Ireland
Ireland
October 3, 2016
25/7/2016
A week from today and we are off.
Lesley and I will be doing a promotional campaign this year, hitting as many festivals around Europe and working on next year’s tour. I will be concentrating on Europe and the UK as well this year.
Americana/Australiana blues compilation is at the masterer, this will feature some of our blues tunes, from right across the board, swings, shuffles, boogies, zydeco, even a slow blues….yes, we have recorded one! Tracks can be listened to on website, but don’t buy yet as it’s not finished, (see still with masterer above) and I will have hard copies at the gigs when I get back
17/8/2016
This missive is written from sunny Ireland, believe it or not the last 2 days have been just glorious, Jeeze I even got burned yesterday.
It is good to be back in ‘Old Sod’, Lesley and I have had a bloody great time so far.
Van is legal and on the road, thanks to Eamonn and Richie for your help, was almost painless this year.
We arrived just over 2 weeks ago and have been flat out since, Dublin, Enniscorthy, Meath, Clifden, Mullingar, Bishopstown and Armagh for the blues festival, (look ‘em up)
Went to Dublin last Thursday for a jam session, run by Conall Lee a good little jam and I met 2 excellent players, Hector Castile who is just an insane guitarist and Mr Ferrari (his real surname) a real cool bass player, was a fantastic blow and hoping to do a gig in the very near future with these lads, the Dublin Crew. Thanks for a wild blow lads.
Next it was off to Clifden in Galway, Malarkey's bar, the boss man Jason runs one of the finest musical bars I have run across anywhere, as a more gracious host you would be hard pressed to find.
Friday night played with a young fella called Nicholas Timothy, a fine guitarist and a great vocalist with a big blues timbre throughout his performance, we played acoustically and I used brushes, nice quiet little gig with plenty of spirit.
Saturday night we were joined by another brilliant young bass player a fella from Galway by name of Sam Wright.
All I can say is the night was so much fun that I was disappointed at the last song with the thought that I might not get to play with these guys again, bit depressing actually, special line ups like this don’t land in your lap every day. The Galway Crew
But a plan is forming, it takes a while to understand the dance in different countries even this one, which is so similar to our own, (except for the weather).
Sunday night we headed to Armagh for the last day of their blues festival and caught a couple of excellent local acts.
Nothing changes but the location, they do a lot of the same things we do in terms of song selection and putting a show together.
Irish people love music, it’s part of their culture, An older bloke said to me one night, ‘I don’t like the music you play, but I love the way you play it’, 82 years old and attend both years we played there. I feel in Oz the great part of our audience is drifting away from going out to see bands and I wonder how much of the solo/duo ‘man and machine’ thing is responsible for this down turn. Starting to seep in here too. So juke boxy without the original feel. ‘Nuf said.
So I bid you all Guten tag.
Onwards and upwards
7/9/2016
This missive is written from sunny Ireland, Again!...been a bit slow on the blogs sorry but Lesley and I have been busy having fun.
Wednesday 24th we headed over to the Netherlands and Amsterdam in particular, a very cool place I could live there quite easily and I hear you sniggering, but that’s not the reason.
Holland is a very adult country and it is a relief not to feel hassled by cops…. just cause they can….no nanny state BS, but some funny stuff happens there too, very few venues for live music but we did catch up with all the venues in the city, (only 5 we could find), coffee shops the outlet for Pot play that bloody trance crap, like we are all teenagers, if it doesn’t have a drummer I don’t want to hear it.
So it’s legal to grow pot in Holland and it’s legal for the coffee shops to sell it, but it’s not legal for the growers to sell it to the coffee shops….go figure, and it’s legal to smoke in your own home but it’s not legal to carry on the streets, ha…how do you get it home I hear you ask, NO IDEA!
But in saying all that the police are pretty cool unless you mess up and then big trouble gonna reign down on you big time.
Have had some gigs come in with Gerry Quigley and the Shinkickers. This has been fun so far and I have a few more coming up before I head back.
Gerry is a fine player, who spent 30 odd years in Aust. before heading home, He and his wife Sharon are wonderful people the put us up and put up with us.
Info on Gerry and the band can be found at:- www.gerryquigleymusic.com
28/09/2016
Well, just on a week until we return to the shores of Oz, this has been a pretty great trip and I have got to perform with some kick arse Irish players, and see a fair bit of Europe in the process, Lesley and I have had the best time and I don’t think I could ask for a better travelling partner, even when we couldn’t get a decent shower for days at a time no complaints, took it all like the trooper she is.
Hard to imagine that this time next week I will be getting ready for the Ruby’s jam. We have missed all our friends and are looking forward to catching up with you all in Australia.
There are some things I don’t miss….like our fascist police force, was watching TV one night and the NSW highway patrol show was on, was very upsetting and really rattled me a bit, you are not constantly having to look over your shoulder in Ireland, reminds me of how we used to live in Oz 25-30 years ago. I also am not missing the petty BS we call politics in Australia and the feeling of being slowly crushed by ‘Australia’ the corporation. Nuff said, see you all next Wednesday at Ruby’s.
I have written a few new songs and plan to start on a new album on return, also finish off Nori’s album and start on recordings with Irish John and Kerrie Sweeney….ahh fun times ahead.
Many thanks to Stefano Ferrari and Hector Mr Castle in Dublin for a great jam and I am hoping to get back to the Tivoli on Thursday for one more hit out in Ireland if you are both around would like for you to join me.
Nicholas Timothy and Sam Wright are 2 great young players from Galway and these young fellas really know how to play and interpret the blues, had 2 great nights with these guys.
And last but not least a great find for me Gerry Quigley and the Shinkickers, Gerry is a truly amazing guitarist and we have 2 firm friends in Gerry and his wife Sharon…wonderful people who opened their house to us and made us feel very welcome, we have plans for future gigs and recording on both sides of the world as Sharon is a native to WA and Gerry has spent over 30 years in OZ.
Our last gig was last Saturday night at the Cobh blues festival and was a fantastic night, with the band receiving a standing ovation….don’t know the last time I got one of those.
Will have vids of the gigs with the Shinkickers on the www.jimfinn.irish website very soon. Gerry writes his own tunes and plays a variety of stringed instruments, info on Gerry and the band can be found at:- www.gerryquigleymusic.com
So I never thought I’d say this but I feel sorry for the English, what a place, they pay in pounds what we pay in dollars for just about everything, petrol is £1. 10 a litre, butter is £2.50 you get the idea, very expensive and wages are very low (6-8 pounds per hour min wage).
They have thing in London called a congestion tax and it’s 11 pounds if you go thru the city Mon- Fri between 7am and 8pm, but nothing to tell you what it is, cost or how you pay, you need local knowledge. If you don’t pay by midnight of the day of usage it goes up to £14 and then to £130. Bloody corporate thievery in my opinion. Funny thing is if you park in London all day which in my opinion just adds to the congestion you don’t have to pay the congestion tax, go figure!
In saying that I do like London but would never drive through it again. The sat nav kept taking us through London no matter what I punched in, ended up punching stella (GPS) after it wanted to add another 200 k’s to one of journeys. That trip took 11 hours to travel 450 k’s we had just sat in a traffic jam outside Birmingham for nearly 3 hours and it wanted to take us south and then back up north again….I just lost it!
Thanks to all our family and friends over here, you are all special people and we love that you make us feel so welcome.
I won’t list everyone because there are just too many but must give special thanks to my cousin Jackie and her Mamy for the use of their family home while we have been here.
While we have been here we attended my cousin Stephanie’s wedding, what an amazing affair, the party went on for 2 days, lots to eat lots to drink and just great craic, the Irish know how to party. A very special weekend and I got to catch up with some people I haven’t seen in over 40 years as well as family members I have never met before. Very cool.
That’ll do for now.
3/10/2016
Writing this on the plane from Dubai to Sydney and I will be home in Bundeena in about 4 hours and then you will receive shortly after that…. the wonders of modern technology
Looking forward to catching you all, have a couple of city gigs this weekend and hope you all turn up to say hi.
