A Davy Spillane Low Whistle soon-2004!

Whistle
21

What I cannot figure out is why he does not come and support his own work himself. This third party stuff is really annoying.

Is it the ‘commercial post’ limitation? Is this his way of circumventing that limitation? :roll:

Would it not be better for him to approach Dale and request a one time exemption for a thread to discuss his upcoming, latest and greatest endeavor? That would be fair and I really do think Dale or Alan would allow that, if for no other reason than to clear the smoke from so many shots being fired.

'course, he could send me (or anyone else on the forum) one of his whistles and we would be very pleased to give it a fair review. THAT would really clear the smoke from the room!

22

Hi Talbert,

Thanks to you again for your continued thoughts. Let me state here for the record that I really REALLY enjoy Davy’s musicianship. I think there are precious few of us who will ever attain a level such as his. His piping alone makes me completely envious. His tuning always seems to be spot on, and his technique is very easy for me to listen to. His low whistling is equally amazing to me. I certainyl have no difficulties with him in this regard.

It’s only that the only corespondance we’ve ever received from him has been of a short/terse nature. There are hundreds if not thousands of folks on this board alone who would LOVE to learn the better side of Mr. Spillane - and please count me right up there on that list!

What I wonder though is if Davy has a difficult time separating business from fame. In the end, it’s Davy’s choice to put himself in the lime light so to speak. No one is forcing him to play on CDs and for movies and other famous recording artists. On the one hand it would be a greivous waste of talent if he chose NOT to play, however there is an inescapeable element of public scrutiny that accompanies that fame. He must be aware of this.

Anyway, I wait in hopeful anticipation to the day that Davy himself may post to this board in both an informative and helpful manner for the sake of both his fans, and his potential clients of his work.

All my best!

Brian~

P.S. Good luck in the studio too! I know I can’t stand the stress of it all, but love the experience just the same! :slight_smile:

23

Funny I get that déjà vu feeling…

Well, then I guess I’ll repeat myself.

  1. I suspect some dislike Davy Spillane–without ever meeting the guy privately–just because he’s the biggest success in low whistling. Some systematically diss anyone for his success. They prefer starving, unknown geniuses. You can name this reaction as you like, but I suspect it’s related to plain envy.

  2. Whoever makes the whistles for D. Spillane (and they’re several, from what I know…), I understand he just doesn’t want so far to endorse any manufacturer.
    Firstly, because it’s not the whistle who makes the whistler. His sucess doesn’t come from making hardware, but from getting music out of it.
    I understand that, as an artist, he may be just weary of all the whistle freaks who only ask him what brand he plays. I understand it because I’ve had so many people visiting my photo exhibitions ask me what brand of camera I used, as if it was relevant…
    Secondly, because if his business awareness would lead him to endorse some special series from a given maker, it would certainly be at a price. Which is his perfect right: when you build up a name, you may not want to make it cheap. Those who find this attitude shocking could just as well wonder why he doesn’t put his music in public domain as well :roll:

  3. This I don’t repeat from an older thread.
    I can understand quite well why he would pick out Talbert from our mass. I heard some of Talbert’s music on his site, and I certainly will buy his CD, just as I bought “Sea of Dreams”. His low whistle playing, and the kind of music he plays could certainly bring him and Spillane together in a friendly relationship, as of a musician with another musician. And this has had to start from mutual respect.

Whatever one may think, rightly or wrongly, about Davy Spillane, I believe he deserves at least respect.
Which doesn’t mean this would stop me from laughing if I learnt this announcement to be an April’s fool joke. Err… Talbert, you sure it’s not a “poisson d’avril”? :wink:

btw:

When you fart, don’t blame it on the dog…
Or did you mean “fishy”?

24

Hmm..this is the seond “third party ad” in recent days. There was one relayed from Serpent via another new poster randyo as well and saying that was all for this month. What IS the score on such revelations?

Trisha

25

Yikes…it’s the gaggle of waggling tongues…uh. fingers…that has caused some to flee C&F in favor of the friendlier (or is it just as of yet blander?) GC.
Personally, 'tisn’t a turn off for me, but apparently it is for sensitive types.

26

What’s the King’s opinion on this?

27

I don’t know why Elvis would care about this.

Susan

28

There are very private, prickly odd people who
are good people nonetheless. Shall we see what
happens in April?

29

Hey Zub,

Just one point I’d like to make in response to your thoughts (all GOOD thoughts I might add) -

I am personally very envious of Spillane’s level of talent though I don’t aspire to play anything like his style. That being said, the best musicians in my mind are the ones who can manage to both play with astounding style and grace and yet still maintain a humble aqnd approachable demeanor. There are many MANY of them out there. This appears to be Davy’s fatal flaw if you’ll pardon the expression.

Again, I think Talbert is extremely lucky and honored to have someone like Davy willing to open up to him, but it doesn’t do the rest of his listening public any good if he’s not willing to interact with them in an open and positive manner ya know?

While I agree somewhat that it’s the player and not the whistle, this is true only to a point. A good whistle will sound phenominal in the right hands. You’ll never see any of the greats pull out a Clarke Meg in a recording studio because it has the best tone and playability of any whistle they’ve ever played. There is something to be said for well made instruments. Davy may be sick of the “which whistle do you play” question, but this career was his choice. It comes with the territory and he should know and accept that.

(btw, in the article linked earlier in this thread Davy is quoted in response to making his own recording ‘Sea of Dreams’:

INTERVIEWER: How long did you spend writing material for this record?

SPILLANE: Not a hell of a long time writing it; I wouldn’t say more than ten days end to end, but it took a long time to arrange and record and produce and deliver, mainly because of interruptions like Riverdance and various other work I was doing.

*seems strange that Riverdance would be thought of as a mere interruption when without it 90% of the public whould never have had any idea about who he was.)

Anyway, as I stated earlier count me right at the front of the line to see if Davy can be as pleasant and open as all that. I hope so anyway.

B~

30

I do not know Davy Spillane.

I do know several people in real life who are nice enough folks in person but often come across as less than friendly on the Internet or in emails.

You cannot judge someone’s demeanor or personality (or much else, actually) by what they post online. Often there are two personalities, the real one as well as a completely different online one, with an entirely separate set of quirks and quibbles.

By the way, there have been some fascinating things written about this, but that’s a subject for another topic.

My point is twofold:

  1. Don’t judge Davy Spillane (or anybody) too harshly from what they’ve done online until you get a chance to meet them in person;

  2. If Mr. Spillane is reading this, please don’t let this thread put you off our online community. We are actually quite a bit nicer than you might think from reading this thread.

Respectfully, and in hopes that I have offended no one,

–James

31

Sorry, Jim, but I disagree. If your livelihood depends on the good will of your fans, I think you’d better make every possible effort to be decent about their questions.

There was a thread going quite some time ago about Lunasa and which CD everybody liked best, and there was at least one negative comment about them sounding “bored.” If you’ll recall, Kevin Crawford posted a forthright reply, first of all thanking everybody for their interest, then going on to explain the thought process behind their new CD and stating bluntly that to say they were bored was “bullsh*t.” I’m sure it didn’t take much of his time and he clarified some questions and took the opportunity to express some thanks for the support of their fans. A fairly simple thing and well worth DS thinking about.

Susan

32

James,

Come on now - just how many of us ever hope to meet Davy in person or speak with him on the phone ‘just to chant and get to know him’? If you’re a nice and/or reasonable person it doesn’t take much to let that show through in person or online. While it’s true the internet does ‘dehumanize’ us a bit at times this argument can’t be used as a security blanket when folks are short for any reason.

The feelings of doubt regarding Spillane are years old on this board - should be plenty of time for anyone to post a reply and work to set the record proper if it was important to them I would hope.

I also don’t believe that it is impossible outright to judge someone’s charachter or demeanor from what they post online. I think our own Dale Wisely is a great example. Many of us feel like we know Dale on a highly personal level though we may never meet him in person nor indeed even speak to him on the phone. Yet I have never known Dale to be short with anyone or sound put out if someone asked him a "‘stupid’ question. Dale may not be appearing in the next Riverdance production (but BOY would I love to see his Mikey Flatley impression!) but he’s as busy a man as I know. His time is very precious as well. Still he is able to find time to be polite and open in all his correspondance.

As I’ve said something like three time before now: I hope Spillane is as nice as all that, and I hope he makes it known for the rest of us! Still waiting though…

B~

33

thank you all from the bottom of my heart in regard’s to how some view davy. it’s much appreciated indeed!!! :slight_smile: davy and i will have a really long
talk about all the feelings people have about him! and im going to convince
davy that there are perhaps some things that need to be worked out
from him on a very personal level! he may post something real soon in
the future! i’ll try to convince him on that. we will see though how that
turns out. again, i’ll record w/ his low whistle soon and you will have a
chance to listen yourself. i’ll post the mp3 on my web-site. hey “ZUBIVA”,
YOUR COMMENTS REGARDING MY WHISTLING WAS VERY MUCH
APPRECIATED INDEED! GLAD YOU ENJOYED THE PLAYING! I DEDICATE
THIS PICTURE TO CHIFF&FIPPLE! ALL THE BEST! :slight_smile: -TALBERT

34

my scanner is not working at the moment! i’ll try and post the picture
tomorrow sometime in the evening. pls do not hesitate to “continue” to
add your thoughts. it’s about time that i atleast try and settle all this.
but i will do it with DAVY’S, AND YOUR BEST INTEREST IN MIND!
:slight_smile:

35

Talbert, I’ve listened to your music, and it is utterly awesome! I know nothing about Mr. Spillane - I just wanted to tell you that your music is my background when I’m working now, either technically or handwork.
Thank you!

36

hello bill! good to hear from you. happy you finally received my cd!
your compliments mean a great deal. coming from a whistle maker
yourself, im in tears! look forward to hearing from you soon bill. :slight_smile:
all the best - talbert p.s. thanks much!! :slight_smile:

37

Hey Bill! Welcome back! :slight_smile:

I’m glad you’re back on the board!

–James

38

I am happy to be here, and I hope that the Powers That Be will recognize my New Year’s Resolution, and that it’s one I intend to not break in the slightest. I want to just talk about whistles and whistling, and stuff like what key is cool for singing and playing, and what chords I should have used in “Adeste Fideles” which had some lame parts.

Happy New Year,

39

Understanding your point of view, but differing.

Many musicians, often of a truly creative kind, are only at ease when alone with their instrument, or in a family or close friends circle, and do public appearances only when compelled to.

Some are just extremely oversensitive to criticism, by the press or/and by the audience.

Some are just afraid of the crowd, and esp. those we call “fans”. Recent history has enough examples of fans violence (even if only verbal, like on the net…) so I don’t need to elaborate, do I?

Some, because of that, vanished for the scenes for decades, and played only in studios, just think of Vladimir Horowitz or Sviatoslav Richter if you like piano…

Of course, there are those musicians–more in pop music, IMHO–who need that super public image, and go to the talk shows, and write back to the fans’ club, etc. But do these have to offer much more than that, i.e. a public image? For the others, I mean those who rely purely on their music not PR skills, I don’t think they “owe” us anything.

Some just don’t have that double talent of PR + art, else are too much in their music. In their own universe. Sometimes they’d be commercially better off with an agent, or some PR. Now what if some just can’t cope with the standard PR hypes/pitches to front for them, and dragging them to the autographs or talk shows?
Hell, isn’t sincere art generally about expressing by other means what you can’t by the standard voice/body language communication, but for you has to come out???

I stick to picking my music for the sound of it, and art generally for its own sake. If I ever meet the guy (which I won’t expressly seek) and he happens to be nice to me, well I guess it will be a bonus. However, in order to expect someone to be nice to me, I’ll keep an a priori positive attitude to him.

Finally, as a root explanation to my vocal reaction here (which is not against you Susan or anyone specifically), I don’t think it’s a positve attitude to diss a guy you never really met (approaching a guy with the crowd at the end of a show is NOT meeting him!). Unfortunately, I’ve seen this a couple times too often often here, and not only with DS.

40

I wasn’t going to go into further detail on this, but here goes…Susan and Brian are both absolutely spot on regarding the behavior of a public personality/celebrity. Spillane was hired to perform at the same Festival/College that I teach at each year. Dervish was also there for the entire week-they were absolutely great and incredibly gracious to boot…I can’t say enough nice things about them, both on and off the stage. Their performances were absolutely riveting and charismatic.

Spillane was an interesting contrast to them in his behavior both on and off stage. I’ve never managed to be bored by a trad performance before, but I was by his. It was like listening to a CD…no audience interaction, and he was perceived as being disdainful and arrogant. OK-everyone’s entitled to an off day, but he was paid very well for his performances and if you are going to take someone’s money then you should at least make an effort, IMHO. Back stage was no different (I didn’t even attempt or want to speak to him after I observed him blow off people that he’d known and played with 25 years ago in Ireland, before he was a name). So to me, that just speaks volumes about his character.

Maybe my expectations of what constitutes polite behavior are just too high.