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| Eric, Chris, Rosanne, Dave. |
Rosanne and Dave very graciously hosted a post-Thanksgiving seisiun at their home in Medford last night. Seems I spend a lot of time wandering around unfamiliar Boston neighborhoods lately, sometimes in the dark, often with lots of one-way streets, with incoherent, tiny-print directions from GoogleMap in hand. Someday I'll get a GPS - but that would probably take all the fun out of these city ramblings (and having successfully gotten out of there, reversing the directions while accounting for the one-way streets, in the dark, can only be counted as a miracle - and thank you, Wynter, for your trust in me - if you only knew how lost I thought we were!). It was a great party, with the usual suspects in attendance - a sundry group of people who probably would not know each other except for the music; folks I certainly did not know until the last six months-to-year, people I now count as friends. All I know is this: the first set of tunes I played along with last night transformed me. Suddenly, all was well with the world.
I have a long way to go, but I know I've come miles since that first night at Paddy Barry's last December when I could barely keep my bow on my strings, or finish a sentence for that matter, I was so terrified. I also know that I make more advances playing - or trying - with the group than I do at home alone. I'm listening differently at a session, pushing myself beyond my limits (and often surprising myself).
The strange thing about a house session is the lack of pub noise. The music stops, and it's very quiet. Not a bad thing, but a little eerie, in a way. But very nice to be able to have a conversation.
My awareness of the trad world's being a close-knit community was further enhanced last night by Eric and Colin's late arrival, their having come from Brendan Bulger's session at the Littlest Bar, downtown (Brendan is another of Boston's Irish Trad royalty - fantastic fiddler - one of the finest - from a rather intriguing family), and bringing greetings from David and his parents who were in attendance there; David playing tunes while his parents had dinner. Lovely that Susie and Woody could enjoy a night out in the city while seeing and hearing David shine in his world.
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| Wynter, Alex, Levi. |
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| Levi, Chris. |
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| Chris |
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| Wynter, Alex, Levi, Colin |
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| Eric, Chris. |
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| Eric, Chris, Rosanne, Dave. |
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| Eric, Chris. |
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| Alex, Levi, Colin. |
Hi Sara,
ReplyDeleteI love your ramblings and photo documentation of Irish music in Boston. It is very true what you say about how playing in sessions pulls you along and you do stuff and play tunes you didn't know you could or knew. That is the magic of it. I start to think there is a reason why I ended up living in Boston (something that wasn't in my plans, for sure). This could be it!
Best and thanks for doing this, Alex
Thank you, Alex. It's a beginning, anyway. I guess the only thing I like better than playing this music is writing and photography - all to the point of complete distraction and ruination, I should add.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you've heard John Lennon's famous saying, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."
Thanks for your comment - your playing inspires me! (is there a tune you don't know, girl?!)