A new post!!!

Sorry it's been nearly a month since the last update. However, I've been keeping very busy. I've been in Ireland for three months, and it's been pretty good so far.

As I mentioned in my last post, I did go to Doolin a few weeks ago. After a really nice bus ride through the Burren area of Clare, you come to the very small town of Doolin. There's a stream, the Allie River, that runs through the middle of it, dividing the town in two. There's a number of good music pubs, but the night I was there I went to O'Connors, a very famous one, as Micho Russel, the late whistle player, was always in there. I was lucky, as that night Christy Barry was playing. I'd only really heard of him by way of two jigs, known as the Christy Barry set. Turns out he's an amazing flute player. Along with a box player and an older fiddler, they played alot of really great tunes, many I haven't heard before. It was worthwhile going down just for that. However, the scenery is amazing, very stark, with rocky outcropings and very old limstone creeping out from the long grass. Town is right by the ocean, and just north of the Cliffs of Moher. I didn't get out to the cliffs on this trip, but I'll have to see them in the future.

Back in Galway, I've been busking everyday, and now and then I've had some gigs. I've done a few session gigs, where you're payed to keep a session going, some very strange miked gigs, even a retirement party! I had been busking a week or so ago when a man came up and asked if I'd do a gig with him, at the retirement party. It was great, as we got dinner in addition to being payed, it was a very relaxed gig, and we ended up at someone's house for tea and chopped fruit. Those are the nice gigs to get!

The house I'm in is great. Musicians coming through Galway tend to stopover at the house, so there's constantly new, and interesting people staying here. There's been a flutemaker from Italy, an American guitar repairer, another Danish box player, a fiddler from Japan... it's very international!

Two weeks ago I went to Sheffield, in England, to visit my friend, Mathias. It was a mad trip: I played at a session till 1 in the morning, than ran to catch my bus to Dublin at 1:15. I got to Dublin Airport just after 4am, and checked-in in with Ryanair and got through security by 4:45. My plane departed at 6:30, and I landed at Manchester Airport at 7:30. I got a train to Manchester-Piccadilly, then transfered to a train going to Sheffield, arriving around 11:30. But then I had to walk about 4 kilometers to get to the Tapton Hall of Residence, a Sheffield University building, where I was staying. I checked in, then crashed on the bed for about an hour.

Then I woke up. I decided to go for a walk into the city center, and I ran into Mathias, who was coming back from lunch with his physics colleagues. He was very surprised, as he thought I was coming the following week; turns out he told the wrong dates! Anyhow, we had a great weekend. We walked all around Sheffield, which is a very nice looking city, and I think we saw all the architetural attrations! We also went to a very large indoor market, with an incredible amount of stalls over three floors. One floor was just for food, and there were probably ten butchers, several fishmongers, lots of fruits and vegetables; besides that there was clothing, funiture, textiles, gifts, cafes, restaurants...and it was really busy with people. We also got to several outdoor markets. On the Saturday night, the people in the physics program Mathias was in decided to have a barbeque, so we went to that. They had bought the cheap, disposable barbeques and a lot of food, and set up in a nearby park. (although it was interesting to get to, involving climbing over a wall, walking through trees and listening to music from the Gay Pride festival that was on in the next field over...)

The next day I did a little busking, as Mathias had to study, but it wasn't as nice as in Galway. Mostly, I walked, checking out several art galleries and museums. Sheffield seems to be a very academic city, with two university campuses and a couple colleges, and interesting facilities spread over the entire city.

On Monday, I had to head home. It was great to see a friend from home, and definitely worth the crazy trip it took to get there and back.

So, I'm here in Galway. I've been down to Ennis for busking a couple more times, and the busking has picked up a little bit in Galway. I picked up a small guitar, just to keep up practice on it. Tomorrow I'm heading to Miltown Malbay, the site of the Willie Clancy Summer School, which happens to be one of the largest Irish music festivals in the world. A couple housemates have a gig down there, so I'll get a ride with them, then I'll camp out for a few days.

Once I'm back, I'll probably have pictures from that, so I'll do a big post, with lots of pictures from the last month.

Thanks to everyone that's reading my blog!