The Littlest Bar, February 26, 2011

I was happy to make it down to the Littlest again last night. The session was in the very capable hands of the talented and affable Mike Reynolds, and also featured his lady friend, Diane (Diane knows every word to every song, and obviously loves the music), another box player named Kevin, a couple of my session-mates from Tommy's, Levi and Chris; and I was especially happy to see old friends from our Paddy Barry days (and oh, what days they were), Arnie and his daughter Emily. All in all, it was a great night, a privilege and an honor to have been in such fine company.

I'm still struggling with the darkness of these venues, and still working out the best format in which to save the files. My favorite of these is the last one, of Arnie and Emily - very precious to hear father and daughter making music together (and if you know me, you'll know why). Emily is seventeen and has been playing since she was seven.

The Tinker's Son, Norwell, January 19, 2011

My travel schedule this week allowed me to stop at Stuart and Laura's session at The Tinker's Son on Wednesday night, which makes for a long trip back to Boston, but well worth it. It's always a pleasure to see and play with Stuart, but I did miss Laura (who was reportedly off tending to her students at a school concert). The music was brilliant, I might add, a different sub-set of tunes - new to me, anyway - the tunes, as always, being determined by the ever-changing configuration of musicians and instruments, which on this night included, in addition to the folks I perceived to be the regulars (my brilliant conclusion, based on my attending a total of two times): two Kevins, one on pipes and flute, the other on box, and Rose Clancy on fiddle. I first met Rose and piper/flutist Kevin back at Paddy Barry's, what now feels like many sessions ago, but was actually only last winter/spring, so it was fun to see them again. I love this aspect of the music, the "small world" feeling. I miss Paddy's - kind of a wild and woolly place; loud, with a preponderance of stumbling drunks, but that was half the fun. After all, Paddy's was my first intro to the Irish Seisiun. In some ways, Paddy's will always be my foundation, the standard upon which I measure every other session.

All shot with G12/RAW/manual/f2.8@3o/ISO 3200. I've reached my limit with this low-light/noisy style of photography and will soon be making some changes...


I post the videos, below, not with the idea that I am any kind of videographer (but I would love to learn this medium, not that I need another project in my life - ha ha), but more as an aid to learning the tunes.





Kevin Quinn, Rose Clancy, Stuart Peak, and North American bodhran champ, Peter Smith. With the old pews and the stained glass, it's a little like being in a church-pub, which is as good a combination as any, I suppose. Besides, the playing of music with friends is surely as good as any religion.





Kevin and Rose.



Kevin and Kevin.



Rose



Rose and Stuart.
  

What a Year It's Been

Self-portrait.                                                                                                                            This month marks one year since attending my first session down at Paddy Barry's in Quincy. And what a year it's been since that first night when I couldn't play a note on my fiddle and could just barely stammer out my name. I am now able to play quite a few tunes, and have added a bouzouki to my bag of tricks, but more importantly, I have made a ton of friends - of all ages - and have connected with the most wonderful musical community.

Thanksgiving Weekend Session

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.

Wynter, Alex, Levi.

Levi, Chris.

Chris

Wynter, Alex, Levi, Colin

Eric, Chris.

Eric, Chris, Rosanne, Dave.

Eric, Chris.

Alex, Levi, Colin.