òran mór

After a great  first night at RiRa,  we’ve got a better feel for the room, the PA settings, and the best way to involve our musical friends in the fun.  As we posted earlier, in we’re looking to create something different…so here’s what we’re envisioning.

We’ll have two open chairs that we’ll mostly pre-arrange with the couple of players or singers who want to be part of our little ‘collaborative performance’ each week. It’ll be more planned and controlled than a session, but we hope everyone will see that it offers some things that wide open sessions don’t:

• For those who come to listen, this format means you’ll get to  ‘really hear’ the great musicians from the Seacoast and beyond play with us…and each week will be different because the other players will bring their own repetoire to the table.

• For our musician friends, the smaller table means we’ll be able to hear each other better — so the music will be tighter and sound the best it can. Plus, you’ll have more chances to lead the songs and tunes.

On November 23rd, Ramona Connelly and Emery Hutchins will join us to put the plan into action.

Ramona will bring her  fiddle and plenty of super tunes – and, when we be lucky enough – we hope she’ll give us some songs.

Emery, with the  combination of concertinas, guitar, banjo, drum, and stories that he chooses, will light up the night for us all.

Hope you can swing by for a pint and/or to give us a song or two.

And if any of our musician friends are interested in getting into the mix, let us know when you might want to stop by and we’ll get you there. Looking forward to some great craic!

While we were still feeling a bit nostalgic about the era just ending at McMenemy’s, we were happy to get a note from Scott the manager at RiRa, inviting us to get together and talk about starting up a new night there…. Mondays from 7-10, starting November 16th.

We’ll use about the same setup we had at McM’s, with Pete and I at a table with mics and room for a few musical friends. The pub wants that format because it’s something different than their other nights, and we like it because it combines the best aspects of a performance and a session. How will that work?

• The performance part engages the audience, with a base of practiced, popular songs and tunes they know. That gets the punters in the door and ‘pays the rent’ for the business.
• The session part means we have one or a few friends join us for added spontaneity and variety. With a small group around one table, we can all hear what we are doing, making the music tighter, and giving those players more chances to lead songs and tunes with a solid foundation.

We hope you’ll enjoy this “collaborative performance” formula and join us on occasion. Having you there will help us make each Monday night unique and fun.

Looking forward to our maiden voyage tonight — hoping you can be there.

A road in Sligo...Terry's family owns the land on the right hand side of the road. Is that authentic Irish or what?

The dust has officially settled regarding McMenemy’s and I’m realizing that, in all the excitement, we only briefly mentioned that we’re going to be back at The Port Tavern with Terry Weir this Sunday (11/8).

We’ll again be performing under the name Sligo Road, but don’t worry…we’ll still have all that tasty òran mór goodness. 

We start at 5:30, so we’d love to see you if can make it!

And if you want to show-up a little early, you can help me cheer for a Pats win over the Miami Dolphins.

<<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.