Heya,
Dear God it must suck to be those who didn’t make it to the Sebastopol festival this last weekend. Normally I’m not so blunt, but in this case there’s no way to get around it. I was there for the entire weekend, Friday night to the finishing act on Sunday, and enjoyed (just about) every minute. There were 2 concerts this weekend, both of which pushed the boundaries of Irish music today. Imagine legendary players like Martin Hayes, Denis Cahill, Kevin Burke, the members of Lunasa, Paddy Keenan, and local wonder Junji Shirota. Now imagine ALL OF THEM PLAYING ON STAGE IN AN INTIMATE SETTING, SIMUTANEOUSLY!!! And that was only the first night. The second night, imagine Lunasa, Cherish the Ladies, and Hayes & Burke, again, ALL PLAYING SIMUTANEOUSLY!!! I never imagined so much talent in living legends could be gathered in such an easy-going, festive auditorium. Unbelievable, truly.
Tony has given you a good bit of info from just his one day that he was there (good seeing you again BTW). I too was at Kevin Crawford’s workshop, about 5 feet from him, barraging him with questions. I must say that he is probably the most approachable member of Lunasa. I saw them in Bandon, Co. Cork at a festival there last summer, and tried to speak with Shawn, but with little avail. Kevin was both open and engaging, although you could tell that he was a bit of an expert in the fly by “How’s it going? Good to see you at the show…” The real surprise, however, was seeing the incredible diversity of personalities on stage. People like Kevin Crawford, Martin, and Burke, were not only phenominal musicians, but excellent all around entertainers, with quick tongues and a distinctly Irish sense of humor. Others like Paddy, were about as reclusive and quite as possible. He even went as far as to let Junji, his guitar accompanist, introduce all the tunes and do all the talking, even though his English was broken at best.
To conclude, I WILL PERSONALLY TRACK YOU DOWN, BREAK INTO YOUR BEDROOM AT 2 IN THE MORNING, AND SMACK YOU UPSIDE THE HEAD IF YOU MISS NEXT YEAR’S FESTIVAL!!!
