Three times this week I've been asked by native Irish where I'm from, the unsaid question being "What county are you from?" In Ireland, that is. You should see the confused looks on their faces when I say "Michigan."
The second person to ask me that was Seamus Kennedy, a performer from Belfast that I had the pleasure to hear last night. He's a favorite of Fairbanks, and folks have been telling me about him for nearly two years.
The room upstairs at the Elk's Club was filled with round tables, which were all jammed with people. Waitresses circulated Guinness, Bushmill's and other, less Irish drinks. Kennedy stood on a small platform at the front of the room and was easily heard over the crowd because of the excellent sound system.
I was grateful for that sound system, because it didn't take too long for too many Bud Lights to have been served at the table behind me. The inhabitants, whom I strongly suspected originally came from Texas, kept yelling for Kennedy to sing some Lynard Skynard, and when he opened with Whisky in the Jar, exclaimed "That's a Metallica song!" These folks apparently had half a brain between all six of them, and someone had left it in the car. I hope it thawed out before they tried to drive home. If the sound system hadn't been very clear, and just the right volume, I would not have been able to ignore these ignoramuses.
Kennedy put on a pub show, doing all the standards: Black Velvet Band, Whistling Gypsy Rover, Wild Mountain Thyme, Molly Malone (in a bit of Irish, too) and others. There was a bit of humor involving Molly Malone that I didn't care for, where he made some jokes about Mexicans and then sang Molly Malone as "Juanita Suarez." It wasn't mean, it was just not very well thought out. Being from New Mexico I didn't find it amusing, and I don't think he'd want to do that routine down there.
However it wasn't mean. I doubt there's a mean bone in this boy's body. The evening was pure fun, aside from that glitch. He made me happy by making fun of the song Danny Boy, doing it in various incarnations such as Elvis Presley, Harry Belafonte, and others. For a performing Celtic musician like myself, Danny Boy is the Stairway to Heaven of requests. You just get so sick of it. Most people probably thought he was making fun of Danny Boy to be funny. I happen to know he was saving his sanity!
Going back to Molly Malone (aka Cockles and Mussels) and speaking of cockles, the ones in my heart were warmed up by his lovely and tender version of Tooraloora Loora........................in Elmer Fudd voice.
Kennedy worked very hard and put on a great show. He didn't stick just with Irish or Scottish music, but did something you just don't see anyone do every day, but especially not an Irishman: he yodeled like he was on fire! Doing a song called That's How the Yodel was Born, more popularly known as done by the Riders in the Sky, he surprised the hell out of me! You just never know what a man in a kilt can do, eh?
It was great to have someone else leading all the singalongs. It was great to hear the old standards and hear them done right! He played nearly three hours and was absolutely worth the $20 I paid to get in.
