Free the Reeds!

When someone is kind of enough to run sound for you at a gig, do what they say, eh? Oh, and don't mess around with the gain at your instrument AFTER you've been checked, okay? Ah, well, the curse of being a sound man, I guess.

It has come to my attention that I haven't spoken of this.

I'm getting married today.

Anyone looking to crash a ceili can show up around 8-8:30 for a brief show by the Mooncoin Ceili Dancers and a few songs by Legacy, and then CEILI dancing with music done by some of the best Irish musicians in Minnesota, and, no, I'm talking about my band: John McCormick & Amy Shaw of Barra, Kate & Jode Dowling of the Center for Irish Music and several other groups, Jason Novak & Chad McAnally of Rumgumption, honoured and respected box player Martin McHugh, Tom Lockney of so many projects past and present, and the list continues longer than I have time to type.

K&J Hall, 7th and Margaret in North St. Paul. Park in the parking lot BEHIND the hall.

In eight hours I'll be on a plane bound for New York. Six hours or more after that, I'll be in the air over the Atlantic (actually, probably over the coast of Labrador, but who's keeping track?), and will touch down at 5:30am on Tuesday at Shannon Airport.

While I'm traveling with my mom and two sisters, my only goal is to play enough music over there that I never have to buy my own pint. That aside, I'll likely be sober most of the time, but I'm looking forward to it anyway. I was there 14 years ago before I played "the music", so this is my first time taking this kind of step.

I'm also going to attempt a mini-PR campaign for the Mooncoin Ceili Dancers who are looking at doing a tour in Ireland next summer. Since spouses will be included, and because I'll be married to one of the dancers by then, and will quite likely be their "house band", I figured that simply making contacts at pubs and handing out their brochure would be simple start.

Anyway, time to pack. You laugh, but it's true.

Oh, an attempt at a travel blog: http://n0jyz.blogspot.com/ That's my amateur radio callsign for you pervs.

To the passenger in the Acura (Minnesota plate, MCF-268) in the East Side Target parking lot: get over yourself. Your driver (girlfriend/woman/thrall) bumped a cart and started it rolling down the lot and you were about to let it hit someone else's car and I stopped it and because we were on a hill and my car was in "Park" with it's end still in the line of traffic I had to put the cart on its side so it wouldn't roll any farther so I could take care of my own car, since YOU made no move to help. I saved YOUR ass from an insurance claim, and you had the nerve totell ME that I had a "dicky attitude", that you didn't want "to listen to this shit", and to "shut the fuck up." I said less than 5 words, and you were spewing your verbal diarrhea all over the parking lot. I hope you don't have the capacity to breed so you don't spread your attitude around. On the other hand, I hope you do breed so you have a taste of it every day.

In any case, I hope you get an ear infection.

It's summer break and that means that I'll be earning booze money on Nicollet Mall with two or three other Irish musicians. We haunt the maul during the lunch hour (okay, a little more than an hour 11-1). Pretty much, it's just another excuse for us to get together and play tunes, but it's nice that people appreciate it even if they don't understand that, "Yes, it is an accordion not a concertina. No, I've been playing ten years I know what my instrument is called. Fine, of course you would know that it's a concertina because your mother's step-father's half-cousin-twice-removed's wife's grandmother's father played one and that's what it was, and you would know better than me who has actually done research on the whole free-reeds instrument group as developed in Europe and the Americas."

Yep, I've learned to not argue with people about that. Life goes on. Anyway, tunes today, then I'm in San Diego next week my soon-to-be-wife, and then I'm back on the mall for a couple of weeks before I go to Ireland and do my best to get everyone else to buy my drinks. But THAT'S another story.

Just an informal agreement as of yesterday, but I've been asked to do a workshop/talk at the Minnesota Irish Fair this year. I'll hold off on details until I've actually signed a contract, but surprisingly, it has nothing to do with accordion. Oh, everything in my little universe usually has something to do with the accordion (somehow!), but there are better folks than me for a box seminar such as Eoin Verling of the Fuchsia Band who did one last year.

This, combined with the possibility of the Twin Cities Ceili Band (my latest project with some guys), Legacy, and probably a lot of dancers, will make this the busiest I've been at Irish Fair. I'm not complaining at all. If I'm going to be down there all weekend, what better way of making sure that my beer is free than by working?

Oh, and I'll be able to do some "research" in Ireland in July!

I work in a high school. I hear things. I see things. I hear things that I often wish I hadnt'. Today, I heard something that made my brain twist.

A student, explaining why her fellow students should try hard at a game being played as part of the class, said:

The more effort you put into the game, the more effort that you'll get out of it.

Wait. What?

It was almost too much to try figuring out without coffee.

American Heritage Dictionary
too (tōō) adv.

1. In addition; also: He's coming along too.
2. More than enough; excessively: She worries too much.
3. To a regrettable degree: My error was all too apparent.
4. Very; extremely; immensely: He's only too willing to be of service.
5. Informal Indeed; so: You will too do it!

And here's why

Did I mention that I work at Rosemount High School?

As ya'll know, I'm in a band. An Irish band. We play Irish dance tunes (jigs, reels, etc.). We sing songs: old songs, new songs, Irish songs, songs that aren't Irish. We have fun.

Around St. Patrick's Day we work our fingers to the bone doing ALL of the above, often all in the course of 60 minutes (as you'll see if you come to the Landmark Center on Saturday).

In honor of all my musican friends and band mates, I submit the following:

First: thank you to those who have already reserved tickets to
Legacy's
Third Annual St. Patrick's Day Celebration, which will be taking place at
the Marcus Theatre in Rosemount this Friday, March 14, 2008 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. We look forward to seeing you there!

Second: if you plan to attend, but have not yet purchased tickets, we
encourage you to reserve tickets on-line ASAP and then pick them up at
"will-call" (front ticket counter at the theatre) on Friday. We've heard
that a number of people are planning to buy tickets at the door, but there's
no way to predict whether we'll have any left by then. We're trying to give
high priority to those (like you) who attended our past events in 2006 and
2007, and reserving tickets on-line is the best way for you to ensure
admission.

To reserve tickets, just send an email to tickets@legacycelticmusic.com by
8:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 13, 2008. Indicate in the email how many
tickets you want. You'll then receive an email from us confirming your
reservation. Go to Legacy's website or call Kevin at 651-983-6384
for more information, or if you have any questions.

100% of the net proceeds from this year's event will be donated to Gaeltacht
Minnesota, an organization dedicating to teaching and preserving the Irish
(Gaelic) language in the Twin Cities area. Your $8 ticket purchase will
therefore not only buy you two hours of traditional Irish entertainment, but
will also help support the Twin Cities' vibrant Irish culture.

Thanks, and we hope to hear from you soon, if we have not already! Happy St.
Patrick's Day!

Did I mention that we'll be recording the evening for a possible live CD? The gent who will be our sound engineer for the evening is the same guy who does sound in the dance tent during Irish Fair and the main stage at the Landmark for the St. Patrick's festivities; we've been working with him for years and he's been chomping at the bit for a chance to record us live.

So, come down and help us get juiced up and maybe hear yourself whoop and holler when we finally get around to putting the CD out . . .

For those of you who don't know, I work in a high school. I had an interesting (in the Chinese sense of the term) conversation with a student who is no longer a minor. Two surprising things came out of this conversation.

Student: Did you know that are warnings on cigarette packages? I smoke and I never knew that.

Me: Yes. They've been on cigarettes since the '60's.

Student: Wow! Anyway, I was looking at the package because I wanted to know if there was a label on it to tell me me the recommended serving size, you know, how many are okay to smoke in a day, kind of like on ice cream or potato chips.

Me: Blink

Student: Oh, well.

Me: Blink


"Oh, well", indeed. How can someone get through 13 years of public education without learning about the Surgeon General's warning? Heck, how many times must someone be told that smoking is dangerous and causes health problems before they have the epiphany "HOLY CRAP! I BETTER NOT SMOKE!"

That aside, it was the "recommended daily allowance" concern that blew me away, as if the student didn't want to eat more Oreos than was healthy. HEALTHY? Cigarettes?

Oh, crap. There's only one trimester left until this student graduates. Not much time left to save this starfish.

Okay, we're not doing quite the same ol' St. Patrick's Day thing that we've done the last two years. We're not providing dinner, but we will be having a fun time. We've rented an auditorium at the Rosemount Marcus Theater and we're going to have a concert. Yep, Legacy in a very different setting, doing some different things as well as some of what you would expect from us, but still very family friendly. We'll be joined by the "Gigging Siles" (a women's Irish a capella group) as well as some dancers from the Shamrock school. All to benefit Gaeltacht Minnesota.

Friday
March 14
7pm
$8

Tickets on sale at the Rosemount Dunn Bros, Irish On Grand, or from members of the Gigging Siles or Legacy.

For more info, http://www.legacycelticmusic.com/Legacy_2008.html

It is finished. Five minutes, and most of that was sedated and anesthetized. I now have a funny thing on my nose.

Apparently, "making an appointment with an ENT to have your broken nose set" means one thing to those of us who know and understand English and means something else to those who work the appointment desk and the M.D. themselves. Their definition: this is just a consultation and you have to get scheduled at the surgery center for anesthesia and sedation.

Huh? Sedation and anesthesia?

And the urgent care doctor was willing to do it all last Thursday.

So, I'm tentatively on the hook for Thursday morning. "You'll be back to work on Friday." Uh-huh. Right. I was told that last year when I had my nose fixed and I seem to recall not being able to be conscious for longer than a 1/2-hour for the first two days, and, how did Bugs Bunny put it? Oh, yeah: OH, THE PAIN!

Also, this is work comp so I'm not going to die in the operating chair, but I will hemorrhage money.

Guh.

"This must be Thursday," said Arthur to himself, sinking low over his beer. "I never could get the hang of Thursdays." -- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Not content with my failed attempt at achieving a concussion at work last Friday and receiving only a measly trapezius strain, today I decided to try a different tack.

My nose is broken. Fractured. Ouch. Etc.

I knew it was broken the second the other special ed assistant's arm cracked into it during 2nd period phy ed today. That was confirmed by the amount of blood that poured out. Even I, having never received a day of training as an radiologist, could see the fracture without being told where to look.

I go to my ENT on Monday.

Tylenol is the only OTC that I can take. Ice is my friend.

I finally have a chance to get some stamps in my brand-spanking-new passport. Won't be going for awhile, yet, but finally have tickets for Ireland. I'll be going with my sisters and my mom. And my box, of course.

Yippee.

Okay, I did it. I found WinXP Home Edition OEM cheap (WinXP < $100). Of course, WinXP isn't nearly as friendly to setup as any given Linux distribution. Okay, that's not an objective statement: most people never open their computer and add drives, tweak settings, install Linux in another partition (what's a partition?), etc. Most users would probably find the WinXP install function quite user-friendly: very hands-off. The fact that I create my own machines (only my laptop is a "branded" computer) means that the "simplified" install of WinXP was a nightmare: I wanted it to install on a particular drive but it wouldn't recognize any drive but my Linux drive. Nasty. Anyway, it's installed and now I'm going about trying to get networking going, etc. If I pull out any more hair, I'll let you know. Of course, when this is done, I'll be able to deal much better with mutt later this week (you know who you are!)

+=+=+=+=+=+

I forgot to add this about the OEM software. In order to buy WinXP OEM at this price it needed to come bundled with hardware. Apparently, ONE hardware screw of $0.05 was enough.