There are those great and too rare moments when you know for absolute certain that you are in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. When you just know that everybody in the world that isn't you, or at least in close proximity to you, is missing out on something really special. The Eddie Delahunt Show tonight, just ended, at O'Dowd's comes to mind.
Truth be told, I was going to skip it. It's been a long weekend and I have a lot to do this week before taking off on Friday for the Irish festival directors' conference in Pittsburgh. But my mother hadn't had a chance to see Máirtín yet this go round, and she's Eddie's biggest fan, and Brett's second biggest fan, so off we went.
Eddie and Brett and Gordie started more or less on time. Gabriel Reyes, bodhran man and race car driver was late, because as we learned later, he'd been busy winning his auto race at Heartland Park Topeka, setting a course record in the process, thank you very much. Máirtín was well past his usual "ten minutes too late" and arrived at a little past 9:00. Kevin of Arkansas was there with his cittern and banjo. Some lovely dancers were there. Barney, Sarah, Dick, Tom, Martha, Harold, Ann, Peggy, Liam, Alfie, Nancy, Claire and several dozen other lucky people were there. Johnny Cash was there, in spirit anyway, channeled through a certain furry Corkman. Maybe you were there too.
If you were...aren't you glad you were? Cheers to all the musicians for the skill, the energy, the passion, the humor. Cheers to the dancers for the grace and the joy. Cheers to the crowd who truly became another instrument on stage, with hands clapping, glasses banging, whistles, shouts and laughter.
And something close to boos to the misguided management who chose to shut down the session in mid stride to install some new computer system that apparently just couldn't wait until later...although watching Eddie lead his charges through a frantic, race-the-clock, no breaks, Katie-bar-the-door finale was a site to behold.
A great end to a great weekend for the Irish and the friends of the Irish in Kansas City.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
is was a great show, wasn't it? I was lucky enough to be there and to be one of the dancers. but nobody can beat that broom dance.
Ummm Barney, Sarah, Danny.....you ALL have my phone number and I do live just down the street. Why is it that no one calls me on these occasions????
When I left Eddie and Brett were talking about continuing the fun at the Westsider. Anybody know if that happened?
Well I certianly wouldn't know now would I. None of my friends called me to tell me they were going to be there...it's going to be a while before I drop this FYI.
Post a Comment