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.

Labor Day Weekend 2015

"We're pulling out all the stops for a savage weekend - hoping to come close to the brilliance that was created here on July 4th."

Yes, all the brilliance of the Fourth of July session - and then some. From the friends, to the weather, to the music, to the people stopping by - it was sheer Vineyard magic.



Colin


Alanna


The Professor.


Beauty


Afternoon warm-ups.


Liam and Nathan

One of the random strangers who joined us on Friday night and shared a song.

Dan Armstrong with his magnificent 1927 Koa Martin, treating us to one of his home-grown tunes. 



The Professor offers a song with his new Gretch resonator guitar  (with Colin, Julia, and Alanna).


Charlie Giordano - another Friday night random stranger. Charlie was on his way home from a gig downtown when we spotted him walking by the porch. "Hey, what's that on your back?" "A mandolin." "Come play with us." "I don't know any Irish tunes." But it turned out that he did. This is the magic of the porch; the magic of a summer's night in Edgartown.



The Professor with the Gretsch.


Mary, Avi, and Nathan





Avi, Nathan, Colin K., David














This guy walks up on the porch, grabs my fiddle, and starts playing crazy gypsy music. Mehmet, from Turkey. Intriguing on one hand, and so disturbing on the other.






Nathan, Scott, and Colin K. Nathan happened to bump into Scott in the ferry line, coming over. It turns out, they are old friends and used to play in a band together, so Nathan invited him to the session.














The lovely Peggy MacGillivray Morrison and her daughters added another level of session music and dance to the porch. Peggy had posted on Facebook earlier in the day, "I'm headed over to the Vineyard for the first time, are there any sessions?" A couple of people hooked her up with me - lovely to have them.








David sings one of his recent compositions. David is a singer/songwriter to watch these days.

We even had the lovely and talented Rob Lytle stop by and sing a couple of his songs - melifluously, as always.








Another song from David: Glory Be.


Sunday morning in the kitchen.


A few last tunes before heading to the ferry.  A big thank you to everyone who came out and added to the session, and see you in October.