Hi ho all;
I’ll be in the windy city, right downtown at a conference June 17–21. Can anyone tell me what is happening as far as Irish music sessions, concerts, or etc.
If nothing else, I would be happy to meet up with any Chicago pipers for a beer.
Jim Van Fleet
Failing all of the above, there’s always Wrigley Field and the CUBS… what this has to do with piping, I still couldn’t say.
C&F City Guide => Search results for “Chicago”:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=28591&highlight=chicago&sid=3be9a60278c7b041145421726522d1a2
djm
I’d try and meet up with you, but you said “Chicago pipers”, not “Chicago pipe owners”. And I’m barely even the latter. 
I don’t know of too many concerts in town, although Martyr’s (http://www.martyrslive.com/) has Irish music every Monday, starting with a session at 6pm followed by a performance, typically of well-known local trad musicians. It looks like that particular Monday is going to be a Thin Lizzy tribute band, though, which may be good or bad depending on your tastes.
The link djm posted is a good one to peruse. The session list is a bit old, but I know at least several of those are still active sessions. In particular, ones I can confirm:
Sunday:
The Grafton, 5-8pm
Tommy Nevin’s
Hidden Shamrock
Celtic Crossings
Tuesday:
Cullen’s, 9-11pm (there are usually one or two pipers at this session)
Wednesday:
The Grafton
Irish American Heritage Center
Here’s a good link for general goings-on in the city where you can look up each of the above places to get addresses and phone numbers, as well as info on anything else that might be going on in the city while you’re here:
VanFleet -
Happy to point you in some possible directions.
ganainm2003@hotma…com
all the best
-jeff
There is a really friendly session at The Hidden Shamrock on Sunday mornings/early afternoons. The featured piper is Pat Cannady, or at least he was when I was going there in 2002. The Shammorck is in the lincoln park area on N. Halstead St. I think.
just to save Pat the trouble…
Pat has moved on to other opportunities and venues on Sundays.
The Hidden Shamrock (N. Halsted just South of Diversey) session is from 3-6PM. It is currently a “rotating” session, in that one never knows who is anchoring on a particular Sunday. However, there are always some really talented and fun musicians to play with.
HTH
I’ll be in Chicago this week, and I thought I’d piggy-back off this thread. I’m coming up from NC for a convention. I’ll try to make the Tuesday night session, whistles in hand (not bringing the pipes this trip). I’m staying at the James Hotel on E. Ontario(?) Ave. Is this anywhere close to the Tuesday night session??
All the best,
Travis
You could go on the Oprah show and ask her why she doesn’t bring as much money/aid to africa as Angelina or Bono yet seems to need to make a publicity campaign happen every time she sponsors a small school there or brings backpacks for 40 kids filled with pencils and notebooks.
That might be fun!
It’s not particularly close, but its easy enough to get to via the ‘L’. Take the Red Line (north towards Howard) from State and Grand, transfer to the Brown Line at Belmont (north towards Kimball) and take that a few stops to Southport. Cullen’s is at 3741 N. Southport, about 5 blocks north of the Brown line stop. Probably take you about 25-30 minutes including walking time.
You could also take a cab, but that might get a bit pricey. It’s about 5 miles total. Someone at the hotel might be able to give you a better idea on an approximate cab fare.
Thanks to everyone who responded to my plea, through the forum and through private emails. Apparently Chicago is hopping, even more so than Boston or New York!
Its the first place I’ve traveled where there are multiple sessions listed for every day of the week.
Also curious to see how the “hosted” sessions work; each one has a more or less well-known musician as host or headliner. In at least one case, its the bar owner himself.
Will report back the end of next week.
JVF