#tionol

[hortushorrei]

They are here in Meave's Room and it sounds like the wind is blowing over from Ireland! 😍☘ #tionol #irishmusic #uilleannpipes #gregoriobellodi #maeveclancy #weekendcourse #associazioneculturalereadingretreatsinruralitaly #lamacchinafissa #musicintheair🎶 (presso La Macchina Fissa) https://www.instagram.com/p/CcIFsSKoMcs/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[444names]

the entire neo-sindarin dictionary + itself put into chaoticshiny.com/langreplace melodic 1 and with all instances of "w" erased

Accill Ackne Adorons Aelluauun Aeronjauun Aetesuk Akectiest Ammoncaul Andolullit Aririiken Aterocir Aucrau Auffelf Auffs Augere Aulcondon Aulph Aulukring Aulunj Aumon Aumpmereg Auonaby Auorch Auriift Auronj Aurusu Aurzonj Ausond Aussuk Auurn Auzrul Avraukaun Bableme Barlli Bedins Beledhulof Benind Benmol Bersh Beting Braze Brity Cammu Candem Carnawn Caudder Caukroukly Caunk Caunul Cauorimpul Caversh Ceing Chauoss Chocaushon Chuon Churcu Ciish Cimminn Cimphuint Cionsraur Cisfecenur Cithae Cleas Clecterb Cleroush Cletch Clinnern Conos Conum Corauros Corts Counchun Covore Cronj Cuppy Cusun Daint Dandes Danss Deakeo Defirn Dhulauon Difelchauk Dreze Droaunnith Duidet Dúlattleck Eaggy Eakim Earyssic Eatiossu Eclet Egark Eidecop Eiefour Elathauss Eleaperess Ellik Ellind Emmoga Eneor Enkurilal Enoushoz Ensos Erneron Essonj Excem Expate Fatiwdickl Faukz Fauling Fauonne Fauorb Fegol Felemed Felizaug Fiferen Findle Fizul Flaegail Flaucssukz Flaunt Flauth Folau Foloaphil Folonr Fonollaur Forday Forethau Founch Fregoeryal Fullis Gaethuroil Ganten Gelausc Gladhauel Glaul Glaun Glaus Glimlaurk Golinc Grour Guauk Gwandierew Gweau Gwiere Gwinu Haben Hanweler Haujil Hauph Hauuzu Heath Heathirem Helcha Hently Herle Heycor Hitionks Hoile Hokhoody Holdre Hoshir Hosing Huaujiirce Huauns Huauus Hukozullu Hulcon Hunal Idagned Iilight Innusuul Inthia Ioncusrook Irenk Irithride Irringlosj Irruzu Izrariple Jiiml Jilem Jilethos Jirrieres Jirsthisor Jissauojhs Jizur Jrawmaush Jukedib Junauzu Jurived Kaucs Kaught Kescuithig Kintirm Kiolzur Kosheo Koson Koudhenesh Kraueje Krauss Kukau Kullio Kuluk Kunoshae Kurchun Kírous Lacky Lartneth Laulosur Launliufu Laust Leadan Lemonj Lemspin Lidis Liked Likhuit Limmay Lions Lishîr Lithir Lithis Locifik Lodiss Lonculph Loodravros Lopeal Louting Lozausho Lozuorop Lronju Lukectalph Lunauushun Lussraust Lusup Líshauok Lórenettle Mablumlruv Manconj Mantinedig Mathir Mausull Meniciel Mesipled Mestory Miling Mirnau Mithau Mokurs Míroback Naryssu Naufaun Naunly Naunstreth Nesgaed Niend Niessauok Ninindy Nishaujish Njudgen Noronju Nurrun Nusollu Nuzus Nínunin Núkaurs Oadfurod Olauth Omlli Onjew Onorch Oring Orliun Ornaulleek Ossated Osseamaus Outor Pectoot Penen Pernu Phauershus Phhur Phirgarful Phlaum Phoraidel Phphh Phugarked Phulu Phunlincu Pilic Pindess Pirnessreb Poemavem Pordwed Poshor Prennaess Pring Prions Proire Purrilk Raguns Rauchud Rauffned Raully Raushons Rausu Readh Reatecs Reent Refes Repirm Rhipet Rhuruaul Rhúlrau Riatedil Riduia Rieslagilf Rimothies Rionuk Romphaunt Ronnew Rophorm Routempl Ruiaun Rujraduing Rumavn Runin Rúshrenme Rúthor Satify Saujin Saully Saunel Sauos Sauphlash Sauphírd Saurelim Sauruts Sausonj Sauunslad Scein Seenest Sefinss Seflawn Semist Sempen Seneenoson Seockonj Seter Sevantras Shaulchor Shaun Shauonj Sheruivel Shinsr Shirussu Shison Shrentrau Shuss Sikphlooth Silly Skurusonk Slast Snoraf Snustol Sornunts Sozur Specirsaun Sphering Sphirin Sphôr Squiter Sruffuul Srujiist Srunk Ssauk Sslaus Ssoing Ssojnus Ssrive Stage Sterroin Steven Stionj Stobbethor Strearad Streg Suarunaur Sunur Surssuss Suruch Suuns Swaid Sújau Taeber Tallau Talthrounu Tamalvally Tarwartant Tastrant Taulos Teaverth Thadenj Thass Thauncu Thedo Thittedins Thlaudh Thoauuk Threaver Thwer Tionol Touted Trowil Tuieraw Twisga Túgolos Uccom Uchau Ucurik Ukhres Ukintap Ulshir Ummin Unkuch Urryth Ushallof Ushiph Usiconj Usphi Usunna Verevn Verthsur Wanwed Watin Weechauukz Werand Willuau Wirshau Yeaurfaunk Zusur Újauullown Ýkaun

[theloniousbach]

COUCH TOUR: KEVIN VANDERMARK/INGRID LAUBROCK & TOM RAINEY, NEW MUSIC CIRCLE, 12 JANUARY 2021

I have tried to make a point of following this series, both in person BEFORE with Jamie Branch, Nicole Mitchell, and Matthew Shipp and NOW with Angel Bat Dawid. I would have seen Kevin Vandermark with Eric Revis and Kris Davis but it got canceled as such things were in 2020. But I will see Davis with Immanuel Wilkins later in the week but forewent seeing her and the Borderlands Trio over the previous weekend. This show was my focus.

New Music is a vehicle for such music as the above—and had I been paying attention I would have seen Mary Halvorson who is intriguing if not ingratiating. Often it isn’t ingratiating, but there are charming and surprising moments. So it pays to pay such attention.

Vandermark opened with Sun Ra’s Englightenment on baritone sax and it had those essential Ra-ness without the overhead of the larger band. That was revelatory. So was Tom Rainey’s wonderfully inventive drumming throughout his set with Ingrid Laubrock. He was active, full of inflections, intense at whispering volumes, a whole band.

Vandermark was solo from around his house. On Laubrock’s Covid Ditty on a very busy clarinet, on tenor for Loom (using one of his many active contributions to the community of the chat stream to appreciate Albert Ayler), and the sonic possibilities of the bass clarinet on Left of Field. It literally was home-y with him talking about his paintings and being accessible to the community he is part of as a fan and participant. Rather like my experiences with the Focal Point and Tionol in traditional folk music, performers are both accessible and know their audiences are engaged and knowledgeable.

Laubrock with Rainey opened on tenor for Vandermark’s 3/4 of the Time dedicated to Sonny Rollins and Han Bennik. She played both tenor and soprano on compositions by her or both of them. Microscopic Woodstock was soprano and it had subsonic elements that were indeed microscopic.

Again Rainey was just stunning throughout, listening to her sensitively and adding so much to the overall experience. Her album with Kris Davis, Blood Moon, is similarly inventive and ear stretching, but, to use that term, surprisingly ingratiating.

This is not where I live musically, but I do visit rather frequently. Frequently enough to know that opportunities like this exist and that I benefit from paying attention.

[lexiconjure]

tionoming

n. [mass noun] a disease caused by a specialized form of tionol for making tin-making.

tionomine n.

[theloniousbach]

LUNASA, THE FOCAL POINT, 26 FEBRUARY 2020

I have, in the past, been a year round Irish wannabe, not just a St. Patrick’s season one.  Traditional Celtic music on some occasions has been my go to virtuosic instrumental outlet.  Its canon is like the standards and Great American Songbook of jazz; its players are skilled and dexterous and inventive; its heritage and lore are deep.  I had enough of a CD collection and breadth to fill in on KDHX’s “Ireland in America.”  I dipped my toe in the water of sessions with enough skills to know jig from reel, G major from D modal (mostly) and a set of tricks, go to moves.  I still use them at Morris practice (all in G except for a very occasional E minor).  But as I settle into jazz and European Tradition Art Music (only a little of it is actually “Classical”), when I opt for Celtic it’s more often Scottish or even Breton or Asturian or the not even Celtic of Nordic music.  

But Irish music came first in my music education and I have oh so fond memories of Focal Point shows with Kevin Burke and John Skelton, of our Tionol including volunteering (by just showing up) as assistant stage manager, and nights at McGurk’s.  So the chance to see Kevin Crawford (probably even a cut above Skelton on flutes and whistles, a close competitor for wit and quickness, and almost as big ears, taste, and curiosity) and his band, even in the middle of a busy week, I carpe’d it.

It’s a grand band.  Cillian Valley is a first rate uilean piper and low whistle player.  He had some nice compositions—jigs for his daughters in the first set and his nicely off kilter “Road to Bargia” (I’m guessing it was in 7) to open the second set.  He’s a worthy foil for Crawford.  Colin Farrell is a solid fiddler and an essential part of the sound as is Ed Boyd’s guitar.  Farrell’s tunes in the second set for his dogs were very fluid and modern. Trevor Hutchison’s bass is distinctive and easy to overlook, but don’t.

But it’s Crawford’s band, his aesthetic and bonhomie.  There’s a bit of a Johnny Cunninghamesque twinkle, wit, taste, and breadth, not quite as manic.  Still we got more than jigs and reels, though we got plenty of those too.  But there were riddees from Brittany, marches (one for the Battle of Bellyogan, a fight with his ex) Scots pipe tunes, an old timey tune learned from Tim O’Brien, a karaokesque version of Dougie McClean’s “Caledonia” before a set that included one of his fiddle tunes, a Pierre Bensusan tune composed after an abortive trip to Ireland to collect tunes when all the musicians were over here making money off the St. Patrick’s punters (“The Last Pint” after all the time stuck in pubs without music and “as sick as a small hospital from all the drink).   It’s his band but each player save Hutchison had at least one showcase and made key contributions to the band’s book.

But it’s his band.  He will drive the melody for the first A and B but then play against it for the second and then take it apart for the final time.  It’s all sly, witty, and smart, pushing the boundaries but always keeping himself and the band under strict control.

I saw Lunasa once in a more formal setting and Crawford in sessions and small showcase ensembles at the last Tionol I was at.  But to see them from the third row, in the center but shading to the aisle with Valley and himself straight in my sight line is a reminder of just how magical Focal Point can be.

It might well be my Irish moment of the season and the year.  But it was magical indeed.

[theloniousbach]

50 Years of Going To Shows, Part 4: The ANGLO-CELTIC Hillbilly Connection

When Judy Stein, the Queen of Focal Point, had a KDHX show, “Family Reunion,” she said her brief was “the Anglo-Celtic-Hillbilly connection.”  That is, she aimed to trace how the music from the British Isles influenced traditional American music.  Both Focal Point and KDHX have had decisive impacts on my musical culture, debts that I can only imagine beginning to repay by being parts of those communities and being committed to sharing music.

This installment in this series on seeing live music for lo these many years then will center on the traditional British and Celtic music we’ve gone to largely via The Focal Point.  That music was the common ground Ellen and I settled on as the family music.  She had a deeper appreciation, but I found the virtuoso playing, tradition, and core repertoires that blues and jazz also have.Let me though start, as usual, with guitars and even what I might have thought was an unattainable relic of the long 1960s.

The Pentangle was a favorite—virtuoso playing, a jazz rhythm section, acoustic guitars, and an at the time deep and mysterious repertoire.  They were obscure enough to not have toured the American Midwest.  I would never see them.  Except I did, sort of: guitarists John Renbourn and Bert Jansch with pure voiced singer Jacqui McShee (Triangle?) played The Focal Point as did Renbourn and McShee as did Renbourn and Robin Williamson of the Incredible String Band as a follow up to their “Wheel of Fortune” album which was recorded at a Focal Point show (they said they should be The Incredible String Tangle).  And then several Renbourn solo shows (one with a borrowed guitar as an airline had done very bad things to his; another with 8 year old Sam falling asleep leaning on me during the second set; one I came home from KC for around my birthday, the last time I saw my father as he died in Scotland just a week later; and probably at least one more.)

John Renbourn was a hero and, as with many Focal Point artists, he became someone I kind of knew.  He played jazz and baroque, Celtic (Scottish gloom and doom, he called it) and British songs.  He was fluid and magical.  Larger than life as a 60s hero and a key part of the folk revival of the 60s (London version) and yet there he was.  St. Louis was a place to rest up mid-tour or start or finish.  To this day, I have a straw hat that he had while here in St. Louis for a stretch between legs of a tour in the summer time.  He had a similarly big head, so I could wear it too.  The John Renbourn hat has gone on many Lake Michigan vacations and kept the sun off me as I spend hours transfixed by the water.

Martin Carthy taught Paul Simon “Scarborough Fair” and is another giant of the London Folk Revival who is another old friend of Focal Point.  Son David helped arrange a small US tour for Martin so that he could play St. Louis for Judy and Eric Stein’s 50th Wedding Anniversary.  I think we saw him first with wife Norma Waterson and a then teen aged daughter Liza in the first iteration of Waterson: Carthy as well as once more and then a tour where Norma couldn’t travel.  Wonderful songs—spooky, ancient, and fun—from all three of them; his primordial modal guitar; Liza’s fiddle.I recall an earlier solo tour and one with old partner Dave Swarbrick too.  Swarbrick was in Fairport that time I saw them in KC opening for Weather Report, so I asked about that, pulling back the screen from those old days.  Carthy is a real student of the music, offering from the stage the same kind of background that sneak into discursive liner notes.  He’s warm and garrulous, but also charmingly compulsive, stopping/restarting tunes, including once three or more verses into a long ballad, if he’d made a mistake only he noticed.

Another giant/huge friend of Focal Point is Brian McNeill, a founder of the foundational Scottish band, The Battlefield Band.  Just last weekend, as I write this, he invited Gwen Harkey, to play a tune with him.  She’s a Morris Dancer because she comes along with her dad (Jay of the Wee Heavies whose second CD was produced by Brian) and little sister to Mississippi River Rats Border Morris practice.  I was at a folkie gathering that he came to with his fiddle and just sat down to play.Brian has played numerous shows, showcasing whatever thematic project he’s been writing songs about (the Scottish diasporae to both the Americas and Eastern Europe plus recovering episodes of Scottish history, frequently from the perspectives of the downtrodden, crafters, travelers, miners, other unionists.  There are fiddle tunes, guitar pieces (on Eric Stein’s wonderful Martin dreadnought) and songs, sometimes guitar, sometimes a beast of a bazouki.  He’s here every year, so sometimes I see him and sometimes I don’t.  We’re amazingly lucky that we can take him for granted.  But we shouldn’t and there will be a time when he won’t be back.

The first time I saw him though, I can only remember that it was just days after that Renbourn show and even fewer days after Dad died in Scotland.  Even Mom wasn’t back, so there was nothing to do but wait and be stunned.  So we held our tickets and went to see Brian with Dick Gaughan do a heavy Scottish and political show.  But I only know that I was there.

For a long time, fiddle players were the virtuoso soloists who regularly dropped my jaw.  Relatively early on we saw the original Celtic Fiddle Festival of Johnny Cunningham, Kevin Burke, and Christian Lemaitre: Scottish, Irish, and Breton playing each other’s tunes.  Lemaitre’s Breton music was ear opening, Celtic sure but with a little bit more.  I saw him later in KC on a reunion tour of Kornog and he came back with a later version of CFF (he had a broken bone in an arm, no cast but I’m sure in pain as he played) with Andre Brunet from Quebec and La Bottine Souriante replacing Cunningham who died way too soon.  Cunningham was amazing, clever verbally and musically, both perhaps as deflections from just how  brilliant his playing was.  Like his brother Phil (whom we saw just once with Aly Bain), his own records were overproduced just a bit, too many clever ideas cluttering the space.  But live, both of them would shine, a little bit of the simple taste showing through.

That was also the first time we saw Kevin Burke and he is just a giant.  He plays effortlessly so his brilliance sneaks up on you.  There are “wait a minute” moments where you catch yourself wondering how he just did what you heard while watching what seems like an easy session.  We saw him with Patrick Street (Andy Irvine, Jackie Daly, and the ubiquitous Ged Foley), with Daly on box, with Cal Scott, and solo at least twice.  Sam helped do sound at one of them and I got to stand at the back while he wrapped up cords while Burke put away his fiddle.  They stood by the stool that held things during the show symmetrically silhouetted by the back light, my kid chatting amiably and naturally with a commanding figure of this music.  In telling that story in a guided session on the lessons of stories, I came up with what is a pretty good slogan: “if you’re there and engaged, then you belong.”  I have gotten behind the scenes often enough to seem like an insider, but I should—but don’t—have imposter syndrome.   I’m just there and engaged.

That access to artists is such a gift from Focal Point.  It really is folk music, music made by folks for folks, without pretension or artifice. And being to witness that magic, in this case, at such close range has been a treasure.

St. Louis also has John D. McGurk’s as a nightly source of Irish music as it has been particularly even before I came to town in the early 1980s a key entry point for Irish musicians playing in the States.  The pictures on the wall attest to numerous giants on the music playing, too often over conversation, in this pub.  Early on Joe Burke, by then a box player, was the artistic director.  We stopped my on several Sunday or Monday nights for sets by Bernie and Barbara McDonald playing tunes, songs, and O’Carolan compositions.  Joe and Bernie were hosts of “Ireland in America” on KDHX, our community radio station.  I got myself FCC legal following in Sam’s footsteps and his apprenticeship on Judy Stein’s “Family Reunion.”  That was his four year high school community service project; then Ellen and I went for the three years he was in college.  I filled in for Judy and Bernie and now for shows for Americana and Eastern European music.  All have been part of my music education.

In more recent years, we trekked to McGurk’s to see box players like John Redmond, Peter Browne, and Johnny B. Connolly after they had been scouted out by friend Jesse who himself played at McGurk’s in the 1970s.  I remember magic from all of them.  Redmond and banjoist Darren Maloney weaving in and out of tunes together, realizing that no matter my enthusiasm I couldn’t get away with saying, “no really, the banjo AND accordion were amazing together.”  I’d probably get accused of liking bagpipes too—and I am guilty of that.  Peter Browne was some combination of bored and shy but he would jam very odd noted phrases into seemingly simple jigs and reels.

Sam helped Eric Stein with sound for a couple of years at the Tionol, the Irish music festival with classes and concert.  I invited myself along (rationalization: he didn't drive) and hung out back stage.  Even after that rationalization past, I told myself I was helping stage manage by getting musicians lined up to go on stage.  So even more of the magic there and at the sessions at various pubs, particularly McGurk's on Sundays.  While the big names tended to gravitate together, there still were nifty moments of rank beginners and recording stars working through a tune set.  No matter what, there was that intimate informality where everyone was playing for themselves and the music itself.

One fixture has been John Skelton whom we saw twice with the House Band (always Chris Parkinson and Ged Foley, once with Roger Wilson) including a time when I announced them as Judy had lost her voice.  Skelton also brought in The Windbags, a pipes/whistles version of the Celtic Fiddle Festival that was remarkable in range and texture.  The guitarist was Tony Cuffe who was a treat himself and a great loss to cancer.But at the Tionol and in his shows, Skelton displayed great wit, always good for an annual polished joke.  But he too could do sessions with jokes--so we have played that game together.

Tionol's have brought in marvelous fiddle players like Liz Carroll and Tommy Peoples, too nervous to live up to the legend.

Martin Hayes is probably my favorite fiddler and I got to see him with Dennis Cahill at UMSL in November 2011, paying extra for a VIP ticket so that I could have the Focal Point experience.  He had said at a pre-show gathering that Celtic music owed more to Baroque counterpoint than blues based chord changes and that has triggered an extended study of that music as my starting point for European Tradition Art Music which I am vainly trying to establish as an alternative to Classical music.  Hayes did a wonderfully eclectic and extended tune set in the performance proper and then created another one on the fly with requests from the audience.  Since these tunes have multiple names, he didn't place the called out one so he asked for the first few notes and he placed it in two--or said he did.  My minute conversation was about his sympathetic interactions with Dennis Cahill and their ensemble sound, evocative to me of Bill Evans with his bassists.  He said they listened to Evans too.

I saw Aly Bain, the Shetland fiddler, once with his long-time band, The Boys of the Lough; once with Phil Cunningham; and once with Ale Moller, from Sweden's Frifot.  All were memorable--Phil's virtuoso piano accordion matching the fiddle in both skill and range of styles and influences; the Shetland/Sweden intersection is bracing and exhilarating; the Boys were always amazing in their own breadth.  Leader Dave Richardson's brother was a friend from the Missouri Botanical Garden so he had a connection with St Louis and Focal Point.  Cathal McConnell is a stunning singer and left handed flute player (he did a duo tour as he really needs a keeper); the box player we saw mostly, Brendan Begley had his own batch of songs; and they recruited another Shetland fiddler to replace Bain.

Besides the show with Bain, Moller was in with Frifot twice and widened my ears to all Nordic music.  In time, I've developed a sense of the variations in style and have seen the great Arto Jarvela with a young Finnish American band from Chicago.  And, the Danish Gangspil has played here these past two years.  Wonderful stuff.

The Boys and this whiff of Scandinavia (not really Celtic, but, as Leif Sorbye, leader of the Norwegian Celtic surf rock band and another long time friend of Focal Point say, Atlantic music is a better way to put it.Besides Tempest and the Bretons we've heard, the Asturian band Llan de Cubel won that style of Celtic music to our hearts.  LIke Breton, it is certainly Celtic—jigs/reels with the right instruments (fiddle, flute, pipes, even hand drums—but it is quirkily and naturally Spanish too.

At the heart of this catholic view of what Celtic music is is a real fondness, even preference for Scottish music.  Besides McNeill, we have seen the seminal band he helped found, Battlefield, at least twice, possibly three times.  I think it was twice with founding keyboard player Alan Reid and once with none of the original members during McNeill’s residency in town (he didn’t sit in the back).  While it wasn’t the Battlefield Band, it was good.

Another band that we’ve seen in a couple of iterations was Old Blind Dogs, twice with Jim Malcolm and once in the newer iteration.  Malcolm is stunning with powerful songs, his voice harmonizing with his DADGAD guitar and the band during the OBD days.  But Malcolm did at least three captivating solo tours through St. Louis.  There is something at least harmonically intriguing if not jazzy in his musical conception.

My family has been more attuned to songs than I, but I am the one who insisted they see the local a capella  quartet The Wee Heavies who sang a couple of tunes at Brian McNeill's set break.  He ultimately produced their second CD.  They have great songs, amazing arrangements, and a fun presence.

So does/did The Finest Kind whom we saw twice, including once when Ian Robb had no voice.  But in the presence of such singers, I'm impressed.  They built harmonies in impressive ways.  They were staying with Judy when the Morris Dancers came over to practice.  I saw them come out and created a song arrangement on the spot for one of the tunes they were dancing too.  It was stunning.

Ellen and Sam saw Louis Killen and then brought me along on a return tour.  A concert of unaccompanied solo singing was frankly a bit much.  But he was a giant of the repertoire, hugely influential, and kept singing after she transitioned as Louise.

Brian Peters came through a couple of times with engaging concerts of songs and box playing.  He probably was a school teacher, given his travel pattern and the thoughtful curation of his repertoire.  As impressive as his accordion is, he has an album of songs, “Sharper Than The Thorn,” that we got to hear most of one special night at Focal Point.

I should be a bigger fan of Richard Thompson than I actually am.  He’s a brilliant guitarist and songwriter, but also steeped in the traditions.  He wasn’t with Fairport the night I saw them open for Weather Report back in KC, so I only saw him on a very snowy night for the 1000 Years of Popular Song tour which implemented a brilliant conceit of tracing songs from “Sumer Ich Acumen” and an ancient ballad or two through Victorian music hall and Stephen Foster through vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley to some odd bits of pop songs including ABBA.  He had a percussionist, another vocalist, and his guitar, managing a very thorough sound somehow.

And, since guitars are where I start and stop, let me end with the amazingly fluid and versatile Martin Simpson.  He’s English and has that repertoire in hand.  But then he also has Celtic and American gospel music albums of the first order.  He spent enough time in New Orleans to record an album called “Righteousness and Humidity.”  He also does blues, playing slide in DADGAD, and Dylan.  So we saw him several times.

Let his eclecticism stand for this whole chapter of discovering music.

[theloniousbach]

Open The Door For Three, The Focal Point, 10 November 2017

Focal Point has always been magical for us as a family and it still does it’s mighty work now more than 40 years on.  There is a viable transition occurring and the magic continues.

For us though, not as frequently.  Last night was comfortably evocative of the good old days while extending the tradition.

Open The Door For Three is a new veteran band.  Kieran O’Hare has been through for Tionol’s and has recorded with long-time favorite John Skelton (House Band, Windbags, jokes).  Liz Knowles is a fiddler of renown who has showed up on lots of albums.  They are American born and equally inclined to mine collections of tunes well beyond the justly revered O’Neill’s.  They’ve come up with wonderful stuff, both ancient and fresh.  Knowles told about being taken to Cape Breton by O’Hare as somewhat of a test of their marriage early on.  But there’s tune collection from there too as that’s a powerful tradition that they also evoked.

The third of the Three is long-time friend of Focal Point and Tionols, Pat Broaders.  We saw him first with Bohola, a band of tune sets of glorious range of tempo and dynamics sometimes with songs in the middle.  But he was already known to FP artistic director Judy Stein who adopted him at John D. McGurk’s.  Broader’s music collecting includes stints at Judy’s album and CD collection.  I’ve learned from it too, directly and over the years from her KDHX show.  Last night he sang songs from Ewan McColl, Martin Carthy, and Len Graham that come from some of those albums.

Broader’s is playing a bouzar now.  It’s a bouzouki shaped like a cutaway acoustic guitar.  He has played a bass bouzouki which was a wonderful beast, but this one seems suited for the ensemble.  In any case he maintains both a drive and a subtlety that hearkens back to Bohola.

I knew of O’Hare’s flute and whistle playing from his duet albums with Skelton.  What was new last night was his piping AND his deft inclusion of multiple whistles in the same tune set.

Knowles not only played expert fiddle but had her own hybrid instrument.  A 5+4 sympathetic stringed cross between a Hardanger fiddle from Norway and a Baroque viola d’amore (no frets though).  It had a rich tone and depth that added much to the sound.

So a good fresh take on the Irish mostly and Celtic repertoire.

But it was also one of those nights when the people for whom this music matters in town just all had to be there.  The Mullins clan from the Tionol, the Riley’s session folks including sound man John Boldaun, young Brianna Brown with her father, old time-y guitarist/folklorist Jim Nelson, Tommy Martin, Eileen Gannon, old pals Dave Gilbert and Linda Williams were all there.

A newish motto of mine is “If you’re there and engaged, then you belong,”  born of an experience with Sam at a Focal Point concert with Kevin Burke. 

By that measure, we’re part of this ongoing Focal Point magic too.

[theloniousbach]

Tionol Concert at the Sheldon, May 16, 2011

April 18, 2011 at 7:38am     Going back to the days when I transported pre-drivers licensed Sam so that he could help Eric Stein do sound, I have been hanging around the Mississippi River Celtic Music Festival as a gofer, musician herder, and roadie.  I'm sure I'm generally useful, but it's mostly just fun to catch the little rehearsals, the cross-pollinating musician conversations, and watch things unfold from the Green Room.     In the earlier days, there were long hours of set up and learning the room (once with a white noise machine for some purpose that Eric certainly and Sam too it seemed understood but I didn't).  I'm sure Eric was there earlier than I but on all fronts, the process was smoother.  For Eric, Hillary from Troy, NY, was excellent help.  She's a musician and a sound person and so could handle mic placements and adjustments with knowledgeable precision.     Similarly, the catering process is simpler and well in hand.  Musicians know the town better and tend to have dinner out rather than rely on the back stage spread.  But it is still ample and I, at least, can make a meal of it.  But, again, the set up/clean up tasks are routinized  by now.     So, we really didn't have much sustained work to do until load out.  That made it possible to enjoy the first set in its entirety.  John Skelton opened with a fine set, including tunes on a rich low flute and a Breton showstopper (bomard included) for which Sandy Brown and Ged Foley joined in.  Ed Miller, the token Scot, sang his and Brian McNeill's anthemic "Prince of Darkness" (And when they asked if I was poor, I'd tell them, "Aye, sure,"/But they never had to teach me how to dream.).  Roger Landes did a wonderful selection of pipe tunes on solo bouzouki and then Tony Linane/Mary McNamara/Ged Foley did a fine set, marred only by the obligatory Irish dancers.  I stayed backstage for the first part of the second set, but came out for most of a fiddle/harp duet that we got to see rehearse on the couch in the Green Room.  The finale with Michael Cooney was extremely disappointing  as he even had trouble getting set up, bumped into mics, and played sluggishly.     Even having a scold backstage wouldn't have helped as the tone would have to be set at the recruitment/contract stage or in reorganizing the catering.  But the party is fun, even for a teetotaler.  I always make a point of swapping jokes with John Skelton and take satisfaction that my gleanings from Old Jews Telling Jokes are so successful with him.  We fell into helping Ed Miller with the Saturday New York Times crossword puzzle which frequently can be communal effort anyway.     So much fun.

[theloniousbach]

Tionol/Mississippi River Celtic Music Festival, Sheldon Concert Hall/McGurks, 20-21 April 2013

April 21, 2013 at 6:34pm St. Louis is such a great town for Irish music, with McGurk's serving as a key entry point by providing musicians virtual residencies.  Our community radio station had a show called "Ireland in America" founded by Joe Burke who was succeeded by Michael Cooney, then Bernie McDonald, and finally Tommy Martin (I am very proud to say that I filled in for Bernie several times and so am in that august company because I could play CDs which they could do as well as playing this music so wonderfully).  Focal Point too has been a concert home for Celtic music over its long tenure--and I have seen Patrick Street, Kevin Burke, Paddy Keenan, the House Band, and many others over the years.     Reliable legend has it that after some show and certainly over pints Michael Cooney, Judy Stein, and, most importantly, Mike Mullins conceived the idea of a festival with teaching--and Mike has pulled it off for over 15 years.  Sessions on Friday (and now a concert) at the Schlafly Tap Room, all day classes at Nerinx Hall High School, a concert at the Sheldon, and celebratory sessions at McGurks, both after the show and in the bleary afternoon have become the formula.     My personal formula goes back to when Sam was in high school and helping out around KDHX and Focal Point for the Steins.  He helped Eric with concert sound a couple of years, maybe even before he could drive.  In any case, I was there as chauffeur and, then, fill in for Sam and assistant stage manager to Judy even after Sam left town.  Except last year when she was studying in London, Katie has been along to pitch in and soak up the atmosphere.      Last night and today were my chances to hear this great music at close range.  We got there in time to help unload and set up the catering, help Eric a tiny bit with the sound, and do some backstage herding (though far less than in years past).  We were rewarded with hearing Michael Cooney plan and rehearse his contribution to the first set, recruiting Albert Alfonso to play bodhran in the process, and watch Kevin Crawford, Colin Farrell, and John Doyle rehearse their show closing set.  We saw reunions among musicians and musicians with Tionol staff.     Mostly we saw the program, starting with one quick witted, funny flute/whistle player (John Skelton) and ending with Kevin Crawford (equally witty and funny and flauty) with Doyle and Farrell.  In between was Cooney, John Carty, and Ed Miller (a Scotsman from Texas who pointed out that he followed an Englishmen from Kentucky, Skelton, who opened the show), and Cooney with Alfonso and later with Mary Walsh.  Good stuff all around.  It was a treat to see Doyle at such close range and wish that I could absorb more of his Drop D Guitar accompaniment DVD.     Today at McGurk's, I wasn't around for the all star session if it happened, but was quite happy to see Jesse and Katie with some of their Wednesday night pals from Riley's and others hold forth at a better time of day for me and smokelessly.     I guess I had my own session of jokes with Skelton and Ed Miller (whom I'm tickled to note jotted down "Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theater" to follow up with).  And joking with Skelton is perhaps my favorite part of the tradition.

    Great stuff.  Thanks, Mike and Judy.