Went to see the Boys last night as mentioned on an earlier thread. Terrific show-- anyone who has a chance to catch them on their current tour should really take the opportunity. Straight forward traditional Celtic music, superbly played with a goodly selection of Holiday stuff that is a great antidote to endless shrieky renditions of The Little *(^^%$^ Drummer Boy.
Cathal played flute nearly exclusively-- what looked like an old keyed flute with the tuning slide repaired with electrician’s tape, and most of the keys held in the closed position with rubber bands.Wow! Can that man play! Beautiful tone, expressiveness, ornamentation, you name it. He only played a VERY little bit of whistle, but it was unique to say the least-- he played 2 tunes on 2 whistles simultaneously !! This is a technique that he credits Bill Ochs for teaching him. On one whistle, the top 3 holes were taped shut, and he appeared to use 4 fingers on the top 4 holes of the other. Gotta go try that…
Another highlight of the evening was meeting JessieK. Nice lady, and apparently a real BOTL groupie.
On 2002-12-14 08:37, brewerpaul wrote:
Jessie…apparently a real BOTL groupie
Not like THAT! Hee hee. Actually, I had met only Cathal before, at Boxwood this past summer. I got noticed because I was the only female trad singer there. Cathal is a DELIGHTFUL person, incredibly endearing because he pretends to be, um, simple.
I don’t know what I was(n’t) thinking! I had my camera there and I forgot to get pictures with Paul!! I am a dummy!! But I got some other pictures.
Here are the boys practicing in the green room just before the concert.
Here’s one of Cathal with his instruments.
I didn’t use the flash during the concert, as I didn’t want to disturb. Here’s a really cool picture of a string mishap.
The focus on the following picture isn’t so great, but you can get the idea.
And of course, a couple of pints (I had ONE).
It was a great night. I was happy to be able to show my parents a good time.
That’s OK Jessie-- they ain’t missing much not seeing any pics of me! Actually, if they INSIST on seeing one, it will be on my new webpage soon..