While Liz and I are off-line for a bit, mark your calendar to join us at St. Stephen's Green on Sunday, August 16th from 6:00 till 9:00 PM. We'd love to see you there!
"The October Winds" Rehearsal. [2:57]
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Cousin Peg ("Peg o' My Heart")
Here's a photo of my cousin Peggy (AKA Peg, Meg, Meggie, and more). On a previous post I told how her son, Paddy (now Fr. Pat), is the one who taught me how to play the guitar. We spent untold hours playing and singing at his house which was right across the street from our house. Through it all, Peggy never complained. She was -- and is -- a singer herself. Some of my earliest memories of family gatherings were of Peg and her sisters dressing up in the men-folk's army fatigues and singing "close harmonies" just like the Andrews Sisters. (Watch them below.) They not only had the songs down pat, but they had all the moves, too. They were terrific! Whenever Paddy and I played for family members, we'd seem (to her) to spend an inordinate amount of time tuning our guitars -- we wanted the sound to be right. Peggy would say: "Why do you have to do that? You never see them doing that on TV! Can't you just play?" For years, Peg has been a faithful follower of Bobby Byrne and she invariably gets up to do a few numbers during his show. She's a real show-stopper!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Video: "Moonshiner / Whistling Gypsy" [8:12]
Here's a video clip that Abbey took at St. Stephen's Green last Sunday. More clips to follow.
Monday, July 13, 2009
St. Stephen's Green Debut | Slide Show
Liz and I had a wonderful time performing at St. Stephen's Green last night. We could not have hoped for a nicer place to play. While we met a lot of new people, the best part was seeing many of our friends who were able to make it to the gig.
Abbey and Jury were able to be with us, even though they've been so busy taking such good care of their ailing dog, Cale. Jury took the photos in this slide show. Abbey shot some videos which I will post soon.
Liz and I will be back at The Green on August 16. We'd love to see you there if you can make it. Until then, you're welcome to leave a comment below.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Latest Gigs Announced!
Liz and I will be performing at St. Stephen's Green Publick House on Route 71 in Spring Lake Heights on July 12 and August 16. We'll play three sets starting at 6:00 PM. Other dates to follow. Watch this space.Please pass the word to anyone you think might be interested.
We hope to see you there!
Friday, June 26, 2009
Welcome!
After some years away from performing, I'm excited to be getting out there again.
Liz and I spent this winter brushing up on the music I loved as a teenager when I first learned to play the guitar. And Liz has become a great bodhrán player! (Her favorite things in kindergarten were the little percussion instruments in music class.)
My cousin Paddy taught me how to play the guitar when I was 16 and we spent hours and hours -- and hours! -- playing songs by Bob Dylan; Pete Seeger; The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem; Peter, Paul & Mary; the Beatles and others. One of our first public performances (other than Sunday Folk Masses at Holy Cross Church in Harrison) was in his high school's variety show. We played a couple of Mamas and Papas songs and they went over very well.
During my college years, I played at a lot of campus coffee houses. The music at that time was perfectly suited for a voice and a guitar. When I was 19, my sister Sheila arranged for an audition with Joe Finn. I played for Joe at a friend's house and he liked what he heard. He asked me to come right over to the McCann Hotel's "Silver Edge Bar" in Belmar, where he was headlining, to play for the crowd there. It went OK and Joe offered me a job playing there. (I was under-age so I had to be bonded to be able to play in a place for over-21-year-olds.) I then played at the Vailsburg Inn in Newark, the Norwood Hotel in Avon, and other places around the State. When I started teaching, I dropped out of the music scene for some years till I was offered a spot playing and singing in Ed Finn's country western band, "Firewater." That gig lasted for more than 20 years!
Last summer, Tommy Makem died and it really saddened me. He was one of my lifetime musical heroes and I knew I would miss his being in the world. I wrote to Liam Clancy expressing my sadness -- and my appreciation for their music over the years. Then, in November, Joe Finn passed away. When I had learned about the seriousness of his illness, I emailed him to thank him for his gift of music and for all he had done for me personally. He very kindly thanked me for my message. I was more motivated than ever to return to Irish music -- partly as a tribute to Joe and his music.
So, Liz and I have started approaching restaurants and pubs in the area that have "Irish Nights." We're also interested in playing for private parties -- no late hours, though! ("Been there; done that!") We'll see how it goes. Wish us luck!
Bookmark our Web site and this blog for the latest news about GregRyanSingsIrish.com.
Special thanks to Abbey Ryan for creating our Web site and this blog!
Feel free to leave a comment.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
