We Were the Rock 'n' Roll Kids

With less than a week to go for my Singing on Solid Ground busk for Nepal, I was delighted to get to chat with Charlie McGettigan (he of ‘Rock ’n’ Roll Kids’ Eurosong winner). Also in studio for the second hour was a very talented young singer/songwriter, Ultan Conlon.

It’s rare that 2 hours in a studio have gone by so quickly. Charlie met me in the canteen at Shannonside’s Longford studio and asked me a couple of questions and decided not to ask too much till we were on air to keep it fresh.

The focus was my Wandering Minstrel days, who I met, what sort of reactions I got and the first hour flew by so fast that I barely got time to cover the fundraiser and just about got a mention in for the school visit project that I hope to get underway very soon - Garda vetting is slow and essential for external facilitators going into schools. Next time around.

I really need to learn to talk a bit less too as, instead of the three songs Charlie was hoping for, I only got two in and I don’t get royalties for talking.

Ultan had the 2nd hour and, having heard hime now and then on the radio, it was a pleasure to meet him in such a convivial atmosphere. Charlie does an amazing job of juggling, sometimes in the middle of a sentence he’d realise that the ad break is over and go straight into talking on air - often continuing with something we’d got to discussing and taking off in a new direction but always getting back to what he’d planned to discuss and so, what seems like 10 minutes, can be a half hour in real time.

Most of the music on the station - and in the bars - is what’s known as Country & Irish - (think ’60’s country and western - leaving out the quality stuff). Someone in the room (and I won’t say who - it might have been me) summed it up by saying something like, ‘They really like shite around here - throw enough shite on the floor and they’ll dance in it’ - Yup.

Of course that’s an entirely subjective opinion but - there was no one in the studio this morning argued with it.

Couchsurfing....

Tomorrow, I will be hosting my first Roosky couchsurfer.

Since late 2009, I’ve been hosting and have lost count of the number of guests who passed through my house in Dublin - it must be over 100 - and I still haven’t met the ‘axe-murderer’ many of my friends have expressed concern about.

For the guest, couch surfing is a great way to meet a country and opposed to just passing through and for the host, a good way to travel, without going anywhere. Ideally, it’s a cultural exchange and the majority of guests have been wonderful positive people with stories of their travelling and often a meal cooked in the style of their country.

On the couch surfing website, you set up your profile, giving whatever information you can about yourself and the accommodation you offer and, if you are an axe-murderer, then you should put this on your profile.

Some site users simply don’t have space for a guest, are sharing living space with others and can’t host or are on the road themselves and there’s a choice of three status buttons on the site to make it clear by stating, ‘Couch Available’, ‘Maybe host’ or, ’No couch available’. You can always meet a surfer for coffee before offering your couch - not that practical - or offer a couple of nights with an option for more once you’ve met and get on.

When I joined, Couchsurfing was a not for profit organisation and had over a million members around the world. I’d heard about it some years earlier but at that time had no couch and didn’t look further into it but, in 2010, I was planning a trip to the USA. Nashville, Northern California, Flagstaff, Arizona and back to Nashville for the last week of the month long trip. I realised that I’d bed spending a day and a night in San Francisco, a place I’ve wanted to see since the ’60’s and felt that a hotel in SF, might as well be in anywhere in the world.

My brother and I were talking about this and Philip asked me if I’d thought about couch surfing and I set up my profile the following day. I found a host, Casey, fairly quickly and as it turned out that Casey lived at the actual CS bat-cave (not Casey, the founder, though I met him while there). Toward the end of 2009, I hosted a couple of people, one girl who looked remarkably like a young Joan Baez actually decided on an impulse to leave Greece for a while and actually sent me a request from the airport before getting on the plane for Ireland. She stayed for a week or so and I thought she was daft enough to fit in and work with a fried who has a crazy hostel in Co. Clare. She did - for several months.

I saw CS pass the 2 million mark and 3, 4, 5 and 6 but also saw the quality of couch requests suffer a bit - people who’d heard ‘free places to stay - yay’ and who’d send requests like ‘Hey man, you look like a really interesting person to stay with and we’re coming to Ireland and we love everything Irish’ and such, cut and pasted to just about everyone listed as having a couch available in Dublin. Funny thing is, if they bothered to fill out their profile with some solid info about themselves - their interests and philosophy, then I might take a gamble and offer a couple of nights - usually with a positive outcome.

For about a month before moving to Roosky, I’d changed my settings to ‘couch not available’ but, once settled a little here, I put it back up but had difficulty changing my location on my profile and in the first four days, got about a dozen request from people who hadn’t read even the first line on me edited profile which stated boldly, ‘READ THIS BEFORE SENDING A REQUEST: I no longer live in Dublin!!!’

It was a pleasant surprise to receive a lovely request from a traveller looking for a quiet place to stay and enjoy country life. She also has more references than I do - all positive. (references can be left by hosts and guests on each others profiles) - Perhaps she’ll turn out to be the axe-murderer but I doubt it and look forward to meeting my first Roosky surfer.

John Murray Show - my big day?

I’ve rambled down to Dublin today - for the second time in a week. The purpose?

Tomorrow morning I’ll be donning a pair of boots I bought in California in 2010 and heading into RTE’s John Murray Show to do an interview - it’s all down to the boots. Hopefully will get to play a song live and mention my fundraiser for Nepal which will happen in Duffy's SperValu,

Ballaghaderreen on Fri 5th June.

I’m putting up a couple of links for anyone interested and I’ll also add a link to the broadcast - unless I totally am embarrassed by it - after the fact.


Donate for Nepal

CDs and downloads available from CDBaby (they pay me quicker than iTunes) but, if you love iTunes they have my songs and I’ll be thankful in six months or so.

You can hear a whole lot of songs on sound cloud too

and, while I’ve lost the keys and can no longer upload to my website, its still around and has far too much information.

For bookings and school visit enquiries: seanoneillsongs@gmail.com

Thanks for reading.

The show, fast forward about 5 minutes,

How I lost the war......

‘Why don’t you go to play at (fill in pub name yourself)? They have music there every Friday and Saturday’. ‘Why don’t you play on Grafton Street? That’s great for busking, you see them there doing really well.’ ‘You should go to (insert town). They’re having a festival and there’ll be lots of people around.

I know my strengths and weaknesses. I’m singing a whole lot of songs that only a few people have heard before and that even a fan of songs will wilt after about half an hour. In a pub environment, people with a pint or two inside them and another in front of them enjoy hearing song after song that they know well, performed reasonably well and will even tolerate the occasional original song thrown in.

Since I began to sing and write and play on the street, I’ve learnt that while someone knows that this particular pub is ‘different’ and that my stuff will go down really well, the reality is that, unless I intersperse it with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash etc. that it won’t be a satisfying experience for the pub - or for me.

Busy streets, festivals etc. require a highly entertaining busker - maybe wearing a hat that has a monkey occasionally popping out blowing bubbles, or a bunch of competent players belting out Oasis songs and Hotel California.

This is why, when I was told about there Midland Busking Festival - while busking in Edgeworthstown, I had reservations about taking part. But hey, busking is what I’m doing now and you never know. The prize money €1000 would cover a couple of months rent and ease my life a bit.

I enquired by email about the criteria of the judges but couldn’t get info on that. I did get info on time of start ‘Turn up at… you’ll be allocated your pitch and then start playing at…. and then acts will be given 10 minutes on stage before the judges’ Oh and €10 entry fee to be paid when getting your allocated spot.

We can dream. From this, I thought that maybe this was a competition that I had a chance it and, at least worth taking part in so went along to find out.

On the way, I did a warm up outside Tesco in Longford town for a couple of hours - I’m still surprised and pleased that they don’t object to somebody playing a few songs on their property. There were some 1st communion families about - some from members of the travelling community with dresses that would shame a bride. During my wandering minstrel years, I was often disappointed when I came across travellers as contrary to what I’d expect, they were even more reticent about listening to a song than even the average household. Whatever happened to the romantic gypsy campfire sessions? This is why I was really happy to see one traveller first communion boy turn back and drop a couple of euro into my case.

In Edgeworthstown. there were many guitar slingers on the street - mostly local - and I chatted with some, including a couple of guys with big rucksacks and dreadlocks - Busking for Tea. They’d come up the previous night and camped out and then gone busking outside the same supermarket I’d played at a couple of weeks earlier. They told me that, when not in college, they busked in Kilkenny outside a coffee shop playing bluesy country stuff in the morning and popular hits in the afternoon and did pretty well out of it. These are the ones to watch.

I went with them to the ‘busking office’ and payed my tenner out of my Longford proceeds and was allocated pitch no. 11 and, when I asked about the 10 minutes in front of the judges, was informed that there wasn’t time and that the judges would be walking around and listening. Bummer.

I also had about an hour and a half to pass and, after a stroll around got an all-day breakfast at a local cafe and made a sign ‘Seanie’s Homemade Songs to put in my case. Marks were going to be awarded for ‘quality & originally and with ‘walk about judges’, they needed to know I was singing ‘original material’

Martin from Roosky arrived for moral support and we had a beer. The under 16s competition was underway and the street atmosphere was good. There was a lovely little 6 year old singing ‘Beeswing’ over and over - not from life experience I would imagine and he was in a pretty ropey spot at the outside end of town - Pitch no. 11.

To make a long story a little shorter - I played for an hour, didn’t repeat a song or sing a cover song and, when the judges duly appeared, they stuck around for a half a song (one that was singled out as a ‘Gem’ in a Hot-Press review of Losers & Sinners’ and, after they left, Martin told me that they’d arrived during the ‘wrong song’ and hadn’t been very interested. They had been interested in the six piece traditional music group that were playing across the street and had caught one of 20 renditions of ‘It was not your fault but mine’ - a song that several of the acts seemed to favour and, when the busking hour was over, we all drifted down to the gig rig for the results.

6 acts were called up to play one song each - I wasn't among them. There was an excellent close harmony 3 piece called Triple Plec (probably my choice for the winners), a duo singing a pop song - nice performance, a good trad outfit, Busking for Tea (yaay), an attractive young dark haired girl playing something that sounded singer/songwriter, though I don’t know it it was her song, two guy with guitars playing something popular and Banjaxed - a nine piece trad outfit with fiddles, banjo, a double bass and even a wheelchair who did their own interpretation of, ‘It was not your fault but mine - copping out on the chorus changing the ‘really f*cked it up this time’ to ‘messed it up’.

I’d looked forward to hearing Busking for Tea and was disappointed to hear them play a song that’s overdone and seldom done well - Folsum Prison Blues by Johnny Cash. Their musicianship was excellent but I don’t think it was passionate performance - I’m sure they do much better.

Judges out.

I learnt that the judging panel turned out to be the local Allied Irish Bank manager who had organised the €1000 prize money through a few local branches, the assistant manager from the Mullingar branch, a traditional music ex all- Ireland champion dancer and a guy from a band who’d just put out their first album.

Third, second and first prize were announced in that order and the €1000 prize money was divided up as follows, €500, €300 and €100 (yes I know it doesn’t add up).

Third, Banjaxed
Second, the guy and girl doing a pop song, and First…….

….. Busking for Tea - who obviously know far better than I do what the judges wanted.

Congrats guys, enjoy and I’m glad it went the way of somebody who does actually busk and I look forward to catching you sometime in Kilkenny.

Supervalu..... and friends old & new

This morning, Wednesday 5th May, I didn’t know where I was going to busk and had an arrangement to meet up with a writers group for a TV thing at Elphin around 11.

I made a lot of friends during the five years I busked at Dublin Food Co-op. One of these, Eoin - a plumber who should have been a mystic - has by marriage a Roscommon connection and when he heard I was moving to Roosky, he told me of a festival I should check out in a place I couldn’t remember the name of. Had I been to Ballagh yet? He asked in the message. He also said that he’d be coming to Roscommon in a couple of weeks and would like to meet up.

Ballaghaderren, I’d seen signs for and it was a bit further away than I usually travel. I had googled it to get an idea of the size and discovered that there was only one supermarket - a SuperValu - and that was in it’s own car park rather than on the main road - not good, so far.

When things wrapped up in Elphin, I asked how far it was and found I was almost half way there and would pass though Frenchpark - somewhere else I’d still to check out - and so Ballaghadereen it was going to be.

It turned out to be quite a large town - by local standards and a very pretty town too with rolling hills in and out in all directions. There is also a large square with a car park, a bank and a mix of shops but not a lot of people on the street. I drove on through the town and noticed a closed down SuperValu shop with a sign directing to their car park.

When I parked, I answered Eoin and let him know where I was but told him I wasn’t anticipating getting permission to busk here and that, while it didn’t look promising, I’d likely play min the square.

This SuperValu was like a min mall (not at all minimalist) and had a garden centre and a huge fuel depot all rolled into one. If Ballaghaderreen is a one horse town, this is the horse. At the entrance, there was a wooden bench that looked perfect for a sunny day busk - not that this was a sunny day. I asked at customer service, was introduced to a middle manager who gave me a number for John or Kevin who could decide. Tracy answered and, while she couldn’t get hold of either, said she’d find out and call me back. She also said that the answer was more than likely to be NO.

I wheeled around for the square and a couple of minutes later, Tracy called and NO it was.

The Square, and town centre generally - like most towns in Ireland now, are fairly quiet as people are driving more than they walk and, if theatre’s a Lidl, Aldi, or any big supermarket on the outskirts with parking….

About 80 minutes busking and a nice conversation with Scouser, Michael McNamara, who also gave me a plectrum (I’d changed my trousers and was without) - before a torrential shower put play to it - raised about €15, just about enough to cover my petrol for the day.

A message to Eoin to ask if he knew who I should contact re the festival and yes, Shells Bar and mention his name.

Shells turned out to be just around the corner - a lovely bar with a roaring fire and a few customers haven a pint. Neil was most hospitable and after a few songs, offered a sandwich which turned out to be just about a dinner. I’d told him about my busking and he was very surprised that SuperValu had turned me down. He rang Kevin Duffy who was a friend, must have given me a positive reference as Kevin said, ‘Come on up’ and I did.

I was met by Eileen on arrival who suggested I play in the atrium connecting it to their garden centre and fuel depot. It was covered too and the grey sky not a problem. I was even allowed to bring in my four legged significant other.

Ninety minutes later I was homeward bound - with a pocketful of change and a dinner invitation from my new friend in Roosky, Martin.

STOP PRESS - Kevin Duffy of SuperValu has given me permission to do a busk for Nepal in the near future.

Throwing myself at windmills....

Elphin is not too far from Roosky but it’s a hard place to find and, a couple of weeks ago, my busking there made it somewhere I wasn’t going to hurry back to.

The writers group I’d been invited to join over the Strokestown weekend had invited me out the Elphin’s windmill. Windmill? How had I missed that? I gave myself 15 minutes more than I thought I’d need to get there and, as it turned out, needed every second.

There was a film crew coming out and doing a piece on Elphin for Irish TV - something else new to me. It’s a Sky channel that puts up stuff for every county - mostly watched by those abroad and missing the ould sod. Things went well and the group’s founders answered questions on what, why and where etc. and then the presenter wanted to get some ‘typical’ footage of the group writing - or pretending to. Someone picked a topic - Pretending - and I wrote on that, not thinking too much and what wasn’t planned, I feel is worth sharing and so here it is:

Pretending

I used to pretend. I'd pretend I was confident and in control. I did this for years while inside, I was shivering like a jelly but couldn't let even my best friends know.

This inevitably led to an inner discomfort, then a shuddering and eventually, a major deconstruction and rebuilding of a life.

Now, I can happily pretend to be scared when I'm not, pretend to be out of control when I'm not and let the world know of my imperfections.

We are all fundamentally dysfunctional human beings and, once we stop pretending otherwise, we begin to grow.

I will go again to the Windmill Writers Group who seem to be a very friendly bunch of nice people with a lot of talent.

Ps. The program goes out on June 29th for people with tellys and skys