òran mór

<<sigh>>

I was all excited to write a completely positive post today. I was going to start by thanking everyone who came to our show on this past Sunday at The Port Tavern in Newburyport. The support was great and, as a result, it looks like we’ll be part of the regular Sunday rotation there. We’ll be performing again as Sligo Road with our friend Terry Weir on Nov. 8, Nov. 29, Dec. 6 and Dec. 20.  We’re psyched because the crowds and the staff are great, and they really seem to dig the music we’re doing. Your support helped make it possible…thanks.

That’s the good news. Unfortunately, there’s also some bad news in the world of òran mór.

We just learned that our regular pub, McMenemy’s in Portsmouth, NH, has closed. Kind of out of the blue. Kind of on the one year anniversary of the new ownership. And, considering the place is haunted, it’s kind of spooky that it’s happening two days before Halloween.

We want to thank Bob and Traci Shaake, the owners of McMenemy’s, for being such gracious hosts during the past year. Every Thursday and Saturday, they’d open their doors and give us a table in the corner where we could play music, sing songs, and have a laugh with the customers.

It was nice. I’d have a lovely meal after work (usually the rueben, chicken ceasar, or their amazing meatloaf and mash). Our local friends would stop in and join us. Occassionally, we’d have musicians visiting from Montreal, Tucson, Wexford, or some other far-flung place sit-in because they had heard about our session.

More importantly, we became friends with Bob, Traci, and their amazing staff. It’ll be odd to not see them on a regular basis…I’m hoping they’ve at least bookmarked this site or ‘friended’ us on Facebook so they can stay in touch.

I’m sure we’ll find another home for the session — maybe even a place that can accommodate more than five players. In the meantime we’ve got plenty of gigs lined up, so if you need an òran mór fix, don’t worry.

I just worried about where I’m going to get a good meatloaf dinner…Traci’s kicked butt.

It’s September 17, and that means there’s just six short months before it’s time to get your green on!

As I mentioned last month, McMenemy’s in Portsmouth holds “St. Practice Day” on the 17th of each month with food and drink specials and more…and we’ll be there tonight playing tunes and singing songs as we do every Thursday and Saturday. Guinness is sponsoring tonight’s festivities as well, so we’ll be looking for free swag and $3 pints. YAY!

I know…not the most high-brow post we’ve ever done, but I’m at work now and really looking forward to some music tonight.

Everyone knows that the traditional high holiday for celebrating all things Irish is March, 17, the Feast of St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland. Here in the States, of course, St. Patrick’s Day has become a bit cartoonish with the green beer, “Kiss me, I’m Irish” buttons, and guys wearing kilts who wouldn’t have the stones to wear one any other time of year…but, hey, it’s all in good fun!

Ewww...green beer.

Somewhere along the line, a funny name was given for March 16th…St. Practice Day…since people would get together to have a few jars and celebrate before the actual celebration. It’s kind of like Christmas Eve, but will mass quantities of alcohol.

Well, our friends at McMenemy’s decided that there really shouldn’t be an off-season for celebrating Irish-ness, so they’ve designated the 17th of every month as St. Practice Day. Talk about dedication to the cause! And this Monday is August 17 and òran mór will be on hand to provide the appropriate music!

Festivities start at 7 pm, so come on by!

What is that doing here?

If you’ve been walking near the intersection of State and Penhallow in Portsmouth on a Thursday or Saturday night, you may have heard a familiar song or a set of tunes floating on the breeze. Nothing too blaring, mind you…but just something loud enough to catch your ear.

Like Dylan at Newport, we’ve gone electric! This propably isn’t huge news to most people, but to the session purist, it may come as a shock.

Our thinking is that since the windows are open for the summer and people are out walking, it’d be nice to broadcast a bit to make sure passers-by know that there’s good food, drink and music waiting for them upstairs at McMenemy’s. So during the last few weeks we’ve worked with a couple of mikes and speakers…and things seem to be going pretty well. We’re doing our best to ensure guest players at the session are getting picked-up by the gear, and the reports so far is that the mix sounds terrific both in the pub and on the street.

Of course, there’s nothing like honest input from our trusted friends…let us know how you think the experiment is going!

Last night we were joined by Mike Jeanneau, Reagh Greenleaf, Gary Usher, and Marty Stock … and some enthusiastic and very capable singers in and about the pub.

Particularly memorable for me – and fitting to the picture of the night sky outside our window – was Reagh’s rousing rendition of “The Rising of the Moon.”

That kind of named the night and topped it off for me.