Return of the Scallywags: Part II

   July 20, 2012

       

           ..and indeed our paths would cross again, at Kellys bar window sessions on this Friday night. It's called the window sessions for obvious reasons; the stage is set up behind four large windows at the front of the bar, this way passer byers get a live glimpse of the action. Like many other Irish pubs, if ya like what you hear then you can walk on in for a free show. The house was packed this night and the Scallywags were bumpin’ so I wanna say many people did just that.

           To truly understand the depth of this Irish band I knew I needed to witness them at an actual venue. Dim lit Kelly’s with their shaky hardwood floor and ground level stage was the perfect spot to do so. The amount of energy they brought to such an intimate venue was contagious; everyone caught the jive bug this night, including a group of girls celebrating their friend’s 27th birthday. The Scallywags played an impromptu song for the birthday girl that included lyrics like, “To show you I care, I’ll kill a koala bear, (and) if you don't take me out I'll sell drugs to girl scouts". Brilliant.

           As the show went on, I realized you couldn’t possibly clump this band into one genre. If I had to guess, I would call them a mixture of alternative rock, blue grass, folk and a label I once heard a person describe them as; storytelling. The versatility in their gig was impressive to say the least. At one point they even covered a punk rock band from Belfast. The following video captures that song. 
           The Scallywags taught me that where ever in the world you travel good music is out there, you just have to find it. Better yet, stumble up on it.

Return of The Scallywags: Part 1

July 20, 2012

           Flew solo on our last (Friday) night in Galway. The group was recovering from a pub-crawl I had opted out of the night before, and the only other person  considering going out with me was a Hungarian girl I met busking in the streets earlier that day. Though she was busking the night too, we managed to exchange favorite bands and she told me about her own, The Tits, an all girl group definitely worth a spin or two.
           I was adamant about hitting the town this particular night because Mikey and the Scallywags were playing down the street at Kelly’s bar. From previous posts you may remember hearing about past encounters with this busking band; I had literally run into them three separate times before this show, once at the Aran Islands, once around the Galway area and the third while I was walking into the Kebab House at 2am this past Sunday morning.

Kebab Pita

        I don’t remember much of what was said (for obvious reasons) during the last run-in, but I do remember nostalgically explaining to Fergus, their stand in - stand up bassist how I used to play the fiddle in middle and grade school; I told him I quit because I was the only guy in my practice group, plus it was considered un-cool at the time; I used to leave my school books at home so I could fit the violin case in my book bag while I skateboarded to school down a busy two lane street, naturally. He sympathized with me by giving me a fry and then asked if I would remove my hand from his shoulder. I obliged and we went our separate ways, little did he know our paths would soon cross again...   

All Worn Out

July 20, 2012

Before I went to Kelly’s Bar for our last night in Galway some commemorating was in order. I decided to retire the ragged shoes I climbed Croagh Patrick with by tossing them over some telephone lines South Philly style. I purchased the Nike trail shoes while they were triple discounted four years ago at a Modell’s I used to work at. Sometimes it can be tough to predict the life cycle of our shoes. 

Talkin' To The Sun

July 16, 2012

     I drew this sketch halfway up Croagh Patrick while sitting along the cloud line. I kept thinking how epic it’d be to swim from one island to another in the far off distance.  At this point the sun was still shining as a thick fog was beginning to form around us. You can see how my sketch looks completely unlike the actual view! Neat.