The county of Clare has traditionally been fortunate to have Doolin as a tourist destination to support the local economy but these days it is also doubles up as as a trash can for some blissfully ignorant attempts at music making.
I noticed 2 particulary tone deaf Eurpoean musicians there recently. One manfully walloped a bodhran all night to anything and everything that it was possible to tap a foot to while the other younger mandolin holder (unfair to other mandolin players to deem her a player because she hardly had a note) strummed THE SAME 1 CHORD ALL NIGHT LONG WITH NO REGARD FOR ANY KEY.
At one point the mandolin did manage a few bars of O'Neill's Cavalcade at the invitation of the residents but it was amazing to see that a musician who apparently had no knowledge of jigs/reels/hornpipes at any level would have the audacity to strum along in such a manner. However I don't think that the residents were too put off by it as the insidous bodhran negated a lot of the effect of the monochord.
The bodhran whacking is a regular occurrence there - somebody obviously missed the ferry to the Aran Islands festival of the same.
Those who market Doolin have done a good job so far and fortunately most of this deplorable activity is confined to the one area of Clare.
Whoever sold the instruments to these 2 has a lot to answer for.
You don't have a monopoly on musical cabbages. We have them by the bin lorry load down here in SE London. Fortunately a few lotuses grow amid the detritus.
I was playing a gig in McGann's one night in the summer I'd say almost 10 years ago. This guy and his wife/girlfriend came in. He had a bodhran while she had a small, cheap, battery powered keyboard. He bate the living sh*te out of the bodhran all night while she mashed the keys on the keyboard.
The box player that was with me had had enough of this, and proceeded to play a slow air, safe in the assumption that nobody would bash a bodhran to a slow air. He assumed wrong...
Then the couple told us they'd made 120 quid busking at the Cliffs of Moher that day. Didn't think we'd get through the night without a fight.
I noticed that when we were in Doolin last time. Did not find alot of ITM one way or the other. Some folks sitting cross legged near the hostel futzing on whistles and the like. Also some 'box bangers' sitting about playing new wave irish.
We had never been there so I was very excited to visit the 'cradle of ITM'. Sad to say, it looked like Irish Portland Oregon when we got there-lots of late teens early twenty sorts hanging about the streets (we call the look 'malingering with intent to mope' in Chicago).
Stayed at a very nice B/B where we and the Housekeeper seemed to be the only ones who did not speak German. Made for an interesting breakfast.
At least the one pub still served the Guiness warm. Most of the pubs in Ireland that we have visited of late seemed to have gone to the American standard-ice cold.
Guinness should not actually be warm - it is supposed to be cold. But not that "Extra Cold" marketing gimmick sh*te. You can almost taste the anti-freeze in that stuff.
Guiness best room temp, not cold, no fridge thing in many houses when I was young....Ennis best town in Clare for music I think, friendly people too. Recomend Mayo and Sligo over Clare, Matt Molloy's pub in Westport great. Just disregard the tourist stuff., it's like Greek dancing, Camels, etc.
Miltown Malbay has sessions year-round, not just during the Willie Week. All of the gawkers are gone and there are loads of great tunes. Friel's, the Blondes, Hillary's, the Markethouse, all have regular sessions.
They were trying to establish some standard that you had to have before you could busk around the clifs, except no one could agree, what's new. It was some debate though. Galway is a bit overrated, you either get loads at once or little at all, some good sessions with a big mix of nations in Wards and the Cottage in Salthill. Uptown is just too busy this time of year.
Shame, I was thinking of retiring from the day job and moving to Doolin to open an instrument-making workshop. I'd already settled on the name: Doolin Banjos. However, with such determined illiterati box baters, perhaps it's still a viable option, and there would be a market for any instrument I knocked out.
zippy mentioned: "..B/B where we and the Housekeeper seemed to be the only ones who did not speak German"
I believe Doolin was heavily contaminated years ago as the "Kelly Family" claimed to come from there. This family had a huge following in Germany, performing, I think, a sort of Irishy-C&Wish-folky pastiche. Many of their fans believed that the family had a serious following elsewhere in the world, including "back home", and made pilgrimages to Doolin in search of the family's true motherland.
I don't know if the Germans who go there now are still Kelly Family fans, or whether the belief that Doolin was somewhere special simply entered the Volksbewußtsein (folk consciousness, to coin a phrase).
Personally I found it to be a not unpleasant little seaside town, apart from being overcrowded.
Guinness draught should be served at 6C (42.8F). The "extra cold" version is served at 4C.
Last time I was in Doolin -- which was about 5 years after my previous time there, the main thing I noticed was all the new horrible construction going on. These new modern buildings set against this old village without any respect to the "look and feel" of the town. Ick!!!
Doolin - Mecca for the tone deaf
Doolin - Mecca for the tone deaf
The county of Clare has traditionally been fortunate to have Doolin as a tourist destination to support the local economy but these days it is also doubles up as as a trash can for some blissfully ignorant attempts at music making.
I noticed 2 particulary tone deaf Eurpoean musicians there recently. One manfully walloped a bodhran all night to anything and everything that it was possible to tap a foot to while the other younger mandolin holder (unfair to other mandolin players to deem her a player because she hardly had a note) strummed THE SAME 1 CHORD ALL NIGHT LONG WITH NO REGARD FOR ANY KEY.
At one point the mandolin did manage a few bars of O'Neill's Cavalcade at the invitation of the residents but it was amazing to see that a musician who apparently had no knowledge of jigs/reels/hornpipes at any level would have the audacity to strum along in such a manner. However I don't think that the residents were too put off by it as the insidous bodhran negated a lot of the effect of the monochord.
The bodhran whacking is a regular occurrence there - somebody obviously missed the ferry to the Aran Islands festival of the same.
Those who market Doolin have done a good job so far and fortunately most of this deplorable activity is confined to the one area of Clare.
Whoever sold the instruments to these 2 has a lot to answer for.
# Posted on July 23rd 2007 by regog
Re: Doolin - Mecca for the tone deaf
You don't have a monopoly on musical cabbages. We have them by the bin lorry load down here in SE London. Fortunately a few lotuses grow amid the detritus.
# Posted on July 23rd 2007 by Nick Splease
Re: Doolin - Mecca for the tone deaf
I was playing a gig in McGann's one night in the summer I'd say almost 10 years ago. This guy and his wife/girlfriend came in. He had a bodhran while she had a small, cheap, battery powered keyboard. He bate the living sh*te out of the bodhran all night while she mashed the keys on the keyboard.
The box player that was with me had had enough of this, and proceeded to play a slow air, safe in the assumption that nobody would bash a bodhran to a slow air. He assumed wrong...
Then the couple told us they'd made 120 quid busking at the Cliffs of Moher that day. Didn't think we'd get through the night without a fight.
# Posted on July 23rd 2007 by tradshark
Re: Doolin - Mecca for the tone deaf
We don't have that problem in cork . they are all great musicians
# Posted on July 23rd 2007 by Saint
Re: Doolin - Mecca for the tone deaf
I noticed that when we were in Doolin last time. Did not find alot of ITM one way or the other. Some folks sitting cross legged near the hostel futzing on whistles and the like. Also some 'box bangers' sitting about playing new wave irish.
We had never been there so I was very excited to visit the 'cradle of ITM'. Sad to say, it looked like Irish Portland Oregon when we got there-lots of late teens early twenty sorts hanging about the streets (we call the look 'malingering with intent to mope' in Chicago).
Stayed at a very nice B/B where we and the Housekeeper seemed to be the only ones who did not speak German. Made for an interesting breakfast.
At least the one pub still served the Guiness warm. Most of the pubs in Ireland that we have visited of late seemed to have gone to the American standard-ice cold.
# Posted on July 23rd 2007 by zippydw
Re: Doolin - Mecca for the tone deaf
Guinness should not actually be warm - it is supposed to be cold. But not that "Extra Cold" marketing gimmick sh*te. You can almost taste the anti-freeze in that stuff.
# Posted on July 23rd 2007 by tradshark
Re: Doolin - Mecca for the tone deaf
Guiness best room temp, not cold, no fridge thing in many houses when I was young....Ennis best town in Clare for music I think, friendly people too. Recomend Mayo and Sligo over Clare, Matt Molloy's pub in Westport great. Just disregard the tourist stuff., it's like Greek dancing, Camels, etc.
# Posted on July 23rd 2007 by stevecomputer
Re: Doolin - Mecca for the tone deaf
Ps. They did try to have some sort of licence for busking round the cliffs, it's a national issue.
# Posted on July 23rd 2007 by stevecomputer
Re: Doolin - Mecca for the tone deaf
Ennis is becoming hectic. Head for Ennistymon, Corofin, or Lisdoonvarna.
# Posted on July 23rd 2007 by slainte
Re: Doolin - Mecca for the tone deaf
If you can get into Matt Molloy's. It was packed to overflowing onto the street the evenings we went.
More than tourist stuff. Lots of tourist (no postings that we were tourists there also!)
# Posted on July 23rd 2007 by zippydw
Re: Doolin - Mecca for the tone deaf
Miltown Malbay has sessions year-round, not just during the Willie Week. All of the gawkers are gone and there are loads of great tunes. Friel's, the Blondes, Hillary's, the Markethouse, all have regular sessions.
# Posted on July 23rd 2007 by moria enya
Re: Doolin - Mecca for the tone deaf
I did warn people about going to Clare looking for music, or hurlers.
# Posted on July 23rd 2007 by bodhran bliss
Re: Doolin - Mecca for the tone deaf
They were trying to establish some standard that you had to have before you could busk around the clifs, except no one could agree, what's new. It was some debate though. Galway is a bit overrated, you either get loads at once or little at all, some good sessions with a big mix of nations in Wards and the Cottage in Salthill. Uptown is just too busy this time of year.
# Posted on July 23rd 2007 by stevecomputer
Re: Doolin - Mecca for the tone deaf
Shame, I was thinking of retiring from the day job and moving to Doolin to open an instrument-making workshop. I'd already settled on the name: Doolin Banjos. However, with such determined illiterati box baters, perhaps it's still a viable option, and there would be a market for any instrument I knocked out.
# Posted on July 24th 2007 by howsshecutting
Re: Doolin - Mecca for the tone deaf
zippy mentioned: "..B/B where we and the Housekeeper seemed to be the only ones who did not speak German"
I believe Doolin was heavily contaminated years ago as the "Kelly Family" claimed to come from there. This family had a huge following in Germany, performing, I think, a sort of Irishy-C&Wish-folky pastiche. Many of their fans believed that the family had a serious following elsewhere in the world, including "back home", and made pilgrimages to Doolin in search of the family's true motherland.
I don't know if the Germans who go there now are still Kelly Family fans, or whether the belief that Doolin was somewhere special simply entered the Volksbewußtsein (folk consciousness, to coin a phrase).
Personally I found it to be a not unpleasant little seaside town, apart from being overcrowded.
# Posted on July 24th 2007 by Lingpupa
Re: Doolin - Mecca for the tone deaf
Make one of those electric keyboards, with lots of jigs and reels built in, and green and white keys and an orange body.
# Posted on July 24th 2007 by stevecomputer
Re: Doolin - Mecca for the tone deaf
Ps, are those Volksbewußtsein nice to drive?
# Posted on July 24th 2007 by stevecomputer
Re: Doolin - Mecca for the tone deaf
SLB
We found Doolin pleasant. Just a wee bit over rated and considerably over touristed.
# Posted on July 24th 2007 by zippydw
Re: Doolin - Mecca for the tone deaf
Guinness draught should be served at 6C (42.8F). The "extra cold" version is served at 4C.
Last time I was in Doolin -- which was about 5 years after my previous time there, the main thing I noticed was all the new horrible construction going on. These new modern buildings set against this old village without any respect to the "look and feel" of the town. Ick!!!
# Posted on July 25th 2007 by Grack
Re: Doolin - Mecca for the tone deaf
Hard core old men drink warm beer and miss the old days, I want to be one....
# Posted on July 25th 2007 by stevecomputer