with the sucess of the Tyrone team being at least in part attributed to the growing of beards, i'm considering growing one in the hope that it will improve my playing, what do yous reckon? i suppose at the very least it will hide my dodgy coupon.
On Rich Hall's Fishing Programme......
"Why can't they find Osama Bin Laden ?"
"He's got a beard, long hair, an assault rifle."
"He's hiding in Alabama. They all look like that down there."
( Or maybe it was Arkansas, I forget details at my age. )
I don't reckon my beard has hindered my playing in any way, over the last 30 odd years, at least, put it this way, I can't blame any of my many musical inadequacies on my facial FUZZ!
One word of warning though molloy, I know from bitter experience that a long moustache does or can get in the way, when playing a Moothie or a Jaws Harp! ....... ouch!
Pete, all due respect to Rich Hall, but I think the demographic he's talking about is actually more concentrated these days in the "Mountain States," i.e., Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho.
And to get back to the topic in focus, I'll just mention that my current beard is my third try -- and I've had it for more than 25 years now, so reckon it's bound to stay.
Mine supplies several lucrative contracts. A lot goes into dodgy substitutes for All-Bran. A large tonnage has found its way into animal feed. A marketing drive is on to persuade health weirdoes to eat it as an alternative to alfafa sprouts and wholemeal spaghetti, being barely more horrible than these and containing obscure ingredients that they lack. French trade unions import it to dump on motorways, making use of its spectacular flammability. Offscourings of my visits to the barber block the local river. And still it keeps coming. It has gone for other uses also, I need to recall what they are...
The main reason I have a beard is that shaving is painful and uncomfortable for me. So far as I am concerned, I am just as plain, homely, and unhandsome either with or without a beard. My wife would disagree with this assessment but I don't always listen to her. Like many husbands, I practice "selective hearing".
Domnull, your memory is working correctly. The drummer for ZZ Top, Frank Beard, was the only member of that band who was clean-shaven.
Osama Bin Laden could be hiding here in Arkansas. If he changed his clothes, shaved his beard, and cut his hair short, he would probably fit right in.
I prefer to think of my beard as all-natural, organically grown chin warmer during the winter.
A beard is essential for English sessions and band work, especially for concertina players, as it restores to them the presence that playing a hedgehog would otherwise drastically diminish. It was easy enough to get a mortgage for transplants from some dodgy limb of the NHS or indeed from a high street bank, but with the financial crisis the future of such arrangements is uncertain. Unfortunates may have to go back to constant applications of guano.
I had all sorts of facial hair when I was in my twenties, goatees, soul patches, Van Dykes, mutton-chops, etc.
Then, when I got into my thirties, and after I got divorced and hit the dating scene again, I realized I had patches of grey in my beard, and have been clean shaven ever since.
Perhaps in my forties or fifties I'll go all old-school 'Dubliners' style and grow a big full-on grizzly wonder. Will the bow get caught, I wonder? Perhaps some stray strands in the fine tuners? OUCH! How does John Sheehan do that anyway?
Yes, any safety tips about fiddling with a big beard would be appreciated for my future use, much obliged.
But I think with no. 11 you have to possess a repertoire of Wild West songs, e.g. "Oh I cain't get a long little doggie/I cain't even get one that's small..."
Don't forget, though, how the evil parallel-universe Mr. Spock in that famous episode of "Star Trek" had a beard: http://i6.tinypic.com/25zi8ea.jpg
(Of course, we found out later he had an inner reserve of integrity)
Martin Byrnes sported a tremendous old chin-weasel back in the day, and my fiddle teacher has fond memories of the man playing his (my teacher's) fiddle once. Apparently, his twiney ends became entwizzled in the fine-tuners, and putting down the fiddle required an ecstatic yank of the instrument. He kept the beardlettes in there for months, assuming they improved the tone, whatfrom coming by Martin Byrnes' fine face.
"Grew my beard in 1968, and had it since. I wonder if my face is still under there...? "
It will be - along with a double chin that wasn't there in 1968
I would like to refer SWFL to the old Sydney Carter song "Silver in the Stubble".
However, I really don't understand what it means. What's an electric razor ? What's a razor, come to that ?
On the other hand I concur with the sentiment "Girls are getting prettier,and younger every day".
Always had a mustache, grew a beard when I retired from the Reserves, playing has improved since then, but I suspect that is due to practice, not amount of hair! After all, I have lost far more on top than I have added to my chin.
Beards
Beards
with the sucess of the Tyrone team being at least in part attributed to the growing of beards, i'm considering growing one in the hope that it will improve my playing, what do yous reckon? i suppose at the very least it will hide my dodgy coupon.
# Posted on September 27th 2008 by molloy
Re: Beards
Won't people mistake you for a terrorist?
# Posted on September 27th 2008 by Mark Harmer
Re: Beards
Don't know if it would improve my playing, but I'd have a lot of difficulty growing a beard myself!
# Posted on September 27th 2008 by cathycook
Re: Beards
worked wonders for me
# Posted on September 27th 2008 by mcknowall
Re: Beards
....and then there's the old joke about porridge without salt.....
# Posted on September 27th 2008 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Beards
On Rich Hall's Fishing Programme......
"Why can't they find Osama Bin Laden ?"
"He's got a beard, long hair, an assault rifle."
"He's hiding in Alabama. They all look like that down there."
( Or maybe it was Arkansas, I forget details at my age. )
# Posted on September 27th 2008 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Beards
I don't reckon my beard has hindered my playing in any way, over the last 30 odd years, at least, put it this way, I can't blame any of my many musical inadequacies on my facial FUZZ!
One word of warning though molloy, I know from bitter experience that a long moustache does or can get in the way, when playing a Moothie or a Jaws Harp! ....... ouch!
# Posted on September 27th 2008 by Ptarmigan
Re: Beards
best thing is that ,if you play a session and eat soup,crisps ,some always stay in the beard for eating later
# Posted on September 27th 2008 by Martin Donohoe
Re: Beards
Pete, all due respect to Rich Hall, but I think the demographic he's talking about is actually more concentrated these days in the "Mountain States," i.e., Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho.
And to get back to the topic in focus, I'll just mention that my current beard is my third try -- and I've had it for more than 25 years now, so reckon it's bound to stay.
# Posted on September 27th 2008 by sts
Re: Beards
I can recomend a Number One cut - when it is a really sweaty gig in summer, you can put your head under the tap|
A bearded man walked into a working mens club. The comedian says "i've never seen one with teeth". Much mirth.
Bearded man walks back out of club.
# Posted on September 27th 2008 by geoffwright
Re: Beards
Do you mean the "puke" beards, Mr Molloy?
# Posted on September 27th 2008 by bodhran bliss
Re: Beards
Didn't seem to hinder ZZ Top. I believe the guy in the band called Frank Beard was the only one WITHOUT a beard.
# Posted on September 27th 2008 by domnull
Re: Beards
Mine supplies several lucrative contracts. A lot goes into dodgy substitutes for All-Bran. A large tonnage has found its way into animal feed. A marketing drive is on to persuade health weirdoes to eat it as an alternative to alfafa sprouts and wholemeal spaghetti, being barely more horrible than these and containing obscure ingredients that they lack. French trade unions import it to dump on motorways, making use of its spectacular flammability. Offscourings of my visits to the barber block the local river. And still it keeps coming. It has gone for other uses also, I need to recall what they are...
# Posted on September 27th 2008 by nicholas
Re: Beards
The main reason I have a beard is that shaving is painful and uncomfortable for me. So far as I am concerned, I am just as plain, homely, and unhandsome either with or without a beard. My wife would disagree with this assessment but I don't always listen to her. Like many husbands, I practice "selective hearing".
Domnull, your memory is working correctly. The drummer for ZZ Top, Frank Beard, was the only member of that band who was clean-shaven.
Osama Bin Laden could be hiding here in Arkansas. If he changed his clothes, shaved his beard, and cut his hair short, he would probably fit right in.
I prefer to think of my beard as all-natural, organically grown chin warmer during the winter.
# Posted on September 27th 2008 by fauxcelt
Re: Beards
Beards aren't unusual in English sessions here, even among the men (I'm one of the few beardless).
# Posted on September 28th 2008 by lazyhound
Re: Beards
Why not purchase a clip-on flute beard. Well, if you are a flute player. I'm not sure if they make clip-on beards for other instruments.
# Posted on September 28th 2008 by sbhikes
Re: Beards
With one like this molloy, you'd still be OK playing your Banjo or Mandolin, but I think it's safe to assume that this guy does NOT play the Flute:
http://media.canada.com/canwest/90/moustache_competition090107.jpg
However, I'd steer clear of this style of beard, if I were you:
http://www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/ndirs/collections/photography/Folio131.jpg
# Posted on September 28th 2008 by Ptarmigan
Re: Beards
Judging from the last photograph it seems evident the beard-trick is a long-established way of nurturing fame & publicity...
# Posted on September 28th 2008 by MrGanAinm
Re: Beards
A beard is essential for English sessions and band work, especially for concertina players, as it restores to them the presence that playing a hedgehog would otherwise drastically diminish. It was easy enough to get a mortgage for transplants from some dodgy limb of the NHS or indeed from a high street bank, but with the financial crisis the future of such arrangements is uncertain. Unfortunates may have to go back to constant applications of guano.
# Posted on September 28th 2008 by nicholas
Re: Beards
I had all sorts of facial hair when I was in my twenties, goatees, soul patches, Van Dykes, mutton-chops, etc.
Then, when I got into my thirties, and after I got divorced and hit the dating scene again, I realized I had patches of grey in my beard, and have been clean shaven ever since.
Perhaps in my forties or fifties I'll go all old-school 'Dubliners' style and grow a big full-on grizzly wonder. Will the bow get caught, I wonder? Perhaps some stray strands in the fine tuners? OUCH! How does John Sheehan do that anyway?
Yes, any safety tips about fiddling with a big beard would be appreciated for my future use, much obliged.
# Posted on September 28th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Beards
Well, here's a few ideas for what kind of beard to grow/fabricate:
http://www.freelancefarm.com/evidence/archives/collections/beards.jpg
But I think with no. 11 you have to possess a repertoire of Wild West songs, e.g. "Oh I cain't get a long little doggie/I cain't even get one that's small..."
Don't forget, though, how the evil parallel-universe Mr. Spock in that famous episode of "Star Trek" had a beard:
http://i6.tinypic.com/25zi8ea.jpg
(Of course, we found out later he had an inner reserve of integrity)
And if the 2000 election had gone another way, we could've finally had someone with a beard in the White House again:
http://www.hogwild.net/images/Misc/al.gore-beard.jpg
# Posted on September 28th 2008 by sts
Re: Beards
Grew my beard in 1968, and had it since. I wonder if my face is still under there...?
# Posted on September 28th 2008 by ocarolan
Re: Beards
Martin Byrnes sported a tremendous old chin-weasel back in the day, and my fiddle teacher has fond memories of the man playing his (my teacher's) fiddle once. Apparently, his twiney ends became entwizzled in the fine-tuners, and putting down the fiddle required an ecstatic yank of the instrument. He kept the beardlettes in there for months, assuming they improved the tone, whatfrom coming by Martin Byrnes' fine face.
--DtM
# Posted on September 28th 2008 by Dan the Man
Re: Beards
'Entwizzled' is the best word I have seen on here for many a long moon.
# Posted on September 28th 2008 by P-K
Re: Beards
"Grew my beard in 1968, and had it since. I wonder if my face is still under there...? "
It will be - along with a double chin that wasn't there in 1968
# Posted on September 28th 2008 by deeor
Re: Beards
I would like to refer SWFL to the old Sydney Carter song "Silver in the Stubble".
However, I really don't understand what it means. What's an electric razor ? What's a razor, come to that ?
On the other hand I concur with the sentiment "Girls are getting prettier,and younger every day".
# Posted on September 28th 2008 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Beards
Always had a mustache, grew a beard when I retired from the Reserves, playing has improved since then, but I suspect that is due to practice, not amount of hair! After all, I have lost far more on top than I have added to my chin.
# Posted on September 29th 2008 by AlBrown
Re: Beards
I shaved my bead off every summer, with a new chin each time.
Once I was told I looked like a "blck yow keekin' through a hedge"
But, as I'm sure Bbliss will agree, beards merely add age to the older man, so I keep it off these days
# Posted on September 29th 2008 by Bren
Re: Beards
"black yow" that is
# Posted on September 29th 2008 by Bren
Re: Beards
I haven't dared to cut mine off in 16 years, for fear of how bad my playing might become.
# Posted on September 29th 2008 by ragaman
Re: Beards
Dan the Man, this is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. OUCH!
"...his twiney ends became entwizzled in the fine-tuners, and putting down the fiddle required an ecstatic yank of the instrument..."
# Posted on September 30th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler