This session is not very organized, as there is no session leader. It's more of a beginner/intermediate level session. However, more advanced players do show up from time to time. The venue is very small, yet cozy. Good coffee and microbrews on tap. A busy, colorful college-kid hang out.
Lately, some more advanced players have been showing regularly so this session is transforming into a more intermediate/advanced level session. The quality of music has been taken to a new level with lots of new tunes. I personally think it has become a very fun session.
Here's a good place to post the "disaster" that happened at our session the other night.
This past wed night (7/30/03) we had a couple visiting from Philadelphia, Penn. They were a middle aged couple. The wife plays fiddle and the husband plays guitar and bodhran. Firstly, they came late while we had already started playing, which is perfectly fine. But this loud, heavy-set woman shoved her way into our session without any session etiquette whatsoever. When 2 of my music buddies got up for a smoke, she immediately got up and took one of their seats without saying a word. She tried dictating the tunes we would play and then kept telling us to slow down after she started the tune. Then she tried telling us they way it should be played. She complained she needed to be on the small stage because of the lighting, which resulted in my friends giving up their chairs to accomodate this large woman. Then her husband grabbed another friend's chair when she got up to get a drink. Now we don't mind newcomers visiting our session, but it's quite rude to just barge right in, steal seats, take over the music and play nothing but basic common standards...
If these people read this post, then I hope they learn something about session etiquette and plain common sense. A very good musician, friend, and reputable instrument maker came up to the session that night and was appalled by the behavior of these folks. He actually called me the next day and said it was so unbelievable that it was almost humorous. He said it was almost surreal how these folks completely destroyed our session that night. My music buddies and myself ended up leaving early.
So don't get me wrong, we love new people and visitors and are a nice friendly group, but please be courteous.
Lately this session is a little dodgy. Some good players still show up, but more sporadically - basically when they feel like it. No one is paid to lead the session so there is no organization And sometimes the music doesn't get rolling after 10:00pm, but each week is different and very unpredictable. There have been some weeks where the session doesn't happen at all. So you have been warned.
Now that the schedual has been changed are more people coming? I am going to at Sait Mike's after this august. If it is alive and well, I would probably like to become a regular...
This session is not very organized, as there is no session leader. It's more of a beginner/intermediate level session. However, more advanced players do show up from time to time. The venue is very small, yet cozy. Good coffee and microbrews on tap. A busy, colorful college-kid hang out.
# Posted on August 13th 2002 by JMH
Lately, some more advanced players have been showing regularly so this session is transforming into a more intermediate/advanced level session. The quality of music has been taken to a new level with lots of new tunes. I personally think it has become a very fun session.
# Posted on April 22nd 2003 by JMH
Session horror story at the Radio Bean
Here's a good place to post the "disaster" that happened at our session the other night.
This past wed night (7/30/03) we had a couple visiting from Philadelphia, Penn. They were a middle aged couple. The wife plays fiddle and the husband plays guitar and bodhran. Firstly, they came late while we had already started playing, which is perfectly fine. But this loud, heavy-set woman shoved her way into our session without any session etiquette whatsoever. When 2 of my music buddies got up for a smoke, she immediately got up and took one of their seats without saying a word. She tried dictating the tunes we would play and then kept telling us to slow down after she started the tune. Then she tried telling us they way it should be played. She complained she needed to be on the small stage because of the lighting, which resulted in my friends giving up their chairs to accomodate this large woman. Then her husband grabbed another friend's chair when she got up to get a drink. Now we don't mind newcomers visiting our session, but it's quite rude to just barge right in, steal seats, take over the music and play nothing but basic common standards...
If these people read this post, then I hope they learn something about session etiquette and plain common sense. A very good musician, friend, and reputable instrument maker came up to the session that night and was appalled by the behavior of these folks. He actually called me the next day and said it was so unbelievable that it was almost humorous. He said it was almost surreal how these folks completely destroyed our session that night. My music buddies and myself ended up leaving early.
So don't get me wrong, we love new people and visitors and are a nice friendly group, but please be courteous.
Joyce
# Posted on August 1st 2003 by JMH
Joyce...youre a better woman than me, I wouldve lost my bottle!
# Posted on August 3rd 2003 by bb Cruella de vil
UPDATE!!!
Lately this session is a little dodgy. Some good players still show up, but more sporadically - basically when they feel like it. No one is paid to lead the session so there is no organization And sometimes the music doesn't get rolling after 10:00pm, but each week is different and very unpredictable. There have been some weeks where the session doesn't happen at all. So you have been warned.
Attend at your own risk : )
Joyce
# Posted on May 17th 2004 by JMH
UPDATE!
This session is now on Wednesdays, not Tuesdays.
# Posted on February 6th 2005 by A.D. Homan
Question...
Now that the schedual has been changed are more people coming? I am going to at Sait Mike's after this august. If it is alive and well, I would probably like to become a regular...
Thanks in advance,
Ben
# Posted on April 7th 2007 by Ben Miller