Hawaii Slig-O

Dear Reader –

There was fierce competition for the breaking ball in the HWT last Saturday night…

The Big Thing

Backstage competition turned to on-stage collaboration however. Everyone was there for Francie and the Hawaiian shirts were out in force. There was a beautiful energy in the room and it was lovely to be a part of it.

Old songs. New friends. Guitar solos and great stories.

My favourite part of the night?

Well although the music was great and Francie was in top form on guitar (especially when playing with his brother John), what I enjoyed most was the lovely people I met - the people with whom Francie spent his working days.

That’s a legacy in itself.

Where else but Sligo?

We are so used to great musicianship in Sligo that we can sometimes begin take it for granted.

So I always enjoy the occasions when professionals from outside the county come here to do some work and are blown away by whatever musician happens to be involved that day.

It was Sinéad Conway yesterday - and Pat and Mike (pictured below) and the entire production crew were so obviously impressed with what she brought to the session. As were we with them - a great Monday morning!

You’ll all be able to judge for yourselves later in the year when the song is released - I’ll keep you in the loop on these pages.

What’s New?

1. OLE: More football (and music) in the HWT this Thursday - looks like a really interesting night in advance of the Women’s World Cup this summer.

2. FELIP CARBONELL AND EDDIE MACFARLANE: A quick mention for the two lads. We did a gig in Donegal on Sunday and playing with them feels a bit like I imagine surfing would (if I was any good at it). Their rhythm and tone make it so easy to play on top.

3. TEENAGE OPEN MIC: The Cairde Sligo Arts Festival runs from July 1-9 and first up is a great event for up-and-coming teenage musicians. Email info@cairdefestival.com to sign up.

Finally…

Here’s Francie on top form in Theme Night #14 from back in January 2016…

Till next time - Kieran.

What it's all about...

Dear Reader –

An uplifting week! I hope it was similar for you…

The Big Thing

People often ask - “How’s work? Are you busy?”

And usually they are genuinely interested, so they deserve an honest answer. Recently however I noticed myself regularly saying that thankfully work is great, but I’m just not playing enough.

So this month I decided to change that.

Put aside an hour a day for just myself and the piano. Learn new tunes. Write. Play with friends - like Gerry last night and Niamh/Felip/Eddie Mac later in the week. The big one with Francie this Sat. Fun gigs too with Sinéad and Mike Nielsen (see below).

And I’m a new man. Happy out!

Musicians need to play. What do you need to do?

Where else but Sligo?

Summer 2005. My first residency. Tuesdays in The Strand with Dublin classmate Peter O’Grady. Finish training, pick Peter and his guitar up from the train and head to Strandhill. Glory days.

One week Mike Nielsen came in for a pint. He even got up for a tune. And we couldn’t believe it. Mum reminded me this week that I wrote her a note to tell her about it - that’s how excited I was.

Because Mike was one of those names. He taught in our college and people spoke about him in whispers. He had studied in Berklee and had played with everyone.

And so I couldn’t help but think of my younger self when last Sunday, just up the hill from The Strand, Mike and I played opposite each other for the first time. We had done bits and pieces over the years - with Seamie, and on a few Sligo Jazz gigs, but this was just the two of us.

And it was magic. I have been smiling since. Trading solos. Listening. What was that chord he played?! Over and back. The buzz of trying a new song. Messing. Playing a few of my own tunes. Mike making everything sound better. And the hush for Over The Rainbow at the end. One of those moments.

Thanks to all of you who came. And for everyone else, Mike is in The Dunes every Sunday from 5-7pm and has a great line-up of guests for the summer. I’m back with him on July 16th - and I’ll try and remember to bring some paper for our setlist that day…

What’s New?

1. FRANCIE: More playing this weekend - an all-star line-up in the Hawk’s Well this Saturday to celebrate the career of the Boss himself - Mr. Francie Lenehan - who by the way showed Mike Nielsen his first guitar licks in the Baymount many years ago. Well deserved.

2. SERVING THE SONG: A concept of which I was reminded this week. A great question for any musician to consider. Is what you’re playing serving the song?

3. PERGOLA: I also learnt a new word this week - congrats to the Sligo Park Hotel on their new (sometimes) outdoor area! Sinéad and I had great fun at a wedding there on Saturday and the state-of-the-art sliding roof played its part when the blue skies changed to thunderstorms in a matter of minutes.

Finally…

Mike Nielsen does a great version of this - we had a laugh with it on Sunday. It also features one of the great keyboard parts of all time. I’ll always remember the man who approached me at a gig in Castlebar in 2007 and told me I wasn’t bad but needed more Ray Manzarek in my playing!

Till next time - Kieran.

Theme Nights On Tour!

Dear Reader –

We’re bringing the Theme Nights across the county boundary!! Read on for more…

The Big Thing

Theme Night #32 - The Power of Love.

Hawk’s Well Theatre, Sligo - Wed 4 to Sat 7 Oct.

AND (just announced) - Sat 21 Oct in the Abbey Arts Centre, Ballyshannon. With loads of exciting collaborations between your Theme Night favourites and the finest local Donegal musicians.

Tickets on sale at 11am this Thursday (June 15) from the Abbey Arts Centre - online, in person or over the phone (071-9851375).

And - still a small number of tickets available for the Sligo shows (Wed night only) - get them here.

Where else but Sligo?

Monday morning down at Micky Downs’ shed. Delighted with life, telling the lads about the cocktail of medications that seem to have suddenly eradicated my hay fever.

Until one of my slightly more senior colleagues pipes up - “Hay fever - since when did that become a thing? I grew up in the 70s and the only fever we were worried about was Saturday Night Fever”.

Boom!

If any of you wonderful letter readers do suffer, (from hay fever now not Saturday Night Fever!) please get in touch if you wish to know more and I’ll send on any details you want…

What’s New?

1. GIG THIS SUNDAY: I’m really looking forward to playing with Sligo guitar legend Mike Nielsen this weekend. Sunday 18th June, 5-7pm in The Dunes, Strandhill. Admission free.

2. LEBRON: Anyone interested in American sport and in particular one of its most compelling characters will love this Jeff Benedict biography. Available from your local bookshop.

3. ALL-TIME CLASSICS: This tweet from music commentator Rob Abelow was fascinating. “To make the list pre-2000, you have to be an all time classic. Post-2000, you can simply be a hit.”. You can find the full list here, as well as some notable omissions.

Finally…

Dave Grusin is my latest piano crush!

If you’re a West Side Story fan, you’ll love his big band interpretations of the music from that show. But he also wrote the soundtrack for the 1993 Sydney Pollack/Tom Cruise film The Firm - including the main title, a fantastic solo piano blues stomp, and this beautiful romantic theme below… 

Till next time - Kieran.

The best country in the world...

Dear Reader –

My year usually breaks up naturally into three chunks - Jan-May, Jun-Aug and Sept-Dec. It often takes a few days to change pace from one to the next. This weather is certainly helping though - hope you’re getting to enjoy it!

The Big Thing

There’s a gang of us working on something new at the moment. Like all new things, it’s full of potential and we are full of ideas. At some stage these ideas will be corralled and put into a plan, but we’re enjoying the freedom of not being quite there yet.

Anyway here’s something we put together in the last few weeks. It’s a fun eye-witness account of the various shenanigans that happened backstage at the last Teenage Theme Night. It’s full of personality and mini-stories. And while we can see the flaws in it and will make it better next time, we’re also kinda proud of it!

Where else but Sligo?

“Sure if you were guaranteed this weather you’d never go anywhere”.

Ah but you would…

“Ireland is the best country in the world when the sun shines”.

Perhaps - but the things we don’t like about it still exist - even when the weather’s decent.

“Isn’t everyone in a good mood when the weather’s like this?”

Really? What about hay fever sufferers? Look at the people near you today and see if that is actually true…

However - maybe the point of these statements isn’t to state matters of undeniable truth, but rather to add to the buzz of positivity and excitement that is certainly around more when the sun shines.

And who can argue with that?!

What’s New?

1. NEW IN THE LAMPLIGHT: Brand new podcast episode from Luke, Rory, Mícheál and I - where we go into more details on last week’s exclusive dance competition revelation (among other things)! Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.

2. SUMMER PIANO LESSONS: One more shout for anyone looking to try our way of learning piano over the next few weeks. No commitment required. Email me for more.

3. NEW MUSIC FROM TABBY: Our Theme Night audiences loved this song when Tabby performed it last January so it was great to see Tabby release it last week. A rocking summer singalong number - have a listen here. 

Finally…

The first performance video from our recent Teenage Theme Night #29 - an amazing vocal here from Orla.

Till next time - Kieran.

Glory Days

Dear Reader –

Summer is here and the ‘letter tree’ (as one reader has christened it) is in full leaf…

The Big Thing

We have some availability for summer lessons starting next week. No commitment required. Come week-to-week or book a small block of lessons. It’s a great time of year to try it out - to give yourself a gentle introduction to playing piano, or indeed to ease yourself back into it after a few years.

Email kieran@kieranquinn.ie for more details.

Where else but Sligo?

An evening out in Bunnanadden for the family last night. Coolera U-12 girls vs St. Nathy’s. I met a friend who broke our hearts in the county final 23 years ago. We weren’t friends that day, but had great times together on football pitches all over the country after that. His daughter comes to me for piano now. She’s a lovely player. But you never forget these days. Even when they end in defeat. Glory days.

And the girls may never forget last night. They lost by 2 points to 1. Yes you read that correctly. One of the strangest games I have ever seen. Our girls must have had 25 wides. The ball just wouldn’t go over. But how we were proud of their spirit, their heart, their courage to keep shooting and trying even when the ball kept finding a way to go wide. Tears in defeat but character built. And that character will stand to them long after the match is over.

Chatting with the referee. We first met in a bar in New York after a match in 2002. Now he’s refereeing my daughter on a Monday evening in South Sligo. We have come across him a few times now. He’s excellent in fairness and is very good with the girls.

A glorious evening. Best of the year so far. Shorts and flip-flops. Watching the game with friends on the sideline. Younger siblings messing and playing football together beside us. “Daddy will you go in goals?” Ice-cream in Ballymote on the way back. Trying to comfort and also trying to give space.

Glory days. Don’t let them pass you by.

What’s New?

1. THE POWER OF LOVE SONG SUGGESTIONS: Thanks so much to everyone who sent in these. I have a HUGE list of songs and singers to consider in the month of June now. Any more please send them in ASAP.

2. GREAT FOLK GIG: Slow Moving Clouds are a post-folk band that mixes Irish and Nordic folk traditions. They've just released their third album, Kolmas, and will be coming to The Dock on Friday June 9.

3. GROOVELINE: Listen to this - what a groove! And the horn lines…it’s actually a great summer tune. Maze - the new single from last year’s Teenage Theme Night graduates Grooveline.

Finally…

This is why they call him The Boss. What a performance…

Till next time - Kieran.

Stars under the stars...

Dear Reader –

Smiles all around this weekend as the class of 2023 walked tall on the Hawk’s Well stage.

The Big Thing

Take a bow one and all!

We had two magical nights under the stars this weekend at the Hawk’s Well Theatre. More than 70 teenage musicians shone bright in our end-of-year showcase, thrilling and inspiring our audiences in equal measure.

A huge thanks to all who made this weekend possible - to the talented performers who brought that unique teenage energy to the event, but also to the wonderful crew of professionals who lent us their time and skills in order to make it a memorable weekend for all concerned.

We’ll take a break now to dream it all up again before the next show in the autumn. Best of luck to all the 6th Yrs (pictured below) with the exciting few months they have ahead of them…

Where else but Sligo?

It’s the people who make these nights, and as always Sligo came up trumps with some gems…

Katherine (not technically from Sligo (!) but has been a huge part of these nights for three years now) somehow managed to get through three years of Teenage Theme Nights without actually singing once. Clever song choices such as ‘Where’s Me Jumper’ and ‘Parklife’ were huge hits at the shows and showed off her creativity and energy brilliantly.

Anna crept onto the stage at our last show in March for her TTN debut and played guitar to accompany her friend. This time she led a 5-girl ensemble and rapped her way through Hamilton’s My Shot in one of the highlights of the show. Incredible stuff!

Kian too only joined us in March but left his mark on the nights with his endearing modesty and some fantastic drumming. Last time on Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters and this weekend on My Shot. Not easy!

Noah (pictured above with trumpeter Johannes and I) also only got involved this year, but smiled, danced and grooved his way through the bass part on Love Shack like someone who had been on the stage for years.

Finally Lorcan (below) is off to El Salvador this week with the Irish surf team. Before he left though, he and his brother Ethan went all Jake and Ellwood on us with an energetic (to say the least) performance of Everybody Needs Somebody.

What’s New?

1. “I SHOULD HAVE DONE IT SOONER”: Unusually, this particular 6th Yr group was full of Theme Night debutants. And while it was great to have them all involved this time, many expressed the above view to me. It’s not easy to get up and perform in front of your peers at any age, let alone your teens, but I have yet to meet someone who regretted getting involved.

2. SODAJERKER: Fantastic songwriting podcast. Regular letter readers will recognise the most recent guest!

3. NO GOOD DEED: ‘Roast’ (noun, slang) - a song that is really hard to play.

   There’s always one in a show, and this was it this time. Eddie Lee reckoned the composer must have been listening to some 70s prog rock when he wrote it. I was running behind on the day of rehearsals and so had to get up at 5.30am to learn the song. I took one listen and wanted to get back into bed. But like all challenges, it was worth it. Great fun to play - thanks Orla Devlin for choosing it!

Finally…

Not quite sure how this song snuck into a musicals Theme Night! On reflection however it might have been due to a soft spot I have for it ever since I won a t-shirt for dancing to it in a backpacker bar in Australia in 1999 (!) and that I knew Katherine, Noah and Emer would bring great energy to it.

Till next time - Kieran.

Young, scrappy and hungry...

Dear Reader –

The class of 2023 are ready for their shot this weekend - come join us!

Last week’s answers:

Answer to the questions in last week’s letter:

1 - Ab

2 - C’ Ab Eb Bb Db C Ab

**All hyperlinks in bold.

The Big Thing

Teenage Theme Night #29 (Musicals) takes place this weekend, and this show has it all!

• 70+ teenage musicians ready to rock the Hawk’s Well.

• A killer setlist - numbers from Hamilton, Wicked and The Greatest Showman that you’ve never heard in Sligo before PLUS 2 amazing Stephen Sondheim songs.

• The return of our all-teenage string, horn and vocal sections for the first time since 2019.

• The first time a teenager will join us in the house band (see What’s New section below).

• That unique energy and sense of craic that only teenagers can bring…

Tickets are literally flying out the door but there are still some left for now - get them here.

Where else but Sligo?

OK so they didn’t give us what we wanted on Saturday night, but this Sligo Rovers side excelled in other ways last week and I’d like to give credit where it is due today.

We had a confirmation in our house last Thursday and went for lunch in town afterwards. I dropped the gang off and then parked the car, so arrived in the restaurant slightly later than the rest of the family.

As soon as I walked in the door, my children ran up to me - “Daddy Daddy the whole Sligo Rovers team is in the restaurant having their lunch”! Now usually I would be reluctant to disturb people when they are out having a meal, but it was my daughter’s confirmation day (!), so we decided to approach them with two sheets of paper and ask for their autographs.

And to a man they were brilliant. Respectful, courteous and polite, they chatted and asked questions, making two children feel very special. A credit to their team and the club.

They all said hello again on the way out, and left us all on a high for the day!

What’s New?

1. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Thank you to the Theme Night fan who made me feel like a rockstar (!) while queueing to get into the Bruce Springsteen gig last Tuesday. ‘Kieran', said a voice behind me, ‘you wouldn’t have to queue like this to get into the Theme Nights’!

2. SLIGO ACADEMY OF MUSIC GALA CONCERT: A bumper week in the Hawk’s Well - this fantastic showcase takes place on Thursday.

3. SAM PURCELL: A milestone moment for the Teenage Theme Nights this weekend!! Our regular drummer Ken ‘Tonto’ McDonald can’t be with us this time but thankfully he has spent the last 10+ years imparting everything he knows (!) to current 6th Yr Sam Purcell. Sam is a special talent and will become the first ever teenager to be part of the house band this Saturday.

Finally…

Ollie White’s performance of this Pogues classic from 2018 really sums up these end of year teenage shows…

Questions:

Difficulty Level 2 - What note does Ollie hit with his scream at 0:08?

Difficulty Level 3 - What’s the name of the keyboard-type instrument that Conor is playing at the front of the stage beside Ollie?

Till next time - Kieran.

Confidence-building and friendship-making...

Dear Reader –

This is what music can do! Two different examples below…

Last week’s answers:

Answer to the questions in last week’s letter:

1 - 0

2 - Not many, but enough for most of the audience not to notice!

**All hyperlinks in bold.

The Big Thing

I had a great chat with journalist Sinéad Farrell last week in advance of the Connacht Final between Sligo and Galway (see What’s New section). She brought me back to my school days and we chatted a bit about Liz Keighary. Liz was my music teacher and went into battle with the powers that be in the music department in the school every time the school concert came around in order to get my slightly unusual choices included!

And you don’t have to be Sigmund Freud to see how experiences such as that may have influenced the Teenage Theme Night programme we have built up here in Sligo over the last number of years. No such battles for the Class of 2023 - and they have a fantastic setlist picked and almost ready to go. It was all hands on deck in Summerhill College last Saturday as over 70 of them gathered to run through their performances with the help of tutors Sinéad Conway, Niamh Crowley and Aileen Concannon (below).

Teenage Theme Night #29 (Musicals!) takes place in the Hawk’s Well Theatre in less than two weeks, and you can still snap up tickets here.

Where else but Sligo?

The last session of our Music Club took place last Wednesday evening in Strandhill.

It marked the end of the fourth season of the club and each one has been better than the last. The atmosphere in the room was amazing last week and each performance was fantastic in it’s own way. We have over 20 members of the club and each month they are grouped with different people and tasked to come up with a song and an arrangement of said song to suit the group.

Here’s some of the feedback I have received since…

“Thank you for a truly wonderful season of confidence building and friendship making. Your space has allowed energy to flow, effort to be appreciated and most of all great songs to be enjoyed”.

“Thank you so much for the music club. You have no idea how much it means to me to be part of something like this. It has brought so much to my life recently! I am over the moon with it and all it brings. I only wish it wasn't such a long break until the next one”.

The next season of the club will begin in September. Email me to register your interest.

What’s New?

1. CONNACHT FINAL INTERVIEW: Here’s the piece I mentioned above. Published last Sat in the42.ie. You may need a subscription to read.

2. SLIGO U-20s IN AN ALL-IRELAND FINAL: And it’s no fluke - they belong there. This Saturday at 1.30pm in Cavan. Amazing stuff. Best of luck lads…

3. KINGS OF COOL: I had a wonderful evening in Ballyshannon last Thursday with Michael, Jason, Stephen, Percy, Farrah and Damien as The Kings of Cool launched their debut album. They had the Abbey Theatre rocking with a brilliant set of their own tunes mixed with cleverly chosen covers. Check out a vid of the finale here…

Finally…

One of the highlights from last Wednesday’s Music Club session…

Questions:

Difficulty Level 2 - In what key is this song? Tricker than usual this week…

Difficulty Level 4 - There is an interesting 7-note piano riff at 1:43. Using solfa (doh-re-mi) or numbers, can you name the 7 notes?

Till next time - Kieran.