Donnybrook

Summer Festival Season is here!

2006-06-02T01:01:00.000-05:00

Now that Memorial Day 2006 has past us by, we can officially greet the unofficial start of summer! Summer means plenty of Irish festivals to keep us busy (and plenty of corn dogs and funnel cakes to fill our stomachs). Come out and see us at a festival; you won't be disappointed.

The calendar has been updated!

2006-03-30T20:49:00.000-06:00

Yeah, I know... I'm a giant slacker. The St. Patrick's Month bug hit pretty hard this year, and my desire to do web page maintenance outside of the time I was playing wasn't very high. When I went to check the web page today and realized that there were absolutely no gigs listed on it, I didn't want people to think the band had broken up. So now the page has the most current information available! Fado is the next gig on April 8th. Don't miss it!

In other news, we did several more performance with the McNulty School of Irish Dance in Jefferson, Menomonie, and Stoughton. The performance in Menomonie was held in a really neat old renovated theatre (built circa 1890). Davey imagined that Lincoln was shot in a theatre that looked very much like this one. The performance in Stoughton was in a beautiful opera house and was also quite enjoyable. Alas, no pictures, as I forgot the camera.

We spent St. Patrick's Day at Mickey Finn's Microbrewery in Libertyville. The place was packed, and we really got the crowd into us. It's always very satisfying when that happens, (even if the majority of the crowd is drunk).

Anyways, we'll try to keep you a bit more updated as spring and festival season kicks into full gear. We're playing at a great lineup of festivals this year, including Donnybrook in the Park in Hanover, the Saline Celtic Fest, and a repeat performance at the Kalamazoo Irish Fest. Stay tuned!

Celebrating the New Year

2006-01-10T18:03:00.000-06:00

We spent New Year's Eve at Moher in Chicago's Edgebrook neighborhood. It was a laid-back but enjoyable evening. Practically every member of the band had friends come out to see us, and several of them got up and made some music with us. Andy's friends Andi and Al came and did a couple of numbers on their own, Andi sang with Liz on a song. Dan came up and did his usual James Connelly poem / song, and Al played guitar to a few tune sets. Meg and a few of our friends also came out to hang out. Great craic, all around.

The whole band. Andy is doing something wacky.

Andi and Al.

Andy, Andi, and Al. Got that straight?

Site Improvements

2005-12-30T10:28:00.000-06:00

We've updated the web page to look more like the blog. Additionally, there were some rendering problems with FireFox browsers which are now fixed. I may be doing some tweaking over the next few weeks, but hopefully this is pretty stable.

Don't forget to come to Moher on New Year's Eve. We'll be there!

No Ballydoyle tonight

2005-12-03T03:01:00.000-06:00

In case you were wondering, we are not playing at Ballydoyle tonight. Sorry for not getting that updated sooner on the web. I will go yell at myself now...

Live at T.J. Maloney's Pub

2005-12-03T02:32:00.000-06:00

So we had our first gig at T.J. Maloney's Authentic Irish Pub in Merrillville last night. I've always wondered what exactly makes an Irish pub "authentic," especially the ones that make the claim in their title. So I've put a lot of thought into this and have come up with the stunning conclusion that it's impossible for a pub to be truly an authentic Irish pub unless it is actually a pub in Ireland. Of course, applying this conclusion to music, this means that Donnybrook is not an authentic Irish band, since none of us live or have ever lived in Ireland. So last night's fun was inauthentic Irish music in an inauthentic bar. Who could ask for anything more?

Despite the inauthenticity on both sides of the equation, T.J. Maloney's does a fine job in getting the feel of an Irish pub. The decorations are excellent, wood covers the establishment, the staff is friendly, and patrons seem to appreciate a good pint and good music. We like to think that we added quite a bit to the atmosphere, despite a somewhat rocky start. We had some trouble with the house sound equipment (it's always difficult in a place you've never played before) and as a result had to play our first set without monitors. That was clearly a mistake as we soon learned it was nearly impossible to hear each other. We reverted to our own sound system for the rest of the evening and sounded so much better. Despite the somewhat rocky debut, we enjoyed playing there and hope that they have us back soon!

My friend Michelle and her boyfriend Bob came out to see us play, and they were gracious enough to take some pictures.

The whole lot of us from the front. Liz is in the back there mucking about with something.

Me peeking my furry little head out from behind the mixing console. Did you notice that I now sport a full beard?

Ballydoyle moved up one week

2005-10-17T15:26:00.000-05:00

We're playing at Ballydoyle on October 21st (this Friday) instead of October 28th. I realize that the calendar says something different, and I will work on getting that fixed.

What a Night at Fado

2005-10-10T09:52:00.000-05:00

So we played at Fado this past weekend. My aunt and uncle from Austin were visiting Chicago to see one of their friends run in the marathon on Sunday, so they stopped by the pub to see us play. It started off as a fairly typical night, with a good, attentive crowd that seemed to enjoy us sincerely. After the second set, which ended around midnight, the pub really emptied out. My relatives headed back to their hotel, things quieted down, and we thought that it would be an easy, quiet, possibly shorter last set.

Well, our good friend Declan came in at some point. He didn't bring his accordion, but he did bring a lot of friends and enthusiasm. When we started up our final set, it was as if people came out of the wood work. Everyone lost their inhibition to dance, and the floor became packed! Men were dancing around in big groups circles with arms linked, and some were swinging each other around in head locks. We even had a fellow dancing very wildly with one of his friends while holding a tray of about 10 shots in the other. We honestly thought that the shots would come careening into us, but fortunately he was relieved of the tray before long.

When we stopped, everyone shouted for more. So the frenzy continued for another 20 minutes of solid tunes. Andy and I found ourselves alternating on the piano while the other carried the tune. This is a good way to go if you're in it for the long haul. Andy's take on situations like this one is to play as long as you can so that you outlast the dancing masses. It's sort of a healthy competition, really, and I think we won.

As we were tearing down and carrying equipment out the door, I noticed three separate areas of broken glass. They weren't just a case of your average broken pint glass, either. The glass was practically pulverized. I have to admit, I've never seen a night at Fado quite as wild as this one.

Read Andy's take on the gig.

We're Back!

2005-10-04T15:42:00.000-05:00

"If you just came in, our name is Donnybrook. If you've been here the whole time, our name is Donnybrook..." - Davey

Our web site was down for a few days. There was some kind of billing problem, but it's been straightened out now. Sorry about that!

Don't forget about Fado this Saturday night, in downtown Chicago. Start time is 10 p.m.

Tunes in Spencer

2005-10-03T11:15:00.000-05:00

The band spent this past weekend in Spencer, Wisconsin, a small town about 30 miles southwest of Wausau. The weather was beautiful, and the fall colors were just starting to emerge on the trees. We played at the local performing arts center in the high school. The rehearsal went well, except I had a small mishap with my fiddle. It was resting atop the piano when I inadvertently yanked on the cord connecting it to the input box, causing the fiddle to topple to the floor. Fortunately, the strings cushioned the fall and the fiddle was fine, though all of the strings snapped. The drama continued as I learned that my replacement pack of strings was short an A string. Fortunately, one of the techies played the fiddle, and he was nice enough to lend me his A string for the evening.

With that behind us, the concert started off a little rocky. I discovered I was severely out of tune for the first number, as new strings have a tendency to stretch a lot during the first few days of use. To make matters worse, Andy's hammered dulcimer almost went careening off the stage in the middle of the set, but he managed to catch it. We're still not sure what happened, but we think the toe tapping on the stage caused vibrations that slowly moved the dulcimer towards, and eventually over, the precipice.

Things got much better after the first number, as I had a chance to re-tune and Andy secured his dulcimer. We nailed all of our cues, and the crowd absolutely loved us. We could tell they were having a good time because they kept erupting into applause mid-tune as dancers danced on and off. The drama, however, was not yet over. We discovered that Toss Your Instrument Day was to continue with me accidentally throwing my bow into the air during a frenzy of reels, then subsequently catching it. Apparently I did this so convincingly that I fooled everyone into thinking I did this on purpose, including Davey and Joy. Well, this just shows that some of the best things in life are unplanned.

The locals are all ready for Halloween.

Jeff relaxing in our dressing room before his big bodhran solo.

Candid photo of the band and the dancers.

We've been on the road for the last four weekends, and it will be nice to stay in the area this weekend. We are playing at Fado on Saturday, which is sure to be a great time. If anyone wants to meet my super cool aunt and uncle from Texas, they'll be there as well.

Our time in Hartford

2005-09-26T18:12:00.000-05:00

So the band headed up to Hartford, Wisconsin this past weekend for the second show of the year with the McNulty School of Irish Dance. Hartford is about 2 hours from Chicago, pretty close to Milwaukee. We played at a beautifully refurbished performing arts center. About 350 people attended. There were a bunch of new girls dancing this year, and Dustin is still the only male among them. Things went remarkably well, especially considering our rehearsal the previous week was canned because of a power outage.

We nailed every critical element when it came to timing, which is the most difficult part for us to pull off. The Hartfordians (Hartforders?) enjoyed the evening enough to give us a standing ovation, so that was quite exciting. I didn't get any action shots, but I did take some before and after photos:

Here's where we played.

And here is the Auto Museum right next door.

Look, we even get our own Green Room! And... it's actually green!

A view of the audience from the stage. A few more people showed up after I took this shot.

Andy, Davey, and Jeff warming up. They probably wanted me to put the camera down so that I could warm up with them.

Five minutes, Mr. Arwine and Mr. Young!

Kalamazoo

2005-09-18T23:11:00.000-05:00

The band was in Kalamazoo on Saturday for the Irish festival there. It was a fun trip, and the crowd was excellent! Bohola was playing there, too, so it was fun to hang out with Sean, Jimmy, and Pat. Pat and Davey did their fair share of exchanging jokes. Davey, for instance, now knows how to immediately tell the gender of camels.

We played two lively sets, and we even got one of the local step dancers to come up and dance a hornpipe during the second set. It had been awhile since the five of us had all played together, so we were afraid of a little rust at the hinges, but our worries were put to rest after the first set.

It was also great to have such a helpful stage crew. Everything was run fantastically, from the dedicated sound men to the folks who carried our instruments on and off stage. Things ran so smoothly that we actually started early for our second set. That's almost unheard of at festivals. So congrats to the Kalamazoo crew for a job very well done. We hope to be back next year.

Liz and Davey hanging out with some guys from Mother Grove, a rock band from Indy.

Liz giving me a stern look.

Bohola!

The local spinning guild, the local chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronisms, and the local calligraphy group had booths. You don't usually these sorts of groups at Irish fests, so it was quite fun to see them here.

Some confusion

2005-09-09T09:48:00.000-05:00

Okay, so the gig at Fado this weekend is definitely tonight, not tomorrow night. We apparently switched with the other band months ago, yet they forgot to notify Fado, so Fado thought we were playing on Saturday.

So Fado, Friday at 10 p.m.

Lincoln Square tonight

2005-08-11T16:07:00.000-05:00

Unforunately, our Lincoln Square gig in Giddings Plaza was rained out this evening. It has been rescheduled for Monday, August 22nd... so mark your calendars!

Our band's online journal

2005-08-11T16:00:00.000-05:00

Well, here's another one of my hackbrained ideas... a Donnybrook blog!