The Goatwhacker's Blog to Milwaukee Irishfest 2006

I decided this year that I would do a blog on my experiences of the 2006 Milwaukee Irishfest and Summer School. This blog takes the perspective of a bodhrán player, and may not be pleasant for ye melodites. lol

I had the privileged perspective (again) of attending the school and fest primarily as a performer. This gave me access to places, people and events that also help give an insight into why musicians love to come and be at Irishfest.

Part 1 - Summer School week - Pre festival events and festivities -

• Go to Part 2 - The Fest
• Go to Different Drums of Ireland Site

Day 1 - Monday

The Irishfest Summer School starts today. I was excused school by Rob 'Doc Rocks' Forkner who was taking the class. The band hung around Lake Geneva, had a beer, did some gift shopping, slept... you know, important stuff like that.

Day 2 - Tuesday Early

We rocked down to Milwaukee with a few stops on the way, IHop (very important), Guitar Centre (fun) but we didn't make the Apple Store because we didn't have an appointment [?].

We arrived at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee (UWM) and parked up. By the time we oriented ourselves and I tracked down the bodhran class, I was only in time for the last 15 minutes of Rob's second session. I waited for a while and watched from outside, lots of concentration going on there and seemingly lots of practical playing.

The class was a small-ish size, maybe 12-15? perfect for such tuition. It comprised players with a wide-ish range of ability starting from the point 'good' up to 'most excellent'. I thought I recognised a couple of faces and when Rob kindly interrupted his class to introduce me, people smiled, which I took as a good start.

There was a wide range of bodhrans there, some drums I recognised, others I didn't. There was only one O'Kane as far as I can recall which surprised me. Most of the players seemed to have been used to the the Kerry style, others were working on a more upright attitude to the drum.

After saying Hi, Rob finished off the class by looking at printed music and how the dot placement on the staff could be interpreted as one type of tonal map for bodhran. He had printed examples to hand out and clearly was much better prepared than I :) Chris Buckley, the fiddler from Tea Merchants played through the tunes on the sheets whilst we followed the tune and its tonal shifts. It is useful teaching tool and was well explained and demonstrated. I had my Settles/Metloef egg (smegg?) with me and played along with the practical stuff which was, fun although I could see people watching me closely which is strange :).

After the class I had a chance to talk with Rob, it had been a couple of years since we last met and my, how he had grown up :) I was also introduced to Steff, Rob's lovely wife and the two Tea boys themselves, Chris and Charlie. We little knew that we'd be inseparable for almost a week!

We decided to cement new friendships and to toast the old by paying a visit to the Water Street Brewery, where we could check out Chris' parallel parking skills and sample some of the local wares. I had a pint of cask stout that tasted like it came from a bottle, bitter, chocolatey - lovely. But one's enough :)

During this first pint Rob handed me the phone and said something about 'Stoner' and 'answering service'. Which I assumed meant that I was to leave a message for Mark 'professor smooth-hand' Stone, the Texas bodhran maestro and bodhran teacher.

Here's how Mark later reported my message "I got a world-wide slagging from Texas to Northern Ireland to Germany. My favorite part was the drunken phone call asking me where I was. The mix of Rob's slightly-Texas twang and the garble north Irish sentences (all of them sounded like they were ending as a question) was actually pretty funny. " LOL

Mark unfortunately wasn't able to make the festival, something about moisturising hand cream, the rumours would have it. It was his loss unfortunately but we did miss him being there as we couldn't give him a decent slagging unless he was present to defend himself :)

Tuesday Late -

So... can someone tell me why the Summer school 'official' sessions are held in a Sicilian restaurant? Great food and great people but...well...I have to ask.

We were sitting eating in Carinis restaurant, at the back of the building when a sizeable group started to assemble in a circular manner on the dancefloor behind me, possibly around handbags. By the time we were finished eating, a first row was completed and a second row of musicians had started to assemble, there was clearly no room for more of us. Time for a pint and a strategy discussion... Standing at the bar, someone saw that the front porch was just clearing. Within about 5 minutes that room had been stripped. There were maybe a half dozen musicians gathered around a small table crammed with drinks, flutes, bows and bodhran tippers. Ah that's better, much more like the sessions I know than the large, stadium version going on out back.

I hadn't brought my egg bodhran tonight so I played one of Rob's 14" melisonorous drums throughout the session, it was a lovely wee drum and some lucky person bought it before the fest was over. As the session went on, the numbers grew and we ended up with about 14-16 players comprising a clatter of drummers (6-8), a screech of fiddlers, a flutter of fluters a wheen of whistlers and assorted bunch of twangy banjo, mando & guitar type melodicians. The instrument mix was fairly similar most of the evening, maybe an odd box tune or a whistle set, some people staying put whilst other seats rotated.

The session, being open on to the street attracted a passing crowd outside who danced, chatted and hung out. The evening was a convivial and fun event. I hope the neighbours agreed :).

Most of the bodhrans in the session (and at the fest it seemed) were Metloef, Rob did have 3 at the session. There were a couple of Alfonsos which disappointed me tonally unfortunately and a lovely AA shell that Pat Roe had skinned himself, nice job & nice sound.

I did get to meet a couple of people from the bodhrandojo group, Karen Thurber was there with her dancer daughter Ann, Karen got stuck in for a while and was clearly enjoying hersef, great to see her getting involved. I spoke with Pat Roe too, with whom I had only previously exchanged e-mails. Pat is involved heavily in the School and, being a bodhran player, brought Rob in to teach the advanced class which I think is a brilliant move. I also had my first chance to speak with Amy Richter. I had noticed her playing when I was standing outside Rob's class earlier. Amy is a natural top-ender and double downer like myself. She was a little retiscent to join the session but I think Rob gave up his seat, ushered her in and there was no holding her back. It turned out that the weekend following the Fest she was due to compete in the All Ireland bodhrán Finals, which she did. Congratulations. Amy was playing a Paul McAuley with a treated white skin but I have it on authority that she came back from Ireland with an O'Kane hand picked for her by Paul Phillips and Seamus together. That'll be a nice drum.

Memorably, we were introduced to the one and only Simon O'Dwyer. Simon specialises in pre-historic Irish instruments and is an authority on same.

Video clip (right)

When commenting on the close symbiotic interelationship between bodhran players and melody players during the cut and thrust of a session, globally esteemed anthro-ethno-musicologist Simon O'Dwyer says: "Drive the bastards, drive them..!".

(video Chris Buckley :)

He is however a hoot of the highest order. Any evening spent in a session with Simon will stay with you forever. Simon had a large [20"?] Charlie byrne drum that was skinned with jennet, the cross between a horse and a mule or something like that. Simon played with his hand and with great enthusiasm. I was seated immediately to Simon's left and received the full impact of this drum, it is loud!. He also played a horn that had been converted into didjeridu in D and treated us to Tuvan throat singing, (kargyraa or sygt?). I do this a little too so we managed to harmonise occasionally but it's a session first for me. We have one of his Antrim horns in the band, I should have a go at tuning it to a reasonable D approximation so we can use it.

Also playing at that session were other bodhran players whom I didn't know, apologies.

We were joined for a few hours by Paul Kelly (fiddle, mando, banjo), Tony byrne (guitar) and Ciaran Munnelly all from the Munnelly band. These are incredible musicians to have playing in a session; great dynamics and lovely chords. As well as being a superb flute player, Ciaran is a great percussionst and a super bodhran player. He's very percussive, lots of fast and attacking style, big licks and technically superb playing. His style is a hybrid between top end and kerry which gives the best of both worlds. This is an increasingly prevalent form of play and great to watch.

The session went on until chucking out time, 2am when the musicians simply gathered outside and decided where to go next. One of the waitresses invited us to continue the session at her place which we duly did and with beers / cokes in hand, we continued to play tunes into the wee hours. Rob went about 4 muttering something about the morning; for the rest of us, I think that was a 6.00 am bedtime, although the walk was refreshing :) Thanks Cari for your hospitality and craic.

Wednesday Early -

Rob had a 10am children's bodhran class, poor Rob, that's what he must have been saying the night before. The rest of us? well.... we got to lie in our dorms until we could do without coffee no longer.

This was my day to speak to Rob's class. The basic theme was my own approach to sticking, citing that as one example of what could be termed a top-end style. Also due to speak in that class was Máirtín de Cógáin, the enigmatic frontman and bodhran player with the Fuchsia band.

I spoke for about 40 minutes or so explaining what I do when I play and trying to break down the mechanics of my movements. I talked about about the drum and developments in its design and playing technique and I answered questions as they were put on a wide variety of related subjects. It was fun and I could have talked all day.

It was great to have one of the finest drum makers sitting beside me to add relevant heckling. I was glad of the opportunity to listen and learn. I enjoyed the class a lot as did those who spoke with me afterwards, I believe that the official feedback received was also very positive.

Máirtín's a funny and knowledgeable guy. He uses a 9" skewer tipper and plays a 14" Eckermann drum, I think it is double skinned but I'm not 100%. He talked about his style of sticking/play and was ably assisted by Chris on Fiddle for demonstrations. He also gave a very useful and entertaining section on session etiquette which seemed also to be welcomed by the participants. Rob sat and watched throughout, poking through my tipper bag (I saw ye) and nodding sagely :).

BTW I'm missing one of my personal violin bow tippers it didn't come back after I handed them out in the that class, it's about 7.5" long and has the gum and wrapping around one end as shown. Can you check maybe that it didn't come home with you by mistake. I had given it to Rob as a gift and I'd like to get it back to him. Thank you.

With the class finished we stood chatting to the participants and others who were there with an interest in the drum and in Rob's drums in particular. That's fun stuff to do and it's great to meet people who perhaps have been names on a computer screen for years. I had brought a selection of tippers with me that I had been experimenting with, those didn't last long, I hope their new homes find them useful.

Although I caught only a small glimpse of the summer school I was very heartened to see that Irishfest are sufficiently aware to embrace the development of the drum as an articulate and sensitive instrument. I support the move toward exemplifying the contemporary application of the drum because that's what's happening here in Ireland, now. It is also what is appearing on the stages by touring bands and there is great interest in a sizeable bodhran community that is largely poorly served. Irishfest provides a great opportunity for study, application and immersion in a central location. I look forward to attending the summer school in future years and to watching it and the players develop.

Pat Roe took all the photos that you see of the session and of the summer school. Thank you for allowing me to use them Pat. Thanks too to the participants whose images are shown here.

Wednesday - Early evening

Tea Merchant Chris is originally from the Milwaukee area and was due to visit with his family in that area. As I was nobby-no-mates apart from this motley crue, I was invited to come along and I spent a very lovely evening sitting with Chris' Grandparents and other relatives talking about all sorts of quality stuff. Thank you for your welcome and your generous hospitality guys. I'm working on my English all the time. :)

Wednesday - Later

On our return we went straight to Carini's to check out the session. We were just in time to be among the first in the room. Usual seats adopted and up she flew. The formula that evening was very similar to the first. There was one event in the evening however that is already a thing of legend.

At one stage, Simon or Pat suggested that we have a bodhran set and the Carini 7 was born! There were 7 bodhrans all playing in time and ...gasp... with sensitivity to each other. One poor melody player tried to start a tune and was stopped by Simon, only to be asked to please follow the beat of the rhythm players. LOL - beautiful.

Of course it did happen that Chris jumped in witha s**t hot reel and we were off again. Ok so it was only maybe 5 minutes but a landmark all the same. I'm sorry I don't have the names of the original Carini 7, please write and enlighten me if you were there. Me, Rob, Simon, Amy........???

This was another great session and I thank all the players who joined with such a great spirit in making the evenings great fun. I very much look forward to the possibility of returning next year.

As per the expected pattern we were chucked out at about 2 and stood outside wondering where to continue. The UWM dorms seemed to be the spot and as there were three or more gathered with a six of beers and some arby's beef sandwiches (don't ask), a party was duly convened in Tommy's room; poor Tommy. Chris, Charlie and myself belted out the tunes including a rare rendition of my bodhran clapping song, Simon joined us with some overtoning and jumping around, awesome. At one Stage, poor Paul from the Munnellys was opportunistically accosted on his way back from the bathroom with a request to join the session. I think he was enjoying it sufficiently from his bed but wished us well. So we gave it another few sets to put him over to sleep...bless.

Fiddler's elbow I believe brought a stop to the events although it was gone 6 and we thought Paul was probably asleep by that time. Or deaf.

Thursday - Early

By the time I figured out where the lecture theatre was, it was Thursday, I caught Simon's lecture on prehistoric instruments and was indeed fascinated. He had already done the detail of the bit that I wanted to see, the bronze age horns, but he did have examples with him and was keen to demonstrate them. Throughout, Simon spoke with confidence and obvious passion. Very fun!

The next morning I received news that our soundcheck at the Boerner Botanical Gardens was earlier than we had anticipated. I had just taken my tippers out at the start of Rob's class when I received a message that Roy was waiting outside. I had to cut class (to my disappointment) and I owe an apology to Amy as I had said I'd speak with her afterward but was unable to do so.

The weather had been darkening all day and we arrived at the Boerner under darkened skies and intermittent showers. We managed to 4WD our van to the stage, set up and soundchecked between the light showers. As we waited it got darker and although the rain wasn't heavy it didn't really stop. Then all these people started to arrive with umbrellas, chairs, tables, coolers, shrimp rings, champagne buckets...etc etc. By show time there must have been 3-400 people sitting or standing in the rain, we felt terrible. The tea Merchants showed up which was very cool though, they'd come out from Milwaukee for our gig, thanks guys. We delayed showtime a while but by this stage it was clear that it wasn't going to happen.

We played a series of tunes as we walked through the people who had gathered and sat for an hour or more patiently waiting in the rain. We played for them and they seemed to appreciate it. We are sorry that we couldn't have done more but the water made it unsafe as well as playing havoc with the instruments because of humidity. I do hope that we get to return when the weather's better as the gardens are supposed to be beautiful. I also felt for the organisers and sponsors who had clearly put a lot of effort behind the event. Thanks, we appreciate it.

That was our first night in the Park East and the fact was celebrated by visiting the County Clare just down the road. It was uncomfortably loud in the main bar for anyone trying to talk, Craig & Diana Scotland gave us a song or two to help keep spirits up, and there was a super piper girl who came on the stage stole the show. There was a quieter session going on across the hall, but it was very hush hush any time I visited. I heard lots of sean nos which as you know isn't my thing. We had a fun night hanging out with some friends though and looking forward to the rest of the Festival.

We (my tea merchants buddies and I retired to the roof where we again bumped into Amy and Heather from Athas and their friend from Arizona, Kari which was fun. One (nameless) fell asleep and they faded about 4. Seeking other friendly faces I ended up listening in on an excellent session going on with Dolores from Diff Drums, Colin from Grada (Fiddle), Paul Flynn from the NI Arts council (fiddler), Tony Byrne (Guitar) and a great young flute player whose name I didn't get. When that disintegrated, there was some unusual Russian chap there who clearly tinkered with a number of instruments but kept wanting to take Tony Byrne's guitar off him and play Russian folk blues [wtf!]. Seaneen managed to get in a song or two to break the mood, but at this stage I didn't have the patience to deal with Mr Russian man and I l called it a night. I did remember Meeting Stephen from the band going up to the roof as I was going to bed and we did manage to keep going until after 6 tho. Given that the festival started for us the next day, I felt it better to get a few hours under the belt.

My new Milwaukee lesson here is clearly that when the sky starts to get light again, you know that it's past bedtime.

Sleep was had and the new day dawned.

All augured well..

Fest time!

...To be Continued in Part 2

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