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.

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.

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!

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.

Planxty Reunion Concert in 2004

As I mentioned in my previous post, Mike Jeanneau was helping me anchor the sessions at McMenemy’s over Memorial Day Weekend while Bob and Dave were traveling. We had a lot of fun — as we often do — and we were joined by our friends Eamon Coyne, Kevin Sheehan, Ramona Connelly and Bill Zecker on Thursday, and Kevin, Ramona and Reagh Greenleaf  on Saturday night.

The start of Thursday night was a bit quiet since there weren’t a lot of diners and people were saving their money for the long weekend…so we had the opportunity to play some stuff we don’t normally get to play. One of my favorite songs to play with Mike is “The Ballad of Little Musgrave” and, since the place was kind of quiet, we launched into it.

Man, I love that song and Mike’s playing on it is always great…and I was listening to a version of it on the ride to work today and wanted to share it.

If you’re not familiar with the song, it’s a traditional ballad (F.J. Child’s Ballad #81) that is known by several names and variations, including “Mattie Groves,” “Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard,” and the version we do, which is based on Planxty’s arrangement…which you can see on their live 2004 concert here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

When you come across really great songs — especially really old ones — it’s always fascinating to learn a little more about them. There’s a lot out there about “Little Musgrave”, but last year, I found a cool post on Rational Delight. It’s worth checking out if you like the song, especially since it has the audio of Nic Jones’ version…which I can’t find anywhere else.

We had a chance to play the song, and we took it. If you have a chance to check out the video and the post, you should take it as well.

But not long after Mike had headed home, to avoid bringing ‘There’s Sure to Be a Row’ from song to reality, Steve Carrigan happened in.  He joined us a few songs – and then gave us a first – himself on guitar.

Steve”s obviously been holding out on us, being  pretty comfy and adept at his chords and accompaniment.  That gave us a nice finale to the night – and a nice scoop.

Many thanks  Steve.

Then Greg Heppe,  who runs the General Store and great concerts at the Old White Church in Tuftonboro, NH, stopped in with flutes and whistles in hand.

And then — Mr. Bill Zecker arrived with bouzouki in hand — to help us sail through the rest of the night.

A good time was had by all.  I’ll post some sound clips ASAP.

What tricks are up those short sleeves?

This Saturday, April 18, the Seacoast Irish Cultural Association (SICA) will be hosting it’s Spring Ceili at the Dover Elks on Rte. 108 with Eamon Coyne and Dave Surette as the featured performers. As part of the festivities, the lads will lead a workshop on fiddle and accompanying Irish music.

I have to say that I’ve admired Dave Surette’s style of accompaniment for a while and have wanted to chat with him about his approach…so while I can’t stay for the potluck supper at 6pm (yum!) or the dance, I am definitely looking forward to learning a few tricks on accompaniment from Dave. (Let’s see how many of them I remember that night at McMenemy’s.)

For more info on the workshop or ceili, contact SICA at doversica.multiply.com.

As Peter Hale has posted, we had an especially fun Saturday night session recently – and captured some sound clips.

Please drop in – to sing along – play some tunes – or just to listen a bit –  and help us make another great Saturday happen.