Turn About is Fair Play

I've spent plenty enough time shooting and posting footage of others here, it's only fair that I make an appearance as well, don't you think?

Josefin's Waltz from Sara Piazza on Vimeo.

Waiting for the Tuesday night Kitchen Session attendees to arrive while enjoying the great acoustics in my Edgartown kitchen. One of my favorite waltzes.

TradConnect

You may have noticed the new button I've added to the blog, over to the right, that reads, "TradConnect, Connecting Traditional Irish Musicians Across the World." This is a brand new site that my friend Jim, over in Larne, invited me to join. Jim is a fantastic fiddler, a huge friend of Irish Trad and has been a good friend to me (plus, he's really funny), so I generally do whatever he tells me to do. The site was started a couple of months ago by a seemingly affable fellow (anybody who likes my All-Stars and my photos and suggests I should come over to Dublin to photograph the scene there is an instant friend) by the name of Tony Lawless, single-handedly ("It's just me and my laptop trying to connect the world. Need Help, Help !!!!!"), and it appears to have potential. There are discussions (along the lines of the mustard board, minus the snark - so far) and videos, and much more. I happen to like the chat feature. Yesterday I was simultaneously chatting with Jim, in Ireland, and a woman in the Netherlands.

So go on over and click that thing and sign up. See you there.

Happy Birthday, Alex!

Alex's Surprise Birthday Party from Sara Piazza on Vimeo.
Happy birthday, Alex.
 

Cormac and Rosanne from Sara Piazza on Vimeo.

The birthday girl.




The Connors, Sean and John.



Emerald Rae



John and Alex.



Rosanne



John, Levi, and Alex.



John

Andrea Beaton & Nuala Kennedy, with Owen Marshall

George and Emily Keith's next house concert, coming up on Saturday, June 4th in Medford looks like it will be fantastic. I'll be sorry to miss this one, for sure.

Umbrella Musings

A few weeks ago I floated over to Tommy Doyle's in a torrent of rain. By evening's end, the rain had stopped, and it wasn't until I got back home that I realized I had forgotten my umbrella at the pub. I called Liam, who said - even before I could say hello - "Eric's got your umbrella."

I did see Eric a couple more times since that night, but I never did reconnect with that umbrella. Oh well, it probably cost me all of $5.00, and the only time I ever thought about it was when it rained (which has been a lot this month, actually). I figured it would become one of those things where I would think about Eric and the umbrella every time it rained and it would remain a conversation opener for a period of time until the memory of that particular umbrella (but never you, Eric!) faded into oblivion and I eventually remembered to pick up a new one.

But I received a text from David yesterday, on his way to the island from New York (apparently via Boston), which said, "....I've got your umbrella."

Okay, I've said it before: it's not just the great music. It's this ineffable feeling of family; of being connected to an amazing community of people who care about each other's comings and goings, life-cycle events (baby yet, Liam?), concerns, and yes, even umbrellas.

The Greenbriar, April 25, 2011

On the rare Mondays that I'm not down on the island, I like to get over to the Greenbriar. I only had time for the early, slow session, though - aka BOSS - Boston's Original Slow Session [link]. It was good to catch up with a few folks.




























By Joanie




By Joanie




By Joanie



By Joanie

Tommy Doyle's, Thursday Night, April 14, 2011

Untitled from Sara Piazza on Vimeo.

Above is a short clip from Tommy Doyle's, featuring Sean Connor. Sean, as always, manages to shine through the din.

I showed up at Tommy's on Thursday night and found perfect light and great music, but I accidentally started shooting with the G12 before I formatted my card so I ran out of memory. The only way to free up the card would have been to format, thereby losing this gem, so I called it quits for the night, video-wise, anyway. The 5D took over for the rest of the evening for the stills.

It was a great night at Tommy's. I'm glad we're back downstairs. I didn't like the acoustics, or the layout, upstairs. The light downstairs is now fantastic, early in the evening, anyway - and a great relief after suffering through the dark winter, now past, thank God.

A few favorites from the evening (I really love you guys - you're beautiful - thanks for putting up with me and my camera):