Playing Some Music with Friends

Tuesday night is Open Mike night at Dublin Pub, which is (perhaps needless to day) an Irish themed pub in my neighborhood. In recent weeks, I've been going to meet up with composer2005 and some other people.  Those of you who do not live in Ohio, or perhaps some of you who do, who do not know that Ohio can be someplace to love rather than revile, may not know that Ohio is home to more people of Irish descent than currently live in Ireland. (once you throw in the Scots and the Germans, it may as well just be a Viking Homeland with all the Cels) So we have a lot of  this sort of thing here.  Besides Dublin Pub, there are places like Flanagan's, Harrigan's, Shhhnanigan's, Beef O'Brady's, and various other's I can't think of.  I have heard that this is because beautiful Ohio looks like the Irish countryside, (though I understand that the winters are not so bitter there, despite it being at a more northern latitude, heavy snow is far less common.

Anyway, I digress.  I've noticed that most of the time rather than a typical Open Mike where some guy comes up and introduces various acts one after another, ranging from good to terrible, that here, it's is more of a sort of free for all, where various of the attending players assemble themselves on stage and just start playing stuff fairly well at random according to who knows what and who can play it in what key. Often there are brief interludes between songs while players are teaching each other bits of the progressions.  Often if someone else sitting around knows the song once it starts, or thinks they can fake it, they also get up and play along. So it's a very dynamic thing, that stage act expanding and contracting with the music. The first time I went, I enjoyed the hell out of it, though I didn't actually play any. Well I did play, but i didn't get up to play. I just twiddled along from my seat on the floor. I did get some comments even though I was sure no one could be hearing me, since I couldn't actually hear myself most of the time. Since then I have been playing more, as I'm becoming more familiar with the music I can usually figure something out on the flute, or a whistle, or if not that then singing.

Last week I missed. I hadn't been feeling to well, and since I'd stayed home from work, I kind of felt obliged to stay home from the Pub too. You know the rules. You don't go to school, you don't get to go play with your friends afterward even if you feel better. One of my friends told me that the group had moved from the stage at the front back to the corner where the fireplace was. This week that's where everyone was when cheapcarnival and I arrived so we settled down and drank and sang and played.  The Irish songs gradually degenerated into a lot of twiddling of yuletide favorites.  I imagine we'll have more of the same next week given that Tuesday will be on the 21^st which is when Yule will be this year and then Christmas on Saturday following.

Just before I left a few pictures got snapped of our dynamic little group, one of which contains me and one of which does not. I will share it them here. (Note: this is a friend's locked entry because other people besides myself are in these photos. I wouldn't care for myself, but I can't say so for others, so please don't share outside.)





This one going widdershins from the man in the green shirt, is Peter playing double bass in the foreground, I don't actually know the name of the gentleman next to him playing twelve string guitar, but you can just see the pony tail of composer2005 over his right shoulder, cheapcarnival's head over his hat and then myself playing my flute (I'm not actually playing at this moment. I had paused to take a breath and laugh because I was playing so many wrong notes on account of I didn't actually know the song they were playing. I was just winging it and not flying very well.  Next to me also on violin is a pupil of composer2005, whose name I can't remember despite being introduced more than once.  I think I know her name, but since I'm sure I'm wrong, I won't repeat it. is Kathryn. Next to her, I believe is a portion of said pupil's sister, but I can't see enough to be sure of that.

 
I can identify fewer people in this picture. Peter on Bass Viol, and that man playing twelve string guitar, and then composer2005 on Violin. That dude in the  background is just some dude coming from the Mens', and the people in the foreground are friends and family of composer2005's pupil. I think the toe of my boot may be in the picture down by composer2005's hip, and her pupil's Kathryn's arm, and maybe even the scroll of Kathryn's violin, but I can't be sure of that.