Posted by Majik Sam on November 29, 2006, 2:42 pm Just got back from a little tour of Ireland with The Bearcats so I thought I’d put together a little blog to while away the hours mostly spent in the back seat of an estate car.
82.157.104.236
Some of you who know us might be interested in this:
The Almost Triangle Tour (24th – 27th Nov 2006)
Friday
The train up to Schipol Airport and flight over to Belfast went without a hitch, which is always good news, and after meeting up with Mitch, Chris, and Murray we went in search of the hire car firm. The rain was coming down in buckets and a passing car soaked Murray as we searched for our hire car. ‘This is a sign of great good fortune when in Ireland’ I said to Murray who was cursing and leaping about and looking none too convinced; ‘a sign that the Leprechauns are with us on this trip’. We had asked for a Mondeo but ended up with a piddling little Vauxhall Zafira not the best vehicle to transport a drum-kit; guitar; fiddle; and accordion plus four. Still we were doing the first gig without drums, the traditional Cajun way with triangle. The venue we were heading to is called the Seamus Ennis cultural Centre in a little village in North Dublin called Naul. Naul is also famous for a small zoo imaginably titled ‘Animal Farm’. The Irish have a natural talent for giving imaginative names to their enterprises; a burger bar called McDonnals and a dentist’s called ‘Cavity Corner’ are two good examples. One would not be surprised to pass a motorway service station called ‘Bite and Shite’ or ‘Snap and Crap’ while driving along. The best name award however goes to the dancehall known as ‘The Rainbow Ballroom of Romance’ in Glenfarne County Leitrim. We stopped there at this time last year when the Bearcats did a similar tour and where we also saw a real rainbow in the sky above: (another magic sign from the Leprechauns who have something in common with rainbows; it is said that if you are lucky enough to catch a Leprechaun he will lead you to a pot of gold. We have yet to catch one on our tours of Ireland, or find the end of the rainbow, but we live in hope).
We drove down to Dublin in the driving rain and got to The Seamus Ennis centre in good time. The centre has been out of action for some time after suffering a serious fire but it has just been refurbished and it is looking good. Seamus Ennis was a famous Ulian piper who also collected Irish folk music in the last century in a similar way that Cecil Sharpe did in England and his statue sits outside the entrance to the centre. Irish folk music would not be the rich heritage it is today if Seamus had not spent many years wandering around the counties of Ireland writing down the local variants of the diddly dee he discovered. We were greeted by the co-ordinator Shane, who showed us around before we headed off in search of the guesthouse where we were supposed to be staying that night. We had clear directions but we were met with a road-block due to road works and after several attempts to get around it we had to phone the guesthouse and be guided in down dark lanes and murky marshes. Mitch’s cell phone bill must be enormous as it took at least 15 minutes to be guided in. I feared this was to be the first of many ‘Dads Army’ moments that we often encounter on our Bearcat trips; ‘what a fine mess you’ve got us into now Captain Mainwairing’. We only had time to pick up our keys before we were off to nearby Swords (Sord) for something to eat. Murray and I had veggie burger and chips; the Captain (Chris) had a steak; and Mitch had a real burger. The veggie burger was a bit tasteless, the milky sauce type containing mainly peas. I prefer the meaty Quarn type or even the burger king spicy bean-burger than this tasteless crap. Murray’s a vegetarian and though I am not I find it is very easy to become ‘meat bound’ when on tour so I take the opportunity to take the veggie option whenever I can.
We head back to the venue and do a sound check, which is relatively painless due perhaps to the lack of a drum-kit. Soon people are pouring in and though we don’t get a full house we end up with a healthy and very enthusiastic audience. This is the first time I’ve ever done a whole gig playing triangle and it was great fun. Not having drums seemed to suit the folk club atmosphere of the venue, which has recently played host to artists such as John Martyn, Martin Carthy, Tony MacMohan and the amazing Steve Cooney (who once said I was the best triangle player he had ever heard! He was new to Cajun music at that time). As the crowd disperse I end up talking to Shane about the state of Irish radio which used to be great but is now little better than British or Dutch radio. Years ago I used to holiday in Wales a great deal and it was always a pleasure to tune in to the many eclectic radio stations that used to broadcast out of Ireland. These days everything seems to be geared towards commercial interests, ‘the public wants what the public gets’ to quote Paul Weller. Here in Holland we have a decent Jazz station called ‘Arrow’ and that’s about it. Thank God for internet radio where I can get BBC radio 3’s Late Junction and Mike Harding’s folk show and stuff from all over the world. There is still a place for good eclectic airwave radio however and I guess we all miss the likes of John Peel, and similar progs on local radio like Terry Christian’s, John Kelly’s, and John Shaw’s shows.
After the gig we make our way back to the guest house where Mitch and I are sharing the bridal suite (very nice). We find out that an Irish suicide bomber has attempted to blow up Stormont, the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly. It seems like every time we come to Northern Ireland something politically momentous seems to happen. We were in Derry the night of the ‘Trick or treat’ Halloween night massacre in the Rising Sun bar in nearby Greysteel in 1993; Earlier that same year we were playing in Belfast the night of the London City bombing; We were up at the Giants causeway when 9:11 was happening; and here last year on tour when George Best died; and now ‘Stone Storms Stormont’. Notorious terrorist Michael Stone nearly blows up the Northern Ireland government! And it’s all somehow tied up with the fact that the Bearcat Cajuns are back in town. Anyroad, we all sit around drinking whiskey and beer, discussing this and watching the gurls tout for phone sex on the satellite; (they seem to spend so much time up on that satellite and no-one ever phones, a thankless task, must be a bit like working on an oil rig as a mud logger, hi Bill!). Anyway it’s gone 3 am before we all settle down to sleep.
Message Thread:
« Back to thread