Barry McCabe

As you know, my music gets played regularly on an array of programmes in countries scattered all over the world, for which I am always grateful. Just recently we found out that a song had been played on a children's programme in the UK. Here's the URL for their site/the show if you're interested (it's actually quite a fun show and great if you have children in the 6 to 10-year range) but of course that doesn't exclude adults who haven't or don't want to grow up!! lol

http://kidscastuk.mevio.com (it's episode no. 70 in case they add new shows before you get to check it out)

If you get impatient you can skip to the end of the programme as my song is the last song in the show. I won't spoil the surprise as to which song they played.

I contacted them to say "thank you" and got this nice reply from Steve, their producer.

We were delighted to play your track as it's brill. I'm sure that the  
kids will love it as much as we do. As producer I felt that the last  
spot was perfect for it, leaves the listener on a real high. After  
such an abysmal show! Ha ha just messing with ya. I mean it about the  
high though, it is perfect.

Great food, great wine, great weather, great audiences - what can I say, what a great week we had in France!!

The gig in Luxembourg got postponed at the last minute (timing wasn't right or something) but that wasn't a problem as it was the first gig on the tour. That left us playing Metz (one night) & Strasbourg (2 nights) and everything was just super.

We arrived in Metz in good time and checked into our hotel - which just happened to be right across from the cathedral and not only that but our room was looking directly out onto it. Beautiful.

The club was only 100 yards or so from the hotel so that made everything really, really easy. We were met at the Irish Pub by Chris and his staff and they immediately made us feel right at home. It's a great Irish Bar and has a very authentic feel about it. I could tell already that it was going to be a good gig. I often have that - a feeling or a sort of premonition about how the night is going to be - and more often that not I'm right.

The soundcheck took no time and so we had a little time to kill so we went back to the hotel to chill for a bit. The restaurant was only around the corner from the gig (how easy can it get?) and we had ourselves a very nice meal (including a fine array of French cheeses).

The audience was a mixture of young and old and everything in between. You could tell they'd come to listen to music and not only that, it seems they'd taken the time to check out my website because we started getting requests for "Rollin'"  and "In The Dead Of Night", etc., which was dead cool as far as I'm concerned.

As with any good gig, the time just flew and before we knew it the gig was over. A lot of people stuck around to talk to us, have their CD's signed, talk about Ireland and all sorts of stuff and it was very cosy to just sit there for awhile, have a drink or two and talk to the people. It's a great place and I highly recommend it if you ever happen to be in Metz.

Often breakfast in France is little more than a piece of bread & jam or a croissant but not in Hotel de la Cathédrale. What a spread, with lots and lots of fresh fruit (strawberries the size of plums)!! That was well worth getting up for.

The trip over/down to Strasbourg was only an hour and a half so again we arrived at the hotel in good time. It's always nice when things aren't rushed. We checked into what would be our home for the next two days and called the promoter. In this case it wasn't a French man but an Irish guy - the one and only Pat Cannon. Some of you may remember me talking about him before as he promoted several gigs in Dublin (where I played with Pat McManus as my 'special guest'). I loved working with him then and I loved working with him this week. Not only is he a truly decent human being but he just loves promoting gigs and he does it so well. He filled us in on what to expect for the coming two nights and later we went around to the club to soundcheck. Again, the hotel was only about 500 yards or so from the gig.

The venue owner is a guy called Serge and he's quite a character. We had a lot of laughs at the dinner table and he plied us with good food, great cheese and very suitable wine!! What's that old saying - "living like a God in France"?  It sure felt like it on this tour.

The gig on the first night was very satisfactory from a performer's point of view in that the people came to listen and were very appreciative. That's always great to get, that kind of feedback, and it tends to bring out the best in an artist when you feel people are really listening to what it is you're saying or playing.

Breakfast was at the club and after that Pat and his good lady took us on a guided tour of the 'old town'. Wow, that's worth checking out if you ever get to Strasbourg.

Beautiful.

After we'd visited the cathedral (see photo accompanying this blog) they took us to try out the local specialty - "tarte flambée" It's an Alsatian dish composed of a thin bread dough rolled out in a rectangular shape and covered with crème fraîche, onions and lardon (bacon). Tasty or what!!

After all that excitement we needed a nap at the hotel to get ourselves in shape for the gig that evening. The French beer company Kronenbourg decided to treat their staff to a night out and they all joined us for St. Patrick's day at the "Au Camionneur" club for the evening. I must say it led to quite a civilised night and not at all the normal drunk and rowdy crowd you could expect on such a night.

...and that as they say is that. We stayed on at the club and had a few beers (Kronenbourg of course!!) and concluded that we'd just had a string of really nice gigs and a really nice time in Metz & Strasbourg. It's an area I'd love to visit again, whether as part of a tour or just as a regular tourist.

You can view some photos of the trip on the photo's page (click on 'concert photos' on the top of the page)

Just recently Derek Sivers (the founder of CD Baby) posted the following story. It's by a guy called Jerome Wiedman. It's a wonderful story so I thought, why not re-post here? I hope you enjoy it. I'm sure you will if music makes up even a tiny part of your life!! 

When I was a very young man, just beginning to make my way, I was invited to dine at the home of a distinguished New York philanthropist. After dinner our hostess led us to an enormous drawing room. Other guests were pouring in, and my eyes beheld two unnerving sights: servants were arranging small gilt chairs in long, neat rows; and up front, leaning against the wall, were musical instruments. Apparently I was in for an evening of Chamber music.

I use the phrase “in for” because music meant nothing to me. I am almost tone deaf. Only with great effort can I carry the simplest tune, and serious music was to me no more than an arrangement of noises. So I did what I always did when trapped: I sat down and when the music started I fixed my face in what I hoped was an expression of intelligent appreciation, closed my ears from the inside and submerged myself in my own completely irrelevant thoughts.

After a while, becoming aware that the people around me were applauding, I concluded it was safe to unplug my ears. At once I heard a gentle but surprisingly penetrating voice on my right.

“You are fond of Bach?” the voice said.

I knew as much about Bach as I know about nuclear fission. But I did know one of the most famous faces in the world, with the renowned shock of untidy white hair and the ever-present pipe between the teeth. I was sitting next to Albert Einstein.

“Well,” I said uncomfortably, and hesitated. I had been asked a casual question. All I had to do was be I equally casual in my reply. But I could see from the look in my neighbor’s extraordinary eyes that their owner was not merely going through the perfunctory duties of elementary politeness. Regardless of what value I placed on my part in the verbal exchange, to this man his part in it mattered very much. Above all, I could feel that this was a man to whom you did not tell a lie, however small.

“I don’t know anything about Bach,” I said awkwardly. “I’ve never heard any of his music.”

A look of perplexed astonishment washed across Einstein’s mobile face.

“You have never heard Bach?”

He made it sound as though I had said I’d never taken a bath.

“It isn’t that I don’t want to like Bach,” I replied hastily. “It’s just that I’m tone deaf, or almost tone deaf, and I’ve never really heard anybody’s music.”

A look of concern came into the old man’s face. “Please,” he said abruptly, “You will come with me?”

He stood up and took my arm. I stood up. As he led me across that crowded room I kept my embarrassed glance fixed on the carpet. A rising murmur of puzzled speculation followed us out into the hall. Einstein paid no attention to it.

Resolutely he led me upstairs. He obviously knew the house well. On the floor above he opened the door into a book-lined study, drew me in and shut the door.

“Now,” he said with a small, troubled smile. “You will tell me, please, how long you have felt this way about music?”

“All my life,” I said, feeling awful. “I wish you would go back downstairs and listen, Dr. Einstein. The fact that I don’t enjoy it doesn’t matter.”

He shook his head and scowled, as though I had introduced an irrelevance.

“Tell me, please,” he said. “Is there any kind of music that you do like?”

“Well,” I answered, “I like songs that have words, and the kind of music where I can follow the tune.”

He smiled and nodded, obviously pleased. “You can give me an example, perhaps?”

“Well,” I ventured, “almost anything by Bing Crosby.”

He nodded again, briskly. “Good!”

He went to a corner of the room, opened a phonograph and started pulling out records. I watched him uneasily. At last he beamed. “Ah!” he said.

He put the record on and in a moment the study was filled with the relaxed, lilting strains of Bing Crosby’s “When the Blue of the Night Meets the Gold of the Day.” Einstein beamed at me and kept time with the stem of his pipe. After three or four phrases he stopped the phonograph.

“Now,” he said. “Will you tell me, please, what you have just heard?”

The simplest answer seemed to be to sing the lines. I did just that, trying desperately to stay on tune and keep my voice from cracking. The expression on Einstein’s face was like the sunrise.

“You see!” he cried with delight when I finished. “You do have an ear!”

I mumbled something about this being one of my favorite songs, something I had heard hundreds of times, so that it didn’t really prove anything.

“Nonsense!” said Einstein. “It proves everything! Do you remember your first arithmetic lesson in school? Suppose, at your very first contact with numbers, your teacher had ordered you to work out a problem in, say, long division or fractions. Could you have done so?”

“No, of course not.”

“Precisely!” Einstein made a triumphant wave with his pipestem. “It would have been impossible and you would have reacted in panic. You would have closed your mind to long division and fractions. As a result, because of that one small mistake by your teacher, it is possible your whole life you would be denied the beauty of long division and fractions.”

The pipestem went up and out in another wave.

“But on your first day no teacher would be so foolish. He would start you with elementary things - then, when you had acquired skill with the simplest problems, he would lead you up to long division and to fractions.”

“So it is with music.” Einstein picked up the Bing Crosby record. “This simple, charming little song is like simple addition or subtraction. You have mastered it. Now we go on to something more complicated.”

He found another record and set it going. The golden voice of John McCormack singing “The Trumpeter” filled the room. After a few lines Einstein stopped the record.

“So!” he said. “You will sing that back to me, please?”

I did - with a good deal of self-consciousness but with, for me, a surprising degree of accuracy. Einstein stared at me with a look on his face that I had seen only once before in my life: on the face of my father as he listened to me deliver the valedictory address at my high school graduation.

“Excellent!” Einstein remarked when I finished. “Wonderful! Now this!”

“This” proved to be Caruso in what was to me a completely unrecognizable fragment from “Cavalleria Rusticana.” Nevertheless, I managed to reproduce an approximation of the sounds the famous tenor had made. Einstein beamed his approval.

Caruso was followed by at least a dozen others. I could not shake my feeling of awe over the way this great man, into whose company I had been thrown by chance, was completely preoccupied by what we were doing, as though I were his sole concern.

We came at last to recordings of music without words, which I was instructed to reproduce by humming. When I reached for a high note, Einstein’s mouth opened and his head went back as if to help me attain what seemed unattainable. Evidently I came close enough, for he suddenly turned off the phonograph.

“Now, young man,” he said, putting his arm through mine. “We are ready for Bach!”

As we returned to our seats in the drawing room, the players were tuning up for a new selection. Einstein smiled and gave me a reassuring pat on the knee.

“Just allow yourself to listen,” he whispered. “That is all.”

It wasn’t really all, of course. Without the effort he had just poured out for a total stranger I would never have heard, as I did that night for the first time in my life, Bach’s “Sheep May Safely Graze.” I have heard it many times since. I don’t think I shall ever tire of it. Because I never listen to it alone. I am sitting beside a small, round man with a shock of untidy white hair, a dead pipe clamped between his teeth, and eyes that contain in their extraordinary warmth all the wonder of the world.

When the concert was finished I added my genuine applause to that of the others.

Suddenly our hostess confronted us. “I’m so sorry, Dr. Einstein,” she said with an icy glare at me, “that you missed so much of the performance.”

Einstein and I came hastily to our feet. “I am sorry, too,” he said. “My young friend here and I, however, were engaged in the greatest activity of which man is capable.”

She looked puzzled. “Really?” she said. “And what is that?”

Einstein smiled and put his arm across my shoulders. And he uttered ten words that - for at least one person who is in his endless debt - are his epitaph:

“Opening up yet another fragment of the frontier of beauty.”

-- story by Jerome Weidman

Just recently I decided to wear a waistcoat I hadn't worn in ages. In one of the pockets I found a piece of paper with Arthur Conley's address on it. I must have worn this waistcoat the first time I went to visit him. As you might be aware Arthur passed away from this world a few years ago.

Arthur was a very friendly man and he did a lot to help young musicians. I was lucky enough to be the recipient of his kindness and help on several occasions.

Yesterday I was sending out a few e-cards and around the same time I got an e-mail from a good friend of mine, Bluesy Willie. Willie was also a very good friend of Arthur's. I mentioned to him about finding Arthur's address in my pocket. Willie told me he'd had a very vivid dream the night before about Arthur but it felt more than just a dream. It felt real. I said, well it's obvious Arthur is showing us that he's still around and looking out for us.

Then I got a mail a few minutes later from Willie to say he'd just heard "Sweet Soul Music" on the radio.

Merry Christmas Arthur, you sweet soul man!!

I hope I'll be able to remember all the wonderful experiences I/we had on my/our 1st US tour and report it all here in my blog. I'll try to do it by breaking it down into different parts (the tour had roughly three phases).

Day one obviously involved getting to the airport on time and all that jazz and everything went smoothly and according to plan so nothing to report there. The flight was very comfortable (one of the new Airbus aircraft) and we arrived at Newark International Airport, New Jersey around 6.30pm (local time). Going through customs/security involved having your photograph and fingerprints taken. I still think it's a weird situation because for me I still associate having your fingerprints taken with being in the police station and you having committed a crime or something like that. I don't like it but if that's the only way to get into the country then I have to accept it, right?

So, first I had to do the four fingers of my right hand and then my right thumb. Next he asked me to do the four fingers on my left hand and my right thumb. I wasn't sure if he was also testing my mental abilities so I said - "don't you mean my left thumb?" and he chucked a bit and said - "you're not to slow".

He then proceeded to ask me a few questions like, have you ever been in the US before, etc. and then he asked me if I'd ever been arrested. I just had to laugh a bit at that and answered - "no, I haven't had that pleasure yet".

After that it was bang, boom, bang and my passport and all the various forms we had to fill out were stamped and he said - "welcome to the United States!"  Danny had no problems clearing customs either so the next job was to meet up with my old high school buddy Paddy, who was waiting for us on the other side. He went with us to help us pick up our rental car and it's a good job he did because they wouldn't accept the credit card I had (my girlfriend's) as the card holder had to be the same person as the one picking up the car. Paddy took care of that by charging it to his credit card and naming me as an extra driver. That little 'mistake' cost us $77.81, not really the best way to start a tour, right? :-)

So, the next 'problem' to sort out was driving without a gearstick. Oh, oh, that was fun the first few times. I kept stepping on the brake every time I wanted to use the clutch (that wasn't there). We found our faces up against the windscreen a few times on the first few days!! All in a day's work, right!! :-)

The next day was the first gig - Swing The Teapot, out in Floral Park (Long Island), NY. This show was sold out in advance of the tour, which was a really great way to start the tour. Obviously, there was a strong Irish contingent among the crowd, including a few high school pals I hadn't seen in well over 20 years. It was a bit like a class reunion at times. We had decided to add a few 'Irish' songs to the setlist just to give the set more variety and it also gave me the opportunity to talk and tell a few stories about growing up in Ireland and what music I heard growing up and they went down well with the 'home' crowd. It was a great opening to the tour and it was all over in no time. Time sure does fly when you're having fun.

We had the next day off, which was a good thing as it gave us a little time to get settled. That evening we decided to get some Chinese food so we hit the local takeaway. We placed our order and as she was bagging it for us she said something to us. I had no idea what she said (she had a heavy Chinese accent and I was only half-awake) so I asked her to repeat it. I still couldn't get it but there was a rather large black man (or whatever the current politically correct term is) standing beside us and he explained that she'd just asked us if we wanted some free Won Ton soup. We didn't feel like soup so we just thanked her but said - "no thanks". She then said something else I didn't understand so again our 'brudder' explained  that she was asking us if we wanted a free soda. We didn't really feel that that either so again we said  - "no thanks" and as quick as a flash our 'translator' said - "I'll take it!!"

Paddy took us to a library in Montclair as I wanted to check my e-mail. They were very kind and helpful and gave us a guest pass which allowed us to use the computer for 30 minutes for free. I like this country already - free Won Ton soup, free soda and free access to the internet!

We were in Montclair, NJ on Saturday night, which wasn't all that far from where we were staying. We got in early enough to set up but there didn't really seem to be anyone in charge of the sound equipment, etc. Danny likes to muck around with the sound so he got stuck in and got us a decent sound in the end. Nice one Danny! Again, there were some people at the gig I hadn't seen in ages so it was catch up time again on what everyone had been doing over the years. I also had the very pleasant surprise of meeting several people face-to-face that I'd ever only 'spoken' to via e-mail. Some of them travelled several hours just to catch the gig, which always amazes me when someone does that and I was very grateful for that. Again, we felt in the company of friends and the gig became quite a cosy affair and again was over all too soon.So far, everyone seems to be really enthusiastic about the music/show and their favourite statement seems to be - "you guys are awesome!" I can live with that!! :-)

We were scheduled to appear on the Gene Shay show on WXPN radio in Philadelphia, PA on Sunday. Shay's been around a long time and is a very well-known name in the folk scene in the US. We talked briefly before going on air and he certainly knew quite a few names from the Irish folk scene. There was another duo on the show - Beaucoup Blue - who are a father/son team. We walked in as they were soundchecking and my first thought was - boy, these two guys sure play it tight, which of course makes sense when you realise they've been at it for ages. It was a real pleasure to meet them, very sweet guys!

On Monday we headed back to NJ to record a 30 minute special for the TV show "Horses Sing None Of It". They're based in Randolph, NJ. The show has been running for over 20 years, can be seen in 10 to 15 states, depending on a few variables. Our show will probably air in about three months and will then run for up to three years! It was quite a laid back affair and I'm really looking forward to seeing it. They're going to send us a copy on DVD.

We had a day or two off after that so we used the opportunity to spend a day in New York City. I won't take up your time here by describing our day out or what all we seen/did while we were there but if you've never been to New York City then I can highly recommend it as a great place to visit!!

Ok, that sort of describes our first week/phase of the tour, so I'll write more in Part II as soon as I get a little more free time.