Paschal Leloup took us out for a wonderful dinner tonight. I forget where we ate but after we ate we walked around downtown Dublin and he finally gave into my request to hear some traditional Irish music. He took us to O’Donoghues Bar.
It reminded me instantly of New Orleans’ Preservation Hall. Authentic music being played without amplification in a corner of the bar with only locals in sight.
I quickly made my way right next to the band (I sat right next to the violin player) and started talking with the locals. Turns out music has been played every weekend in this corner for more than 40 years. One local I talked to said seeing Americans was rare: “how did you find your way to this place?” I pointed to Paschal and said a local had brought me. He told me I had found the real thing, not the commercialized thing which other pubs hire.
I looked around and there was tons of Guinness being served (and the band was well lubricated too, or as one of them put it, they were “pissed”).
Hope your Friday evening is going as well.
Scobleizer 
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Sounds like a good time. If you think that is fun then you should probably come to Newfoundland for a visit sometime.
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Sounds like a good time. If you think that is fun then you should probably come to Newfoundland for a visit sometime.
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Ahh, ta be sharin’ a Guinness wit ya in da land of me forefathers.
Amanda’s right, the Rock is a pretty fabulous place as well. And the fog is good for your skin!
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Ahh, ta be sharin’ a Guinness wit ya in da land of me forefathers.
Amanda’s right, the Rock is a pretty fabulous place as well. And the fog is good for your skin!
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If you like real Irish music, there’s plenty to be found in NYC, as well. A sessiun every night of the week, if you don’t mind hopping over to Brooklyn or the Bronx.
The one you really want is the one where Tom Daugherty is the starter.
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If you like real Irish music, there’s plenty to be found in NYC, as well. A sessiun every night of the week, if you don’t mind hopping over to Brooklyn or the Bronx.
The one you really want is the one where Tom Daugherty is the starter.
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Oh, and in SF: the Plough and Stars in San Francisco on Sunday nights, and the Starry Plough (same management) in Berkeley on Monday nights. The Monday session has dancers.
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Oh, and in SF: the Plough and Stars in San Francisco on Sunday nights, and the Starry Plough (same management) in Berkeley on Monday nights. The Monday session has dancers.
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“I quickly made my way right next to the band (I sat right next to the violin player) and started talking with the locals.”
As a player in sessions, it would be appreciated if you’d come close in to listen, and move back to talk… makes it a bit easier for musicians to hear the other players, thanks.
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“I quickly made my way right next to the band (I sat right next to the violin player) and started talking with the locals.”
As a player in sessions, it would be appreciated if you’d come close in to listen, and move back to talk… makes it a bit easier for musicians to hear the other players, thanks.
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There’s always a good ceilli in “The Merchant O’Shea” which is about a half a mile up the Liffey quays from where you were.
I dare say the musician would have called it a fiddle rather than a violin though 😉
Did you try a pint of the “Brewhouse series” Guinness – http://www.flickr.com/photos/merrion/63833061/ – while you were here?
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There’s always a good ceilli in “The Merchant O’Shea” which is about a half a mile up the Liffey quays from where you were.
I dare say the musician would have called it a fiddle rather than a violin though 😉
Did you try a pint of the “Brewhouse series” Guinness – http://www.flickr.com/photos/merrion/63833061/ – while you were here?
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Did you know that one of the best Irish fiddlers lives in Seattle?
http://www.ceolas.org/artists/Martin_Hayes/
http://www.martinhayes.com/
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Did you know that one of the best Irish fiddlers lives in Seattle?
http://www.ceolas.org/artists/Martin_Hayes/
http://www.martinhayes.com/
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O’Donoghues is a completely kitsch tourist-trap these days, if you want real and genuine Irish traditional music you can’t beat Hughes’ on Chancery Lane – behind the Four Courts. It’s pretty close to the Merchant (which is also a tourist-trap). And make sure to give temple bar a miss too. Seeing an American in O’Donoghues is about as rare as tea in China.
However, you did manage to find the place on the one night when it has good music. The fiddler is that photo is a good friend of mine, his name is Liam Kennedy, he plays great music (a lot of bluegrass aswell as Irish), and you’ll find him playing the mandolin over here (5th photo on the second row – with more hair), he’s made some recordings under titles like “Bal at the lab” and guested on a lot of others, but they’re pretty hard to find.
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O’Donoghues is a completely kitsch tourist-trap these days, if you want real and genuine Irish traditional music you can’t beat Hughes’ on Chancery Lane – behind the Four Courts. It’s pretty close to the Merchant (which is also a tourist-trap). And make sure to give temple bar a miss too. Seeing an American in O’Donoghues is about as rare as tea in China.
However, you did manage to find the place on the one night when it has good music. The fiddler is that photo is a good friend of mine, his name is Liam Kennedy, he plays great music (a lot of bluegrass aswell as Irish), and you’ll find him playing the mandolin over here (5th photo on the second row – with more hair), he’s made some recordings under titles like “Bal at the lab” and guested on a lot of others, but they’re pretty hard to find.
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did you know there’s a “new” O’Donoghues right off Grafton Street on Suffolk St. I saw it this summer and did a double take…as best as I can tell the old one on Merrion Row is still there, does anyone know?
The new one:
http://www.dublinpubs.ie/pub.asp?id=501
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did you know there’s a “new” O’Donoghues right off Grafton Street on Suffolk St. I saw it this summer and did a double take…as best as I can tell the old one on Merrion Row is still there, does anyone know?
The new one:
http://www.dublinpubs.ie/pub.asp?id=501
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