Pps
We spoke , over that cuppa, about the tiny venue in Camden called Green Note and that i had seen Rob Corcoran play there. Lo and behold an email from the venue over night tells me he is ringing the bell there on 18 january!
Dear Christy, i met Dagrab in Madchester ( predictably damp) for a reasonably priced cuppa today.
We had a quick wander round the contents of an old record shop where he found ( and i bought) a 12″ of Shane MacGowan ‘irish ways’ with the much missed Philip Chevron.
I love a record shop. In Hawick’s Oxfam on saturday i bought a couple of LPs including Hank Williams Junior and on Friday in Whitley Bay a couple including the Fureys ‘the first leaves of autumn’ LP.
The better half will be packing my bags if i bring back many more…
Regards
Rory
Ps if she does pack my bags i hope she is careful not to scratch the vinyl as she puts them into the suitcase next to the rugby boots and the racing binoculars.
Great to read the buzz from Vicar Street. I’ve never had the pleasure of visiting the venue – what size audience is 50% of capacity?
Always enjoy your recall of 60s times…There was also a lovely ‘Old House at Home’ in Withington – not a music venue, but a welcome place. A home from home for many of us as well!
Great to see your set list. It had changed quite a bit a few years later, not surprisingly… would the mid 60s list include songs you’d been featuring at sessions in Ireland, or had you worked on songs for the English folk clubs? Irish songs were certainly popular by the early 70s, when I first attended folk clubs. Your authenticity and lovely phrasing set you apart for many of us…’many’ being c 70 people, packed into the back room of ‘The Golden Lion’! Such great times…
Keep on keepin’ on
Dave
Christy's reply
did you ever encounter Des English or Frank Duffy?..both ran Folk Clubs in Manchester
just a few words to say thanks very much for another wonderful night of song last night.From the minute the ball was in,it was non stop classic after classic.It was a pleasure to be seated where i was for a second night.Let the musuc keep our spirits high Christy.
Christy's reply
Reading your post I’m reminded of my first “proper” gig in 1966..I was living in Manchester..a tiny bedsit nr Cheetham Hill…got the Bus out to Blakeley that Sunday night..just me and my wee Spainish Guitar…two twenty minute sets in that great Folk Club run by Mike & Patricia Harding ..I sang;
Rocky Road to Dublin
Spainish Lady
Blackwater side
Carnloch Bay
Calton Weaver
Enniskillen Dragoon
Mary from Dungloe
Curragh of Kildare
Spancilhill
All for me Grog
Take it down from the mast
James Connolly
All for me Grog
and
Paddy works on the Railway
The club was held in a lovely old pub called the “Old House at Home” beside the ICI Chemical Works
afterwards back to Mike’s where the singing continued
now I gotta pinch myself Dave… 56 years on and, Thanks Be, still here at the ballads…25 songs last night over 90 minutes…I gotta lot of great support these days…. solid focused road crew who are also good friends, wonderful listeners who gather from the four corners, that great inner circle of yours with Hilary steering the Ship of Fame like Grace O’Malley….
I have to salute the audiences at these 50% capacity gigs..whatever ye are on ..the gigs feel rammed to the gills…your enthusiasm seems to expand to make up for the missing 50%
Hi Christy, just read a great article about Elvis Costello in yesterday’s paper. Deportees, is such a poignant song as is Jimmy MacCarthy’s Missing You – did EC sing harmony on the Voyage album? This led me to an article online where he talks about an ensemble from all quarters of Irish music including yourself and Derek Bell on the harp… playing some place in Dublin. Too many cracking musicians to mention but suffice to say, it must have been a quare session. Go well.
Christy's reply
I remember that recording…it was an Elvis c album called “Spike” in 1989…I rattled a Bodhrán on a few tracks but I dont think it survived the mix….Elvis sang harmonies on “Missing You” for the Voyage album ..he was mighty…I also recorded his Deportee Club on that album….I think I might have taken a few liberties with his lyric….
The more I listen, the more I am touched by your album “flying into mystery”. It is the most beautiful gift I got for christmas. That is what I wanted to tell you. I wish you and your family all the best for 2022.
Christy's reply
Hey Moeke..thats the kinda talk we like to hear..greetings to Belgian songsters, listeners, lovers of all things good and wholesome..keep coming back
Ed The civil record states he came from the Patrician College Ballyfin laois .Civil records dont usaly state burial locations.
Then the Catholic burial registry says he was from New Bridge PBS buried in the College Cemetery. https://postimg.cc/q6R23LF5
Here is a screenshot of the Catholic burial registry.
I will attempt to post the civil one aswell
CS
Christy's reply
dont forget about the songs..the yellow hammers and blue tits…the asses and magpies. the bonnaimhs and the neighbours sheep….the mackerel and great whales
“So many shoulders at the wheel of a gig…. and we all get carried along..”
This quote struck me this morning, as I wrote some thank you emails to local people involved in a gig we did at the weekend in The Town Hall (Cavan) – I wonder did you ever play there? What people do months in advance to prepare for a gig is remarkable. Having mostly played the pub/club scene it was a first real taste of an audience who listened/sang/were carried along and the buzz that brings. Magic.
Catch you tomorrow..
“I hear the squealin’ of the seagulls as home they go”
Hello Christy,
I’m just letting my mind drift over last night’s gig. What a set list.
Thankyou for letting Mcilhatton loose to chase around the glens once more.
I listened in awe and wonder at the story telling of stitch in time.
Loved the singing, and the howling, and the more howling.
That technique of yours is solid as a rock.
Roll on the day.
Rebecca
Christy's reply
I’ll be having a look at the set list in a while…
I’m finding my way back into solo performance…
realising fresh perspectives as they emerge…
the collective of listeners,the audience,seem to have become even more involved in the process
the songs thrive upon it
mayhem across a rowdy song falls to silence as a reflective ballad starts
and its all “on the hoof”, some of it never to happen again…
A post I put up here has disappeared. Agnes Nealis: a short question. That Brother Dempsey who died tragically, he is buried in a ‘college cemetery’. But Ballyfin College is mentioned. Is he interred in Ballyfin or Newbridge? The brothers left Balyfin house several years ago, the house is now completely transformed into something else. A quick Google of ‘Ballyfin’ will show you.
Christy's reply
Bro Basil taught us in the National School …he was a Patrician Brother…. the College was then run by Dominican Fathers who had their own plot in Kilbelin (I think)…their motto…”Cur Me Persequeris”…some of them did just that…..
good to see you back on the night shift
The last couple of years have taken a real toll but it felt like some resemblance of normality being in Vicar Street tonight, real food for the soul. Thank you Christy for one of my favourite ever gigs with farmer Michael being a personal highlight. In the words of the great Billy Shakespeare “How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world”
Christy's reply
Myself and Billy go way back…as a lad I struggled to understand but , one line at a time, I do be gettin the hang of it like….Ride On You Raving Rossie
Wonderful show! Had to rush out as the lights went up to head for the airport, and now in bed in London. The matinee performance worked out well 😉 Looking forward to the next time.
Christy's reply
the late Red Peters used to sing:
“I had my breakfast in Mississippi
and my Dinner in Tipperary Town”
Red, Jimmy Faulkner, Declan McNelis and Pat Farrell et al…..The Floating Dublin Blues Band
Had tickets for original show and booked a weekend based on it but missed out on tickets for the Covid cut gig. Spent today wandering about Glasnevin and asked the Big Fella to put a word in for us. Got tickets at 5.05pm at the box office and ended up front row with your number one fan from the Kingdom and buddy from West Cork. A long time since the Brandon and Ahakista Regatta. An unforgettable night. Thanks
Christy's reply
you bring me right back when you mention Ahakista Regatta….the waft of burnt burgers carried all the way up to Moulnaskehagh…the pier head thronged but not a yachtie to be seen… a Govt Minister parading himself in all his pomp… Graham Norton summed it up beautifully ” a glorious piss-up with a tannoy” …..I miss those times in Kitchen Cove
That was magnificent! Thank you so much for tonight’s gig. I was lucky enough to come back again. This time my husband was able to come along too, and he enjoyed it so much, it had been almost three years since he’d seen you. Thank you for the songs, the music, the chat, for reminding us which things are truly important in this world and for sending us home so very happy.
All the very best,
Anne
Christy's reply
together we make it happen…the songs forever at the centre….so many shoulders at the wheel of a gig…. and we all get carried along
Pps
We spoke , over that cuppa, about the tiny venue in Camden called Green Note and that i had seen Rob Corcoran play there. Lo and behold an email from the venue over night tells me he is ringing the bell there on 18 january!
Dear Christy, i met Dagrab in Madchester ( predictably damp) for a reasonably priced cuppa today.
We had a quick wander round the contents of an old record shop where he found ( and i bought) a 12″ of Shane MacGowan ‘irish ways’ with the much missed Philip Chevron.
I love a record shop. In Hawick’s Oxfam on saturday i bought a couple of LPs including Hank Williams Junior and on Friday in Whitley Bay a couple including the Fureys ‘the first leaves of autumn’ LP.
The better half will be packing my bags if i bring back many more…
Regards
Rory
Ps if she does pack my bags i hope she is careful not to scratch the vinyl as she puts them into the suitcase next to the rugby boots and the racing binoculars.
Hi Christy
Great to read the buzz from Vicar Street. I’ve never had the pleasure of visiting the venue – what size audience is 50% of capacity?
Always enjoy your recall of 60s times…There was also a lovely ‘Old House at Home’ in Withington – not a music venue, but a welcome place. A home from home for many of us as well!
Great to see your set list. It had changed quite a bit a few years later, not surprisingly… would the mid 60s list include songs you’d been featuring at sessions in Ireland, or had you worked on songs for the English folk clubs? Irish songs were certainly popular by the early 70s, when I first attended folk clubs. Your authenticity and lovely phrasing set you apart for many of us…’many’ being c 70 people, packed into the back room of ‘The Golden Lion’! Such great times…
Keep on keepin’ on
Dave
did you ever encounter Des English or Frank Duffy?..both ran Folk Clubs in Manchester
Very interesting Agnes. So there was a cemetery in that Ballyfin College and that the bodies were reinterred locally. A bit of local history.
On your travels down this way did you ever meet Robbie McMahon from Spancilhill
never did
https://historicgraves.com/graveyard/ballyfin/la-blfn
“contains two rows of headstones of Patrician Brothers reinterred from Ballyfin College Cemetery.”
just a few words to say thanks very much for another wonderful night of song last night.From the minute the ball was in,it was non stop classic after classic.It was a pleasure to be seated where i was for a second night.Let the musuc keep our spirits high Christy.
Reading your post I’m reminded of my first “proper” gig in 1966..I was living in Manchester..a tiny bedsit nr Cheetham Hill…got the Bus out to Blakeley that Sunday night..just me and my wee Spainish Guitar…two twenty minute sets in that great Folk Club run by Mike & Patricia Harding ..I sang;
Rocky Road to Dublin
Spainish Lady
Blackwater side
Carnloch Bay
Calton Weaver
Enniskillen Dragoon
Mary from Dungloe
Curragh of Kildare
Spancilhill
All for me Grog
Take it down from the mast
James Connolly
All for me Grog
and
Paddy works on the Railway
The club was held in a lovely old pub called the “Old House at Home” beside the ICI Chemical Works
afterwards back to Mike’s where the singing continued
now I gotta pinch myself Dave… 56 years on and, Thanks Be, still here at the ballads…25 songs last night over 90 minutes…I gotta lot of great support these days…. solid focused road crew who are also good friends, wonderful listeners who gather from the four corners, that great inner circle of yours with Hilary steering the Ship of Fame like Grace O’Malley….
I have to salute the audiences at these 50% capacity gigs..whatever ye are on ..the gigs feel rammed to the gills…your enthusiasm seems to expand to make up for the missing 50%
I salute Ye
Hi Christy, just read a great article about Elvis Costello in yesterday’s paper. Deportees, is such a poignant song as is Jimmy MacCarthy’s Missing You – did EC sing harmony on the Voyage album? This led me to an article online where he talks about an ensemble from all quarters of Irish music including yourself and Derek Bell on the harp… playing some place in Dublin. Too many cracking musicians to mention but suffice to say, it must have been a quare session. Go well.
I remember that recording…it was an Elvis c album called “Spike” in 1989…I rattled a Bodhrán on a few tracks but I dont think it survived the mix….Elvis sang harmonies on “Missing You” for the Voyage album ..he was mighty…I also recorded his Deportee Club on that album….I think I might have taken a few liberties with his lyric….
It’s an ongoing process I imagine
The more I listen, the more I am touched by your album “flying into mystery”. It is the most beautiful gift I got for christmas. That is what I wanted to tell you. I wish you and your family all the best for 2022.
Hey Moeke..thats the kinda talk we like to hear..greetings to Belgian songsters, listeners, lovers of all things good and wholesome..keep coming back
https://postimg.cc/tZHsb5yx
Brother Basil dempseys civil death record
Ed The civil record states he came from the Patrician College Ballyfin laois .Civil records dont usaly state burial locations.
Then the Catholic burial registry says he was from New Bridge PBS buried in the College Cemetery.
https://postimg.cc/q6R23LF5
Here is a screenshot of the Catholic burial registry.
I will attempt to post the civil one aswell
CS
dont forget about the songs..the yellow hammers and blue tits…the asses and magpies. the bonnaimhs and the neighbours sheep….the mackerel and great whales
“So many shoulders at the wheel of a gig…. and we all get carried along..”
This quote struck me this morning, as I wrote some thank you emails to local people involved in a gig we did at the weekend in The Town Hall (Cavan) – I wonder did you ever play there? What people do months in advance to prepare for a gig is remarkable. Having mostly played the pub/club scene it was a first real taste of an audience who listened/sang/were carried along and the buzz that brings. Magic.
Catch you tomorrow..
“I hear the squealin’ of the seagulls as home they go”
This is the day
Hello Christy,
I’m just letting my mind drift over last night’s gig. What a set list.
Thankyou for letting Mcilhatton loose to chase around the glens once more.
I listened in awe and wonder at the story telling of stitch in time.
Loved the singing, and the howling, and the more howling.
That technique of yours is solid as a rock.
Roll on the day.
Rebecca
I’ll be having a look at the set list in a while…
I’m finding my way back into solo performance…
realising fresh perspectives as they emerge…
the collective of listeners,the audience,seem to have become even more involved in the process
the songs thrive upon it
mayhem across a rowdy song falls to silence as a reflective ballad starts
and its all “on the hoof”, some of it never to happen again…
A post I put up here has disappeared. Agnes Nealis: a short question. That Brother Dempsey who died tragically, he is buried in a ‘college cemetery’. But Ballyfin College is mentioned. Is he interred in Ballyfin or Newbridge? The brothers left Balyfin house several years ago, the house is now completely transformed into something else. A quick Google of ‘Ballyfin’ will show you.
Bro Basil taught us in the National School …he was a Patrician Brother…. the College was then run by Dominican Fathers who had their own plot in Kilbelin (I think)…their motto…”Cur Me Persequeris”…some of them did just that…..
good to see you back on the night shift
Well done Arrgee 1991, the ‘matine performance’ and you’re back in London, I love it! Dedication. Somebody even prayed in Glasnevin and got tickets.
and praying to Mick Collins
The last couple of years have taken a real toll but it felt like some resemblance of normality being in Vicar Street tonight, real food for the soul. Thank you Christy for one of my favourite ever gigs with farmer Michael being a personal highlight. In the words of the great Billy Shakespeare “How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world”
Myself and Billy go way back…as a lad I struggled to understand but , one line at a time, I do be gettin the hang of it like….Ride On You Raving Rossie
Wonderful show! Had to rush out as the lights went up to head for the airport, and now in bed in London. The matinee performance worked out well 😉 Looking forward to the next time.
the late Red Peters used to sing:
“I had my breakfast in Mississippi
and my Dinner in Tipperary Town”
Red, Jimmy Faulkner, Declan McNelis and Pat Farrell et al…..The Floating Dublin Blues Band
Had tickets for original show and booked a weekend based on it but missed out on tickets for the Covid cut gig. Spent today wandering about Glasnevin and asked the Big Fella to put a word in for us. Got tickets at 5.05pm at the box office and ended up front row with your number one fan from the Kingdom and buddy from West Cork. A long time since the Brandon and Ahakista Regatta. An unforgettable night. Thanks
you bring me right back when you mention Ahakista Regatta….the waft of burnt burgers carried all the way up to Moulnaskehagh…the pier head thronged but not a yachtie to be seen… a Govt Minister parading himself in all his pomp… Graham Norton summed it up beautifully ” a glorious piss-up with a tannoy” …..I miss those times in Kitchen Cove
Christy,
That was magnificent! Thank you so much for tonight’s gig. I was lucky enough to come back again. This time my husband was able to come along too, and he enjoyed it so much, it had been almost three years since he’d seen you. Thank you for the songs, the music, the chat, for reminding us which things are truly important in this world and for sending us home so very happy.
All the very best,
Anne
together we make it happen…the songs forever at the centre….so many shoulders at the wheel of a gig…. and we all get carried along