I have sort of half a notion Shannon was over in 1985 but I would have to check the tapes from that year. I had a few chats with him and McGreevy over the years. McGreevy was a gentleman. At the time a friend was feeding me a lot of 78 rpms and I lapped up the tunes on them, both McGreevy and Shannon expressed their amazement I could abandon the Seamus Ennis tunes and whatever was going at the time and go for the Tom Ennis stuff (which I don't think was all that amazing to do but there was no internet at the time and the records were not as readily available to many), Shannon said Tom Ennis was the piper he played with most, he'd put on the records in his kitchen and play along. I must say I found the sound of his pipes terribly harsh at the time. I remember his pipes being examined, over the years he had used different colours of thread for the bindings and when his regs were pulled out there was a virtual rainbow of colour on the tenons.Shannon travelled to Ireland at least four times, three of them to appear at the Willie Clancy Summer School, from 1986 to 1993.
Lives of the pipers- piper biography additions
- Mr.Gumby
- Posts: 6614
- Joined: Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:31 am
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Location: the Back of Beyond
Re: Lives of the pipers- piper biography additions
My brain hurts
- an seanduine
- Posts: 1997
- Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2009 10:06 pm
- antispam: No
- Location: just outside Xanadu
Re: Lives of the pipers- piper biography additions
Not surprising you found Joe´s set harsh sounding, Mr. G. ¨Loud as hell!¨ has been another description. Striking in the drones along with a full chord on the regs was described as ¨Kick-starting a Jumbo Jet¨.
Bob
Bob
Not everything you can count, counts. And not everything that counts, can be counted
The Expert's Mind has few possibilities.
The Beginner's mind has endless possibilities.
Shunryu Suzuki, Roshi
The Expert's Mind has few possibilities.
The Beginner's mind has endless possibilities.
Shunryu Suzuki, Roshi
Re: Lives of the pipers- piper biography additions
One more biography has been added to the Website:
Patrick "Patsy" Touhey (1865-1923) Most successful of the vaudeville pipers; remembered for his recordings.
This is the last of the performer/player biographies. Next comes pipemakers in North America before 1950, probably in a different format.
Lives of the Pipers
Nick Whitmer
Patrick "Patsy" Touhey (1865-1923) Most successful of the vaudeville pipers; remembered for his recordings.
This is the last of the performer/player biographies. Next comes pipemakers in North America before 1950, probably in a different format.
Lives of the Pipers
Nick Whitmer
-
- Posts: 1307
- Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2018 5:40 am
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Tell us something.: I'm a historian and the author of "The Beat Cop:Chicago's Chief O'Neill and the Creation of Irish Music," published by the University of Chicago in 2022. I live in Arlington VA and play the flute sincerely but not well
Re: Lives of the pipers- piper biography additions
That's really well done Nick--great research and very evocative of his career.
It's interesting how Touhey was professionally Irish but vaudeville was its own world and its own nationality. His close freinds were German comics. Lots of accounts of Vaudeville mention the "cosmoplitanism" of the backstage. Lots of performers would go out and do some sort of ethnic act, of performing an immigrant ethnicity other their own, and then back stage they observed a very mixed world.
It's interesting how Touhey was professionally Irish but vaudeville was its own world and its own nationality. His close freinds were German comics. Lots of accounts of Vaudeville mention the "cosmoplitanism" of the backstage. Lots of performers would go out and do some sort of ethnic act, of performing an immigrant ethnicity other their own, and then back stage they observed a very mixed world.
-
- Posts: 150
- Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:29 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Location: Upstate NY
Re: Lives of the pipers- piper biography additions
What a fantastic resource. So well researched and presented. Thanks for all your hard work on this, Nick. Looking forward to reading and referencing it many times in the future. Looking forward to the next installment on pipe makers too. Cheers!nwhitmer wrote: This is the last of the performer/player biographies. Next comes pipemakers in North America before 1950, probably in a different format.
Lives of the Pipers
Nick Whitmer
- elbowmusic
- Posts: 267
- Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2005 11:27 am
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Tell us something.: I'm back in the uilleann piping world after a ten year hiatus. Uilleann piping chops, here I come!
I'm a smallpipe and Border pipe maker and we'll just see where that leads to. - Location: Howl's Unmoving Castle
- Contact:
Re: Lives of the pipers- piper biography additions
Oh boy. Can't wait for the pipemakers research. Thanks so much Nick!
-Nate Banton-
Smallpipes and Border Pipes http://www.natebanton.com
Smallpipes and Border Pipes http://www.natebanton.com