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.

Barry Finn singing on board the Pride of Baltimore in 2007, with Tom Hall watching the crew.

I got back into town today and learned of some terrible news…our friend Barry Finn unexpectedly passed away this weekend. For those of you who didn’t know Barry, he was a fine singer who had a tremendous collection of songs. Sea shanties, Irish songs, prison work songs, cowboy ballads…he knew more than I’ll ever hope to forget.

More importantly, he was a wonderful man with a kind soul who always encouraged those coming up in the tradition. Plus, he had a very quick wit that he would employ with the widest of grins.

Barry was a regular at The Press Room sessions on Fridays in Portsmouth, where his booming voice could be heard clear onto Daniel Street, and a featured performer at the Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival.  He introduced me to many songs and reminded me of many that I’d heard in my youth. I still can’t believe he won’t be there.

Farwell, Barry. We’ll see you someday on Fiddler’s Green.

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!

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.