Labor Day Session 2016

When I billed our annual Labor Day Irish session as an end-of-summer blow-out session, I had no idea how true my words would become. On Saturday morning, even as I scrubbed the porch and stocked the larder and made ready for a house full of people and music, Hurricane Hermine was making her way up the Atlantic coast. By mid-Saturday afternoon, when my first guests arrived - Rose and Gene Clancy, over from the Cape - even though there wasn't a cloud in the sky, there was already talk of cancelled ferries on Sunday. But even though the scheduled three-day event was cut short, with people leaving early on Sunday morning to beat the storm, the worst of which was due to hit on Monday, we had a good turnout and managed to pack in a solid seven hours of mighty music, starting on Saturday afternoon and going into the night. It really was a special Labor Day Saturday, with the town filled with people, and that electric, palpable energy you feel in anticipation of a storm. At one point during the afternoon, as we sat on the porch, playing music and watching the people and the traffic, Rose asked me - with more than a little anxiety in her voice, "Why are all the buses headed to the ferries packed to the gills? And why is everyone headed out of town?" But the music went on - hurricane? what hurricane? - the food flowed, the friends and the crowds came and went, and I know I keep saying this, but this was one of our best sessions yet. Thanks everybody, for coming out.



A great way to say goodbye to summer - not that we want it to end. Star Above the Garter, Road to Lisdoovarna, and Old Favorite.


Avi, at our Friday night pre-session session.


Avi and Colin.


Rose - top notch fiddler, and Gene - Irish balladeer and story teller and all around gem of a gentleman, originally from Co. Armagh - an honor to have them with us - settling in on Saturday afternoon. 

Rose and Gene


Gene and Rose


Nancy, Scott, Paul, Gene, and Rose (and did I mention that Scott rode his bike down from Boston? Plus ran twenty-four miles that morning?).


Our youngest fan. Janet and Orion.


Maria


Gene and Rose


Gene


Gene


Gene, Rose.


Violet


Nancy, Scott, Paul.


Colin, Nancy, Scott.


Colin, Nancy, Scott, Paul, Gene, Rose.


The Brighton boys, Danny and Tom.


From the phone. Colin, Scott, Billy.


From the phone. Mary, Colin, and Scott.


Courtesy of Mr. Tom Griffin. A rare glimpse of yours truly. Violet, Mary, Colin, Nancy, Scott, Paul, Rose, Sara.


Violet, Mary, Colin, Nancy, Scott, Paul, Sara. (Tom Griffin)


Colin, Scott, and Billy.


Mary, Colin, Scott.


Scott, Billy, Rose.


Scott, Billy, Rose.


7:00 ferry Sunday morning.


Squibnocket, Sunday morning. Still not much happening, weatherwise.


Edgartown Harbor, Monday morning. Windy and gray; developing.


South Beach, featuring long combers that have fetched all the way from the nucleus of what is now being called a tropical storm.


A couple of out-of-towners admire the ocean.


Another rare glimpse of yours truly, as captured by my daughter, Maria. We often find each other at the same location with our cameras, totally by accident. It's become quite amusing.

Main Street Ceili, October 2012

While getting ready to welcome Rose and Gene Clancy back to Edgartown for my big Labor Day 2016 Irish session, I was reminiscing over the weekend a few years back when the Clancys, along with Stu Peak, were last on the Island together during a really lively night on Main Street during which no fewer than three separate groups from a nearby Irish wedding (coincidentally) walked in off the street to join us for the music and the craic - and it was mighty, to say the least, with songs, stories, jokes, and dancing galore.



Rose, Stu, and Gene - playing at a wedding at Edgartown Lighthouse earlier in the day; a wedding that I photographed, and the impetus to pre-plan a session for that evening.





Stu, Jon, and Rose. We even got some of the Boston and Rhode Island contingent over here for the event. I can see from the near-empty bookshelves and bare walls that I had not even fully moved in at this point.


Gene and random walk-ins. What can I say - they see the flag, they hear the music, and the ones who know what's going on walk right in. And that's just the way I like it.


Rose and Levi.










Cecelia and Gene.





Bob, Susie, Ken, and Stu.


Paul - a most unforgettable and very funny character from Co. Down, whose oft-repeated line of the night was "Up, Down!"