I’ve found myself in Seattle for the next couple of days, are there any sessions happening around town? I saw Hanz Araki’s CD in the local Lark in the Morning shop. I also saw a keyless Ormiston going for over a grand in there, as well as two unplayable antique flutes.
-George
Here are some threads on this topic.
09 June 2004
29 April 2004
06 April 2004
Begun in 2002, failed revival in 2004
Cheers,
Aaron
Aha, Georgie me lad,
If you get bored up there, you could always swing down to Portland and join me for a tune. I’m probably going to be going to a session here tomorrow (Friday) night. We could go together and fry us up an accordion player or two…
I hope you got the An Tua CD (featuring Hanz) It’s a great album! I prefer more tunes than songs, but he always picks good songs, nonetheless. Brilliant flute and whistle playing too of course, and very high recording quality too, I might add.
Cheers,
The Hanz Araki session is very good. Relaxed and inviting. Good tunes played at a moderate pace.
Stay away from the flutes at Dusty Strings. They are displayed in super-heated closed cabinets. The flutes often crack and the pads are worn out. I spoke to them about it but haven’t heard that anything has changed there. The flutes are over-priced as well, as you noticed.
Glad that Seattle has something going, because St. Louis…nada.
This place used to have fun sessions, when I lived here a decade ago, but now…dud.
There’s a cute little beginner’s session at a local music shop each Wednesday night, but as far as I can tell, nothing organized anywhere else.
I had a teeny friendly session last night with some old friends, including a player who purportedly taught Deidre Havlin (of Deanta fame/now of London Lassies) when she was just a girl. That was fun, but they are old friends of mine, not a regular session deal.
That’s sad, too, since there is such a rich tradition of music here, back in the days when Joe Burke ran the music at McGurk’s pub. The place is still the site of trad music, with Barry Kerr even passing through recently, but the atmosphere is so different, nearly ambivalent now. Michael Burke, the whistle maker, is just a bit south in Carbondale, Illinois!
There is still the Irish Arts school in the south end of town, a place that’s produced bodhran and harp All-Ireland champs, and which I hear now has up to 40 children taking bodhran classes (YIKES!)…but no tunes anywhere to play them.
I don’t get it. I suppose the children can only follow the examples of their elders. If we don’t play, they’re not likely to, either.
I actually stopped into a music shop the other day to see what recordings, if any, they might have. They had a pair of Casey Burns flutes (blackwood and mopane), so I gave each a blow. Well, running up the stairs from the basement came this young lady (their resident flute instructor) trying to see who it was that was playing the flutes. She immediately asks if I live in town and can SHE take lessons. Well…I invited her to that night’s session with friends (just 4 of us) and she had a great time. But laments that she has no one to teach her here…and is willing to drive the 6 hours to Chicago just for a lesson on occassion.
So bravo for Seattle and Portland and Phoenix and Denver and all the other out-of-the-way places that insist on keeping sessions alive.
I’m in a town right now that is letting them die. And that’s very, very sad.
dm
ps…I should note that if I’ve missed something here in St. Louis, my regrets and apologies. But I’ve tried for weeks to locate tunes, music, sessions, anything without any luck. Even the people here lament how it’s gone sour. So…PLEASE, anyone, correct me and tell me where to be next time I’m in town.
I live in Olympia. There are two, sometimes three sessions going on here weekly, and lots in Seattle. Anyone going to Seattle might contact Kevin at kgandll@juno.com, he knows all about them and would be happy to direct people. J.