Hi Christy
I was lucky enoughto be invited, last night, to the ceremony to bestow the Freedom of Newcastle upon Shaka Hislop in the Civic Hall.
His charity and cause is Show Racism the Red Card, a cause close to my heart.
The welcone started with a mini steel band, what a gorgeous sound from Trinidad.
I wondered if you had any musical connections to that part of the world…or even played a steel drum?
Rory
Christy's reply
No Rory…
but I sang with The Pecker Dunne
played snooker with Aly Bain
went to Parkhead with Billy Connolly
and to Croke Park with Vince Power
….its been a busy old time…not a minutes peace
Climbed Croagh Patrick with Charlie Haughey
Plunged the Deep at Brandon Creek with Bishop Casey
Walked the Wicklow Way with Jack Doyle
and Climbed up onto Queen Maeve’s Bed with Oliver J
ps just wondered if there is/ has been a project in Ireland, similar to the Saltlines project. If not, maybe there’s scope for one? D
Christy's reply
there are hordes of celebs rambling around Éire with TV crews in tow….its hard to get a moments peace on the Island these days.I’ll be at it myself come Monday… singing a song upon The Bog of Allen,
“where the turf lies,row after row”
also singing a song next week for a documentary on Barrowland…
“where the shooting stars light up the fresco,
its a ballroom of romance,its a disco
where the lost ones and the lovers go
to carry on”
‘Saltlines’ is a superb project based on a cathartic coastal walk and now linked to music via song research/performances with ‘Gigspanner’ (the band formed by fiddle player, Peter Knight – ex Steeleye Span)
Hard to describe the beauty of the project, but there’s good info in the ‘Saltlines’ section of http://www.gigspanner.com I hope you/folk here have time for a read. It’s fascinating…
Enjoy the day
Dave
Christy's reply
If poss I’ll check it out….
Planxty played support to Steeleye Span in t’Albert Hall almost 50 years ago. it was a “Fanfare for Europe” concert celebrating Britain’s entry to the Common Market. Prime Minister Ted Heath was in attendance.
I knew Tim & Maddy from earlier times.
Last night at the UCH in Limerick was amazing from start to finish!! Worth the entire trip from Virginia! We especially appreciate your dedication of the last song for us. Spancil Hill was the perfect finish for the evening!! Bud and Ellen Moore emooremail@aol.com
Christy's reply
Thank you Bud & Ellen, for making the trip and for your gifts…I wish ye well on your travels….Criostóir Ó Mórdha
Hard to beat a new gadget let loose on a gig! Thanks for all the info and for starting my day with a good chortle… a rare thing, and greatly appreciated.
Enjoy the day. I wouldn’t race to assume a vertical position…
Dave
Christy's reply
advice taken…switching off now and back to morning slumber
Mary from the bog meadows came into my mind yesterday, her poems and stories. And then I saw her post here. I hope the muse is being kind to you Mary, and to all writers of words.
Hello Christy,
I listened to some songs from Flying into Mystery last night. Not llike often happens but really listened, just me in a silent space listening as if it was a voice coach. It’s such a sophisticated album, nothing unnecessary (there are far too many letters in that word). Consonents beautiful consonents. That’s the work I’m doing now after listening to Johnny Boy.
Did the Limerick Rake make it to the stage or was he distracted on the way there by bacchus and venus?
Great to see the reference and clips for Micheal O’Suilleabhain. A true music pioneer.There are good online pieces and a good number of examples of his work via http://www.cmc.ie
Enjoy the post gig buzz and mulling over the set etc ( I miss that, almost as much as the events)
Dave
Christy's reply
Good Morrow Dave
Back home late last night
we flew from The Treaty Stone to The Black Lagoon
Still in the bed here lookin up at me Mac
dont have the set list to hand, but here goes
in no particular order, if memory serves
Chicago
Nancy Spain
Welcome to the Cabaret
Lingo Politico
Shovel
Ride On
Johnny By
Clock winds down
St Brendan’s Voyage
Two Conneeleys
Delerium Tremens
Stitch in Time
Black is The Colour
Quinte Brigada
Lisdoonvarna
Back Home in Derry
Cliffs of Dooneen
Ordinary Man
Voyage
Joxer
If I get an Encore
Spancilhill
Ringing The Bell
Well below The Valley……1 hour 34 minutes
The audience were top notch….listeners in from many places…USA, France, Netherlands, UK and far flung places like Tralee, Clonmel, The Banner and a busload of blaggards & bowsies from Boolea…
David has a new gadget that he switched on for the low end of the Bodhrán solo..
I’ll tell you that rattled the joint….spiders scurrying to safety, dentures dislodged, hearing aids distorted,strange stirrings in private places,for a minute there I felt like I was in The Mahavishnu Light Orchestra….by the time I hit the last note I was rhythming like a trans dervish, trippin the light fandango, no bell on my bike and my knickers ringing…
Myself and Michael then hit the Road…past Castleconnel, Killaloe and thru Tipperary, we crossed 7 rivers before we came out onto The Curragh of Kildare…pulled into Donnolly’s Hollow for a piss and three decades of the Rosary, heard two lily whites goin hard at it in the back Ford Transit …they were testin the suspension which needed oilin……(contd on page 94 )
Mick O’Sullivan was a Prince of the Piano,
from the Vale of Honey to The Banks of The Lee
Míchéal followed the notes and tunes of Sean Ó Ríada
then carried them to Limerick,where he took root in Plassey
created a School of World Music by the River Shannon
where Chuck Feeny,that man of philantropy
welcomed us all last night
And all along the Wicklow Mountains , is it you that I hear calling …. Johnny Boy
… Gary Moore…… and Flying into Mystery
Sorry Mary…. hope this doesn’t put you back in a quandary…..
Christy's reply
Marty,
I have a tendency these days to linger in the distant past….my godfather-in-law used to say… “I remember everything that happened 60 years ago but cant figure out where I left my trousars last night ”
here in Limerick, 35 minutes to go. feeling a bit blue and shaky but thats usual 30 mins before the curtain rises…its a lovely room here in UCL….I’ve played here often..last time the late Michéal Ó Suilleabháin was in the audience…he was Master of the Music Faculty here and a wonderful musician himself..I once performed “The Two Conneeleys” with him on RTE TV…..then we segued into “Mystic Lipstick”…I think I’ll dedicate a song to his memory tonight… a Clonmel man originally..I first met him in1964…there I go again Marty..floating off back into the mists of time !
now theres only 20 minutes to go…gotta get into my stage clobber..
Hi Christy,
I’m working on a poem about Elizabeth Butler’s 1890 painting ‘Evicted’ which hangs in UCD’s library. Set in Delgany between the Wicklow Mountains and the Irish Sea, I was debating whether to use Wicklow Mountains or Hills, when I remembered your recording of Pierce Turner’s great song Among the Wicklow Hills on your ’84 album Ride On. No brainer, more poetic…decision made! Ride on! Mary
Christy's reply
enough said, perhaps !
But then again Mary…. Dave Lordan’s “Lost tribe of The Wicklow Mountains” warrants a mention..
not forgetting “Dunlavin Green” which goes;
“Some of our Boys to the Hills they have gone away
some of them have been shot, more of them are gone to sea.
Michael Dwyer of the MOUNTAINS has plenty of cause for the spleen
for the loss of his own dear comrades who died on Dunlavin Green”
Hi Christy,
I’m looking forward to your gig tonight (12th May) in Limerick.
I was wondering if it would be possible to request a tune if you’d be open to it.
My father passed away last week. He was very religious, which came between us in many ways. I’m still young and in recent years we grew closer, but I guess there’s never enough time.
It is only since he passed that I’ve learned exactly how much we had in common – a love of Irish poetry – especially Heaney, a love of maps and the mountains around Clonmel, and the same taste in music.
When I was scrolling through his iTunes library for funeral hymns, it was only then I discovered his 3rd most played tune was The Voyage, as is mine. I wish I would have learned all of these things about him sooner to enjoy them with him.
Would you, if you have the time, sing that song for him? It would mean so much to me.
Sincerely,
Anthony
“Next thing he spoke and I nearly said I loved him.”
21st October 2011 University Concert Hall and at the end of the show you stood up and handed my then 10 year old son Cillian, who knew all the words, your Boston plectrum. You can imagine the excitement. He is now 21 and still has it and we’re all looking forward to tonight’s show, as we do all your shows in Limerick. Always a great night, thank you for giving us such great memories and reasons for people to gather and enjoy themselves. 😁 Huge thanks 🙏…
Hi Christy, no luck with tickets yet. Still trying. Your in high demand.
I see your in kilkenny next weekend. We are down with the kids for a break.Maybe we will bump into you in town.
12th may christy,
James and Sean gone but not forgotten.
Ireland will not see another Sean MacDiarmada,
He did not seek glory as a personal investment but as a National Investment,
He was not Sean MacDiarmada, he was Ireland.
Mick Blake’s great song remembers him, i hope he and James are smiling down as we listen today to Mick’s song.
Regards
Rory
After seeing you a couple of times in Amsterdam and once in Dublin. Now it is time to watch you tonight in beautiful Limerick. Staying on the Dingle Peninsula a couple of days, so I had to go to your concert tonight! Looking forward seeing you play again, and ofcourse in good health!
Hope that you play Little Musgrave tonight, I really love that song. (Although it will be hard I guess to play it alone without pipes)
But all in all, can’t wait for tonight!
Regards,
Vincent
Christy's reply
its many years since I played a Solo “Little Musgrave”
“I’d gladly give a hundred pounds to be on yonder plain”
Thanks to Marty for the ‘1952 Vincent…’ post. One of the best of Richard Thompson’s epics and in my top 5 of his…but, wow, the way Sean Rowe rearranges it + some clever changes – hats off…
Like you, I’m heading for youtube to find more – great start to the day. All I need now is Hot Press to go with the tea! D
Hi Christy
I was lucky enoughto be invited, last night, to the ceremony to bestow the Freedom of Newcastle upon Shaka Hislop in the Civic Hall.
His charity and cause is Show Racism the Red Card, a cause close to my heart.
The welcone started with a mini steel band, what a gorgeous sound from Trinidad.
I wondered if you had any musical connections to that part of the world…or even played a steel drum?
Rory
No Rory…
but I sang with The Pecker Dunne
played snooker with Aly Bain
went to Parkhead with Billy Connolly
and to Croke Park with Vince Power
….its been a busy old time…not a minutes peace
Climbed Croagh Patrick with Charlie Haughey
Plunged the Deep at Brandon Creek with Bishop Casey
Walked the Wicklow Way with Jack Doyle
and Climbed up onto Queen Maeve’s Bed with Oliver J
ps just wondered if there is/ has been a project in Ireland, similar to the Saltlines project. If not, maybe there’s scope for one? D
there are hordes of celebs rambling around Éire with TV crews in tow….its hard to get a moments peace on the Island these days.I’ll be at it myself come Monday… singing a song upon The Bog of Allen,
“where the turf lies,row after row”
also singing a song next week for a documentary on Barrowland…
“where the shooting stars light up the fresco,
its a ballroom of romance,its a disco
where the lost ones and the lovers go
to carry on”
Mornin’ Christy/ all
‘Saltlines’ is a superb project based on a cathartic coastal walk and now linked to music via song research/performances with ‘Gigspanner’ (the band formed by fiddle player, Peter Knight – ex Steeleye Span)
Hard to describe the beauty of the project, but there’s good info in the ‘Saltlines’ section of http://www.gigspanner.com I hope you/folk here have time for a read. It’s fascinating…
Enjoy the day
Dave
If poss I’ll check it out….
Planxty played support to Steeleye Span in t’Albert Hall almost 50 years ago. it was a “Fanfare for Europe” concert celebrating Britain’s entry to the Common Market. Prime Minister Ted Heath was in attendance.
I knew Tim & Maddy from earlier times.
Last night at the UCH in Limerick was amazing from start to finish!! Worth the entire trip from Virginia! We especially appreciate your dedication of the last song for us. Spancil Hill was the perfect finish for the evening!! Bud and Ellen Moore
emooremail@aol.com
Thank you Bud & Ellen, for making the trip and for your gifts…I wish ye well on your travels….Criostóir Ó Mórdha
Brilliant, Christy
Hard to beat a new gadget let loose on a gig! Thanks for all the info and for starting my day with a good chortle… a rare thing, and greatly appreciated.
Enjoy the day. I wouldn’t race to assume a vertical position…
Dave
advice taken…switching off now and back to morning slumber
Mary from the bog meadows came into my mind yesterday, her poems and stories. And then I saw her post here. I hope the muse is being kind to you Mary, and to all writers of words.
not to mention the Falls Road Chowder
Hello Christy,
I listened to some songs from Flying into Mystery last night. Not llike often happens but really listened, just me in a silent space listening as if it was a voice coach. It’s such a sophisticated album, nothing unnecessary (there are far too many letters in that word). Consonents beautiful consonents. That’s the work I’m doing now after listening to Johnny Boy.
Did the Limerick Rake make it to the stage or was he distracted on the way there by bacchus and venus?
Here’s something I listened to this morning
https://youtu.be/ddRTztL6V4w
Rebecca
I had “The Rake” rehearsed but he never featured…once the gig starts I have little or no control over the set list….
as we recorded Flying Into Mystery we encountered magic moments with Seamie O’Dowd
Mornin’ Christy
I hope last night’s gig went well.
Great to see the reference and clips for Micheal O’Suilleabhain. A true music pioneer.There are good online pieces and a good number of examples of his work via http://www.cmc.ie
Enjoy the post gig buzz and mulling over the set etc ( I miss that, almost as much as the events)
Dave
Good Morrow Dave
Back home late last night
we flew from The Treaty Stone to The Black Lagoon
Still in the bed here lookin up at me Mac
dont have the set list to hand, but here goes
in no particular order, if memory serves
Chicago
Nancy Spain
Welcome to the Cabaret
Lingo Politico
Shovel
Ride On
Johnny By
Clock winds down
St Brendan’s Voyage
Two Conneeleys
Delerium Tremens
Stitch in Time
Black is The Colour
Quinte Brigada
Lisdoonvarna
Back Home in Derry
Cliffs of Dooneen
Ordinary Man
Voyage
Joxer
If I get an Encore
Spancilhill
Ringing The Bell
Well below The Valley……1 hour 34 minutes
The audience were top notch….listeners in from many places…USA, France, Netherlands, UK and far flung places like Tralee, Clonmel, The Banner and a busload of blaggards & bowsies from Boolea…
David has a new gadget that he switched on for the low end of the Bodhrán solo..
I’ll tell you that rattled the joint….spiders scurrying to safety, dentures dislodged, hearing aids distorted,strange stirrings in private places,for a minute there I felt like I was in The Mahavishnu Light Orchestra….by the time I hit the last note I was rhythming like a trans dervish, trippin the light fandango, no bell on my bike and my knickers ringing…
Myself and Michael then hit the Road…past Castleconnel, Killaloe and thru Tipperary, we crossed 7 rivers before we came out onto The Curragh of Kildare…pulled into Donnolly’s Hollow for a piss and three decades of the Rosary, heard two lily whites goin hard at it in the back Ford Transit …they were testin the suspension which needed oilin……(contd on page 94 )
Hiya Christy. Like the man said “It’s OK to look back so long as you don’t stare.” Enjoy your gig
sound Johnny Boy
In omos to M O ‘ S. https://youtu.be/WH0MFI2qF9Y… beir bua agus beannacht.H
Mick O’Sullivan was a Prince of the Piano,
from the Vale of Honey to The Banks of The Lee
Míchéal followed the notes and tunes of Sean Ó Ríada
then carried them to Limerick,where he took root in Plassey
created a School of World Music by the River Shannon
where Chuck Feeny,that man of philantropy
welcomed us all last night
Thanks for posting Hilary
And all along the Wicklow Mountains , is it you that I hear calling …. Johnny Boy
… Gary Moore…… and Flying into Mystery
Sorry Mary…. hope this doesn’t put you back in a quandary…..
Marty,
I have a tendency these days to linger in the distant past….my godfather-in-law used to say… “I remember everything that happened 60 years ago but cant figure out where I left my trousars last night ”
here in Limerick, 35 minutes to go. feeling a bit blue and shaky but thats usual 30 mins before the curtain rises…its a lovely room here in UCL….I’ve played here often..last time the late Michéal Ó Suilleabháin was in the audience…he was Master of the Music Faculty here and a wonderful musician himself..I once performed “The Two Conneeleys” with him on RTE TV…..then we segued into “Mystic Lipstick”…I think I’ll dedicate a song to his memory tonight… a Clonmel man originally..I first met him in1964…there I go again Marty..floating off back into the mists of time !
now theres only 20 minutes to go…gotta get into my stage clobber..
Hi Christy,
I’m working on a poem about Elizabeth Butler’s 1890 painting ‘Evicted’ which hangs in UCD’s library. Set in Delgany between the Wicklow Mountains and the Irish Sea, I was debating whether to use Wicklow Mountains or Hills, when I remembered your recording of Pierce Turner’s great song Among the Wicklow Hills on your ’84 album Ride On. No brainer, more poetic…decision made! Ride on! Mary
enough said, perhaps !
But then again Mary…. Dave Lordan’s “Lost tribe of The Wicklow Mountains” warrants a mention..
not forgetting “Dunlavin Green” which goes;
“Some of our Boys to the Hills they have gone away
some of them have been shot, more of them are gone to sea.
Michael Dwyer of the MOUNTAINS has plenty of cause for the spleen
for the loss of his own dear comrades who died on Dunlavin Green”
I look forward to reading your poem
Hi Christy
As I’d hoped… Anne Margaret Daniel’s article about the new Bob Dylan Center is now in the Opinion section of http://www.hotpress.com
Thanks HP – class…
Dave
more into a Honda 50 myself…..full tank keeps me going for a year
Hi Christy,
I’m looking forward to your gig tonight (12th May) in Limerick.
I was wondering if it would be possible to request a tune if you’d be open to it.
My father passed away last week. He was very religious, which came between us in many ways. I’m still young and in recent years we grew closer, but I guess there’s never enough time.
It is only since he passed that I’ve learned exactly how much we had in common – a love of Irish poetry – especially Heaney, a love of maps and the mountains around Clonmel, and the same taste in music.
When I was scrolling through his iTunes library for funeral hymns, it was only then I discovered his 3rd most played tune was The Voyage, as is mine. I wish I would have learned all of these things about him sooner to enjoy them with him.
Would you, if you have the time, sing that song for him? It would mean so much to me.
Sincerely,
Anthony
“Next thing he spoke and I nearly said I loved him.”
21st October 2011 University Concert Hall and at the end of the show you stood up and handed my then 10 year old son Cillian, who knew all the words, your Boston plectrum. You can imagine the excitement. He is now 21 and still has it and we’re all looking forward to tonight’s show, as we do all your shows in Limerick. Always a great night, thank you for giving us such great memories and reasons for people to gather and enjoy themselves. 😁 Huge thanks 🙏…
thar nais arís….
Hi Christy, no luck with tickets yet. Still trying. Your in high demand.
I see your in kilkenny next weekend. We are down with the kids for a break.Maybe we will bump into you in town.
Best folk/ Trad artist …. Sure tell us something we don’t know!
Congrats Christy.
Gig on the short grass is in sight!!!
our Black Trench Gazette…shine on
12th may christy,
James and Sean gone but not forgotten.
Ireland will not see another Sean MacDiarmada,
He did not seek glory as a personal investment but as a National Investment,
He was not Sean MacDiarmada, he was Ireland.
Mick Blake’s great song remembers him, i hope he and James are smiling down as we listen today to Mick’s song.
Regards
Rory
On the 12th of May,
The Black Flags lay
In 1981
Hi Christy,
After seeing you a couple of times in Amsterdam and once in Dublin. Now it is time to watch you tonight in beautiful Limerick. Staying on the Dingle Peninsula a couple of days, so I had to go to your concert tonight! Looking forward seeing you play again, and ofcourse in good health!
Hope that you play Little Musgrave tonight, I really love that song. (Although it will be hard I guess to play it alone without pipes)
But all in all, can’t wait for tonight!
Regards,
Vincent
its many years since I played a Solo “Little Musgrave”
“I’d gladly give a hundred pounds to be on yonder plain”
Hi Christy
Thanks to Marty for the ‘1952 Vincent…’ post. One of the best of Richard Thompson’s epics and in my top 5 of his…but, wow, the way Sean Rowe rearranges it + some clever changes – hats off…
Like you, I’m heading for youtube to find more – great start to the day. All I need now is Hot Press to go with the tea! D