Ireland Blog

October 3rd  - Galway

I was up in Galway putting up posters for mine and Siobhan O'Brien's gig at the Crane Bar on the 17th, when I walked in the pub I recognized the song they were playing but couldn't figure out what it was, they were playing my music, it was quite funny. I stayed for a few pints, and had to get out quick after that because they kept trying to buy me more. They turned off the music and made me sing acapella, but I told them that I would only sing if they made animal noises. They made a bunch of clucking noises and I sang the my chicken song called Uncle Irving.

"There's chickens in the window,
there's a chicken on his head,
There's a chicken in the kitchen,
5 a clucking on the bed.
I know you don't believe it but Uncle Irving said
'that chicken house is freezing cold!'
And now there's chickends in the bed."  -J.K. and S.P

October 4th - Limerick

Sang at the wonderful White House pub in Limerick on O'Connell Street.  Great listeners, and good beer.  I recognized some familiar faces, and Siobhan's family came, Olive, Brian, Rhonan and Podraic.  Will have pictures soon.  Will be hopping a bus to Cork tomorrow to play at  Cyprus.

 October 6th - Cork

Last night I played the Cyprus Avenue, opening up for Richmond Fontaine.  I took a bus back to Limerick.  I don't sleep on buses and airplanes and it must have been the time change, but I fell asleep and woke up to an empty bus.  Nobody told me when we arrived in Limerick, luckily the bus had taken a 30 minute break or I would have been on my way to Galway.  I woke up confused with slobber down my face, the bus was stopped, there was nobody on it, no bus driver and it looked like I was in Limerick (I think), I couldn't figure out if I was still dreaming......  it wouldn't be the first time this sort of thing had happened to me.

October 8th - Limerick

Taking a break today.  Slept in, can't get rid of death dreams with square dancers dancing under fairy circles, but that will soon end I hope.  Siobhan and her friend J.D. and I are going to Miltown Milbay and her house in Quilty to record a song for her album.  She is doing a folk album.  The song we will be doing is the L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore.

October 10th - Clonakilty

Today I took a bus to Cork and then hitched another bus out west to a town which is boasted to be the 'Tidiest Town' called Clonakilty.  I have come down with a sort of flu or cold, don't know which yet, but usually can shake it off in a day.  I played a pub with a venue in the back called the DeBarras Folk Club, which is very well known for its music.  I played with Gavin Moore, our host and two guys, who are also friends with my friend the Great Hank Wedel, called the Action Boys Tom Clark and Craig Tressler.  The gig was fun, but had to really try to concentrate on which chords and which lyrics were going where, the cold and flu medicine had me a bit high.  Wil Saar from San Diego showed up in Clonakilty to see the show, he had been fixing a house in Kilanol, it was nice to see a familiar face.  DeBarras is such a great venue and the crowd was really great too, I can't wait to come back.







October 11th and 12th -  Limerick major cabin fever

Still sick, had to stay home and miss Siobhan O'Brien open for Tir Na Nog.  Metta the Realist Painter and photographer has arrived in Ireland and is staying with us.

Have you ever heard of Bog snorkeling?

Bog snorkelling is a sporting event that consists of competitors completing two consecutive lengths of a 60-yard water filled trench cut through a peat bog, in the shortest time possible. Competitors must wear snorkels and flippers, and complete the course without using conventional swimming strokes, relying on flipper power alone. Wet suits are not compulsory, but are usually worn.

The pictures below are of Julia Galvin Listowel, from Kerry, and also friend of the Obrien's.  She was the 2005 World Champion Bogsnorkeler...











For a You Tube Bog Snorkelling Show go to the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k19QGds3-KA


Saturday, October 13th

Like three Thelma and Louise's, Siobhan, Metta and myself hit the road for a gig out in Mitchelstown at the Bodrahn.   David Murphy, from a band named Murphy Lane, helped set up this gig, he is going to be visiting San Diego when I get back home.  Rowdy San Diego Wil showed up with his friend Donie, and Donie was worried when Wil started dancing that it may cause mayhem in the bar.  they had never seen moves like that before.  I am sure a few bog snorkelers went home and tried to mimic his magical moves in the mirror.  Wil is a staple at a lot of San diego gigs, he is usually in front of the band or act dancing up a storm with his own original choreographed moves.  it was a good night, of course it was a noisy pub and we had to do deal with some hecklers and do some heckling of our own.  But it was fun.  Siobhan told me hot whiskey's would wet my whistle and take away the bad bug from my throat but it doesn't seem to be working, but they were sure good!  Maybe you ahve to be Irish for it to work.

Sunday, October 14th

Tonight we were in Miltown Milbay, it is in West County Clare and considered to be the capital of West Clare Traditional Music.  We were at a pub named Clancy's.  Siobhan was doing a practice round for our show in Galway with her new band. 

We have just had late breaking news it is one in the morning and the phone rang, it kept ringing over and over again.  The baby is coming!  Suzanne and Aden, Siobhan's brother and sister-in-law, our on there way to the hospital right now.  I can't wait to see the baby, we are headed to Dublin tomorrow to film Balcony TV and to go to the John Prine concert, but hoping to see the baby when we get back.  Hope to have some pictures soon!

October 15th - Dublin

We made it to the Oak Bar to meet our friend Pete Cummins.   He has played with Nancy Griffith, the Chieftains and many other people.  Siobhan, Pete and I each sang a song on Balcony TV with Tom and Stephen.  I will let everyone know when it airs.  After the taping we hustled over to the National Concert hall to see John Prine.  It was a wonderful concert.  John Prine is another person on my top ten favorites of all time list.  He played some of my favorites, Speed of the Sound of Loneliness, Jesus the Missing Years and She Is My Everything.   We even got to meet him after the show.  Pete had played on a show with John Prine and Nancy Griffith so he introduced us to him.  he was a really sweet guy and let us take his picture with him.  We finished the night at Whelan's Pub, which we all ended up dancing like crazy fools, maybe from the drink, but maybe just from being crazy fools!  Who knows.......probably a little of both.

 

October 16th - Dublin to Roscrea to Limerick

Came back from our road trip to Dublin to Siobhan's house in Limerick.  We were tired so the three of us Siobhan, Metta and I crawled into bed and watched Thelma and Louise.

"We sang Petty, sang the Stones
We sang LOVE LIVE ROCK'N'ROLL!
Like two gypsies we were burning up the road
Siobhan and me." - excerpt from Siobhan and me

October 17th - Galway - Crane Bar
We took a sight seeing trip to the Cliffs of Moher on our way up to the Crane Bar.  
 

A lot of the acoustic venues in Ireland are seperate rooms ajoining to a pub, different to the coffee shops in States.  The show was a beautiful intimate environment.  We had a nice little crowd, the Galway Advertiser had done an article for the show so it brought in curious people to our show.  Siobhan and Martin played first, she did some of her songs from her last cd Beautiful Bodies, but most of the songs were off of her up and coming cd, Song I Grew Up With,  which is a collection of folk and old songs ranging from the Lakes of the Ponchatrain, Black Veil to Harry Chapin's Shooting Star.  It is going to be a georgous album.  We got an encore and so we all did my song Dead Man Walking and Johnny Prine's, Speed of the Sound od Loneliness, and then we were asked to do more, so I did Townes Van Zants  Tecumsah Valley and much begging and pleading from myself, Siobhan did her song called Indians.  To hear it go to the following link www.myspace.com/siobhanobrien

October 18th - Crane Lane - Cork

We ended up at the Crane Lane with the Infamous Quirky Corkian Hank Wedel.  We played a few songs together Dylan's Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You, Folsom Prison and then Siobhan, Hank and I did my songs Dead Man Walking and Little House.  Siobhan and Hank did Siobhan's Beautiful Bodies and a fantastic version of Dylan's One More Cup of Coffee and then we ended the evening with Dylan's You Gotta Serve Somebody.  Can you tell the three of us are all Dylan Fans?

"Well we never played The Lobby but we sang with Hank at Charlies, 
Siobhan and me" - from a song called Siobhan and me


 
Hank Wedel, Siobhan Obrien and me

October 19th - Cork to Limerick to Shannon and Limerick

It was already a few hours past October 20th when we ended the show at 2:00am.  We needed food and coffee in a bad way for the drive back to Limerick.  At 4:00am we took off from Cork to Limerick to drop off the guitars and load up the bags.  We arrived home around 5:30am and loaded up the car to go to Shannon Airport.  Siobhan would be leaving to California to go to a wedding and Metta would be going back home to Virginia.  I waved good bye and drove back to Limerick to finally get into bed at 6:30am.  I was supposed to go to Dublin for the night, but decided to sleeeee......p, still coughing a bit and do some laundry to pack for home on Monday. 

October 20th - Bray and Dublin - 106.8FM and Cherrytree

Woke up to an annoying alarm clock at 6:45am, enough time to run downstairs and start the kettle for some honey and lemon tea, and a quick shower.  On the road to Bray at 7:30am and arrived at 10:20am to do a radio show with Stevie Bolger.  Pete Cummins joined us also.  First we went over the morning papers discussing such issues as Immigration in the integration of new immigrants in Ireland, Jerry Hall's new tell all book about being married to Mick Jagger, which promises to be very juicy, and Neil Young's new cd Chrome Dreams II, which promises to be in the same vain as Harvest and After the Goldrush.  Pete sang his new song, which was lovely called Delivery Man and I did Little House because "You can't even let your belly hang out, when your living in a little house"

 
Stevie Bolger and me in Cork last year

After the radio interview I drove to Walkinstown which is a bit west of Dublin.  My friends Patick and Rita McGrellis live there, I stayed for lunch.  The first I came to Ireland, 10 years ago, I woke up the first morning and walked to a coffee shop which was right across the street from my gig that night at the Cherry Tree.  I went to pay for my coffee and realized I had not changed my money over.  They laughed and gave me a free coffee and welcomed me to Ireland.  Irish people tend to be very friendly and welcoming and I have always loved coming over here for that reason.  

The gig at the Cherry was literally 12 houses down from Patrick and Rita's, I opened for a folk band called Tir Na Nog, who had a lot of radio hits in the early 70s and 80s.  Tir Na Nog means "the land of youth".  Check out there myspace link:  www.myspace.com/tirnanogduo there song Daisy Lady is fabulous.



October 21st - Limerick -  the White House

Last but not least, was my final gig on the tour at the White House in Limerick.  I was tired and sick, but you always do what you have to do to get by (note to self- GO TO DOCTOR's when you get home).  At this point I was coughing my lungs off everytime I took a deep breath.  The crowd was lovely, besides being a bit sick, my guitar was sounding horribly midi, and so I borrowed Siobhan's, and her tuner's calibration was off, I probably did it, yikes!  Wasn't my best gig in the world, but the crowd is always so nice at the Whitehouse and people don't know or hear as much as I do, plus my ear is getting pickier and pickier the more sick I get.  My ears were ringing the entire show, and it was wonderful and sad at the same time to be packing up when it ended.  I got home at 12:30am, packed and was snug as a bug in a rug by 1:30am.

October 22nd - Limerick to Shannon to Dublin to LAX

The longest day, woke up at 7:00am to the doorbell, it was Pacraig (Patrick), Siobhan's brother, to take me to the airport.  I slept through the alarm, must have been tired, I am not good when i am tired, left my Ipod, left some of my money and my journal, thought I packed them but they are nowhere to be found.  I can not remember anything when I am tired.  I have a hard time remembering things when I am not tired.  I got to the airport in time to catch the plane to Dublin and then from Dublin to LAX.  I took a taxi to my friend's Brax and Lynn's house and then headed home as fast as I could, I had gotten news that there were 5 different fires in San Diego and that the 5 freeway may be closing, I really just wanted to get home, snuggle my doggie and go to bed.