Last Night’s Fun
The original Irish Festival of Kansas City is Eddie Delahunt. A one-man festival, his songs, singing, and musical generosity have created the very music scene in KC that now needs Irish Festivals and Celtic Block parties to satiate it.
Last night in an Irish pub only ten years old Eddie orchestrated a night of Irish music and craic we haven’t experienced for a long time.
You knew the night was going special places when Kevin Kiley from Arkansas joined the crew on stage with his cittern and banjo.
With Delahunt’s own compositions from the magnificent Original Sing CD, like Love is Pleasin’, to standards like St Brendan’s Voyage, and jigs and polkas from the peerless Brett Gibson on accordion, we were in full swing when Gordie Grohmann’s uilleann pipes took center stage.
Like Gibson’s accordion, Gordie Grohmann’s uilleann pipes are now reason enough by themselves to go to O’Dowd’s of a Sunday night. And then, mid-tune, like Norm into Cheers, Máirtín de Cógáin walked in the door. With Gabriel Reyes absent, sure they needed a bodhrán player anyway.
When Eddie handed the microphone to Máirtín, O’Dowd’s clapped along to the West Cork shooting of a man in Reno, and the people on stage were having way too much fun.
When I tuned in to Walt Bodine last summer I heard the Voice Squad and much as I enjoyed it I wondered why, given that Máirtín was a guest. It wasn’t the Voice Squad, it was The Fuchsia Band singing Ten Minutes Too Late.
Last night as Máirtín introduced what was clearly going to be Ten Minutes Too Late I wondered if all the musicians would join in for the chorus, because it works so much better that way. Never mind the musicians, the whole bleedin’ pub joined in.
Shortly after followed a version of Paddy Works on the Railway, both respectful and raucous, and then An Cailín Álainn. And there was a lot of talk, mostly from the Cork fella as he sparkled from underneath his enormous beard.
And there was dancing. Much dancing. You remembered that dancing isn’t only for competitions; sometimes it’s just joyful. And all the time Eddie quietly and masterfully took us all together on a musical trip that needed a half-time break so we could all pause and anticipate the second half.
And the expectancy was palpable in those few minutes where we all took a breather, afraid to acknowledge we were witnessing a special night lest we ruin it by doing so. With the nonsensical early-closure of O’Dowd’s looming Delahunt quickly rallied the musicians and immediately we had Kevin Kiley perform solo one of his own rare compositions, the excellent Vinegar Bush Gulch (NOTE: See comments for background by Kevin), on banjo. And regular bodhrán player Gabe even arrived to join the party on stage.
The rest of the night was a blur (I wasn’t drinking, honest), a tour-de-force of jigs and reels and songs and dances that all bled into each other before it had to end. Somewhere in there Máirtín got intimate with a broom, in a dancing kind of way, and then to finish a set of dancing he and one of the dancers, did their one-two-threes all the way around the entire pub - disturbing those of us who take to quiet corners and lurk - though he said hello as he went past.
I only left last night after Máirtín did, convinced as I watched him walk down the street with his bodhrán that I wouldn’t be missing out on any more fun. It was one of those nights, where you knew people in every corner of the pub, but the accordian, the pipes, the cittern, Eddie’s voice, and that Corkman, had your attention.
Now what’ll I do tonight?
Related Posts:
Eddie Delahunt & Friends: Music, Stories, Pictures
Handy Irish Phrase: Is minic a lean maidin bhrónach oíche shúgach (’Tis many a sad morning followed a merry night)
Eolaí gan Fhéile:
It was good to see Mairtin at the MVFS.org program. I posted some pics from Friday night on my flickr account
Hello Crashin’! This is Kevin Kiley. Thanks for postin’ the pics. Really nice! General comment about the post above: Name of the banjo tune that was played on Sunday night is actually “Vinegar Gulch” and not “Vinegar Bush”. It was named after the Irish migrant labor camp that arose just about where O’Dowd’s Pub is now when Irish famine immigrants were being imported to Kansas City to dig out the river bluffs so the city could expand. As the story goes… there was only one hole in the ground for the Irish immigrants to use for
fresh water and it was so rank it tasted like vinegar. Hence, the migrant camp itself was named “Vinegar Gulch”.
Thanks Kevin - I had a feeling it wasn’t ‘Bush’ but knew it sounded a bit like it so stuck it down and was intending to check with Eddie as he had introduced you.
Thanks very much for the background on it; I thought it was a great tune!
Crash - thanks for the note on posting the photos - some great shots, again!
Kevin it was good to see the show. I always enjoy seeing different musicians and you have some unique instruments to add to the mix. I hope you get many more chances to play in KC. I’ll look forward to seeing you at another show.
Eolaí the blog is looking good I have added it to my regular reading and hopefully many others will as well.
hard to believe it’s been a year!