I’m back! I heard live music two nights in a row! Last night I went to Mary O’s for their Thursday night Irish Session. I tried to go to last week’s Thursday night Irish Session, but I had a flaw in my plan, it was Friday. The devil is in the details. Sadly, that means I missed meeting Caitlin and Chris; they were somewhere over the Dakotas. I got to know them on the Virtual Irish Sessions that they hosted from home. They go up to Caitlin’s hometown Fairbanks Alaska for the summer. I have five musician friends named Caitlin, Kaitlin, or Kaitlyn; I suspect that’s more than my fair share. It’s part of my affinity for people’s whose name ultimately derive from Katerina. It’s popular because of St. Katerina (Catherine), the mother of Emperor Constantine. I have no friends named Constantine. Now back to our regularly scheduled music blog.
Mary O’s is near Rockwood Music Hall, I get off at the same subway station, Second Avenue; after not going there for over a year I went two days in a row. I can time that well. The session starts at eight and I wanted to get there a little early. I got there at almost exactly eight. The commute was easy, but I was having an argument in my head with someone I don’t know that posted something I objected to on Facebook. That lead me to walk right past Avenue A, I didn’t catch myself until I got to Avenue B.
When I got to the bar I said hello to the Eponymous Mary O, aka Mary O’Halloran and she said hello to me by name. As Cheers made famous, everybody knowing your name is what you want in a bar. In this case everyone means Mary. I didn’t have to ask where the session was as I could see the musicians. I sat in the perfect place to watch, the end of the bar on a stool. That let me look over the closer people and see everyone. This was the largest session I’ve been to; it was very fiddle heavy. It was led by John Redmond on button accordion, there was also a bouzouki, two bodhrans, a piano, and one whistle player. The only one I knew was John whose music I’ve heard and was often on the virtual sessions. I should have recognized Mimi; she was a regular at the virtual sessions reading a poem each week. Mimi was wearing a mask, but I should have still recognized her as she read a poem. My mental image of her was totally wrong. The real Mimi reminds me a lot of Emily. I loved her poem. There’s no way I can’t remember it, but I know the gist.
Plastic dinosaurs are made of plastic.
Plastic is made from dinosaurs.
Plastic dinosaurs are made of dinosaurs.
Mimi if you read this, let me know how it really goes.
Watching a session is good for the psyche; it takes me to a peaceful place. I listen to a lot of Irish music, but I usually don’t know the tunes, or chunes as the Irish say, that doesn’t matter. It’s intricate and beautiful and draws me into its world. I wish some of my friends would join me next time I go. That’s the one thing missing. To entice friends, I went on Facebook Live. Apparently there were sound problems, but a few people watched. One of them was Caitlin in a plane over the Dakotas. That’s how I knew where she was. She didn’t message me but one of the sessioners. Now they all know that I caught them on video. They’ll thank me when they are accused of a crime and my video provides them with an alibi. I’m sure that musicians are accused of crimes all the time. Who is going to join me next time I go? This might become my default Thursday night plan. Now that I’m in good walking shape it’s easier for me to go to the Sunday afternoon session at An Beal Bocht right up here in the Bronx.
I didn’t stay to the end, at about 10:15 I decided it was time to head home. Once again I didn’t go to the nearest station but walked across the width of Manhattan to West 4th street. That’s how I got my daily walk in. I miss walking through the City. I discovered a new store I’ll have to explore, Evolution.
I can’t believe this; I’m going to finish writing this before 9 AM. At some point I’ll have to take a nap as I didn’t get to sleep until after near 2 AM and woke up at 6:40. But for now I’m functioning. That reminds me that after blogging yesterday I said I didn’t know what I was making for breakfast. I tried something new, pepperonieggandcheese on an English muffin. It works. It’s quite tasty. Today I go more traditional, bacon and eggs. I don’t have any plans for tonight, so I’ll stay home and watch the Mets. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Wise Madness 