òran mór

After our afternoon in Portsmouth at the RiRa Pub, we made the short trip out to Newcastle Island for an evening at the Wentworth by the Sea Country Club. 

We setup in a nice spot looking out over the water and enjoyed a warm reception at the dinner and party.  This group liked to sing – and sing they did!   A few tables were especially ‘roudy’ (in a country club way) and they had us ripping through our songbook backwards and forwards.

One particular party-goer, John, had some special background in the music, and spurred us on to do a few songs on the outskirts  of our repertoire.  Turnabout being fair play, we finally got him up to lead a song or two.

All in all,  we had a blast.  We’re happy to have next year’s party already penciled in – looking forward to the prospect of doing it all again.

Song list and back cover for our recording debut

That’s right kids … we have an early shipment of our upcoming CD in hand and we’ll have them available for the gig tomorrow at Ri Ra! We’re looking forward to making this a memorable day, and we rushed a shipment of a few just in time for St. Patrick’s Day. We’re waiting for a few things to line up before the official release (awaiting quotes on a larger duplication run, finalizing the legal mumbo-jumbo, artwork revisions,etc.), but we thought it’d be worth it to get a few to share with our friends on St. Pat’s 2011.

Actually, we’re supposed to get the CD sleeves delivered tomorrow…so we’ll be busy little beavers in the morning before we take the stage at noon. I’m planning to start the day with a traditional Irish breakfast at Rory O’Connors in Georgetown before picking up the shipping package…and then we’ll be stuffing like maniacs.

The tracks on the CD are a bunch of our favorites and ones we get requested frequently by our friends. You can clearly read the titles in the photo, but one you might not be familiar with is The King’s Highway. That was written by a friend of mine, Kevin Dolan of the fab band Acoustic Nuisance. I got his permission to do a new take on an old song of his. I’m very happy he let me play around with is creation.

If you couldn’t already guess, we recorded it at Mill Pond Music in Portsmouth with our friend Jim Prendergast, who many of you have seen play with us on occassion on Monday nights. He did a fantastic job engineering this thing and keeping Dave and I focused. We’ve posted a few samples on the website’s media player, so you can get a feel for the quality. We’re pretty proud of these recordings and think you’ll enjoy the tracks.

More on this when in a few weeks when the ‘official’ release happens…but in the meantime, HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!

* fear an ti = Gaelic for “man of the house” or host

Well, the high holiday is quickly approaching…and we’re rearing to go. In addition to our usual Monday nights at Ri Ra in Portsmouth, we’ll be opening the musical festivities there on St. Patrick’s Day, playing from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. We’re planning a high-energy show that hopefully involves a few special guests joining us during the afternoon…should be a lot of fun.

They’ll be great music all month, of course, and we’ll be breathing it deep and building the excitement. So don’t be shy!  Get out there, enjoy the celebrations and get your Irish on!

Looking old school...except for the mikes.

Hey all,

Okay, we originally thought that we were playing our usual Monday gig at RiRa tomorrow night (2/28)…but it turns out they’ll be closed for a  staff appreciation night.

But it’s a great opportunity for us to say “thanks” to the staff at Ri Ra. We’ve been playing there every Monday for about a year and they ALWAYS take terrific care of us. They are a great and fun group of guys and gals…and we’re so grateful to be able to work with them on a weekly basis.

The RiRa Gang

So, thanks gang. You deserve a night off…especially as you charge up for the ‘high holiday’ that’s coming in two weeks.

We’ve mentioned both The Elysium Folk Club of Rollinsford, NH and our friend Jim Prendergast of Mill Pond Music in Portsmouth, NH. Well, like a musical Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, those two great tastes are getting together this weekend.

Jim will be playing with Ken Perlman this Saturday night (2/12) at 8 pm. You can get details about the show here.

Believe me when I tell you — if you’re looking for a great show at a great venue, be sure to step out this weekend to catch this performance. You’ll not only get a treat, you’ll be keeping live music live.