Any recommendations on where I can hear pipes in the Chicago area?
Two upcoming concerts you may want to see:
Gavin Whelan and Tim O’Shea at Chief O’Neill’s, March 15 6-9PM. Gavin is a piper from Dublin, never heard him but word of mouth is that he’s a very good piper. Tim is a gifted singer and guitarist form Killarney and often comes through town accompanied by a high-caliber melody player.
See da Chief’s website at
http://www.chiefoneillspub.com/promotion.htm#saint
The other is the Eire Japan Tour at Martyrs’ Pub on March 20, 8PM I believe. Paddy Keenan and Frankie Gavin will be joined by a Japanese born guitarist, Junji Shirota, hence “Eire Japan”.
Martyrs’ Pub is on Lincoln Avenue just south of Irving Park Road (4000N).
If you’re interested in hearing the pipes in a less formal, more traditional session setting, pm me and I’ll point you the right way.
Gavin Whelan has a website at:
http://www.gavinwhelan.ie/
He did a rake of gigs around Ireland over the last few years playing the whistle, not sure if he broke out the pipes or not at any of them. He released a CD of whistling tunes that received great reviews.
PD.
The week’s activities - changes every Thursday night for the upcoming week.
Thanks for the info- just forwarded the “what’s happening” web site to my daughter. Se lives a hop skip and a jump from the heartland cafe
SIUCRA Fri 3/5, 8 PM, World Folk Music Company, 1808 W. 103rd. 773-779-7059.
There’s no pipes, but SIUCRA are incredibly talented and fun to hear.
I was disappointed to see nothing at Kitty O’Shea’s in the downtown Hilton (south Loop area) - is that place still in business? Pat Broaders and Jimmy Moore (pipes & strings) used to do a nice gig there on a regular basis.
I live close to L.A. (30 miles) and we have nothing like this or do we?? Anyone out there that knows of a site(s) that is comparable for the So Cal area.
Almost makes you want to live in Chicago 
Hi Fel,
Try the LAWeekly www.laweekly.com Orange County has the OCWeekly www.ocweekly.com
There’s the FolkWorks newspaper too, it’s pretty comprehensive but make sure to get your dates in early if you want them to list a show! www.folkworks.org
It’s a place to start but they aren’t always up on all the gigs going on. They only hear about gigs if people tell them about them so if you hear of a really great gig make sure to let them know about it.
Patrick.
What struck me was the amount of sessions that was going on. When I met Pat Cannady at the Hidden Shamrock, people were telling me “you should go here: or there or there” in a heart beat. I guess I’m just bitchy about the lack of sessions we have here in the greater L.A, Orange County area. You’d think there would be more.
Ah well. Time to break into my 15 pack from Costco. (lessee, left 7 left… how did that happen?? Ensign Pulver, get in here!!!)
Well, there are a lot more players in Chicago and the Irish community there is massive. In LA there are only about 15 people that are of session playing level, plus the fact that the majority of the pubs are horrible and not any place you’d enjoy playing a few tunes in. The Irish community here (in LA) is so small and spread out that it’s hard for there to be a cultural center… it is getting better though. The majority of pubs here won’t allow live music unless there are paying customers or a band situation.. they don’t understand the culture. I could go on… but I’ll spare you 
The
seems we’ve had this conversation before…6 left…
Chicago has always had a continued influx of immigrants from Ireland.
And they’re all Teehan’s cousins. 
djm