Live Reviews
These are unedited Concert Reviews submitted to Dirty Linen in 1994 and 1995. Some were published, others not, all were edited to some extent. Anything cited that was published in Dirty Linen will need to be located in and cited as Dirty Linen.
Carla Sciaky
McGonigel's Mucky Duck
Houston,TX January 18,1994
Carla Sciaky ("See-ock'-ee...the most mispronounced name in the world.") is a small, soft-spoken woman from Denver She has a clear, melodic, delicate voice; a guitar; a fiddle; and a concertina. Although her elegant vocal style seldom changes, her repertoire is a cornucopia of divergence.
Camcorder lights blinded everyone for five seconds as Sciaky sang the first love song she ever wrote and then Channel 13 left us. Accompanying herself on guitar, she performed the Dillards' "The Whole World Round," a lovely song in a minor key; sang a weaving song from Paraguay in Spanish ("La Tejedora de Ñuandutí); fiddled while singing the traditional "Searching For Lambs," leading into "Bingsjö Polska" from Sweden (almost completely double stopped and quite a challenge, she said during break); exhibited the "miserable lament" of a lullaby ("Sprig of Time") used to lull her 21 month old daughter to sleep; sang her own "I'm Getting Used To Sleeping In My Nightgown Instead Of In Your Arms," her fragile voice seeming a bit inappropriate for the strong country tune and lyrics; lilted her own pretty and slow "Quarter Moon" in a contemporary folk style ("As the wind slips over your waters/ Sing to me sweetly, Superior..."); took a break for conversation; sang Mike Nesmith's "Propinquity," a lazy country-folk song that does suit her voice well; accompanied herself on concertina for her own, Olde English Style, "Evermore", written in a binge of depression resulting from too small audiences with too high expectations; harmonized with several of the audience on Stephen Foster's "Hard Times," she doesn't play a lot of clubs, mostly church basements turned coffee house, and this was a good, happy song for bars; concertinaed her own "Tiny Town Jig," then "Music For A Found Harmonium," stark and primitive without the backing afforded Jackie Daly and Sharon Shannon's more sophisticated reeds; sang her own "Insomnia Blues" and Townes Van Zandt's "...happiest song, 'I'll Be Here With the Morning'"...and I've left out half the program.
Andy Stewart & Gerry O'Beirne
McGonigel's Mucky Duck,Houston,TX
April 19,1994
Andy Stewart, late of Silly Wizard, has a "definitive" Scots voice. My husband, who owns many John Prine and Greg Brown LP's, claims that Stewart is "one step from an Irish tenor," and it must be a big step, because I had no difficulty convincing him to drive to Houston with me, to hear "Rambling Rover."
Stewart accompanied himself on guitar on "Queen Argyle," but otherwise courted perfection only as a singer. Best received were humorous pieces: "The Errant Apprentice" and "The Humours of Whiskey" (Or panther p--s, as he said they call it in Kentucky) and, most notably, an a capella "Dinny the Piper," the song in which the Hessian's legs come off with the boots and everyone thinks the cow ate the piper. Beginning in a dead pan and becoming more animated through the evening, Stewart, with a subtle dark edge to his voice, told stories of Scottish/ American misunderstandings. Here was a theater guard who complemented, "You guys speak real good English," an Alaskan Scottish Society who provided an "authentic Scottish evening" to a bear-meat-hungry band, and a family of flying Scots who put their heads next to the earphone jacks to save the price of 'phones. Also performed were several songs from the "new album" (which I do not yet own), including "The Man In the Moon" and "Sweet Kingstown," as well as old tear-jerkers like "Golden Golden" and the rousing "Haughs o' Cromdale."
Gerry O'Beirne's diaphanous "American" voice and crystalline, abstract imagery provided a contrast to Stewart's solid, traditional-based brogue and lyrics. One of his songs was about County Clare, where he is from; another about a blue ocean. Mostly, he backed Stewart with bright, complex 6 and 12 string guitar, producing a slow Delta slide for "The Lakes of Ponchartrain," <it sounded Hawaiian to me> and waterdrops for "Island of Sorrows." O'Beirne became the "Bad Boy of [slow] Ukelele" for a Stewart song about a corn crick; I'd seen him in March with The Sharon Shannon Band, playing the uke with incomparable speed and passion.
The encore was "Rambling Rover." The audience knew it and was transformed into a mass of singing rowdies...
Bill Staines with Bill Cade
Anderson Fair, Houston, TX
June 1994
Bill Cade, a substantial, disarmingly cynical man with a guitar, a flat Texas accent, and an efficient baritone, opened. He sang about Cars Without Engines, Rodeo Waitresses, and Dallas Alice, as well as offering an a capella "Hard Times." Seemingly surprised at the audience's rapt attention, Cade commented, "Thank ya, most places I play they don't care about the words; hell they don't even care if there's music."
"How y'all doin'?" Bill Staines, dapper in his straw hat, had spent about an hour standing and chatting between Anderson Fair's small bar and small kitchen. He should have been hoarse already, but he was not. Beginning with "Rodeo Rose," Staines asked the audience not only to join the choruses, but to sing "the harmony parts." I myself had memorized many of the songs on "Wild Wild Heart" back in '87, but these folks (mostly the sopranos) were surely ahead of me.
Much of the program was LP Golden Oldies: "Sweet Wyoming Home," the aforementioned "Wild Wild Heart" ("A kid in Minnesota once requested the song that goes "I threw up with my face in a roadmap'...makes sense!" ), "Rivers of Texas," "All Gods Critters," "Roseville Fair," and "The Black Fly Song." "Where does the Love Go?" was "brand new", on the schmaltzy side, and stylistically in keeping with his earlier songs. Staines' favorites, however, seemed to be those created as soul-selling promotions for a well known railroad, including "Buffy's Cafe" written for a video. To paraphrase the introduction, "I envisioned it as a Texas roadhouse and it turned out to be more like a Denney's." He kept cracking up (in laughter) during this song, and I believe this was the turning point, the metamorphosis from a mellow gentleman into an exuberant friend who told stories about middle age antics...like coming home from a tour and dumping his clothes into the toilet instead of the clothes hamper. "My brains are leaking out." The audience empathized.
It was a pleasure to listen to a man in love with everything and everywhere (well, maybe not North Platte, NE), from our own beloved muddy Brazos to Cut Bank, Montana. Staines' unique Texas New Hampshire old timey voice could make even poor lyrics sound perfectly suitable; funny, though, that the better lyrics have made the "hits." Staines was responsible for most of the quick and interesting guitar strumming and picking, although Brian Wood (deja vu) added a subtle second guitar. From the audience, it seemed that imperfect mixing made the instrumental work stand out, sounding richer than Staines' vocals. Going back and listening to old Staines LPs, well, maybe that was just the way it was supposed to be.
The encore was "Goodnight," a Bahamian funeral song, said he. The audience was split into a four part harmony.
The Jink & Diddle School of Scottish Fiddling
Valle Crucis, NC
July 3-July 8,1994
Scottish champion fiddler and pibroch humorist John Turner teaches an annual school in the mountains near Boone, North Carolina. Rapid sight reading is stressed; this year the class covered "Thirty Seven New Reels and Strathspeys..." by Daniel Dow. The group of 25 very amiable students ranged from three children from Iowa City to a fireman from Nevada to a pre-school teacher from Long Island to a five-string sorceress from Charlotte.
During the day, Turner gave ungraded group lessons, our "orchestra" playing each tune as a slow air, a reel, and a strathspey (the characteristic rhythm bugbear of Scottish fiddling). The pace was set by the contra dance and chamber group musicians. "Ear" and "kitchen" players puttered along on airs and waltzes; the national competitionists and professional musicians yawned and polished their techniques. This wasn't exactly the place to learn beginning violin; however, several scholars circumvented the fiddle altogether and played hammered dulcimer, cittern, flute, or recorder. After dinner, the class picked from tunes informally xeroxed by Turner. The evening repertoire remains the same each year and the veteran scholars...about half the class were "returns"...had the advantage of several years of practice. Lessons were flavored with advice on ornament, stories and facts about Scottish music, and an ear-splitting demonstration by a piper from "up the hill." We also had 15 minutes a day of "private lessons," the topic at the student's discretion.
A fun event was scheduled each night after practice. We set off fireworks. Moira Turner led a Scottish Country Dance ("Now I know why we all took up the fiddle," someone commented.) There was a joint celidh with the piping school up the hill; I will long remember the Welsh cowhorn pipes and the pipeband garbed in towels. Our orchestra, conducted by our 6'6 kilted stomping leaping teacher, opened the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games. Even later in the evenings, there were informal sessions that included Ukrainian-Scottish tunes in the barn, a several hour long Turner solo concert on the porch (including a virtuoso "Parcel of Rogues"), and a general session that lasted til 3 A.M.
Although merciless towards "canned accordion," "brains deadened by television," and references to his performances as "Irish music," John Turner offered only kindness and encouragement to his students. Complaints were few (They never seemed to have enough unsweetened tea in the cafeteria line...), and the consensus was that the group sessions worked well. It was Turner's largest class, and he claimed that it had been his best. "...Everyone seems interested, and I think I have gotten the concept of the strathspey across to all of you."
Hair of the Dog
McGonigel's Mucky Duck,Houston,TX
July 14,1994
He got no need for synthesized music
Got no use for electric pipes
-"1-900-HOT-PIPE"
Austin's Hair of the Dog is one of a small, elusive (try and find a recording...) cadre of Texas Nuevo Celtic bands. This "high voltage Irish" group substantially integrates modern classical music into its multinational repertoire, blending into traditional Irish music the energy of an enthusiastic rock band and the sophistication of An Evening with Bartok. The critical member of Hair of the Dog is David Perales ("that Mexican guy") whose violinistry is as fluid (slippery, even) as Guinness on Saturday night. For you Austin watchers, there are parallels with Susan Voelz who has played with Austin-generated Alejandro Escovedo and Ingrid Karlkins.
Overheard: "It's great how they draw from so many influences."
"Yeh, and they keep getting better and better."
This little pub concert sputtered through eight or nine songs, including "Take Her In Your Arms"/"Cumla" and "You're Not Irish" before it got off the ground, thanks to the bartender who at last "fixed the mix." The first really good song was "Hot Pipes", a tribute to Hair of the Dog's reality anchorman, uillean piper Jimmy Carpetas. Wes Pascoe (from Brooklyn!?) ejected lyrics like an oil field roughneck announcing a blowout. The band subsequently performed "Stand By Nancy" (country pop), "Toreador" from "Carmen" (with bodhran and dulcimer) attached to Copeland's "Hoedown," "#1" (a klezmer tune), "The Town I Have Loved So Well," "An eastern one," "Take 5," "On the Wagon Again," and a traditional Irish tune instantaneously welded to a Dvorak Slavonic Dance. End of song Bartokian improvisations grew longer and longer with band members migrating onto tables in the audience. Parales' bow slid faster and faster, and Dr. Odai Johnson with his light bouzouki nearly floated off the stage.
The band has a few areas to work on: the "choreography" seemed a little self-conscious, and Pascoe's attempt at being an Irish tenor (or maybe baritone) on "Wild Colonial Boy" was not very successful (or audible). On the whole, however, Hair of the Dog gave a very nice concert...much better than I had expected for a "regional" band.
Limpopo (or The Four Igors)
McGonigel's Mucky Duck,Houston,TX
August 23,1994
odin, dva, tri, chateree This crazy LA Russian street band is a favorite at McGonigel's. Without an advance ticket, I had to sit back where the barmaids stash their trays, until a table against the stage opened up. Joining me was a woman who'd just visited her daughter at the embassy; she assured me that Limpopo's performance was typical of Moscow street bands.
Opening with a solemn and robust Georgian Voices 4-part harmony, Limpopo rapidly switched to a jaunty dance beat highlighting Igor Khramov on trombone. Then came "Klava" (a love song...shoo-bee-doo-bee), and "a very authentic Ukranian song." "We will dance for you," Limpopo said, eventually tying itself into a huge human knot. The ensuing schizophrenic program included Dark Eyes ("Ochi chernia..."), "My Husband the Sailor," "La Bamba/Twist and Shout," "The Volga Boatman," a nice lullaby, a lovely a capella Armenian song, "Let's Twist Again Like We Did Last Summer," and, as an encore, Asleep At the Wheel's "Miles and Miles of Texas."
In a teaspoon, Limpopo's repertoire ranged from the sublime to the very silly. Igor Yuzov combined the voice of a Russian John Raitt with the aura of Weird Al. He was prone to retrieving attractive stage dance partners from his thick cadre of listeners. Acoustic bass player Igor (Oleg) Bernov (sometimes moonlighting on the giant balalaika) repeatedly raised his eyebrows with feeling at various people in the audience. Chromatic accordionist Igor (Yuri) Fedorko, wearing bells on his ankles, almost constantly danced percussion, along with occasional and phenomenal handsprings and squat kicks. He put the accordion down for the handsprings. I have never seen anything like it; it was a never dull moment. Our sort of audience usually disavows this sort of slapstick, but not on this occasion.
Westfest"They had the nuclear polka band there. It cut across generational lines. A woman, maybe in her seventies, dressed in her Czech costume, was shaking hands with this grungy looking saxophone player. The cops were asking for autographs." -An Innocent Bystander
I listened to Denton's Brave Combo play a polka ("gee, they sound like the rest of the polka bands, only louder!"), a waltz, "In Heaven There Is No Beer," and "The Chicken Dance." The outdoor dance floor was densely packed, especially for "The Chicken Dance." (Some folks did "The Chicken Dance" right on their own tables.) Then I grabbed my five year old, who was busy throwing sand onto the cement dance floor, and we in turn grabbed onto "The Cumbia Train." Wasting no time, the band announced, "Make sure on this waltz you're holding someone close...someone who is real hot and sweaty." We joined a heterogenous group for "Anniversary Waltz" and "I Can't Help Falling In Love With You <"Take my hand..."...is there another name for this?>." The temperatures had soared into the high nineties with adjacent humidities, and I soon felt like the interior of a kolache oven. My now unruly partner and I sat down, but most of the dancers, fired by pivo, kept right on going, as did the musicians. "I think I'm growing mud on my arm," said a band member.
Preceding Brave Combo, through the Saturday lunch (potato pancakes and pivo) hours, was Alpenmusikanten from the Dallas area. Characterized by Lederhosen, yodeling, and a buzzy sax, they valiantly played polka favorites like "Edelweiss," "The Old Susannah Schottische," "The Clarinet Polka" and "The No Beer Medley." Their repertoire also included "Spanish Eyes," "She's Too Fat For Me," and "Wooly Bully." When they played "Spansih Eyes, they wore sombreros.
The Scandi Group of Dallas, a group of older folks, nicely performed Scandinavian dances. The Czech Folk Dancers of West, whom I thought were wonderful at Czech Fest in March, were again wonderful. They took a break from their well synchronized kicks and leaps for several of the beautifully costumed members to present their recent babies..."the next generation of Czech dancers!"
We also tried to listen to The Jodie Mikula Orchestra, a slick outfit from Ennis who'd attracted the local polka club. Unfortunately, soon after we sat down they took a thirty minute break, but what we heard sounded like good solid polka music. By the way, the orchestra is currently organizing a polka cruise.
William Pint & Felicia Dale
October 11,1994
McGonigel's Mucky Duck,Houston,TX
Although publicly designated by a member of the McGonigel audience as "Surf & Turf," Seattle's Pint & Dale perform mostly Songs of the Sea. William Pint as a rule leads with the wonderfully deep, rich voice one would expect from a Sea Chanteyman, accompanying himself on guitar and mandolin. Felicia Dale adds with her more delicate but sometimes ruthless voice and her hurdy-gurdy. It is the omnipresence (omnipotence?) of the hurdy-gurdy that makes Pint & Dale unique.
Equipped with an easygoing stage presence and an abundant sense of humor, Pint & Dale began with "Hearts of Gold" and followed with an array ranging from French sea chanteys to "Catherine," a bagpipe jig on whistle and guitar. Emma especially liked "The Wreck of the 'Lady Washington,' a parody commemorating the voyage of a Tall Ship up the Columbia River...cut short by collision with a railroad bridge. P&D claimed that the first time they performed "'Lady Washington,'" a customer leapt up to say "I was there! I was on that ship!"...quite a surprise. Judith liked their stark and eerie material. The not yet released "Tryphina's Extra Hand," a turn-of-the century poem by C. Fox Smith set to music, was just in time for Halloween. Two traditional songs, "I Can Hew [Ike and Hugh...two coal miners]," and "Pump Shanty" effectively highlighted Pint & Dale's vocal strengths. Also performed were Sara Davis' "The Wreckers ("a real doozie" picked up on their English tour)," Jerry Bryant's ode to the Norwegian marathon rowers "Harbo and Samuelson," and "All his other wives..." We never learned the name of that last one, which described an unusual funeral; "the last time we played that one was at the funeral home," said Pint & Dale.
Towards the end, William Pint broke two subsequent guitar strings, and while they were being replaced, Felicia Dale sang "Willie Taylor." "That was the first time I've ever done a solo!" she announced. Her major passion appeared to be the hurdy-gurdy. During break, we joined other listeners up by the stage for a demonstration, and were invited to press down keys while Dale cranked the handle. Again, after the performance, she invited, "Who's ready for a hurdy-gurdy workshop?" What a lovely concert.
Old Blind Dogs
McGonigel's Mucky Duck,"Hooston",TX
October 28,1994
"'Let us be lovers, we'll marry our fortunes together, I have some cigarettes here in my bag...'"
Ian Benzie, traditional Scottish vocalist and guitarist, sported the countenance of a noted botanist out on the town. He compulsively gave false starts, the other Dogs wincing at Hits of the Baby Boomers and "Okie from Muscogee." Dave Cattanach, visually more suited to Boiled In Lead, set the mood of OBD with consistent Scottish conga drumming and occasional jingle bells. Buzzby Macmillan slipped into the background like a good electric bass player. Emma, a member of the Ace of Bass Generation, commented on the large volume of low notes being welded into the total product. Johnny Hardie did much of the sparse talking, noting the semantic differences between "Hanged" and "Hung" ...which are apparently more pronounced in Scotland. He proved to be one of the most methodical and least idiosyncratic Scottish fiddlers I've seen, surprising because of his streamlined showiness on OBD CDs.
"Well, they were awfully shy to begin with...," commented Emma. But they were nice. OBD was a low key bunch, and perhaps because of this, their live music seemed less raucous than would be imagined from their recordings. The nevertheless vivacious songs were the favorites of much of the audience and included "The Twa Corbies," "Siege of Delhi"/"Bennachie" ("The Gattie," as Judy understood it), "Bedlam Boys," (four stars) and "Pretty Peggy-O." Benzie accompanied his unshakable Voice From the Lochs on guitar for a nice, quiet "Westron Wind" and a song that went "Lay ye doon love..." Amongst the instrumentals were "J&B Reel" and "MacPherson's Rant" (hence the hung fiddler). Some unfamiliar tunes (to us, at least) described the use of mercury to treat syphilis and skillfully imitated buzzards. The band encored with a pretty silly "Blue Bell Polka" and a smile.
"Thank y'all," added Hardie, delighted that he'd "pulled that off...Where's all the big hats tonight?"
The Austin Kelzmorim
McGonigel's Mucky Duck Houston,TX
November 12,1994
"'We don't hire Klezmer Bands...I book the band and that's what they keep telling me," grumbled bandleader Bill Averbach. McGonigel's had booked The Austin Kelzmorim for two shows on Saturday night. I attended the early No Smoking show.
The Austin Klezmorim was made up, at least for the evening, of Averbach, who talks a lot and underpins with a jazzy trumpet; Mike Maddux, who is partial to playing Latin rhythms on a fragile looking Castiglione accordion; punk rocker (or so they said) David Levy on drums; Howard Kalish, a "country fiddler" playing, according to my table companion, "Jean Luc Ponty violin;" and Mark Rubin, a throwback to the fifties, juggling (figuratively) acoustic bass and tuba. Rachael Rhodes provided the vocals. Rhodes is not exactly a high soprano, and by avoiding this and other tea-sipper components, balalaikas, for example, and also by leaning on a heavy jazz background, the band presents a heavier, more solid sound than some other Klezmer ensembles.
Averbach was careful to point out which of the recordings- Texas Klez or East Of Odessa (derived from a conversation with a couple of newly arrived Russians: "You play that tune like they do in Odessa." "I didn't know they knew this stuff out in West Texas...") or even Shalom, Y'all, which is out of print- each selection came. The first decipherable tune was "Zeltser Wasser," a "traditional klezmer tune," followed by "Bulgar in d minor," "influenced by Mingus." Rhodes belted out "Birobidjan," a rather exotic audience favorite for which the band became quite loud, mixing Vaudeville with Stephane Grappelli. She wailed "Mayne Rue Plats" to Averbach's slow, passionate horn solo. Janice Ruben [Reuben? Roobin?] from Houston sang "Greene Kosine" (about a newly arrived immigrante...a green cousin, I guess) in a style much too Fiddler On the Roofish for my taste, as well as "Tum Balalaika," which some of us learnt from Mrs. Brown in 3rd Grade. They played quasi-tangoes, a Sephardic tune and the famed "#29." David Levy played a spoon tune. Maddux put his customers to sleep (intentionally) with an accordion solo.
So how does the Czar brush his teeth? The fiddler told a patron afterwards that they play mostly parties and weddings. The band sold quite a few CD's.
The North Texas Irish Festival
Fair Park,Dallas,TX
March 3-5,1995
Open House
McGonigel's Mucky Duck, Houston TX
March 7,1995
My <teenaged?> daughter Emma and I drove to Dallas on Saturday morning. Mother Nature was contributing to the "largest Irish festival in the Southwest" by simulating an Hibernian winter: cold and wet and miserable. Despite the weather, Celtophiles poured in. Cheerful strolling leprechauns and street musicians, however, were sparse.
Dunfy's Corner was on stage in a warm building. This Dallas bluegrass-Celtic band blended the two styles smoothly and effectively on "Young Ned of the Hill" and "A-Live A-Live O." Ann Purdy played flute in a lovely dreamtime mode, Matt Darr on fiddle leaned heavily toward the double stops, and David Walker stood out amongst the "Regional" Irish singers with his sturdy vocals...We stopped by for the finale of Houston's beloved Ceili's Muse, back from their tour of Ireland. Characteristically oblivious to the misfortune of an outdoor stage, these three woman (and their male bass player) were effervescently singing "All Around My Hat," weaving very comely sound tapestries. Ha! Typically one cannot predict whether the tapestry will depict a Medieval garden or those bulldogs playing poker! The Muses wore strange hats, including one large fish...perhaps the Trout Fishing In America of Celtdom!!! Also outside were The Chief Tones, pictured as Chihuahuas in the programme, but human in reality. Despite an original goofiness, they were a very pleasant and charming instrumental band, playing traditional reels on uillean pipes, bodhran, flute and bouzouki.
Headliner and Budweiser Tenter Seán O'Neill is a three time Northern Ireland Piano Accordion champ. He and his two companions sang and played (on accordion, guitar, and tambourine) the old pub songs. Audience members swayed and clapped to "I'll Tell Me Ma," "Take Me Home To Mayo," "a few Rebel songs there...some simple reels...now if you can dance as fast as I can play accordion, you'll end up with legs as pretty as mine." O'Neill and friends were debonair, quite a bit of fun and we really enjoyed them. They were a best bet for the Polka enthusiast.
Patrick Ball performed in the warm inside, after having been finally found in the kitchen with a large sandwich (!!!). Ball is half story teller, half harpist, beautifully smooth at both professions. "It's like Ireland here...," he began, and commenced the Story of the Murphy twins. Ball then, in a seamless turn to his Celtic harp, played "Si Beag Si Mohr," and summarily, as if he were confiding individually to each listener, launched the Story of the Man whose Dog had Died Several Years Earlier and Still Mourned...We went outside again to see Ed Miller of Austin and Edinburgh holding down the fort for Alba on the Unenclosed Audience Stage. His audience sat huddled at picnic tables, insulating themselves with American beer. NTIF regular Miller seems perpetually in limbo between "regional" and "headlining" performers; his rich voice and purposeful, straightforward technique rank him amongst the best Scottish singers in America. Miller sang about Black and Hare, the poor old woman and her cat, and taking a dram to keep ye warm, and thanked his audience many times for braving the weather. The watchers of Tin Roof Tango from Lewisville, TX, were at least partially enclosed. We were in time to hear a finale of an instrumental "Star of the County Down." I'd read that TRT were of many influences, but their closing piece seemed very Irish....
Inside for a while to watch a children's play by Jaberwocky; Emma was riveted, as were the grownups in the next row. It being over, we went out to the Budweiser Tent and watched The Kips Bay Ceili Band set up. I found myself standing next to Ed Miller. "It was so nice up here two years ago," I offered. "That was lovely, but, oh, this is awful!" he answered cheerily. I stood throughout the set, as the audience was almost spilling out of the tent. The star was John Whelan, who opened with a rock/traditional medley. Executing a reverse strip-tease (!), he strapped on his accordion as the crowd clapped and cheered. <How did these provincial Texans know to do this????> The band dove into a song about the Belgian beer Affligem, "The Battle of New Orleans," which resembled an Irish song only in its accordion style, another spirited rock/traditional medley (as I heard it, "Humors of Ballochlin/Cliffs of Mohair/Jig of Slurs..." a slur on their titles no doubt), with Whelan jumping off the stage almost into the audience's arms, to the delight of the latter. Too soon, the band announced "We have to move now..." Kips Bay was quite a delight and surprise...although at times, because of heavy Cajun and rock influences, they seemed only marginally a Celtic band. It was their energy and audience rapport, as well as an insightful amalgamation of musical styles, that made the Kips Bay Ceili Band so impressive to me...
Serge Laîné and Isla Ross from Austin were found back at the tent with the picnic tables. Laîné is a native of Central France; Ross is from British Columbia. They were playing fairly wonderful dance music from France and Brittany, although the program indicated that they also perform Cajun and Celtic (jigs, reels & strathspeys) music. Ross is a fiddler, while Laîné plays hurdy gurdy and accordion and sings...It was dark, the Christmas lights were on and Emma was convinced her feet were frostbitten. We stopped for a few minutes in the rodeo arena to watch Open House's Sandy Silva hitting the dance floor like a bat out of hell and the Quality Hotel Stage, to watch Tommy Sands doggedly playing guitar with frozen hands...
We missed almost everything; with seven stages, workshops, and a parade of Irish dogs, it was impossible not to. On Sunday, the weather turned sunny, and festival-goers were a little warmer. On Sunday night, a vast gathering of perhaps thirty musicians were on stage...."You should have been there," someone kindly offered.
Kevin Burke's Open House performed in Houston the following Tuesday. A good portion of the audience may have expected to see The Bothy Band rise from the grave; instead, they saw a very sophisticated acoustic world music band...quite a ways on down the road. It was an unusual mix. Legendary Irish fiddler Kevin Burke slipped calmly, intent upon each note and relishing the double stops, amongst jigs, bourees, and eastern European tunes. Mark Graham also stood very calmly and played (very calmly) harmonica and clarinet...the latter lending quite a boost to the eastern selections...and sang those "delightfully quirky songs," weird but a bit too cute lyrics overwhelming his strong baritone. Paul Kapotish played cittern and shone on rapid mandolin. Sandy Silva, described as a "foot percussionist" on their recordings, was in reality an interpretive tap dancer (not the radiant step dancer some had expected...) and was undoubtedly the most unique member of the band, pounding her portable dance floor with g's of force, while the others played quietly along.
Their sets were, except for microphones, un-plugged: no pick-ups. Commencing with cittern, fiddle (Burke as "master of the misery whip"), and clarinet, Open House played among other selections polkas, the Red Clay Ramblers "Ryan's," and Mark Graham's "Monkey With a Typewriter." Silva performed a "Boot Dance of Hungary" in 7/8 time to "The Moth in the Lantern" and Andy Irvine's "Take No Prisoners." The dance is usually done by men...could any male Hungarian display more stamina and energy than Silva, who, from this point, danced almost constantly? On to Berrian bourees and "The Flowers of the Forest" from Finland. Silva and Graham performed "Bull Dog" from their "Hoof and Mouth" repertoire...a stark, America-based song and dance. There were jigs and reels, and the normally voiceless Burke sang a respectable "Classical Greek." The encore featured the best and newest of Graham's songs, recounting the story "Oedipus Rex." They don't even do that down in Arkansas....Quite a talented bunch!!!
Wolfstone
McGonigel's Mucky Duck, Houston,TX
March 18, 1995
It was the last night of a five-week tour for Scotland's Wolfstone; McGonigel's was as usual packed for the No Smoker, and the music was LOUD. The band itself (but not the sound system) had gone "acoustic" for the evening. The road manager said it was the first time she'd seen them all sitting down on stage.
I have a note here, "massive vivacity," attached to their instrumental "Ballavanich...tunes from the West Coast of Scotland," and that says it for Wolfstone. There were seven of them, notably a recently added piper {who?}, an outstanding fiddler (Duncan Chishom), and one of the most interesting and inventive bass players I've seen (Wayne Mackenzie).
Wolfstone began with an instrumental set and sang about "Hate and Greed and Lies" ("Here Is Where the Heart Is") in unison. "We kinda sing in a dialect. We don't understand it and you won't either," as chief vocalist Ivan Drevor began "Sleepy Toon" and a jazzy ambience took over. There's a fine aesthetic lightness to Drever's vocals which many other folk-rock singers manage to avoid, perhaps it's like comparing the Black Isle to Belfast...On through "Holy Ground" (speaking of Belfast...), "The Ten Pound Float," (lined up in a choreographic debaucle and with a keyboard that could do anything...), a pipe set, and "The Howl", an instrumental mix of Scots and Irish tunes which proved to be the highlight of the show and which thankfully went on and on and on....As an appropriately quiet follow-up, Stuart Eaglesham, tenor in skull and crossbones, performed "The Prophet." And of course there was an encore....
Sacred Harp Singing Session
Robinson Road Community Center
Between Spring and Conroe TX near The Woodlands In Southern
Montgomery County
May 6, 1995
"...a Sacred Harp singing class is not a performing group, nor a laboratory for social experiment. It is a community, a subculture, a family, that defines itself through a music enjoyed and beloved by all. An invisible sign on the door that says Sacred Harp Singing, Everybody Welcome Except Altos, seems to me like a contradiction in terms." -Warren Steel, Ole Miss University, 5/7/95 [off the Fasola Internet Mailing List]
I arrived for this small two hour shape note session to find only nine others present. "Do you sing alto?" someone pleaded, and I do not, having sung only tenor (or melody) previously, but I said I would try. Only one other sang alto, a woman also from Bryan, and also a tenor.
Present was a Mr. Batchelor; this may or may not be his name depending on my hearing. Mr. Batchelor was amiably questioned at each song break. "I've been singing for 75 years, but I'm not quite that old....My mother sang Sacred Harp, but my father did not. My mother always took me with her. Out of nine children, two of us took it up, but not the others...I was born in Enterprise, Alabama in Coffee County. I go to 78 singings a year; there are more in Northern Alabama, over a hundred. But there's no one to take it up, we're all the old folks, no babies...This was my wife's favorite. I met her at a Revival and we were married soon after. We were married for 52 years, but the Lord took her two years ago....singing keeps me going..." He stood up to lead. "This is the way I sing. You may like it or may not, but it doesn't matter. I believe we will be singing in Heaven, and we might as well practice for it." Mr. Batchelor sang Treble. He had a beautiful voice, soaring at all the given places. He never opened his blue Cooper Revision songbook, partially because he does not see well, but also because he knows all the songs by heart.
We sang informally for two hours with a coffee break. Included were "The Golden Harp #274,""Pisgah #58,""Salvation, Oh, The Joyful Sound & also Idumea #47,""Amazing Grace #45" (I hear Judy Collins does this so beautifully), and "I'm Wandering To and Fro #393." At the end we sang two hymns derived from "When You And I Were Young Maggie," and "Auld Lang Sein." The only song I really enjoyed as an alto was "The Promised Land #128;" singing "Idumea #47 bottom of the page" as a low three note dirge was not my cup of tea. "Those who sing alto regularly like it," I was sunnily told by a woman who had jumped ship during the morning singing school and dived back into the tenor section.
Despite the small size of the group and the almost nonexistant alto section, the overall effect was full and lovely, perhaps due in part to the acoustics of the white painted, wood-plank room...but only in part.
The Columbia Gypsy