Dear Reader –
Even the best writers need great players to bring their music alive, and even the best players need great writers to make them something nice to play. There is no need to pitch one profession against the other.
*All hyperlinks in bold.
The Big Thing
So - as promised - if any of you didn’t get tickets for Theme Night #28 this December, more will be on sale from 11am tomorrow (Wednesday).
What’s more, there is now an extra show on Sunday 19th December, so as of tomorrow morning there will be tickets available for all 4 nights. I’m looking forward to lots of great music and laughs with everyone again. Here is the link you need.
Where else but Sligo?
I wrote a couple of months ago about Gabriel Connelli - a young Italian man currently studying in Sligo IT. He asked for the use of my piano so he could practise a couple of times a week, and blew me away with his playing. You can read his story in the Where else but Sligo section of this letter.
Someone who did just that was regular letter reader Imelda Harte, who got in touch and suggested I pass Gabriel’s details onto Anna Houston, in the hope that she might consider him for one of the IMA gigs she helps to run in The Model.
I did, and promptly forgot that I had done so, until lo and behold this week I got a request from Gabriel for a few extra hours at the piano this week, because he needed to brush up on some Chopin and Debussy pieces for a gig this Sunday. I smiled to myself - Sligo had struck again. Well done to all and good luck Gabriel.
And the good news is…that audiences are once again allowed at these gigs, but tickets MUST be booked beforehand. You can do so by clicking on the pic below.
What’s New?
You’d swear after getting well beaten in the county final I wouldn’t want to talk about it again, but there has been great interest in it over the past week. So, despite the result, this video (made by Rory Maitland) about our day out at the game is worth a watch. So well made.
And this column I wrote about it for last week’s Sligo Weekender is a longer version of what was published in last week’s letter.
I love this new version from Sive and Danny G & The Major 7ths of Paul Brady’s The Island.
Finally…
I love playing this song on gigs, indeed I played it on my last album, and I often get asked if I wrote it. The answer is no - it was written by Michael Rooney, our guest on this week’s podcast, which by the way is worth a listen to hear Michael’s approach to melody-writing alone.
And it was so nice to get to play it with him on the show.
Till next time - Kieran.
