òran mór

You’ve probably noticed that we haven’t be typing too much this summer…and we apologize to those loyal readers of our humble blog…but it’s been a busy summer with both music and non-music commitments alike:

• I bought a house that needed some work,
• Dave’s been taking a guitar building course (where he’s building a bouzouki — clearly off the curriculum),
• we both are maintaining excellence in our respective day jobs (hi boss),
• and we’ve had a few gigs that we’ve tried to keep you informed about, (and where we’ve been happy to see many of you.)

Great session at Rory O'Connor's, with the Coyne Bros and Tony Giblin, proprietor.

The summer music definitely has been fun. I’ve been enjoying the Sunday session’s at Rory O’Connors, the new pub in Georgetown, MA that’s owned by our friend and fellow troubador Tony Giblin. He and Eamon Coyne host a nice session there on Sunday’s from 6-9 p.m., which was just featured in the local paper. Good food, a nice pint, and music with friends…is there any better way to get mentally prepared for the torture of the week ahead? (hi boss.)

Other highlights from the summer included:

• playing some tunes with Terry Coyne (Eamon’s brother) who was visiting from Liverpool…a fantastic flute and whistle player who has a fair number of songs up his sleeve,
• my getting a chance to meet and sing with THE Johnny McEvoy (I’ll write more on that later),
• Dave headed out to see on the Lannon Irish Music Cruise around Gloucester,
• making some serious headway on our first CD, as well as a CD for Mudhook (the maritime group we’re part of),
• and gearing up with some new songs for the 11th Annual Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival (more on that to come as well).

Dave at the mike, laying down tracks

All in all, it’s been a great summer. We’re wrapping up the summer with a gig up in Wells, ME this Wednesday, Sept. 1…the last show before Labor Day!

Mike Jeanneau -- our Mudhook cohort -- and Jim Prendergast, friend and sound engineer extraordinaire

July has come and gone, and summer is flying by…but we’re looking forward to the Monday’s in August.

The Mad Fisherman's gonna be a daddy!

We were fortunate to kick off this month on Monday with our friend Mike Jeanneau joining us. His wife is expecting their first child (come on, Jacque!), so Mikey figured he’d better sit in while he had the time…’cuz lord knows he ain’t gonna have time soon. It was a great night and we were able to play a few of the maritime songs we’ll be performing together (as Mudhook) at the 11th Annual Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival, on September 25 & 26. More on that to come.

Of course, we’ll have other guests dropping by during the month. Personally, I won’t be able to make the 16th, since I have a conflict with the day job…so Dave will likely be joined by our friend Terry Weir.

Regardless, we’re at RiRa every Monday, so feel free to stop in for a half-priced burger, great brews and a song or two.

The pub we love so well

As Pete previewed in an earlier post, he and I plugged into our maritime group, Mudhook, for this year’s Tenth Annual Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival. To help make this year special, we were lucky enough to get Robbie O’Connell to take part.

Robbie was the very special finale to concert on Saturday night, and he appeared with us on Sunday afternoon, sharing songs back and forth at RiRa pub in Market Square.

Robbie was most gracious throughout the weekend, often acknowledging how impressed he was with the songs and singing he heard from all the other festival participants. We are very lucky to have the critical mass of local talent,  that helps attract others from around the world on a weekend like this.

I’ll admit to a certain ‘dream’ quality that went with being in the songs with Robbie.  After years of listening to him and admiring what he does, I did have to pinch myself a time or two to be sure it was for real.  Truly a memorable day.

Mudhook, for the record, is Alan Eaton, Pete Hale, Mike Jeanneau, and myself.  We came together to perform for this festival a few years ago – but we may extend our reach to other maritime events throughout the year… and do watch for the CD!

Fall is in the air, football has returned to Foxborough, and leaves are starting to change color…and both Dave and I start refreshing all the maritime music in our repetoire because this is the time of year when we regroup with our friends Mike Jeanneau and Alan Eaton to form Mudhook.

Mudhook

What is Mudhook? Originally, it was nautical slang for an anchor. But we’re a quartet that formed three years ago to play the the Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival. As ‘hookers, we mix traditional shanties with instrumentals and contemporary songs of the sea…and the PMFF is a great venue for us. We have loads of fun during the festival (always the last weekend of September), and it’s a great opportunity for us to create a unique combination of maritime, Celtic and contemporary music. We also get to hear and play with some fantastic performers from around the world. This year, for example, we have a 45 minute performance scheduled with acclaimed Irish singer Robbie O’Connell…should be great fun.

If you’re in the area and want to catch a performance, you might try hitting the historic Moffat-Ladd House in Portsmouth on Saturday from 12:30 – 2 PM. We’ll be doing a set there along with our friends from Great Bay Sailor. Hope to see you there!

They left Pete in charge?!?

Well, well, well … Dave and Bob have each packed up and gone away this week. Dave is traipsing around the west coast of Ireland (recorder in hand) and Bob is in Maryland visiting friends (wife Sue in hand), leaving me all alone at McMenemy’s. Whatever will I do?

It's Mike to the rescue!

Never fear, my friends! I’m not tackling this on my own. I’ve enlisted the help of our good friend (and Mudhook bandmate) Mike Jeanneau to help anchor Thursday and Saturday night. We’ve also invited a few special guests — not all the usual crowd — to stop by to join us.

So there may be no ‘Clockwinder’ this week, but we’re planning to tear it up with a different mix of tunes and songs. I’m expecting the craic to be grand!