CHRISTY CHAT ARCHIVE
23rd June 2009
We are progressing towards completion on the upcoming DVD "Come All You Dreamers" which was filmed in Glasgow last year.
Declan has been gigging with his band Small Town Talk to great acclaim. (See 4711ers.org)
We have our end of season gig in the Marquee, Cork, next Saturday night. This will be our fifth year to play the Big Tent and we look forward to it.
We will continue in September and the following gigs are in place:
September 24th Sligo, Park Hotel
September 25th Ardee, Co. Louth, Parish Hall
October 2nd Limerick, UCH
October 8th Roscommon, Hyde Centre
November 20th Wexford, Opera House
There will be further gigs to follow in Dublin, Tralee and Portlaoise this autumn, and Derry and Belfast are being planned for early next year. (More details later) We will travel to Scotland in October. Details of all these gigs can be found on the gig page of the website.
Thank you for your feedback on "Listen". The album has been well received. The Ballad of Ruby Walsh came out after Cheltenham, where Ruby obliged by riding rings all around him. Then the single "Listen" garnered lots of airplay creating an awareness of the album before it was released. It hit the No. 1 spot in Ireland and stayed there for 4 weeks, which was a grand old buzz. On week 2 we had Pink, Lily Allen, Lady GaGa and Bob Dylan floundering in our wake. We let on that such pop trivia does not matter, but when it does happen it calls for celebration …. "O the crack was 90 in The Isle Of Man"…
I sang today on a documentary about James Connolly. A song which I learned many years ago from Dominic Behan. I also heard from John Spillane who has invited me to duet with him on his next album.
Enjoy the summer months, come back refreshed and, hopefully, we'll meet up along the way ….. Come on the Flour Bags …..
Christy
Newcastle upon Tyne May 31st 2009.
A Sunny day on the river looking across at The Sage, one of the world's most impressive looking venues. London's Royal Festival Hall and Manchester's Bridgewater Hall too have been welcoming and accommodating. It is indeed a joy to work these great venues.
Had a day off Yesterday....enjoyed a long Riverside ramble and caught The B&I Lions win their opening game in South Africa. I slept through the FA Cup final. Saturday Night in Newcastle has to be seen to be believed. It sure is a party town.
Things have settled a bit after the "Listen" launch. The songs have become established in the set…it remains to be seen if they will stick the pace...."Come all you Dreamers" (Live from Barrowland 2008) is now on the workbench and shaping up nicely.
The Bodhrán has re-emerged after a long lay off, so too have "Magdalene Laundry", "Strange Ways" and "The Well". We have added dates in Limerick, Buncrana, Drumshambo and Wexford to the gigs page. Later this year we hope to perform in Ardee, Co .Louth, Roscommon, Sligo, Thurles, Tullamore, Mullingar, Cappoquin, Tralee, Ennis and Ballinasloe. We hope to return to Vicar Street in Dec-Jan, Derry in February and Belfast in March. Along the way we will pick the odd gig here and there.
Back home in time to vote. I have supported Mannix Flynn and Richard Boyd Barrett in their local campaigns. We find ourselves in an awful mess as Church and State slowly sink into the muck and threaten to pull us all down with them. We gave them the power that they have abused. We have voted our abusers back in before.
Did you notice Pope Benedict greeting Margaret Thatcher to the Vatican? Was that match made in Heaven or Hell? All they needed was Pinochet in beside them for a right Triumvirate.
Head-the-ball in North Korea is flexing fierce....he don't hide no WMDs ...He can consider himself lucky he aint got no oil...Willy O'Dea would be gunning for him...
The best song session I ever witnessed was The Góilín 30th anniversary shindig.
There were 43 singers and a host of listeners, maybe 200. No P.A. needed, we could hear
the price of a pin drop.
Dublin, June 3rd.
Recent reviews have commented on our sound and lighting. Declan and I travel with six colleagues. David Meade engineers our stage sound. I first met him in the old Rialto Cinema in Derry City. He is a unique engineer. Geoff Ryan lights our performance. I never get to see the lights but I can sense that they are sympathetic to the work.
Lighting should not draw attention to itself. Very few technicians achieve this. Both David and Geoff have to "work on the hoof" for there is no set list, no cues, they've got to busk it with myself and Declan and follow the songs wherever they go...Dickon Whitehead attends to our stage sound and keeps an eye on things technical....Johnny Meade cares for all the guitars and humours the Bodhrán. Michael Devine is our Tour Manager and makes sure that Declan and I turn up at the right venue...Paddy Doherty oversees all our activities and makes gigs and tours happen...when gigs achieve accolades - it is fitting that we remember all those who work hard behind the scenes to make the gig happen.
Had a grand trip back. It was still twilight as we departed the Symphony Hall in Birmingham after a satisfactory 2 hour gig. It is a most impressive room within. We raced up the M6 as a beautiful half moon became our Sat Nav. The Holyhead Shed boys waved us through and away we sailed to Bognia....
Tuesday, 14th April 2009
The Ropes, Ryston, Newbridge, Co. Kildare. April 9th & 10th 2009.
Holy Thursday.
1. Two Island Swans.
2. The Curragh of Kildare.
3. Missing You.
4. Listen.
5. The Ballad of Ruby Walsh.
6. Does this train stop on Merseyside.
7. Gortatagort.
8. Ordinary Man.
9. The Shovel.
10. Beeswing.
11. North and South.
12. Nancy Spain.
13. Welcome to The Cabaret.
14. The Contender.
15. Stitch in Time.
16. I Will.
17. Smoke and Strong Whiskey.
18. Motherland.
19. City Of Chicago.
20. China Waltz.
21. After the Deluge.
22. Voyage.
23. Lawless.
24. Riding the High Stool.
25. Black is The Colour.
26. Natives.
27. Lisdoonvarna
Encore
28. Ride On.
29. Back Home in Derry
(2 hours 5 minutes)
Good Friday.
1. Yellow Furze Woman.
2. The Curragh of Kildare.
3. Does this train stop on Merseyside.
4. The Ballad of Ruby Walsh.
5. Viva La Quinte Brigada.
6. Listen.
7. Duffy's cut.
8. Nancy Spain.
9. Missing You.
10. Quiet Desperation.
11. City of Chicago.
12. Motherland.
13. Ride On.
14. Welcome to The Cabaret.
15. Stitch in Time.
16. I Will.
17. Smoke and Strong Whiskey.
18. Gortatagort.
19. The Shovel.
20. Beeswing.
21. Ordinary Man.
22.Sonny's dream.
23. Reel in the Flickering Light.
24. Voyage.
25. After The Deluge.
Encore.
26. North and South of the River.
27. Black is The Colour.
28. Bright Blue Rose.
(2 hours 7 minutes)
It was a special homecoming for me...On day 1 I walked around Moorefield, Dara Park, Pairc Mhuire, Rathfield, Hawkfield, Morristown, down the Back Street, up the Front Street and in around by Rosy's Lane. I was getting my bearings, re-acclimatising myself to the old town....Spent some hours in The Standhouse on the Curragh, myself and Declan shaping up Cabaret and Curragh, me wondering what Paddy Leahy would make of all the changes to his pub. In my heyday The Standhouse was a real old country pub (in between race meetings). Thirsty citizens from nearby Newbridge would seek out its quiet dark corners, where they could slake their thirst without the whole town knowing about it. Many's the detour was taken to Leahy's hospitable sheebeen...mind you if you chanced upon a day when Paddy himself was imbibing, the hospitality could be roaring hot. If Paddy took a notion you could be out on your arse as quick as Mornie Wing in a 2 year old 5 furlong maiden stake...
On day 2 I went with Paddy Doherty and Mick Devine for a good scoot around The Curragh. Into the Military Camp on Good Friday once again. In the 60s we used to gather there on this day for it was the only place in the county where drink could be taken on this holiest of black, dry days. If you had the right connections you'd get "signed in" to the NCO's mess. This was was the place to be on a Good Friday. Back then there were not many guitars around. I had my Clancy repertoire well honed and my old guitar gained me entry to many's the fine watering hole in those fledgling days. Good Fridays and Christmas Days were wild in The Camp.
Leaving The Curragh behind we went to Brownstown and on out by Jockey Hall to
Donnelly's Hollow, where we marvelled at the memory of Donnelly and Cooper and the great contest fought there nearly 200 years ago. Then back around by Lumville and The Jockey Hospital where my Father died on Oct 8th 1956. We called into the Moorefield GAA club in Pollardstown and saw the great progress made there by dedicated voluntary members who have built a great sporting facility. 50 years ago we cycled to matches and togged off in the bushes. If it rained...tough luck...we cycled home wet but happy, boots dangling from handle bars as we dreamt of one day playing for the Lily Whites. (Someone mentioned that they have changed the strip to include green... I sincerely hope this is not the case...to see the Lilywhites run out onto the field has always stirred the spirit)...As we made for Milltown to visit my parents resting place the skies opened and I thought of the evenings performance so we doubled back to base and the shelter of The Standhouse Hotel once again.
The Hall was full to capacity both nights. I watched from behind the curtain as people came in. Spotting many old friends and neighbours warmed my heart, but the vast majority were from the younger generations. Occasionally I could spot family resemblances. I have seldom felt so good watching an audience assemble. From Two-Mile-House and Poulaphouca, from Black Trench, Cut Bush and Boolea they came, from Ladytown, Feighcullen, Suncroft, Tankardsgarden, from Kilmeague, Lullymore, Caragh, Rathcoffey, Moone, Pluckardstown and Fr. Moore's Well....they came from all sides....I saw Sheila Bell, Jimmy and Anne McDermott, The Ba and Alice Dowling, Paddy and Mrs Kenny, my sisters Eilish and Terry, my brother in law Peter Byrne all the way from Drimnagh, 4711ers from all over the gaff, Lawlor's of The Forge, Jimmy Naughton, Joe Doherty, Laura and Winnie Murray, Michael Halford, Noel Heavey, Mags Hall, people from Artillery Place, Blackberry Lane, Rowan Terrace, Station Road.....
I recalled the Newbridge bands of my youth, The Jimmy Dunny Orchestra, The Bobby Rogers Band, Tom Wilmot's Ceili Band, a skiffle group featuring Tony Sinnott, Laura Murray, Leo McBride and A.N.Other (anyone remember). The Brass band and then ,of course, came The Liffeysiders and The Rakes of Kildare (short lived they only played 2 gigs that I can recall one of which was the 1966 Easter Commemoration Concert in Hugh Neeson's Lounge when the entire Easter Monday was spent commemorating, I clearly recall the late Jack White's rendition of "A Nation Once Again").
Back then Newbridge was a Town of 4,000 people. We had 2 cinemas (plus 2 more in The Curragh), a dancehall, a youth club, 2 tennis clubs and THE RIVER......At both Concerts we were joined by members of The Culture Factory Collective. They assisted with the seating and also presented a leaflet outlining their vision for a better Newbridge. They are seeking to provide a focal point for young people who might have wishes and desires outside the playing of football. There is no shortage of football fields (a good thing in itself) but where to go if your interests are music, art, creative writing, film making or conversation. The Arts Centre lies empty and unused, a monument to un-joined-up thinking... even when it was open it paid little more than lip service to the youngsters ...like many Arts centres it smacked of elitist exclusivity. The Public servants (aka Arts Administrators) who control our publicly funded Art Centres would appear to prefer the Centres "empty and black" rather than have them full of local youngsters expressing their creativity in painting, music, poetry, dance and whatever else should take place in a public funded Arts Centre....if this sounds like a rant I have no apology to offer....my own personal experiences of Arts Centres and administrators have mainly been negative ones...I deeply regret that this be the case....there are and have been notable exceptions...The Belltable blazed the trail with Brid Dukes at the helm in the 70s...The Nerve Centre in Derry is always a good place to visit, The Black Box in Galway is always welcoming,....I will never forget the joy of visiting Paul Funge's Gorey Art Centre 35 years ago...no funding then but creative and determined spirits working together to make things happen.....The Focus Theatre in Dublin is a centre worth recalling, the late Deirdre O'Connell kept it going on a wing and a prayer and I recall many's the good night of music there, Glor in Ennis where Kate Verling hosts artistic diversion - diverse, highbrow, lowbrow and every brow between......
I hope the Culture Factory realise their dream....Come all you Dreamers, hear the sound of The Palace humming (I have committed to do a project with The Culture Factory and look forward to seeing what emerges).
What does anyone think of The National Museum being closed at Easter...for what died the Sons of Roisin. Intransigence is sometimes unforgiveable....it's a long way from Jem Larkin to squeezing the last drop of blood from the roster system...
Just home from Tina Turner. All thoughts of retirement have been retired. Great Band, Sound, Venue and a Mighty Woman....could not make out lyrics but the other 10,000 knew them word for word and sang heartily right through the gig. Particularly enjoyed the acoustic set at the start of the 2nd half. All the ensemble were having a ball and the band were a joy to hear and watch, but Diva Tina... gimme some of what she's on... her voice her spirit, passion and warmth... her singing and love of performance shone through everything...lights, lasers, effects, fireworks, dancers, ninjas, wonderful musicians all added to the spectacle but Ms Tina generated the power that drove it all.
Back to work tomorrow, been yapping with the papers about "Listen"...the journalists seem to like it....will play some songs on The Late Late Show next Friday. Going up to visit Gerry Anderson in BBC Ulster and have already recorded interviews with Mike Harding for BBC Radio 2 and Steve Wright for BBC Radio 2....the album goes public on Friday, hope ye like it, myself and Declan had a good time stitching it together......
Christy
Singing for The Ireland Rugby Squad 12 March 2009
Since boyhood I have loved the game of rugby. There are so many different aspects to the game. Each position requires such diverse skills, strengths and body shapes. It continues to develop and change through the decades but remains, for some at least, the most exhilirating of ball games..... I can still recall most of the Irish players from my boybood days. (Wigs Mulcahy, Ronnie Dawson, Sid Miller, Gordon Wood, Ronnie Kavanagh, Noisy Murphy, Andy Mulligan, Mick English, MIKE GIBSON, David Hewitt, Cecil Pedlow, Tony O'Reilly, Niall Brophy)......I have this memory of seeing Jackie Kyle swerving through the English defence at Lansdowne Road, I'm in the stand with my father...but when I check the dates it must have been a dream for I would have been too young.......I played a bit in youthful days,never with any great skill but always with lots of enthusiasm... with the Newbridge school team and later with Bective Rangers, Cashel and Galway Corinthians...
Last Monday night I had the pleasure of singing a bunch of songs for the Ireland Rugby Squad. Mick Devine and I arrived at the training camp at 8 o'clock. We were welcomed by Paul O'Connell and I went into a small room that was full to the gills of very large and very fit men. This was my 5th time in 11 years to play for the squad and myself, Malcolm O'Kelly and Rala are the only three survivors from that night. I sat on a low chair with the Irish Team and Subs gathered round me. I was a schoolboy allover again. I am almost 64 but still in awe of these legendary athletes. What made the night for me was that 5 of the squad got up and sang with me. The set was:
Deluge
Natives
Merseyside
Black is The Colour (we all sang this in memory of David Noble aka McScrum)
Ride On.....................(Ronan O'Gara took the lead vocal on this)
Hattie Carroll
City of Chicago.......(Donnacha O'Callaghan hit the high notes beautifully)
Beeswing
Cliffs of Dooneen....(With Rala O'Reilly, kit manager, confessor, counsellor)
Delerium Tremens
The Contender........(Denis Leamy sang this and did a fine job)
Joxer goes to Stuttgart
The Well below The valley....(requested by the team doctor Jim McShane)
Rocky Road To Dublin...........(for Shane Horgan in honour of his legendary try against England in Croker 2007)
Flickering Light....................(a duet with Luke Fitzgerald who jinked his way through the verses)
Ruby Walsh
The Shovel
Nancy Spain
Brian O'Driscoll said a few words and made presentations on behalf of the squad to Mick Devine and myself...... Good luck in Murrayfield and Cardiff....
Friday 27th February 2009
Started back in Trim Co. Meath last night. As always, I am nervous for about 10 minutes but then I realise, once again, that I am among friends who love the songs as much as I do. I opened my eyes after 15 minutes and the first face I saw was Primula's. Sitting beside him was Tommy Clarke (just back from Bosnia) and a gaggle of 4711ers. I knew that I was home and dry so I closed my eyes again.
"The Ballad of Ruby Walsh" went to radio stations yesterday and has been getting a few spins. The album will be out in six weeks. Signed off on the sleeve and Artwork yesterday.
STOP PRESS....Jim Page is back in Ireland. His song "Hiroshima Nagasaki Russian Roulette" was a big Moving Hearts number. He continues the tradition of Woody Guthrie by going to the front line. Catch him at the following;
March 1 De Barras, Clonakilty
4 The Crane Galway
5 Boyles Bar, Slane Co Meath
6 Community Hall, Avoca, Co Wicklow
7 Seamus Ennis Centre, The Naul, Fingal, Co.Dublin
News Extra.....A regular visitor to this site( and to our sister site 4711ers.or.) is Doug Lang ( aka The Duke of Lang). He has been sending us songs, poems, pictures and videos these past years. He will depart his native Vancouver and come to visit us in Ireland and Scotland in April. He plays support to John Spillane in Clonakilty on Apr 2nd. Himself and myself are going to do a wee gig on the 4th and then he will travel to Dublin to do Mick O'Briens "Sin E" radio show on Dublin City Anna Livia FM ( all details on 4711ers.org)...Lar mentioned he might be doing a house gig before he heads off to Scotia......
We return to England in May with gigs in London, Manchester, Gateshead and Birmingham. In October we play Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth and Barrowland.
We hope to return to Concert Hall Limerick in October. There is talk of gigs in The Opera House in Wexford in November, we both look forward to visiting this new venue in Declan's home town.
"Gallopin down the back straight he has her in a canter
look at her leppin' the jumps shes like a ballet dancer.
Over the last she hits the front and nothin is goin to pass her.
Winner Alright! Up Kildare! and Follow me up to Carlow".
(The Ballad of Ruby Walsh)
Whallup
Feb 9th 2009.....Bob Doyle
Bob Doyle (1916-2009)
Bob was the last surviving member of the Irish battalion of The International Brigade.I met him briefly, maybe half a dozen times,always at events commemorating fallen comrades in the Spainish civil war.Just this morning I received the following report.These words were spoken by Bob at an anti-war rally in Southampton 2 years ago............"Some of you may wonder why a 90-year-old veteran of a war that happened a long time ago in a far off country is speaking to you here today....Some of you will know a little about the Spainish civil war and may see it as a glamorous episode in working class history...You may have come to see a 'decrepit romantic relic'....But I am not here to indulge in emotional memories although I do have many memories of comrades and events that effect me deeply.....I am not here to make you sad with tragic recollections of a heroically fought war or to make you happy with my survival into old age....I am here to make your blood boil with anger.The powers that supported Franco in Spain are still active today. Their reach is now global.The same US corporations that supplied the Fascists with oil in Spain are today pilfering the oil of the Iraqi people"........ Bob went on to say "Those who lie and cheat to hold on to power, who exploit child and slave labour in the third world to make yet more profits, who torture and murder in defense of their business interests, They are still in control......When I am told that Spain was the last noble cause I know I am listening to someone who does not want to see the obvious truth.Today the fight against those who put profit before people is just as intense"................(This speech was reported in The Camden New Journal of Jan 29th and was sent to me by Bob Davenport)
Bob Doyle. Feb 9th 2009
Bob Doyle 1916-2009.
Derry,The Foyle, 19th November 2008
This is my 100th time to sing up here in Derry. I think back to earlier times. A Planxty Concert when we played with Albert Fry in a school hall. The following year we came back to St.Columb's Hall for a concert that also featured Seamus Heaney, Seamus Deane and Pumpkinhead, a very fine American band then domiciled in Sligo. I don't recall the precise context of either of these gigs but the second one did have a souvenir programme. I think it may have been part of an arts festival. After Planxty my gigs in Derry began to change. As the repertoire moved from Traditional Ballads to Contemporary Songs the atmosphere at gigs changed too. After recording "90 Miles to Dublin" other songs began to emerge. There were concerts in support of the Blanket Men, The Smash H-Blocks Campaign, both Hunger Strikes and all the time there were Bloody Sunday Commemoration Concerts. I first heard Bobby Sands songs here in Derry. I heard "McIlhatton" over in Bellaghy and "Back Home in Derry" in Bertie and Olive Barrett's the following night. Both songs sung to me by men who had been on the blanket with Bobby. "The Time has Come" was based on the experiences of Peggy O'Hara who vividly described her family's suffering while her son Patsy O'Hara was on Hunger Strike. So many songs came and went in this town, sometimes written quickly to be performed once, other times scribbled down of an afternoon but developing on to become part of the repertoire. "Minds Locked Shut" started out in The Rialto before the 15th Bloody Sunday Commemoration. I asked Eamon McCann to talk me through his memories of the day and that became the basis of the song....."and then our minds locked shut" "they are firing bullets at us" "disbelief upon the faces".....years after "North and South" had its first lines written at the edge of Ballyscullion Wood and "The Boy From Tamlaghduff" was penned across the way after spending time with the late Joe and Mrs. Hughes in their family home. So much of the work was written and learned here in the Derry air. Small wonder that the songs sound like they are coming home.
In the past week we have played in Newcastle Co. Down, Silverbridge in Co. Armagh and now here in Derry City. Driving and walking, singing and talking I begin to get a small sense of the changing province. There is peace, there is an absence of Military and Armed Police at every corner, there are outward signs of hope for the future when compared to the bleakness of the war years. But there are other, less obvious, things taking place that need to be noted. Today I walked through parts of Derry untouched by the culture of regeneration. I walked streets where the police have little or no interest in policing. There is disquiet and unrest amongst people who feel abandoned by those who once stood in their midst. Wherever we go in this island we must try and bring everyone with us. Yes we must embrace all cultures but, equally, we must bring all our own people to The Promised Land. I hope that peaceful times are here to stay.
The current album is all but finished. We will get back to it after the upcoming gigs in Mullingar. There is a small bit of recording to do before we commence mixing and mastering. Then begins the process of deciding the running order, a title for the work, the sleeve notes and various other yokes. Singing the songs really is the easiest and most pleasurable part. All the rest of it is where the work comes in. We have 13 songs recorded, don't know yet how many will feature - 8 are new pieces (although most of them have been gigged lately). The other 5 have been around a while but never recorded satisfactorily....Declan has recorded a song... four friends came in and played on different tracks...Wally Page dropped in and laid down a few sweet harmonies...
We are going to Dingle in December for Philip King's "Songs from a Room" which will be transmitted on RTE in the Spring.
This is year 42 of the tour. Since hitting the road in 1967 there have been a few adjustments to the routine. Back then I travelled light, guitar case and sleeping bag, (spare set of strings (St.David Originals), diary, jotter, spare sox 'n jox - all fitted snugly in the guitar case. No PA systems nor microphones. Gigs were in rooms above pubs. Every gig would have local singers to warm the night. Audiences varied from 20 to 200. Clubs fell into different categories with many having a strict booking policy. Most clubs would cater for the broad variety of styles that existed but there specialist clubs that concentrated on their chosen genre. McColl's club in London was a serious place. Les Cousins was very much guitar orientated, I heard Davy Graham play there. The Troubadour Club was very much that. Gigs usually ran to 2 half hour sets... approx 12 songs and that was your lot. The accommodation was invariably provided by the club organiser, and could be 5 star or abysmal but the sleeping bag was essential. Heady days still well remembered. These days Declan and I travel with 10 guitars and a bowrawn. We have six colleagues who between them look after all aspects of the gig. We carry PA, Lights, Staging, while accommodation, catering, transport and business are all carefully planned in advance. Last night we performed 31 songs in 2 hours and 10 minutes. Back in those early days there was a lot less time spent on the material for there was a lot of life to be lived. These days the work takes priority when out on the road. The one thing that has not changed is the dedication to song, the passion for singing....that's what I must go and do now....
For those of you who follow the oval ball...what a great performance the Munster team put up last night against the All-Blacks. Neither side could field their First XV but by all accounts it was a classic encounter. (Various media had me present at the game but I had important business to attend in The Forum Theatre Derry.) Shane Geoghegan's memory was honoured before and during the game. I've no doubt but that many players offered this game up to their fallen friend. I was surprised to see The Army brought in to the pageant beforehand. A pity they were not at hand when Shane was callously and brutally gunned down just 2 weeks ago. If the police can no longer control the activities of these feuding gangs and drug lords the Government must respond with realistic measures to curb these murderous thugs. I don't have the answer. However I felt that bringing in the Army for a rugby game in Limerick was both ironic and opportunistic considering recent events.
For our overseas readers I should explain that Shane Geoghegan was a young man gunned down, an innocent working man on his way home when murdered in a case of "mistaken identity" by drug dealing, murdering, cowardly bastards..... he was a young family man who played amateur rugby for his club Garryowen...he was the fourth innocent by-stander to be shot dead by drug dealers in Ireland recently. The Government appears to be unable or unwilling to do anything about it. How long before people decide they have had enough and begin taking the law into their own hands.
It's time to pack up the load and get on the road, head over the Foyle Bridge, accelerating quickly towards Belfast. On up over Glenshane and freewheel down into Beal Feirste. The next two gigs are different. The Opera House in Belfast Is a Benefit for PIPS who are a suicide support group I encountered last year at a similar event in Dublin. The following night we play a concert for the Ballygawley Road Estate Community Centre. We look forward to these gigs for they always have their own energy and are always unique events in themselves. The music becomes a backdrop to the night's event and invariably something special emerges.
See ye along the way......
Across the Water 22 October 2008
Crossed the Irish Sea in anticipation of two concerts in this year's European City of Culture. I am ensconced in a Liverpool garret for the next 3 days. I've been looking forward to this for some time. Here I have a glimpse of the river from my room, the prod Cathedral is 200 yards away and the taigs kneel just around the corner, Plan to visit both this morning so I will be oozing divine vibes if I make it to The Philharmonic tonight. It is 40 years since my first gig here, came by train from Manchester, travelled light back then with all my belongings in a big green guitar case alongside my Yamaha FG180 guitar. Then I played Jacqui & Bridie's Folk Club in some forgotten pub in this great Port City. They sang "Whiskey On a Sunday", a song which I learned and brought back to Dublin where Danny Doyle made it his own with a wonderful version...
We have six songs mixed, one we have decided to abandon and go back to the beginning - it somehow got swamped along the way and needs a much simpler approach. We will return to the studio to continue the process, some overdubs, looking at some different sounds. It seems like we have sufficient songs, maybe even a few spares. A very different scenario from years ago when albums were recorded under contract and under pressure of time. Back then recording studios were large buildings owned by record companies who called the shots. These days a recording studio is a series of boxes that can be set up anywhere and all the better for that.
Our good correspondent Doug Lang ( who will sing in Ireland and Scotland next April) has opened a discussion about singing, how voice, style and material develops over decades. His question caused me to reflect and try to remember. After a years of piano bashing, singing the boy soprano, "proper" singing, I was turned on to Elvis in my early teens. Followed him from Heartbreak Hotel to Wooden Heart around which time I heard The Clancy brothers and Tommy Makem. Got my first guitar and Donal Lunny taught me C G7 and then F D. That did me for a while as I got the early beginnings of a repertoire going....Jug of Punch, Rosin The Bow, Bard of Armagh, Kevin Barry were among my early songs. I heard Andy Rynne sing bigger songs like Yellow Bittern, Napoleon Bonaparte alongside Master McGrath and The Night before Larry was Stretched. I was trying to copy everyone I liked. 1962 I began to seek out songs that were no longer sung and discovered Curragh of Kildare in the Joyce Collection and Mary from Dungloe in Colm O'Loughlin's Irish Street Ballads. These were the first 2 original songs I sang and they went on to become very popular again through fine versions by The Johnstons and Emmet Spiceland. Began to travel around seeking out singers and new songs and came across The Galtee Mountain Boy in Clonmel sung by Patsy Halloran, The Scariff Martyrs in Tulla Co.Clare sung by Mrs Murphy (who had attended the funerals of McMahon, Rogers, Egan and Kildea), I heard Spancilhill in 1964 sung by the author Robbie McMahon. The repertoire was expanding and I was developing a style of singing that was an amalgam of the various singers I was hearing.Ted McKenna, Al O'Donnell. Maeve Mulvanny, Andy Rynne, Mick Moloney, Luke Kelly, Ronnie Drew, Jesse Owens and many others..
Hearing John Reilly was a revelation, for here was a tradition outside anything I'd heard before. The style was totally unaffected, the story line was the centre and it had been sung a thousand time over generations of Travelling (Gypsy/Tinker) singers. When I sought to learn and sing Raggle Taggle and Well Below the Valley I was entering a new world of singing. Prior to this it was the buzz and excitement of striving to be part of "the scene" but here I was finding a new purpose and a new high. These songs began to take me somewhere else. When I landed back in England in 1966 it was with the intention of staying for a while. I heard different singing styles and was immediately taken with the likes of Frank Duffy, Harry Boardman, Mike Harding in Lancashire. I hung out there for awhile all the time expanding my repertoire, borrowing and copying plagiarizing all I encountered. Heard The Watersons, Carty and Swarbrick, Tony Rose, Martyn Wyndham-Read all at a time when The Beatles and The Stones were dominating the world and I never heard a bit of it. I stumbled into Ewan McColl in St Andrews in Scotland and that turned me on to the concept of contemporary song. I had heard a number of contemporary singer songwriters in the folk clubs but it was McColl who caught my ear. Around this time I heard Ralph McTell and also listened to Woody Guthrie songs for the first time..........(contd)
Sunday Morning
Last night's Liverpool gig went off very well.
Spotted a good gaggle of 4711ers in the front stalls. Had Ian Prowse in last night and sang his song "Merseyside Train". It's a beauty to sing, beautiful structure, melody, chorus, pictures, vibe - his folks were in too, which made it all the more special. Maryline up from Chile for a brace of gigs, puts a guy on his toes when someone comes so far for the songs. Afterwards we sat with John and Mo and had the supper - you'll recall last year's fun with the Desert Island set list. John was the man of the hour and we finally met up last night.
Last nights set was:
1.Ordinary Man
2.North and South
3.Listen
4.Yellow Triangle
5.Veronica
6.McIlhatton
7.Merseyside
8.Hiroshima
9.Bright Blue Rose
10.Hattie Carroll
11.Smoke 'n Whiskey
12.Quinte Brigada (Louths)
13. I Will
14.Stitch
15.Missing You.
16.Joxer
!7.Beeswing
18. Derry
19.Gortatagort
20.DTs
21.Biko Drum
22.Rory is Gone
23.John of Dreams
24.Companeros
25.Voyage
26 Chicago.................
(contd)....In 1968 I met and befriended Hamish Imlach who took me on the road and I watched him gig around the UK. I began to develop "between-song" banter and for a while got waylaid by the funnyman bug. Listened to Noel Murphy, Tony Capstick, Mike Harding, Billy Connolly and took my eye off the songsters for awhile, sang a lot of comedy stuff and drank lots of porter....a guy pulled me up one night in London after I'd done a really bad gig and told me bluntly that I was a disgrace, to wise up and get back to the songs and material I had done previously. (Thank you Bruce May)
Planxty was a learning time - the material we would perform had to pass fairly stringent quality control and quite a number of songs I suggested were (mostly rightly) knocked back. The band were very popular and for a while my head was turned and confused by the fame factor. This impacted on the singing. We got so busy that we had little time to rehearse and develop. We soon tired of the never ending road and of performing the same set - for a while it was very much a case of going through the motions. The excitement of the first 18 months flittered away. However the atmosphere that existed when Donal, Andy, Liam and I played together has always stayed with me. It was a new experience and brought the songs to a new plateau. Just realised I'm blarring on far too much here, I've totally lost track of Doug's thread from last week, the real answer in my case is I got sober. When I managed to put down the glass, get over the shock, begin to see the world around me, then my approach to singing began to change. I realised that everything to do with my singing was the result of many different factors all of them outside my doing or control. Everything is given. In earlier times I might have taken credit for some of the stuff that was going down but when it was all taken away the truth slowly began to dawn. Lying in a dark place, unable to talk or communicate, all feelings of ego and self importance turned to mush. Then it all began to change. Today I give thanks for the very breath that gives me voice to sing.
Now I must go and get ready for Sunday night at The Philharmonic, wonder what songs will come along tonight, lots of notes, letters, requests and emails to coax them along but when the time comes, I will put myself in Your Hands and out we'll go, myself and the good doctor will face the music once more.....
Monday morning Liverpool..........................
It was very different last night, we played the following...
1.North and South
2Motherland
3.Natives
4.Quiet desperation
5.Smoke'n Whiskey
6.Listen
7.Hattie Carroll
8.Broken heart
9.Aisling
10.Merseyside
11.Cliffs of Dooneen
12.Yellow Furze Woman
13.Little Musgrave
14.Stitch
15.I Will
16.Lisdoonvarna
17.Brigada
18.Ride on.
19.Sonny's dream
20.Beeswing
21.Joxer
22.Voyage
23.No Time For Love
24.Nancy
25 Missing You
26 Chicago
Thank you to everyone concerned for two great nights at The Phil. All the staff were brilliant, Andy backstage fed us the football results but was most unhappy about Everton's defeat exacerbated by The Reds doin' the business.
A word about doing requests and dedications....there has been an upsurge recently, it is never a problem to receive your letters and emails requesting songs and dedications. It is never possible to include them all. In fact there are nights when it is impossible to do any. On such nights it takes all our energy and focus to get the music out. However some may be included if they fit into the run of the gig as it unfolds. Bear in mind that the vast majority of the audience will not have requested songs nor dedications.....sometimes it feels right and more times it does not.....if you are taking the trouble to write a request or dedication please bear in mind that your efforts may bear no fruit....on any night the gig itself must be given priority and free rein.....
The dates for London, Manchester, Birmingham and Newcastle are now posted on the gig page. If you are thinking of going to Vicar St this year ,there are very few seats left ...Irish gigs next Spring will include Trim, Kilkenny, Ballybofey, Cavan, Castlebar, Killarney,Newbridge, Ennis and Galway......all these will be on the gig page as soon as they are fully in place...
Declan will sing a song on the next album, he continues to rehearse and occasionally gig with "Small Town Talk", the band he has formed with Hank Wedell, Eleanor Healy and Martin Leahy. I have heard some recordings and they are well worth a listen.
Thats it for now except for one little story........
Sun Morning, Hope St., Liverpool...There are Bells and there are Bells. The lie-in was out of the question so I leapt out of the scratcher to follow the sound of (not so distant) bells calling. With two equally dominant cathedrals looking for custom I opted for the red one. A stunning feat of builders labour filled the October sky as I made my way to Church. Getting closer I became aware of a large police presence around the house of God, then I spotted a long line of black limousines. I had happenend upon the annual "Judges Service" and Choral Matins at Liverpool Cathedral. What a procession I witnessed in this place of worship. Every Mayor and Mayoress from Liverpool to Warrington and all places between, MPs, City Council Leaders, Chancellors of Universities, Army and Police top brass, Governers of all local prisons...they all came in their full finery and regalia to witness the Judges Service (the coroner was there too in case any of us expired). On came the procession of Magistrates, District Judges and Honourable Judges, The Sheriffs brought up the rear and when we were all in place the organist struck up "Praise my soul, King OF heaven".
The Dean, God be good to him, welcomed the congregation and introduced the "general confession". Following Psalm125 His Honour Judge Globe QC read to us from the Book of Malachi after which The choir sang Te Deum Laudamus. The High Sheriff Of Merseyside, Mrs J Greensmith, then gave us 8. 2-11 from The Gospel of John and she had a lovely hat (not a Philip Tracey, maybe an Aintree!) . The Choir then tore into a great version of Jubilate Deo as things began to hotten up. Heading towards the sermon we were primed with The Apostles creed and a harrowing "Lesser Litany and Collects" from Choir and Cantor which brought to mind the pulling out of nails...Very Rev Justin Welby then delivered his sermon to the gathered Judges. He chose to expand and expound on Justice and quoted liberally from his many overseas experiences on the delivery of same. Im afraid I dozed off momentarily but came to in time to hear The High Sheriff's Chaplain lead prayers for sinners in general but in particular for
The Queen
The High Court of Parliament
Lord Chancellor
Lord Chief Justice
all in Matters of Law
Chief Constable of Mersey Police
Her Majesty's Prisons, Walton, Altcourse, Risley and Hindley
International Court of Justice, United Nations and Sec Gen. U Thant!!
We then stood and belted out "All creatures of Our God and King"
The Dean, God be good to Him, then pronounced The Blessing ..Amen to that sez we.....then the organist shook the entire edifice with the most ear shattering intro I have ever heard to any song...ears bled, bats went crazy, spiders were blown from the rafters as Professor Ian Tracey pumped the mighty organ up to 11 and we sang The Queen ....Lemmy eat your heart out.......
We then stood in shaken awe as the procession of bewigged and bejewelled dignitaries trooped towards the back of the House of God where Port and Wine, Cheese and Biscuits were served in The Nave (or was it the apse) for the exhausted Judges and their crones....a few of us tourists, locals and, it has to be said, very friendly constables were able to look down on the wigs and chains as they had their post prayer repast......................It truly was a great experience, I'd not have missed it for the world. As Hamish Henderson (and Luke Kelly) used to sing......" Such a parcel of rogues in this nation"
On the road now and heading for South Wales.
PS Greetings to Mero in Brisbane – "any chance of the start?"
The Jimmy Faulkner Gig, Olympia Theatre, Dublin. Mon Sept 22nd, 2008
I first met Jimmy Faulkner in 1974. Nicky Ryan introduced us. In early Planxty years Nicky and I often sat up late listening to songs and talking about music and sound... he often talked about Jimmy as a guitar player who had great empathy with songs and singers. We met up and struck it off straight away. Over the following 2 decades I played on and off with Jimmy on many different projects. He was a wonderful friend and a great player. We recorded many songs together between 1975 and 1997. Our first recording was Nancy Spain in the old Eamon Andrews studio in Harcourt Street where Jimmy laid down a riff that still sparkles. "Whatever Tickles Your Fancy" was the first album we did and subsequently he played on the 1978 album "Christy Moore" (aka The Kunte Kinte album), "The Iron behind The Velvet", "Live In Dublin" (1978 with Donal Lunny and recorded by Nicky Ryan). He Played on The Anti-Nuclear album of 1979 and the last recording we did together was "King Puck" in 1996 (all dates are approx.). There were other recordings along the way.
There was a great bootleg from Stuttgart in 1977 which has disappeared. It contained a long and wonderful version of Pontchartrain. With a Martin acoustic, a Fender Strat and a great song we played on and on (the audience were just as stoned as we) .... Then there was a London Palladium gig in the 90's some of which is on the Box Set. Earlier on he played on "Welcome to The Cabaret"which ended up, I think, on "Smoke and Strong Whiskey".
On a trip to Germany we shared a bill with a band called, if memory serves me, The Mike Reinhardt Septet and thus began Jimmys love of Gypsy Music. Along the way I heard him with Red Peters, The Floating Dublin Blues Band, Martin O'Connor, Finbar Furey, Ronnie Drew, Freddie White, Barry Moore, Mick Hanly, Eleanor Shanley, Hotfoot to name but a few. However most of all I remember those days in the 70's when Himself and myself toured Ireland with Declan McNelis, Kevin Burke and, occasionally, Robbie Brennan. The Merriman In Scariff, The Baggott Inn and once in Dalymount Park where we played between Status Quo and Judas Priest. No one heard us but we had a memorable time in the Green Room before retiring to The Meeting Place for a few quiet Basins with the Spillane brothers.
Jimmy passed on a few months back. His funeral was a great gathering come to mourn their dear friend and to offer sympathy to Pauline, Jemel, Catherine and to all Jimmy's family including his Father Christy who passed recently just short of his 100th birthday (he was a banjo player). Next day I got a call from Terry O'Neill saying "lets get together and honour Jimmys life with a celebration of music". Terry, Nicky Ryan and Pat Farrell were the steering committee (Terry
being the main man who just made it all happen). Soon as the word went out all troops rallied.
(I dont have the definitive list and I'm writing this from memory).Nollaig Bridgeman, Tommy Moore, Pat Farrell, Pete Cummins, Myself and Declan Sinnott, Honor Heffernan, Anto Drennan, Jack Lynch, Smiley Bolger, Eamonn McCann, Robbie Overson, Don Baker, Mick Hanly, Ronan Dooney, Garry O'Briain, Mairtin O'Connor, Bree Harris, Paul Fairclough, Mary Stokes, Mick Pyro, Carl Geraghty, Philip Donnelly, Gary Moore (travelled from London), Ed Deane, Frankie Lane, Paul Brady, Eamon Murray, Fran Breen (came from Nashville), Fran Byrne, Brush Shiels, Pat Collins with Darzen Derek,
Oleg Ponomarev of The Cafe Orchestra, Richie Buckley, Carl Geraghty, Colm Querney, Chris Meehan, Martin Curry, Brian Downey, Bill Bergin, Paul Moore, Pete Rees, Gerry Hendricks, Nigel Mooney, and ... The Stage Crew included Colm Flynn, Pat Maguire and his team, Norman Verso, John Chisholm, John Meade, Mick Devine, Noel McHale and Sophie Flynn ... MCD played their part too and Denis Desmond honoured Jimmy's memory ... Every dressing room was full of old combos reforming and new outfits rehearsing. Down along the corridoor I could hear Don Baker warming his Hohners, Patrick Collins saddling the ponies, There were blues and ballads, speedsters and laid back ladies all together under Jimmy's spell ... It kicked off at 8.10pm when Nollaig Bridgeman sang "I Will" and ended four hours later with an ensemble rendition of "Knockin on Heavens Door"
This was a very special night for all of us. We re-united with old friends that are seldom seen. The Love in the Room for Jimmy was the glue that held it all together. We strove, with great difficulty, to leave our egos at the stage door. There was no bullshit backstage. Everyone pulled together. Terry O'Neill captained the ship to shore. Declan Sinnott remarked "if Jimmy was here tonight
he would be out on stage playing with everyone".
He was and He did.
That 1977 night in Stuttgart, halfway through the set, I said to Jimmy "What'll we do next?" ... He thought for a second and gave me the Jimmy Faulkner look ...
"Let's split man, let's head back to Dolphin's Barn"...
The Summer it is past and the Autumn’s come at last - 1st September 08
Fierce soft weather in all parts. Anyone else noticed the skin growing between the toes and fins between the shoulder blades? It was a grand quiet, but soft time. There were fierce storms too and our bats were blown off course one windy August night and have not been seen since. One of them did appear in Bantry House during Iarla O Lionaird's wonderful set with Steve Cooney and Padraic Cassidy when this trio appeared at the Bantry "Masters of the Tradition" Festival. This annual event has been the highlight of Summer for many these past five years. This year, along with the aformentioned, we heard Martin Hayes, Denis Cahill, Frankie Gavin, David Power to mention but four of those who blasted out the music over five memorable nights. Michael O Suilleabhain gave a stunning recital of seven new pieces which were recorded for what may be a live album. A Grand Piano never sounded like this in The Earl of Bantry's day.
We also went over the mountain to Gougane Barra where we attended a performance of "The Tailor and Ansty" in a marquee behind the Gougane Barra Hotel. This has been happening for the past three years and I highly recommend it for next year. The players were Ronan Wilmot and Nuala Hayes who made a wonderful job of this great play. We saw the first production in The Peacock over 30 years ago when the Tailor was played by Eamon Kelly. For those of you unfamiliar with this play it was adapted from the book "The Tailor and Ansty" by Eric Cross (Mercier Press).
Declan and I finished last season in The Marquee in Cork on June 28th. We have now played it every year since its inception and this year was a great end of season gig. We started back last Friday in The Premier Ballroom in Thurles where a great crowd gathered and neither Waterford nor Hurling was mentioned. Fr Joe has done a great job in reviving the fortunes of the old hall. We had listeners in From USA, Germany, Liverpool and Tralee. Ian Prowse, author of "Does this train stop on Merseyside" came by boat and we sang his song in celebration. The Galtee Mountain Boy got an outing and John of Dreams awoke for a rare appearance.
We have been laying down a few tracks too, Declan is currently hatching a few riffs and we will return to it in September. I have thirteen vocal tracks down and we are looking forward to dolling it all up, kicking it about, hiring in a choir of angels for some BVs........it is scheduled for release in March 2009 unless it gets off earlier for good behaviour.
My nephew Conor Byrne has produced a series of programmes for TG4 called Faoi Lan Cheoil. They are scheduled for viewing in October and, whilst admitting to extreme bias, I do believe this will be a very interesting series and I am happy to recommend it.
Apart from the gigs currently in the gig section there will be further nights of song this year in Silverbridge, Newcastle, Belfast, Dungannon and Vicar St. Dublin. All these dates will be announced as soon as possible. Next year we have pencilled in Galway, Lisdoonvarna, Kilkenny, Dreamland, Kerry, Ryston, Cavan, Donegal, Ardee, Trim and Dingle. Then back over the sea to England in May for 6 concerts, details as soon as etc…….
Declan is still rehearsing a project and has done a few gigs. (Some 4711ers attended).
There will be a live Radio Chat with Mick O'Brien on Sin E 103.2 Dublin City FM – www.dublincityfm.ie - Tuesday 30th Sept 2008 9pm Irish time.
Heading to Stradbally now to plug into the Electric Picnic, hoping to hear Jinx Lennon.
PS Just back in from The Electric Picnic. In forty years of gigging I have never experienced anything quite like it and that includes Glastonbury, Feile, London Fleadh, NewYork Fleadh....it was mad, wild, loud, lusty, soulful, delerious and wonderful....all credit to John Reynolds and his team for pulling it all together - this festival is, literally, in a field of its own. We had prepared a set of old and new, planned to do a gentle set maybe rising it towards the end. Three minutes in and that set was out the window. These kids wanted to sing and dance, scream and shout and I decided to join in with them. Decky reckons he was in The Beatles for an hour last night - we could not hear a thing! Grace Jones snaffled all the pink M&Ms, Johnny Rotten's a ride, Kila were leppin, Jinx was in the groove (catch him), I blew a fuse and Decky popped his bulbs, Hey John Reynolds....we're available next September....I think our set was...
Yellow Furze Woman
Motherland
North and South
Ride On
Missing You (for Ronnie Drew)
McIlhatton
Biko Drum
Black is The Colour
Quinte Brigada
Ordinary Man
After The Deluge
Lisdoonvarna............then it was straight to the Oxygen Tent after which we were debriefed and........................(to be contd on page 2009!)
Whallup.......
 
26/08/08
New Chat coming soon...
After The Waterfront Theatre, Belfast.
Tonight was the 27th anniversary of the death of Bobby Sands.His son was in the audience as were many of his comrades. The city looked beautiful in the summer sun as 10,000 ran in The Belfast Marathon. It was the sort of day he dreamt of... Other news. The proposed Leeds dates have not materialized - maybe next year. As well as the gigs currently showing on the gig page for 2008 we will shortly be announcing dates in Thurles, Armagh, Derry, Mullingar, Dungannon and Newbridge with a few more to add before closing the book on 2008. Doing bits and pieces of recording and while I still have nothing concrete to report I feel there may be an album in the air. Getting ready for Holland and Scotland at the end of which lies Barrowland. Hope ye'll be singing your heads off that night. We have added a second night in The Tripod Dublin on June 20th with special guests Jinx Lennon, Miss Paula Flynn and Jackeen Culchie. Talk of a short German tour next year and perhaps a return to Paris. London is under discussion but with Ken gone and the GLC but a distant memory we can only hope that Boris will be as welcoming. Going to hear Leonard next month and hope to catch Neil Young and Iron Horse at The Marquee by the Lee. Then theres Tom Waits, Brendan Bowyer, Small Town Talk, Damien Dempsey, Jinx Lennon and Miss Paula Flynn, Wicklow in The Leinster C.Ship. Radiohead, Martin Hayes,....the feckin' ears will be worn off of us! Highly recommend Exhibition "Hard Rain Gonna Fall" at Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin...check for details.... The Busby Babes honoured those who've gone before. (4711ers.org are planning a gathering (a gaggling) for likeminded eccentrics early next year, early April I think, you'd need to check them out if you are so inclined but don't say that you read it here for they are touchy, touched and touching.....it won't be Limerick or Koln, (as far as one can tell)…..
Whallup...........
April 7th 2008 Whelan's Dublin
Last played here twice before with Jim Page and Donal Lunny. Played another night with Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny. Been to many gigs here over the years and nearly always enjoyed myself. Amongst many gigs I remember Bert Jansch and Jacqui Mc Shee, Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy, The Handsomes, John Prine, all at Whelan's over the years. It has long been a mainstay of roots music and has just undergone an overhaul. It now has two venues and dressing rooms and the new policy seems to be music comes first. Good luck to Leagues O'Toole and Derek Nally and all concerned. Dublin needs this venue.
Our set was:
1.Yellow Furze Woman
2. Magic nights in The Lobby Bar
3. Companeros
4. Allende
5. McIlhatton
6. CoCo Moon
7. Go Move Shift
8. Beeswing
9. Cry Like A Man
10. Stitch in Time
11. Little Musgrave
12. Lawless
13. Hiroshima Nagasaki Russian Roulette
14. Pity The Poor Immigrant
15. Shovel
16. Aisling
17. Two Conneeleys
18. Smoke and strong Whiskey
19. Anne Lovett
20. Hattie Carroll
21 Biko Drum
22. Delerium Tremens
23. Cliffs of Dooneen
24. No Time for Love
25. Ride On.
Next up was two nights in the INEC Theatre in Killarney. I have always loved this town. It was rain swept, windy and soggy but once the lights went down we all forgot about the weather for two hours. Took a trip down The Black Valley, then sat in the car park of Kate Kearneys and watched the capers and antics as the world passed by. Washed the feet at Torc, ran from the midgies up Mangerton - no sign of Bill Cullen who may be selling apples on the moon.
Then it was a midnight flit on up past Ladies View and over the top on down into Kenmare. Passed through there at midnight Saturday and it was Puck Fair. Back up the mountains and through the tunnels over the top for a first glimpse of Bantry Bay with the lights of Whiddy Island guiding me down towards Glengariff.
We played two nights in Dzogchen Beara, the Buddhist Centre located outside Castletownbere high above The Atlantic Ocean. These were fundraisers for the hospice being built, under the spiritual guidance of Sogyal Rinpoche, by the community who live and work in this very special place. We performed there with no PA which was challenging at first. Forty years of singing through microphones changes a singer's technique. It took a while to adjust and to project out to the back of the room. Matt from the Centre suggested that if I sang the songs The Dalai Lama would take care of the rest. We had a most memorable visit to this Holy place.
The moon was high was we took our leave to head across Bantry Bay towards the Sheep's Head. We set up camp high above Ahakista in anticipation of our next gig in St.James's Church just outside Durrus. The lovely chapel was built in 1745 and we had a grand night there with the kind permission of Rev.Paul Willoughby who was delighted to welcome the nearby parishioners of Ahakista as Declan and myself gave it our best shot (and…. there were cushions on the pews).
Finally on to Belfast where I pen these words. We returned here yesterday. It was a beautiful day. Sun shone down as The Belfast City Marathon ran all around the place. It was a happy and bright town yesterday as we made our way to The Waterfront Theatre. It was the 27th Anniversary of Bobby Sands passing. His son was at last night's concert.
We played;
After The Deluge
Natives
Back Home in Derry
The Time has Come
McIllhatton (for Gerard Sands)
Missing You
Quiet Desperation
Merseyside
Quinte Brigada
Contender
Metropolitan Avenue
Biko Drum
On The Bridge
Brown Eyes
Sacco and Vanzetti
I Will
Shovel
Minds Locked shut
Beeswing
As I Roved Out
Only our Rivers run free
Ordinary man
Stitch in Time
Joxer
Chicago
Black is the Colour
Lisdoonvarna
Cliffs of Dooneen
Ride On............................a quiet half hour with friends in The Green Room and we were ready for the scratcher......
After three more gigs here in Belfast we will move on to Holland and Scotland. We will do a one off gig in The Tripod, Harcourt St. Dublin in mid June - see gig page. I will sing with three of my favourite singers when Declan and I will be joined by Damien Dempsey, Jinx Lennon and Paula Flynn. We will be singin' the heads off one another.
Talk soon.........
6th May 2008
Ballinasloe Co Galway 12 March '08
Lately we tend to arrive the day before a gig that we may re-connect, reconvene, rehearse - get the feel of the vibe, the rumble of the buzz of a town. Declan and I live at different ends of the Island so we seldom get to play between gigs. We need this night-before to lay the foundation.... Last played here in late 80s. Remember a gig here in the late 70s in a pub called The Log Cabin. I was given the use of the parlour room above the premises to prepare myself for the gig. There was an ancient grandfather clock thwacking away. I was working on Johnny Duhan's song "El Salvador" and ever since I have always associated this song with the rhythm of that old clock.
There is conflicting news on the shop. My sister, Anne Rynne, has been "minding" the shop since its inception. She has now moved on to fresh challenges and we have decided to close down that end of the site. However we have also decided to crossover to a digital shop. It is our hope and intention to make the work available for downloads. Over the next period we will be setting up systems. It is my wish to make the entire back catalogue available, then perhaps to follow on with other miscellaneous recordings from the archives. I would like to thank Anne for her input and attention to detail these past years. Many of you have commented favourably upon the service that she dispensed so efficiently and all the good juju she created.....Thanks Sis... Grá Mór....
There is a discussion site at 4711ers.org. I have been visiting it of late and it may be of interest to some of you. A right shower of headbangers congregate there and chaw the fat. They seem like a friendly bunch, weird and wired betimes but thats why I like them. Join in and get the numbers up.
The recording news is scant. Little to report - lots of rehearsals and a modicum of progress.
TG4 (our Irish Language television station) will transmit a film on St.Patrick's night at 10.15pm. It has been gleaned and woven from the 2006 DVD of The Point, Dublin and also contains some new footage. Maurice Linnane, who directed the original, has re-edited the various strands and come up with a grand bit of work.....Hope ye like it.
Some gig news and some recently confirmed dates. We have added Tilburg at the end of May after The Carré in Amsterdam. Scotland is shaping up well at the beginning of June. We are playing the Tripod, Dublin in Mid-June. It will be a stand up gig with some guests singers I love to hear and always wanted to sing with....The Marquee in Cork on June 28th.....The Electric Picnic, Stradbally, Co.Laois on August 28th...Limerick Concert Hall on Sept 26,27.........Possibly Leeds in October but cannot confirm yet, Liverpool Oct 18,19...Barry,Wales Oct 21 and Aberystwyth Oct 22nd.....We are planning some Ulster gigs in November one of which will be for PIPS......PIPS are a suicide counselling organisation and this concert will be a profile and fundraising event and will take place in The Opera House Belfast, details to follow shortly.....We plan to return to London next Spring and play close to the river at low tide...
Just back up after the Ballinasloe breakfast and spotted a few early 4711ers arriving...Primula was making his way through a Full Irish...
Its time to change the strings.......
March 6th 2008
Jimmy Faulkner has passed away. I first met him in 1974. I had just left Planxty and Nicky Ryan suggested I hook up with Jimmy-he felt that we could play some tunes together. From the very start it worked. I sang songs and Jimmy sat in and played sublimely.In both life and music he was a sensitive and compassionate man.He had a great laugh and loved the bit of banter. Between 1974 and 2002 we played in many line ups and on numerous stages.I have many musical memories, a long solo he played in Stuttgart on "Lakes of Pontchartrain"--- his bottle neck playing on "Galtee Mountain Boy"--- then when we played with Declan McNelis, Kevin Burke and Robbie Brennan and we all had a narrow escape when the van crashed on the way home from Scariff in 1976 -- The National, Kilburn where the crowd were wild and rauceous but Jimmy and me we won them over -- one night in The London Palladium when Jimmy was just playing like never before,his notes soared and his guitar and himself were one.
Jimmy played with so many, Red Peters Floating Dublin Blues Band, Finbar Fury, Mick Hanly, Mary Coughlan, Ronnie Drew, Louis Stewart, Don Baker, Martin O'Connor, Freddie White, Jimmy McCarthy, Jim Page,... just a few names that spring to mind in a moments reflection..there were 100s more besides.... He hailed originally from South Circular Road where he grew up near Dolphins Barn. Jimmy was loved and will be missed by many but most of all by his loving wife Pauline, their son Jamel, their daughter Catherine, his Father and Sisters, extended family and friends
It was a privilege in my life to have known and played with such a beautiful man.
January 24th 2008
Bertigrad, Bognia
Come all you loyal listeners and here we go again. Another page turned upon this wonderful journey. The annual hometown soiree has come and gone. 8 nights in Black Lagoon where listeners came to hear the covers and originals, old and new, trad and folk, whatever your having yourself and make mine a double. It finished last Thursday on a high for us. From start to final encore the songs just flowed like porter from a barrel as we sailed away. We had young wans dolled up to the nines at their first gig, lipper and cleavage to bate the band, dashing young blades killed trying to look at the stage, wise old sages who'd heard it all before and drifters in from Bray to check on the progress of the next box set. Folkies from the 4 corners gathered in the name of song some of whom would listen to anything we chose to sing whilst others came only to hear the one they came to hear. Up came a note to me announcing that in our midst was one ANNE KELLY who had come down from the Wicklow Mountains and travelled into Vicar Street to celebrate her 96th birthday with a blast of old songs. I do not know the Lady nor did we meet but her presence in the room brought a grand air of celebration to the proceedings. We rendered "Ride On" to her and the congregation sang along with joyful devotion if somewhat out of tune towards the front (the panting young blades again).
Knackered I was after it all. It's a young mans game, all this cavorting and throwing shapes and grimacing and trying to get it all to sound right. But come the night when it all sounds right, then it makes a bit of sense.
Another surprise recording last week. U2 pulled a song together and called in myself, Damien Dempsey and Shane to sing the verses alongside Bono. "Heres to you Ronnie Drew" was written and recorded to express to Ronnie the great well of love that exists for him on The Island as he struggles on with illness. He is delighted with the song and we all hope there will be healing balm within. Fair play to Bono and Edge and Simon Carmody and John Reynolds who produced and all the lads and lassies who thronged in to express their love for Ronser. The Dubliners, Kila, Sinéad, Paul Brady were all there and many more besides.
For 40 years there was always confusion about the 2 Joe Dolans. It lasted right to the end when they passed away within a fortnight of each other. Mullingar Joe Dolan was a household name and the country mourned him. "Our" Joe Dolan was an entirely different kettle of conundrums. He played in the original Sweeney's Men with Johnny Moynihan and Andy Irvine. I never got to hear this line up for Joe had departed before the first album was recorded. I got to know him later on. We sang and drank and roared and laughed. I once recorded two of his songs, The Foxy Devil and The Trip to Jerusalem. He painted too and I once opened an exhibition of his paintings in Longford town and there was long night after. We had lost contact this past 20 years but I'll not forget "our"Joe. He was a quare one fol de dee get outa dat. (If anyone knows of any original Sweeney's recordings I'd love to hear them.)
Another comrade bit the dust when Pa Tunney passed away a few weeks back. Pa played a big part in the Anti-Nuclear Festivals at Carnsore Point 30 years ago. He was there from the beginning lending his enthusiasm and expertise towards getting the sites together. He was part of the core collective that did the real hard work whilst others of us spouted the polemic or sang and twanged their banjos! (I won't say which division I was in). A great lover and listener of music, Pa and I worked together for a time in the 70s when the pair of us did some hard travellin' in the old Peugeot 404 diesel (she never saw as much as a drop of the red). He has left his loving family and gone to a quieter corner where, come the hour, they will all embrace again.
All sorts of palavar planned for this year. Lots of low key stuff and maybe even a bit of collaboration. Have commenced and jettisoned 2 recording bouts recently. Like Scallywag says-what sounds great at 4 in the morning can be soured by the light of day. Not to worry. Theres too many albums comin' out these days. Some get the guitar on Monday and have the first cd out by Wednesday evening. Would yiz not give it a year or two.....Then again there is not as much time left these days and my own first effort was no great shakes.
A request for "Veronica" brought the song back and we played it twice recently. After a 4 year gap it sounds to have gained different perspective. A few recent calls for "Farmer Michael Hayes" has me wrestling with the old blackguard once again. We looked at it during the Planxty rehearsals but were unable to carry it through to the cut. Don't be surprised if he leps out from behind some bush one of these nights. Musgrave is in and out these days. He needs rare air in which to breathe. A call too for "Me and The Rose" has me thinking. May be worth a birl.
Catch Jinx Lennon if you can. He plays Sugar Club Dublin on Thursday February 7th with his sidekick, the wonderful Paula Flynn. Check out his album "Know your Station Gouger Nation!!!" ...... "City of Styrofoam cups" is worth a listen. Support on the night is Capt Moonlight (hurler extraordinaire). Check Jinx's website for further details. If you like your ballads sweet and sugar-coated this gig may not be for you.
Happy listening in '08. By all means down load to your hearts content, ipod your head to infinity, you got the right to megabyte but at the end of the day we gotta KEEP IT LIVE. Lets get off our arses and flock to the kips where the sweet music is being played. Have you got your LedZepp TKTS for Whelans tkts yet? Finbarr tells me there are still a few left, and remember- this is Listen to Luka week....
Ride On....
7th December 2007
Back from the UK we recommenced home gigs with 2 nights in Tullamore. Good to be back there after a 4 year absence. Always been a town for gigs going way back to The Harriers and subsequently The Bridge. It takes a while to get back on track after a stint abroad. Across the water we've been playing large Concert Halls and modern Theatres. The Sage on Tyneside and The Bridgewater in Manchester are as good as any venues in the world and it is a privilege to play them. However it is always gratifying to get back to the local gigs on the home front. Whilst some of the halls might not have state-of-the-art facilities they more then make up for it with atmosphere and enthusiasm. Something I learned many years ago is that every venue, great or small, is somebody's Carnegie Hall.
Quite a few old songs have appeared back in the set. Some have been rested for many's the year and have gained a fresh sparkle when taken out and polished up. Van Diemens Land, Dalesmans Litany, Welcome Cabaret, John of Dreams. Aisling, Faithful Departed, Well Below The Valley and Sweet Thames have all got a run out of late and a few others are jostling for position in the set. I look back sometimes and reflect upon the sheer drudgery of being nailed to an identical set night after night. I can recall times just having the bare set. An encore, if forthcoming, would necessitate repeating a number. This might not bother some but I cherish the freedom Declan and I currently enjoy, being able to ramble off in any direction that takes our fancy. Occasionally it can cause confusion and I have found myself, at times, at the end of some ancient verse with no idea of what comes next. It feels like teetering at the edge of a cliff, usually I am saved by audient prompt or Declan will lepp in with a fill of notes. It seldom falls totally asunder but even then, better that we keep it real, flaws and warts and all. We were not cut out for the fake tan, bleached teeth dance to the DAT routine
We have started on an album. Just putting in the foundations at the moment, no release date yet, it will take as long as it takes.
Next year is shaping up. So far the following gigs are in place:
January 2, 3, 5, 6, 15, 16 Vicar St. Dublin
February 22, 23 Westport, Co.Mayo
March 13, 14 Ballinasloe, Co. Galway
March 19, 20 Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford
April 11, 12 Killarney, Co. Kerry.
May 5, 6, 19, 20 Belfast, Co Antrim.
May 28, 29 Carré, Amsterdam
June 1 Edinburgh
June 2 Glasgow
June 4 Aberdeen
June 5 Inverness
June 7 Barrowland
October 18, 19 Liverpool
These are confirmed dates for 2008. (Further details in gig section of home page)
We also hope to play Mullingar, Cork, London, Laois and Dublin in the latter part of the year.
That's it for now,
Sing a song for Christmas
13th November 2007
Oct 28th
After 4 days in Londing we are about to strike camp and roll on down to Brighton (Hove actually) where we hope to rattle the cobwebs in The Old Dome and take in a few draughts of sea air. Great few days in the Capitol. Got down to Putney yesterday for a few hours with Oliver Cromwell and a fine rendition of Pilgrims Progress in St. Mary's Church at Putney Bridge. Met Mr. Tony Rohr (who got all the laughs) and his bevy of beautiful daughters. Loitered around The Tate (ancient), considered Stamford Bridge but resisted.
Nov 4th
Back home recuperating, recharging the voice box. Putting up a couple of reviews and a pair of set lists. We had a good trip so far, none of the gigs were total pearls. The 2nd London gig was slightly difficult but most enjoyable. They are beginning to morph into a single entity but I still recall bits and pieces clearly. The josh in Cardiff was more vindaloo then josh as was Heath on the security gate, as unwelcoming a gent as we have ever encountered. The poor lad was having a Guantanamo day. Brighton was lovely and meeting Bethan was a highlight of the tour. She gave me a helping hand with Joxer. The Pembroke crossing was a pleasant change. Caught 4 hours kip before Rosslare and then slept all the way home missing the new Gorey bypass.
Nov 12th
Half time in the UK tour is whizzing past, went to West Clare for 2 days to meet my recording counsellor who had some stern words to say to me as he steered me onto to a course of action with regard to the nature and direction of the next album. I have been dithering around. Twice I've cancelled recording time as my confidence waned .It was different before, soon as I'd get 12 songs I'd make an album......its all so touchy feely now, will it hang together ,agh me bollo, record the hoorin thing and get on with your life,(but "will Larry play it", "I'm not hearing the hook")
Gigs confirmed in Westport, Ballinasloe and Enniscorthy, details are on the gig page. Belfast is almost sorted out and we will be announced in the next week. Preparing now for the second sector of mammoth UK tour.
Talk soon
24th October 2007
Rolled into Bristol Mon evening giving us 24 hours to acclimatise before stepping onto The Colston Hall stage. It's always a good town for re-connection. The River walks. The boats, buskers, autumn leaves, skateboarders, lurchers and the Bristol brogue all make it a soft landing. Met a young busker from Oz whose only instrument was a cardboard box which he rhythmed with a pair of weathered twigs. He was homesick, lost and forlorn but his rhythm was as beautiful as his cup was empty. His voice and music stayed with me all day. He will never know it but I played the gig for him last night and I hope he manages to get back to his home place someday.
It's a grand venue, a happening place with a never-ending array of acts coming and going and leaving their echoes behind. The 2 nights preceding were KT Tunstall and Richard Thompson and it seems to run 7nights a week full on. Yet for our stay it was our space and the staff and crew showed respect and co-operation to every aspect of our production, full marks all round. On the wall of the dressing room it read;
1952 ………. Danny Kay
1962 ………. Cliff Richard & the Shadows
1969 ………. Led Zeppelin
1975 ………. Black Sabbath
1987 ………. Guns 'N Roses
2003 ………. Wynton Marsalis
I think we can assume that The Ghost of Colston Hall has seen it all!
Becoming aware lately that the number of gigs left to do is rapidly diminishing. It could be 1 or 10 or 100 but it probably won't be a 1000! Never had these thoughts before. It's not a negative feeling but rather a determination to make the best of it while it lasts. Heading out to centre stage last night with Declan was just a feel- good situation. I never aspired to any of this. Major venues, road crew, agents promoters, dressing rooms, hotels and then get paid as well..........40 years ago I travelled around, just me and my old Yamaha FG180 and if I got a good kip and enough to get me on to the next folk club I was made up.
I'm here in Birmingham today, chilling out and preparing for a show in The Symphony Hall, the city's premier venue. When I first came here was 1967 it was to play in Michael Hipkiss's folk club "The Skillet Pot" which ran every Sunday night in a pub called "The Old Contemptible". In this town I met and played with Ian and Lorna Campbell,(stayed with Dave and Winnie), John Swift, Tommy Dempsey, The Munstermen, Brian Patten, Bob Cooney to name but a few. Nor is tonight's gig any different, neither more nor less important, just another night on this grand tour, sharing the songs with those who, like myself, take something from them.
That's it for today, Let the Music keep your spirits high says Jackson
Christy.
13th September 2007
I saw Brian Wilson singing Good Vibrations last night and it reminded me of my time working at the EMI pressing plant in Hayes, Middlesex one summer 40 years ago. It was a hot, sweaty (but union) job where the hours were as long as you could manage, and the wages were very good if you were pressing well. Our line pressed nothing else for about 6 weeks around the clock 7 days a week.
Had a great night in The White House, Kilcrohane, Sheepshead last Sat. The gig was Jeff Martin's and Zoë played support. I played half a dozen songs with Jeff and Wayne Sheehy whom I last met in The Andersonstown Leisure Centre 4 years ago when I gigged with Damien Dempsey.
Visited Dzogchen Beara Buddhist Centre on The Beara Peninsula. They are building a Hospice there and I hope to play a gig to support this very special project. Also went out to Allihies and walked through the trees and up around the old copper mines.
Visited the Horse fair in Bantry last Sunday and sat on the wall observing the comings and goings. Nothing much has changed since the Fair of Spancillhill. This was a quiet Fair when compared to Puck or Ballinasloe but for the casual observer it was a treat.
Did a grand few gigs over the summer. Played with Steve Cooney at Bantry House and we were joined by Martin Hayes and Denis Cahill. Got to hear some wonderful and exciting music too. I recommend The Masters of Tradition Festival which takes place in Bantry every August but only to those of you who enjoy intense listening with no distractions. That's all that is on offer, pure music played with focus and passion.
Played a concert with Mark Edwards who spoke about his book of photographs based on Dylan's Hard Rain. It was part of West Cork Sustainability Festival which was in its 2nd year.
Tom Munnelly passed recently. He devoted his life to the collection of songs and folklore. His legacy enriches our heritage. I first met Tom and Annette in the mid 60's and always enjoyed their company. He collected over 20,000 songs many of which would have been lost forever without his intervention. Without Tom I would not have had access to the songs of John Reilly. There will be some great sessions when himself and Frank Harte meet in The Cosy Snug.
Various plans taking shape, more news soon,
Had 2 good nights in De Barras, Clonakilty, too.
Whallup...
Link to the Masters of Tradition site
15th August, 2007
Greetings from The Butt End of Bognia. I will come back on line in due course. In the meantime I send you all best wishes. Chase your dreams, only then might then they come through
7th July 2007
Friends, Listeners and Competitioners
Before even contemplating a new chat I thought it best to have a final word about the Desert Island Disc Debate/Debacle/Debunk/DeBarra. In my innocence, in a moment of madness I threw out the idea for sport and didn't we have some...here is my end of the story and I am sticking to it...
Felicity Lott........ Ave Maria (by whoever)
Myself ............... Stitch in Time
Paul Anka...........Lonely Boy
Clancys..............Brennan on the Moor
Luke Kelly...........Joe Hill
Ewan Mccoll.......Joy of Living
Planxty...............Táimse im Codladh
John Reilly...........Raggle
Since boyhood I have known 3 Ave Marias. I have never known which was which and wrongly assumed it was Mozart's. (Before this debate takes off again - I accept the possibility that Mozart had no Ave Maria, nor do I give a flying fiddlers).
I am happy to have awarded the Prize to John from Liverpool. However, as Chris D insists that Eileen in Boston is the actual winner I will see to it that, "in fairness", she gets a (slightly) better prize. That is that, (Mail me Eileen and we can get things rolling). Chris D. has been very diligent that the right thing be done and I applaud his efforts to keep the boat on course.
In retro I should have taken 10 seconds to think it out but that's not my style. Often I have to "open mouth, change foot". It is unlikely that I will change at this stage. Despite all the ructions, multi-entries, skin and hair, GBH, slander, libel, jealousy, guilt, guile, (NOT YOU!) it was great crack and we must do it again. I have been on to Kirsty Young asking may I return next year and we'll all go to a different Island.
The (super) prize recipients must sign a confidentiality clause as to the nature of their windfall. The last thing we need is an outbreak of petulance, jealousy or heartbreak.
Lets get back to normal now....A chat will follow shortly. (After the Marquee in Cork where I am sandwiched between Elton John and Duran Duran with Antony and The Johnsons bringing up the rear. Shame we're not all on the same night. Oh The Crack would be 90 on The Isle of Man. I last shared a bill with Elton back in '69. The Krumlin Festival was one of the greatest disasters in the history of Music Festivals. Anyone remember it?)
Ora Pro Nobis.......
June 2nd 2007
Royal Spa Hotel Lisdoonvarna Co Clare
Back once again in the West Clare village that has been a touchstone of my singing life since I first arrived here in 1965. Back then I was a junior bank clerk manning the monthly sub-office for The National Bank. The following year I got a real job and I've never worn a suit, collar nor tie since.
My first visit to The Royal Spa Hotel was with Moving Hearts back in 1981. Paddy Doherty had just taken it over and booked us to play in "The Hall". It was a wild night. Moving Hearts had the energy of a 747 taking off for Boston as we thundered on the stage. I do believe we blew some slates off the old place that night, I definitely saw stars from my sleeping bag. Since those heady days Paddy, with his sister Anne and the family have nurtured the Hotel back to what it is today. The small number of rooms cosy, the food is excellent and the staff could not be more welcoming. Then there is "The Hall". It's a perfect venue for an intimate gig. Since that first night in 1981 I have played The Hall frequently. It has been the ideal nursery for many projects. New ideas have been rehearsed there and the audience has always been prepared to listen. Planxty regrouped there as did many other outfits over the years. Rehearsals take place in The De Valera Room where "The Long Fellow" would dine when visiting West Clare at election time. (Check out The Lisdoonvarna Cafe...top scran).
Last week we rolled into town again to rehearse with Martin Leahy and James O'Sullivan,The Cork Rhythm Section. We played, ate and played some more for 3 days and then, after the dinner, we played a couple of shows and had ourselves a right good time. Friday morning I was slipping across the road for a newspaper when I found myself surrounded by a gaggle of 4711'ers who gave me the low down on the line up. It was a lovely moment and we swapped tales and requests. I met people whom I had only known as names on this site. (Are there any svelte 4711rs?) Really enjoyed playing with Martin and James. I had not performed with Bass and Drums since 1983. Hopefully we'll get to play again before too long.
The proposed visit to Barrowland, Glasgow in the Autumn has been cancelled. We will come back to the old venue as soon as possible. Various difficulties arose with scheduling and it became apparent that it would be best left until another time.
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