Our paddy's day seems to be a week long. We're doing three gigs this week (and I've got a harp exam so I'm hoping that doesn't do my fingers in before the big day)!
Plenty of Guinness should numb any painful blisters...
Unfortunately St.Patrick's Day has become just another annual occasion when amateur drinkers crowd the pubs, act like "charlies" and puke up.
It is best avoided (especially in Irish or mock-Irish establishments). It is rather like Christmas Eve and Hogmanay (the Gregorian New Year t'ing) when the same thing happens.
I suppose if you were of Irish nationality and a Christian then one would celebrate it. But most are neither (like me) and so it’s as relevant as celebrating July the Forth or the Emperor of Japan’s Birthday…
I've got three sessions: 1-3 in Tommy Flynn's - Camden High St, 5-7 Adam and Eve - Hayes, 8.30 - ? in the Adelaide, Primrose Hill (-ish).
Sunday I'll probably spend in the Porterhouse - mate's over from Germany/France to play in the afternoon and Hungry grass to finish off the evening (and me).
It's a shame, I can't join a session in Fermanagh this year, working in my country. Anyway, I'll be there in a month, and in London too. Looiking forward to seeing you, Conan and Prof. McKay.
Cheers, Hiro! I'm sure you'll make up for it in the future!
Hey Conan, good to see we can trust on you to do things the way they should be done: get beered up and sessioned out - BTW, the Hungries are playing at Lewisham on the 25th.
Yaalhouse - in case you don't know, many players on this site get some (for once, half-decent) dosh for playing at sessions on Paddy's Day (BTW, Amran that's what loads of Irish people here call it). And those well-paid or not-so well-paid sessions are what I'm mostly asking about. just a bit of gossip & crack.
I've got a gig in Southampton. Conán - I'd love to be playing tunes with you and the boys/girls, but I'm commited.
On Sunday, I've somehow managed to land myself a gig on the big open-air stage in Leicester Square, for the London St. Pat's Parade - me and 5 or 6 others, that is. If you want to see me, you'll need binoculars. I'm assuming all in attendance will be sufficiently intoxicated not to notice our shortcomings. For anyone who knows anything about music, I advise you to stay away.
I'm going to draw all the curtains, open a bottle of Slivovic with the aim of finishing it off ~ and play Balkan tunes till the birds sing the next morning, in reality or virtually as my skull pickles...
Then I'm going for a run in the contryside in my kelly green Hummer looking for hedgehogs to pizza... I'll be in the spirit a day late and carry a can of Kelly Green spray paint to write obsceme graffitti in runic figures on old oaks... I can do a quick shamrock like they do on the foam of guiness, or better yet, I'll do a cut-out template of a Leprauchan type character giving the finger or flashing, so I can spray and dash... I'll wear my kelly green hoodie... It'll be a whole new tradition, the aftermath of St. Paddy's Day ~ YEEHA!!!, I mean HOPA HEY!!!
I've got two sessions to enjoy that day Dalek. They're both in predominantly Unionist towns, up here in the North - well, after all, there's no point in preaching to the converted, is there?
However, the last really great St Patrick's day I enjoyed was in 1981, in West Berlin - that was the year I drank my last pint of Guinness! .... Paddy's Day is just not the same without it!
Playing at Maggie O'Niell's in Drexel Hill Friday night, a private party during the day Saturday and playing at the Glenside Pub Saturday night. Tough day to be off the drink.
Got a gig on the actual day, and another one a week later. Been quieter since my partner moved away, but there's some that still have my phone number, which is nice. Looking forward to it.
We get invited back every year to play at Claire O'Malley's pub. Her and her husband are from Ireland, so they ply us with pints and a little cash, and promises of step and set dancers. It's always good craic, and some years musicians show up from out of town and it turns into a big hoolie.
Mary, I grew up near Longwood Gardens--many pleasant memories of walking there, or sitting and sketching the landscapes and people. Seems like a great setting for Teada.
Nah. Totally different animal:
>Which of you are preparing to compromise your musical integrity by performing stuff you wouldn't normally do,for green-beer-swilling rowdies?
Ok, if truth be told, I didn't notice it. Bit of a while ago though wasn't it?
Yep, that is totally different. In my case, we (the musicians) are the green-beer-swilling rowdies, and the punters compromise their musical integrity by listening and dancing to our tunes....
Batlady I'll spin by your place and pick you up if you're game. Maybe we can convince he Dalek to come along to celebrate St. Paddy's Aftermath. That would really be cool ~ E-X-T-E-R-M-I-N-A-T-E!!!
Ptarmi, are you a pioneer? Respect! How about wheatgrass juice then, it's green... I don't need alcohol to fly and that stuff will give you a buzz too, of a sort... Besides, if we have a kelly green Hummer and a Dalek what else do we need, eh? Hey, we could dress the Dalek up in a Leprachaun costume and make the plunger thing look like a clay pipe, camoflage it. Wouldn't that be cool ~ Dalek camouflaged as a leperchaun running around with a clay pipe repeating "E-X-T-E-R-M-I-N-A-T-E!!!" Who needs alcohol anyway?
Back to the original question; I've actually been invited to take part in some sort of session at a prestige event - I can't say where but I have to take my passport - true.
Saturday night I have a local ceilidh at a local church hall - that's nice, no great distance to travel; SO says she might come along.
Sunday St Pat's Parade in Central London sounds fun - it's also Mothering Sunday, so our regular session at the back of the restaurant maybe cancelled due to lack of space.
Hoka Hey! Being that Im an American mongrel of West Virginia Indian, red neck and Scottish or celtic English something or the other, Im going to be playing at the Old Train Depot my mix of early American tunes after I do a sundance in the middle of a pre-fab stonehenge model inbetween taking my 4-wheeler through pits of endless mud in a highly intoxicated state. Not really... Ill probably just sit around and watch TV.
I shall be playing with a little band of chaps in the Port William at Trebarwith Strand in north Cornwall. It's down a long, narrow lane that would plunge into the Atlantic if it didn't stop abruptly at the pub. It's a magical spot if the moon's out.
I've just found out our gig has moved from 4:00pm to midday. Means I only have to stay sober till 2 o'clock....
And apparently the pub will have sixty Americans in it. I'm not sure what age, or exactly why they'll be there, but I'm so glad we've loaded the play list with cheesy standards. Including Danny Boy. It'd serve me right if they all turned out to be ITM musicians...
Eno
Our band, Siansa, has three gigs this weekend, Romford (joy!) on Saturday, that hotbed of all things Irish, Newburyon Sunday and the Crooked Billet, Stoke Row (near Henley), on Monday night.
We'll be as tight as Llig's bodhran by Monday ...in more ways than one.
The day before, we play a concert at a Catholic nursing home in the area, mostly Quebequois folks, who love the fiddle and accordion tunes. The night itself, playing in the background for a Friendly Sons of St. Patrick banquet. We will be playing a lot of the old stuff, but I don't consider it pandering, I like it all!
Our only concern is that weather report predicts mixed rain and snow turning to ice in the evening, not a good mix with a lot of revelers on the roads!
Is Jazz a big thing in Chicago on St Patrick's Day then? My son & his group are being flown over from the UK to Chicago for ONE gig - on the 17th ....... not bad eh?
Our first pub gig - as we usually do country dance music - is Old Down in Emborough (Somerset), on 17th March. The contract says "toe-tapping Irish Music from 9pm".
Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
...but what are ye's doing for Paddy's Day?
Me? meant to be doing some rugby club thing, no big deal. That'll do me for just now.
# Posted on March 13th 2007 by Alf Tupper
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Our paddy's day seems to be a week long. We're doing three gigs this week (and I've got a harp exam so I'm hoping that doesn't do my fingers in before the big day)!
Plenty of Guinness should numb any painful blisters...
# Posted on March 13th 2007 by Mark Harmer
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Going to Longwood Gardens in Kennet Square PA to see
Teada.
Mary
# Posted on March 13th 2007 by Antikhntr
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Nothing.
That is the price I pay for going to a small school in the middle of nowhere and not having a car.
# Posted on March 13th 2007 by Unseen122
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
My plans are to drink...lots.
# Posted on March 13th 2007 by Marklar
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
It used to be St Patrick's Day or just Patrick's Day!
We don't have a Saint Paddy or a Paddy's Day.
# Posted on March 13th 2007 by amhrán
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Unfortunately St.Patrick's Day has become just another annual occasion when amateur drinkers crowd the pubs, act like "charlies" and puke up.
It is best avoided (especially in Irish or mock-Irish establishments). It is rather like Christmas Eve and Hogmanay (the Gregorian New Year t'ing) when the same thing happens.
I suppose if you were of Irish nationality and a Christian then one would celebrate it. But most are neither (like me) and so it’s as relevant as celebrating July the Forth or the Emperor of Japan’s Birthday…
# Posted on March 13th 2007 by yhaalhouse
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
I've got three sessions: 1-3 in Tommy Flynn's - Camden High St, 5-7 Adam and Eve - Hayes, 8.30 - ? in the Adelaide, Primrose Hill (-ish).
Sunday I'll probably spend in the Porterhouse - mate's over from Germany/France to play in the afternoon and Hungry grass to finish off the evening (and me).
# Posted on March 13th 2007 by Conán McDonnell
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
It's a shame, I can't join a session in Fermanagh this year, working in my country. Anyway, I'll be there in a month, and in London too. Looiking forward to seeing you, Conan and Prof. McKay.
# Posted on March 13th 2007 by slainte
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Cheers, Hiro! I'm sure you'll make up for it in the future!
Hey Conan, good to see we can trust on you to do things the way they should be done: get beered up and sessioned out - BTW, the Hungries are playing at Lewisham on the 25th.
Yaalhouse - in case you don't know, many players on this site get some (for once, half-decent) dosh for playing at sessions on Paddy's Day (BTW, Amran that's what loads of Irish people here call it). And those well-paid or not-so well-paid sessions are what I'm mostly asking about. just a bit of gossip & crack.
# Posted on March 13th 2007 by Alf Tupper
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
I've got a gig in Southampton. Conán - I'd love to be playing tunes with you and the boys/girls, but I'm commited.
On Sunday, I've somehow managed to land myself a gig on the big open-air stage in Leicester Square, for the London St. Pat's Parade - me and 5 or 6 others, that is. If you want to see me, you'll need binoculars. I'm assuming all in attendance will be sufficiently intoxicated not to notice our shortcomings. For anyone who knows anything about music, I advise you to stay away.
# Posted on March 13th 2007 by ragaman
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Who's Paddy? Are you calling me a Paddy?
I'm going to draw all the curtains, open a bottle of Slivovic with the aim of finishing it off ~ and play Balkan tunes till the birds sing the next morning, in reality or virtually as my skull pickles...
Then I'm going for a run in the contryside in my kelly green Hummer looking for hedgehogs to pizza... I'll be in the spirit a day late and carry a can of Kelly Green spray paint to write obsceme graffitti in runic figures on old oaks... I can do a quick shamrock like they do on the foam of guiness, or better yet, I'll do a cut-out template of a Leprauchan type character giving the finger or flashing, so I can spray and dash... I'll wear my kelly green hoodie... It'll be a whole new tradition, the aftermath of St. Paddy's Day ~ YEEHA!!!, I mean HOPA HEY!!!
# Posted on March 13th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Hmmm. Ceolachan, the spring must be bustin' out....calm down, now. I like the cut-out idea, myself. The shamrock; keep your graphic design simple.
You know that head is REALLY going to hurt, don't you?
# Posted on March 13th 2007 by Batlady
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
I've got two sessions to enjoy that day Dalek. They're both in predominantly Unionist towns, up here in the North - well, after all, there's no point in preaching to the converted, is there?
However, the last really great St Patrick's day I enjoyed was in 1981, in West Berlin - that was the year I drank my last pint of Guinness! .... Paddy's Day is just not the same without it!
# Posted on March 13th 2007 by Ptarmigan
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Playing at Maggie O'Niell's in Drexel Hill Friday night, a private party during the day Saturday and playing at the Glenside Pub Saturday night. Tough day to be off the drink.
# Posted on March 13th 2007 by pastrings
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Got a gig on the actual day, and another one a week later. Been quieter since my partner moved away, but there's some that still have my phone number, which is nice. Looking forward to it.
# Posted on March 13th 2007 by Ailin
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
I live in Ireland, what is this St Patrick's Day?
# Posted on March 13th 2007 by bodhran bliss
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
I have a gig! It's going to be at a church! Yay for no one passing out on top of my instrument!
Cheers,
Armand
# Posted on March 13th 2007 by fiddlinviolinin
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
We get invited back every year to play at Claire O'Malley's pub. Her and her husband are from Ireland, so they ply us with pints and a little cash, and promises of step and set dancers. It's always good craic, and some years musicians show up from out of town and it turns into a big hoolie.
Mary, I grew up near Longwood Gardens--many pleasant memories of walking there, or sitting and sketching the landscapes and people. Seems like a great setting for Teada.
# Posted on March 13th 2007 by Will CPT
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Someone has. Surprised you didn't notice.
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/12899
# Posted on March 13th 2007 by oldstrings
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Nah. Totally different animal:
>Which of you are preparing to compromise your musical integrity by performing stuff you wouldn't normally do,for green-beer-swilling rowdies?
Ok, if truth be told, I didn't notice it. Bit of a while ago though wasn't it?
# Posted on March 14th 2007 by Alf Tupper
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Yep, that is totally different. In my case, we (the musicians) are the green-beer-swilling rowdies, and the punters compromise their musical integrity by listening and dancing to our tunes....
# Posted on March 14th 2007 by Will CPT
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Myself along with a few other eejits from Queens university Belfast are playing in Rosie Stewart's pub, "the cosy Corner" in Kiltyclogher in Leitrim
# Posted on March 14th 2007 by garyfitz123
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Batlady I'll spin by your place and pick you up if you're game. Maybe we can convince he Dalek to come along to celebrate St. Paddy's Aftermath. That would really be cool ~ E-X-T-E-R-M-I-N-A-T-E!!!
Ptarmi, are you a pioneer? Respect! How about wheatgrass juice then, it's green... I don't need alcohol to fly and that stuff will give you a buzz too, of a sort... Besides, if we have a kelly green Hummer and a Dalek what else do we need, eh? Hey, we could dress the Dalek up in a Leprachaun costume and make the plunger thing look like a clay pipe, camoflage it. Wouldn't that be cool ~ Dalek camouflaged as a leperchaun running around with a clay pipe repeating "E-X-T-E-R-M-I-N-A-T-E!!!" Who needs alcohol anyway?
# Posted on March 14th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Hey man, hang loose and cool it, OK? I'm a hippy vegetarian Dalek, so less of the negative bad vibes, man.
# Posted on March 14th 2007 by Alf Tupper
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Back to the original question; I've actually been invited to take part in some sort of session at a prestige event - I can't say where but I have to take my passport - true.
Saturday night I have a local ceilidh at a local church hall - that's nice, no great distance to travel; SO says she might come along.
Sunday St Pat's Parade in Central London sounds fun - it's also Mothering Sunday, so our regular session at the back of the restaurant maybe cancelled due to lack of space.
# Posted on March 14th 2007 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
PS Isn't it odd how all these Irish people celebrate a Welshman ?
# Posted on March 14th 2007 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Hoka Hey! Being that Im an American mongrel of West Virginia Indian, red neck and Scottish or celtic English something or the other, Im going to be playing at the Old Train Depot my mix of early American tunes after I do a sundance in the middle of a pre-fab stonehenge model inbetween taking my 4-wheeler through pits of endless mud in a highly intoxicated state. Not really... Ill probably just sit around and watch TV.
# Posted on March 14th 2007 by The Merry Highlander
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
But seriously, I'll be sitting in with the Chieftans for a few tunes at Carnegie Hall.
# Posted on March 14th 2007 by The Merry Highlander
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Wales hadn't been invented then. But he was a Briton, or Romano-Briton.
# Posted on March 14th 2007 by Alf Tupper
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
"invited to take part in some sort of session at a prestige event - I can't say where but I have to take my passport - "
Is security that tight now, even in Guernsey?
# Posted on March 14th 2007 by oldstrings
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
feeding my pet snake.
# Posted on March 14th 2007 by Ray Mariani
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
I go to mass every Patrick's day. I'll say a prayer for all you sinners. Peace be with yawl.
# Posted on March 14th 2007 by Strathfoyle
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
essays to belch
# Posted on March 14th 2007 by Ray Mariani
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
I shall be playing with a little band of chaps in the Port William at Trebarwith Strand in north Cornwall. It's down a long, narrow lane that would plunge into the Atlantic if it didn't stop abruptly at the pub. It's a magical spot if the moon's out.
# Posted on March 14th 2007 by Steve Shaw
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
I've just found out our gig has moved from 4:00pm to midday. Means I only have to stay sober till 2 o'clock....
And apparently the pub will have sixty Americans in it. I'm not sure what age, or exactly why they'll be there, but I'm so glad we've loaded the play list with cheesy standards. Including Danny Boy. It'd serve me right if they all turned out to be ITM musicians...
Eno
# Posted on March 14th 2007 by bc_box_player
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Our band, Siansa, has three gigs this weekend, Romford (joy!) on Saturday, that hotbed of all things Irish, Newburyon Sunday and the Crooked Billet, Stoke Row (near Henley), on Monday night.
We'll be as tight as Llig's bodhran by Monday ...in more ways than one.
# Posted on March 14th 2007 by Geoff Pollitt
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
The day before, we play a concert at a Catholic nursing home in the area, mostly Quebequois folks, who love the fiddle and accordion tunes. The night itself, playing in the background for a Friendly Sons of St. Patrick banquet. We will be playing a lot of the old stuff, but I don't consider it pandering, I like it all!
Our only concern is that weather report predicts mixed rain and snow turning to ice in the evening, not a good mix with a lot of revelers on the roads!
# Posted on March 14th 2007 by AlBrown
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Is Jazz a big thing in Chicago on St Patrick's Day then? My son & his group are being flown over from the UK to Chicago for ONE gig - on the 17th ....... not bad eh?
# Posted on March 14th 2007 by Ptarmigan
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
My band is playing at the same pub from 2 in the afternoon til 1 in the morning. How we're ever going to survive that is beyond me.
# Posted on March 14th 2007 by McBriss
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Our first pub gig - as we usually do country dance music - is Old Down in Emborough (Somerset), on 17th March. The contract says "toe-tapping Irish Music from 9pm".
Only slightly nervous.
Well a bit nervous...
# Posted on March 15th 2007 by stripthewillow
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
"How we're ever going to survive that is beyond me." - McBriss - this is the secret weapon of success & survival:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/benzamg/421731732/
# Posted on March 15th 2007 by Ptarmigan
Re: Surprised no-one has mentioned it yet...
Amen, Ptarmigan. I'm going to need about a case of those.
And this will be me by around dinnertime:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/benzamg/421747752/
# Posted on March 16th 2007 by McBriss