òran mór

Well it was one of those perfect nights…. beginning with good friends and the honor of opening for Derek Warfield and the Young Wolfetones…moving to the joy of hearing them perform.  It was my first chance to meet Derek and see the live performance and I really enjoyed the ‘musicality’ of the band, and the stories and history that Derek weaves in and around every song and tune.  They did a number of things from the new CD “Washington’s Irish…Songs, Music, and Story of the Irish fight for American Liberty”…rich indeed with nuggets of history and Irish-American valor.  By the end of the night they had the ‘whole bar’ up there swaying and dancing and they left us all with some great melodies and great memories still swirling. 

Again… one of those perfect nights…

Thursday, January 26th will be a special evening at the Stone Church in Newmarket, NH.  An open party will celebrate the release of three great CDs.  At about 9 PM Chris Vaughan, Portsmouth’s songwriting Scot, releases his first CD “Freedom.”  This one has a special place in my heart, as I worked with Chris from his early days incubating the songs that he was inspired to write over the past few years.  With scenes and characters from the Portsmouth area, his songs reflect some of  Chris’s colorful life stories.  With a little luck I’m planning to accompany Chris on his classic “Celts” and perhaps another song.

We all know there will be plenty of energy in Chris’s performance.

Then there will be new CDs and performances from Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki and the Tom Lanigan Band.  Pete is planning to be there – so you never know what combination of any of the above might be called to the stage for some fun collaboration.  That’s a big part of the good fortune and the fun we all share in this area – so much great music with so many great people.

This night will rock  — here’s hoping you can be there!

We enjoyed the Féile Restaurant and Pub as the final performance spot on our music  marathon last  St. Patrick’s Day.

It was great fun then, and now we’ll get to enjoy at least one summer evening there:

Wednesday, July 21st

Starting at 7 PM

Directions: The Restaurant and Pub is right on Route 1 in Wells, Maine. just north of Route 9 and the Wells Exit (19) from Route 95.

We’ll hope to see you there!

After all our complaining about the  cold fall, winter, and spring – we best not have anything bad to say about these warm summer days.  It’s a great time on the seacoast and beyond.

We are enjoying every Monday night at the RiRa Pub in Portsmouth, and we have a few things brewing at other spots.

July 23rd we’ll be at Kate O’Shea’s in Seabrook, NH, from 7;30 – 10:30.

August 4th we host the session from 8:30 – 11:30 at Harrington’s Pub in Wakefield, MA

And we may have a few other surprises to post in the next few days.

Hope to see you over a cool pint before long…..

Reagh Greenleaf, of Wandering Tree Arts,  organized the music for this year’s Earth Day celebration at the Seacoast Science Center at Odiorn Point State Park in Rye, NH.  He invited a few of us local folk to join him under the tent and we had a great time  It was a beautiful Saturday morning.  After a race that ended on the point we — that would be Reagh, Bill Perry, Rocky Rockwood and I – started in on some tunes and songs.   Families and many energetic kids were about – so we had instant dancers.   I had a chance during the break to check out the latest exhibits at the Science Center.  That’s grown to quite a place, and a visit that I’d recommend when you are in the area.

Thanks again to Reagh for setting things up, and to Eva Powers for snapping these shots!