We had never met Joey Abarta before but had watched a number of his youtube videos…Irish music is a relatively small, rather close knit community where people know each other. His playing was great and he was backed by Owen Marshall on bouzouki and guitar (with a little banjo but that might have come out during the session) and Jackie O'Riley's feet tapping a rhythm with her lovely sean nos style dancing. At the end of the concert, Joey asked Haley, Alex, and Keegan up for a couple sets then we rearranged chairs and made a circle for a session. The house was full of musicians and the session was great. I had to drag Haley out a little after midnight because I was getting tired and still had a little over an hour drive home.
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| Alex, Haley, and Keegan with Joey and Owen |
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| Part of the session…couldn't fit it all in. |
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| Haley, Alex, and Dylan dress to the nines warming up while waiting for Keegan to arrive. |
We parents were not part of the party so we dropped the kids off to do their thing then Alex's parents went to another dinner they had scheduled and Keegan's mom, Lynette, and I went to dinner ourselves. We sat and talked for hours then went back to pick up the kids. Once mine came out, we got in the car and it wouldn't start…dead battery. My car picked the "perfect" time to let me down in a parking lot full of fancy, expensive cars, a Rolls Royce was a couple cars down, and with people I don't know, Lynette and Keegan had left and Alex's parents hadn't arrived to gather him up yet. Ugh! I called AAA because I knew that could take awhile if I needed them and texted Lynette who came back to rescue us. It took us a little while to figure out it was the battery (though Dylan was sure that was the problem) and to find out if Lynette had jumper cables (she did). Thank goodness we had a very capable Dylan with us. He jumped the car and we were able to get home…though after all the troubles, very late.
Sunday Haley and I were up bright and early for a drive with friends, Livia and her mom, Amy, to NY for fiddle lessons. I know I have said before on this blog how much I love carpooling to NY for fiddle lessons. It doesn't always work out to where we are able to carpool but when it does, the drive is so much quicker and way more fun! Haley's fiddle teacher did have a Sunday afternoon session but it was cancelled this weekend so we drove back to NJ and Haley decided she'd like to go to the Sunday session at The Plough and the Stars.
The session was packed. There were 16-17 musicians at the point with the most musicians. Some came and left and others joined in. One of the musicians we know from Brian's sessions in White Plains, NY was visiting the area and showed up which was a real treat. The musicians who had done the house concert on Friday night were there hosting the session. We also saw some musicians we hadn't run into in a couple years and the regulars. The music was great!
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| Session at one point in the evening. |
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| Haley at the session |
***Check out Haley and Dylan in concert from your very own home next Tuesday night at 8pm (EDT) on Concertwindow! (Click on link!!) All proceeds will help cover Haley's travel expenses to Ireland this August to defend her All Ireland under fiddle titles!***
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