October Meet

Wasn't looking forward to this session - Gerry was out, and Helen said she wasn't feeling great. Klaus had left the country... Malachy couldn't make it before 10.30. And nobody knew where Marco was. So, I left for 9PM and brought a book...

Anyway, when I got there, Helen was waiting patiently. We had a chat - it would have looked too suspicious, the two of us singing songs to each other!. Then Frank Molloy walked in, with his banjo under his arm. And we kicked off.

Frank gave a great rendition of Lotions and Potions (one of his own) along with some other tracks. I must write them down next time :-(

Malachy arrived and launched into Magpie, which I accompanied - a pretty good version. He also sang Song For a Friend (I Wish I Could See You Again), I Never Worry About the Weather, and Frank thought he should do a demo of Kiss Me Goodbye

Helen wasn't in great form for singing, but wanted to listen. We coaxed a couple or three songs out of her, which were, as always, top class, and in her own inimitable style. As she says herself, she "doesn't do funny", but she doesn't need to - she brings such a quality of song writing and singing to any session.

There was a great buzz among us - and I did my best to keep things upbeat with Paddy is a Builder, Mandy About Town and The Purser's Gold. 

Frank invited us to join his gang in Effranagh on the 1st November for a night of ghoulish gloom - all songs must have something to do with gloom, ghosts, death - anything along those lines.

Helen, Malachy, Gerry and I are planning to have some sort of a soiree for our circle - and invite friends along to hear our songs. Probably going to happen on the first Thursday in December, in Dodd's. Let me know if you're interested in coming. honestcon@gmail.com

Thanks for reading all the way to the end :-)

Wednesday the 15th August 2012

After a bit of a late start in Dodd’s last Wednesday the 15^th of August, the songs started coming thick and fast. Conor was away on holidays so Gerry kept some notes for the blog.

The songs were performed by each participant going around the room but for simplicity (and allowing for my poor memory) I will just report the songs played by each musician in no particular order.

Helen Grehan started off the proceedings by  playing one of my favourite songs, “Storm at Sea”. She also performed “A love song”, “Jimmy”, “Table of Life” and “David”.

Malachy Costello sang and accompanied himself on guitar, “Life’s a funny thing”, “Song for a friend” and the wonderful “Magpie”.

Gerry Casey sang and played guitar on “In my Dreams” and “Heading South”.

Klaus Harder accompanied himself on bouzouki

 and sang “Letting go”. He also played a lovely instrumental on the bouzouki called “Horo Romanita”.

Marco sang an almost trance inducing song which I think he called “Here it comes again”. I remember something of the imagery of the lyric, of the wind playing in the leaves. He also sang “The only one”, “On her silver jubilee” and the hilarious “Menace in the waiting room”, which brought the house down..!!

I hope I managed to get the names of all the songs correct; it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening - here’s looking forward to the next one!

Gerry Casey.

Frank Molloy joined us tonight

It was our Summer lull, and only Helen Grehan, Conor Lawlor and Gerry Casey were in attendance, until about 11pm, when Frank Molloy (http://23.21.183.217/franjobanjo/UVa) and his partner, Cora, joined us. Frank ripped out his banjo and gave us a couple of songs, including "When Coal was King" (See below). 


Frank invited us to join in his Doom gig - all songs MUST be about DOOM, not doom and gloom, but DOOM. Its in Effernagh on 2nd August. As Malachy says "where the f is Effernagh..."


In response to this invite, Helen pulled out a song she hadn't sung since she wrote it 20 years ago - it was a cheerful number, about a dying husband who was a bit of a reprobate, asking his wife's forgiveness for all the pain he had caused her. And Conor followed up with his song, Masks, which starts with the very gloomy "Paddy's fathers dying, doctor days that he won't see out the year".

June Meeting - those famous YouTube videos

We were lucky to be joined by Klaus Harder for this session.


Malachy Gerry, Helen and I really enjoyed his songs - the ideas were so original. A story about a Space Shuttle astronaut, inspired by the finding of the diary of one the Challenger's astronauts in a forest in Texas. (Challenger was the space shuttle which burned up on re-entry...) He also sang a song about an eskimo who was brought back to New York in the early 1900's by Admiral ... - the US explorer who attempted to reach the north pole. The ironic thing about this story is that the eskimo, who was very young when first brought to New York, died in the Spanish flu epidemic.


We made some YouTube Videos:

First Meeting

The First meeting of the songwriter's circle was held at 9 in Dodd's on the Crescent. Helen Grehan, Gerry Casey, Malachy Costello, and me (Conor Lawlor) started things off.


An "eclectic" mix - Helen's mastery of songwriting and guitar playing set the bar high, with her songs "The Road Where Soldiers Go" and others. (I am writing this two months later - no notes...


Malachy sang "The Magpie", "Sunny Street", and annoyed everyone with the fact that he is SO multi-talented!


Gerry sang his Tanglewood song, and wowed his audience with his great vocal talent.


I sang a couple of songs - The Messenger and Too Good To Be True - you'll have to ask the others how they sounded...