies loo (which was behind us). About ten minutes later, the paramedics came in, navigated around the session (which was big and loud as there must have been about four or five border pipers along with the assorted flutes, banjos, fiddles, guitars, etc), and went to the loo. They came out later carrying the patient and did the session miss a note? Nope. Kept playing right on through the drama.
# Posted on May 11th 2009 by DrSilverSpear
Re: things seen or heard in a session
We once had a fellow who insisted that we needed some percussion, and started doing a sort of bones thing with his bare hands, flailing his arms whithin inches of the box player's face. We told him to go away, and he finally did.
# Posted on May 11th 2009 by John Galt
Re: things seen or heard in a session
1977 or so in Carlow.
The old, slightly strange fiddler, stopped mid tune and said:
"The cuckoo! Does she have a mother? Or is she a bastard?"
Then returned to the tune.
# Posted on May 11th 2009 by RockyRoader
Re: things seen or heard in a session
Rory McLeod joined in on Trombone once.- Stag's Head Camden, in London
Bombard - one tune only - The Crane, Galway
BagPipes - two pipers in the Sherlock Homes in Edmonton, Alberta, playing "Hellbound Train".
Swedish Keyed fiddle - beautiful instrument, in the Crane
Dumbek
Djembe
Strange yiddish/klezmer tunes on sopranino recorder
Vacuum cleaner - actually that wasn't a session, it was a gig, but mostly Irish music.
Double Bass
Autoharp
# Posted on May 11th 2009 by RockyRoader
Re: things seen or heard in a session
Oh yes - a dancing cow toy - the Crane in Galway, always the best for surprises!
Sean-nós singing by a German with perfect Joe Heaney inflections (according to Gerry Shannon)
# Posted on May 11th 2009 by RockyRoader
Re: things seen or heard in a session
Sheet music........ yikes. Suffice to say, that only happened once.
# Posted on May 11th 2009 by CW
Re: things seen or heard in a session
all of the above, excepting iguanas and ambulances, but one I remember was the stylophone playing "Telstar"
# Posted on May 11th 2009 by Bren
Re: things seen or heard in a session
this.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEgqpM3Hvdo
# Posted on May 11th 2009 by Miss Mulligan
Re: things seen or heard in a session
for all of us who already got suckered into that link, it's "How to hit a deer at over 150km"
# Posted on May 11th 2009 by airport
Re: things seen or heard in a session
you are the type that tells teacher..ya big lick arse
# Posted on May 11th 2009 by Miss Mulligan
Re: things seen or heard in a session
this link however is relavant.
Willie doesnt like sessions. or inbred people. Most of you on this site may qualify it seems, including myself..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0E2eJHzMIY
# Posted on May 11th 2009 by Miss Mulligan
Re: things seen or heard in a session
you have questionable taste in youtubes - I think I might have seen you at my session once - were you the guy wearing fatigues playing the homemade washtub bass?
# Posted on May 12th 2009 by airport
Re: things seen or heard in a session
I dont talk to touts..grasses..snitches...not even on the mustard board.. Refer to type that tells teacher comment
# Posted on May 12th 2009 by Miss Mulligan
Re: things seen or heard in a session
and i have been known to wear fatigues of occasion
# Posted on May 12th 2009 by Miss Mulligan
Re: things seen or heard in a session
that's nothing like telling the teacher - that's like warning your friend not to go into the bathroom just then because someone's projectile vomiting all over the floor in there
# Posted on May 12th 2009 by airport
Re: things seen or heard in a session
Trucks, are you on commission?
# Posted on May 12th 2009 by sashiko calico
Re: things seen or heard in a session
Casio keyboard...
# Posted on May 12th 2009 by Greg the Piano Tuner
Re: things seen or heard in a session
kangaroo skin bodhran
# Posted on May 12th 2009 by Hup
Re: things seen or heard in a session
1/8th sized fiddle (with charming 4 year and fiddle playing dad)
# Posted on May 12th 2009 by Hup
Re: things seen or heard in a session
sean nos limbo dancer
# Posted on May 12th 2009 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: things seen or heard in a session
celtic line dancing
# Posted on May 12th 2009 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: things seen or heard in a session
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o-ytxOUPzs&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F08_MJpwIA0
It’s coming! All that’s need now are flared trousers, and platform shoes.
# Posted on May 12th 2009 by Skull Duggeraigh Dubh
Re: things seen or heard in a session
We had loads of musicians playing music at our session
last week!
# Posted on May 12th 2009 by gooseinthenettles
Re: things seen or heard in a session
musicians? At a session? That's astounding!!!
# Posted on May 12th 2009 by Hup
Re: things seen or heard in a session
regretably I wasn't there the week in question, but we once had a portable corner
- chris
# Posted on May 12th 2009 by ramblingpitchfork
Re: things seen or heard in a session
A fight. Between musicians!
# Posted on May 12th 2009 by DrSilverSpear
Re: things seen or heard in a session
Water started dripping through the ceiling and pattering on the seat between me and the mandolinist next to me. It was out of rhythm, so we complained and had it stopped.
# Posted on May 12th 2009 by LowProfile
Re: things seen or heard in a session
I saw a musician kick his brother out of a session once, for being too drunk to play. Quite sad actually.
# Posted on May 12th 2009 by RockyRoader
Re: things seen or heard in a session
A set of finger cymbals played by a tie-dyed wearing, long haired, hippy. It wasn't the tie-dye, or the hair that bugged us, but the cymbals.
# Posted on May 12th 2009 by saltcast
Re: things seen or heard in a session
A fiddler showed up with an annoying Stroh-fiddle that had a nasal quality. I kept hoping someone would pour beer into the horn. No such luck.
# Posted on May 13th 2009 by Leendah
Re: things seen or heard in a session
Saltcast, was that hippy a "Symbolist"?
# Posted on May 13th 2009 by fauxcelt
Re: things seen or heard in a session
I think Casio keyboards are a joke and consider them to be children's toys. If you are going to bring a keyboard to a session to play it as a piano, you should bring something such as a Roland or Kurzweil keyboard which can do a halfway decent imitation of a real piano.
# Posted on May 13th 2009 by fauxcelt
Re: things seen or heard in a session
Strip-session.
One session I attended had a simple rule - if you stop in the middle of a tune, you remove a piece of clothing. Here in Vermont, it would not have been a problem.
In the warm, humid and beer-soaked mountains of North Carolina, in July, it was definitely more fun.
# Posted on May 13th 2009 by wormdiet
Re: things seen or heard in a session
drugs
# Posted on May 14th 2009 by munya beor
Re: things seen or heard in a session
That reminds me of the time a punter sat next to me mid-tune (the fiddle player who had been there had got up to go to the bar) and started snorting cocaine off his hand. Classy.
# Posted on May 14th 2009 by DrSilverSpear
Re: things seen or heard in a session
"celtic line dancing"
... on a table?
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lh/photo/Ru1tXSMT2C_xtvU9rFCxGw?feat=directlink
# Posted on May 14th 2009 by Bren
Re: things seen or heard in a session
Wormdiet, what type of beer do you soak your mountains with in North Carolina?
SilverSpear, have you ever the following You Might Be A Redneck joke: "I near drownded myself when I tried to snort some Coca-cola."
# Posted on May 14th 2009 by fauxcelt
Re: things seen or heard in a session
SilverSpear - how dare he not offer you any.
# Posted on May 14th 2009 by munya beor
Re: things seen or heard in a session
Correction: I meant to say, "Have you ever heard the following You Might Be A Redneck Joke..."I near drownded myself when I tried to snort some Coca-cola".
# Posted on May 14th 2009 by fauxcelt
Re: things seen or heard in a session
i once did a somersault with my acoustic guitar arouund my neck and broke a neck ( . . . but luckily not mine that time)
# Posted on May 16th 2009 by lisaniska
Re: things seen or heard in a session
SilverSpear - good job it wasn't rosin? That stuff gets everywhere.
# Posted on May 16th 2009 by sashiko calico
Re: things seen or heard in a session
You know, I am surprised rosin-sniffing hasn't taken off as the newest exciting rave- party drug,
# Posted on May 16th 2009 by DrSilverSpear
Re: things seen or heard in a session
Too sticky. You'd bung up your nostrils in no time.
# Posted on May 16th 2009 by sashiko calico
Re: things seen or heard in a session
Roisin sniffing might be better than nearly "drownding" yourself while snorting Coca-cola.
# Posted on May 19th 2009 by fauxcelt