Just moved to San Diego. Does anyone know where I can get a good dose of ITM in this city. I went to a little pub called The Field and wasn’t really impressed…maybe I caught them on a bad night. I’m looking for good, authentic music. If such a place exists in San Diego, it is well hidden.
Thanks in advance for any tip-offs.
Cheers.
What night were you there? Some evenings are certainly better than others. There was a rugby tournament in the neighborhood recently, and it was sheer madness at the Sunday session that night 
There’s a Tuesday session at Ould Sod Pub - 3373 Adams Ave., San Diego. Starts a little after 7 and goes until 10:30 or later. Another Tuesday session is at The Blarney Stone at Balboa and Genessee in Clairemont.
Thursday nights try Thornton’s in El Cajon, at 1221 Broadway.
Thanks. I was there on a sunday evening. There was some stepdancing done to an Irish CD or something and a guy singing non ITM in between the dancers. Maybe I should try it again. I’ll also check into those others that you mentioned.
There’s dancing until 7, and they usually have live music. Occasionally they resort to recorded music when there aren’t any musicians available to play for the dancers.
The Sunday session at The Field is after the dancing, from 7:00 to 10:00. Usually just instrumental dance music, but occasionally a singer will sit in.
BTW, I hope I’m not interpreted as saying that the dancers or the gentleman singing were no good. Both were quite good, I was just looking for some live ITM. 
No, I didn’t take it that way. There are different groupings of dancers each week, and some of them are brilliant.
The singer is C.J. Hutchins, really a blues/cajun/folksinger/guitarist, whose primary responsibility there is running the sound system. He also stoops to the level of helping us with the minimal amplification we have set up for the session later (at the behest of the management). CJ is also an excellent instrument repairman. This can come in mighty handy when you have those rugby players on hand 
Welcome to SD! As Jonathan (hi, cuz!) said, there are several weekly Irish pub sessions in the area, as well as occasional house sessions, concerts, etc. I saw Cathie Ryan here last weekend, and Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh will be here next week.
From your post, it’s not clear if you’re interested in a good dose of mostly listening to ITM or participating. If you’d like, PM me with some info about yourself, your music background, your level of playing, etc., and maybe I can help point you in the right direction.
Its too bad you weren’t at The Field this past Sunday, I was playing there both for the dancers as part of the Crossroads Ceili Band (Accordion, flute, uilleann pipes, guitar) and afterwards for the session. Great night. Unfortunately, we only play for the dancers once a month, often they have to play to recorded music.
Similarly, MTGuru and I, along with Jumper are active both in leading and participating in the local session scene here in SD. I co-host two sessions a week, on Tuesday night at the Ould Sod in Normal Heights, and on Thursday nights at Thornton’s in El Cajon. Both start at 7 PM and are open to all melody players.
Mostly, I play Uilleann pipes, whistle, and concertina in the sessions, sometimes back on guitar.
If you happen to be around tonight (Thursday, Feb 22), there is going to be a big public session at the Museum of Man in Balboa Park as part of a benefit for the museum, featuring the food and music of Ireland. $20 for the general public, includes food, music, and Guinness, free for musicians.
Goes from 6-8 PM.
Cheers,
Michael
Well, that was quite a session last night. I counted 18+ players in the session circle, which might be a new ecumenical record for San Diego, and it sounded pretty good. 
My Susato session blaster was definitely the right whistle for the job.
Gentleman,
Thanks for all the info. I look foward to meeting you one of these times at The Field or elsewhere.
Peace.