USA, Minneapolis / St. Paul, Minnesota

[Baglady]

Sunday

Session: Keegan’s pub http://www.keeganspub.com/ This session is fast and will have the top players from the area. It has a Ceili dance style and rapid fire tunes from 6-10:00. Top artists like Paddy Keenan, Tom Dahill, Laura McKenzie, and the boys from Five Mile Chase are found there when they are in town. The first pint is free and a fry-up comes out at around 8:30.

Monday

Session: Molly’ Quinn’s http://www.mollyquinnsirishpub.com/music.html This one tends to be more intimate and lean toward the pure drop with Martin McHugh of Co. Clair sitting court. It begins waxing from 8ish and wanes till closing 12ish. I am not clear on the drink situation so you should ask.

Tuesday

Band Practice: Brian Boru Irish Pipe Band http://www.brianborupipeband.com/ 6:00 lessons 7:00-9:00 band practice. Free pipe and drum lessons. A great part of the Irish culture and a nice group of people.

Wednesday

Session: Kieran’s Pub http://www.kierans.com/ This is the oldest session in town right now. Many established players come and it morphs according to who is there. People like to say it is a fast session and it does get pretty ripping later on. Drink is free and excellent dosh comes out at 10:30 or so. Count on a late night.

Thursday

Those of us who have them reacquaint ourselves with our families.

Friday

Session: Molly Quinn’s http://www.mollyquinnsirishpub.com/music.html Friday is sort of taking on the slow session that used to run at O’Gara’s. Molly’s has an eclectic draw and you could hear the Soggy Bottom Boys one night and Jazz another so we are the “Celtic night” on the calendar.

Saturday

Ceilis: Dubliner Pub http://www.darkwatermusic.com/dubsched.html First Saturday of the month from 2-5. Play in a pick-up band for dancers. Great fun and a chance to do what all the practice is about. This moves FAST!! You will be playing long strings of jigs and reels with the occasional waltz or hornpipe.

Odd Fellow’s Hall 2380 Hampden, St. Paul. Third Saturday Loma Mor Ceili, 7:30-10:30 PM. Same as above. These are like dancing sessions. Everyone joins in and has a good time.

[Nanohedron]

As far as the drink situation at Molly Quinn's goes, it depends on who's pouring, if they're yet hip to the "first pint" custom, or if they know you or know you're a musician. I've paid and not paid. No big deal. I'm there for the music in any case.

Re: Kieran's: the first drink is supposed to be gratis, and the others subsequent ought to be paid for. By accounts, someone seems to be getting away with something!

What really chaps my ass is musicians ordering water and not tipping the servers for their efforts. Bad form.

[Nanohedron]

Update: apparently Molly Quinn's has closed. It remains to be seen whether new ownership will keep things going musically, but I don't expect so.

[I.D.10-t]

Not ITM, but it seems that people gather at “Artist’s Grind” on the corner of Raymond and University(2399 University Ave West, St. Paul, MN 55114), Saturday between 9:30AM~12:00. It looked like there were many stringed instruments and sounded like traditional American music. Several banjos small guitar things, a bass, few violins and a hammer dulcimer were playing and I found that occasionally a flute player will stop by. Worth going to just to listen and drink lots of coffee.

They mentioned that Oddfellows has a mostly string session at 8:00pm on Tuesday.

[Nanohedron]

Kieran's, The Liffey, (and I expect The Local, too, due to the monolithic corporate leverage exerted on all three) as well as the Half Time Rec are all abandoning Irish music (trad, anyway) in their usual stage bookings. No decent money in it, apparently. I presume the St. Paddy's bacchanals will be the exception. To date, Kieran's is continuing the Wednesday evening sessions despite the changes, and I hope this will be ongoing. Right now, Kieran's and Keegan's are the only game in town for open public ITM sessions hereabouts. Sad state of affairs considering how it used to be, but we hope for the best.

[Nanohedron]

At this time, the third-Saturday monthly Oddfellow's Hall céilí is no longer open to all comers, musicianwise: again, by invitation only. All dancers welcome and encouraged.

[Nanohedron]

New developments:

A new pub, Merlins Rest, has opened. It's sort of Hiberno-CambriCaledonian with a nod to the Sassenach. Irish, Scots, Welsh and English expats hang out there along with the rest of us Yanks. So far the music tends to be more Goidelic than Brythonic, if you will, but there's room for that for sure. Even the occasional Morris dancing can be seen there on special events. This is a place that continues the legacy bestowed to us by the Irish Well and Molly Quinn's: in other words, they revel in the quirky and creative. A really fun spot for the marcher to a different drummer.

http://www.merlinsrest.com/

Open sessions Thur. 6pm, and Fri. 7pm. The vibe is good, the people are great (plenty of old familiar faces from the Irish Well and Molly Quinn's crowds), the acoustics very nice, and the pints are tasty and drawn with expertise. Owing to the new incarnation of the pub and its yet somewhat small customer base as word gets out*, the kitchen closes whenever it darned well pleases, so for now it's a good thing there's a White Castle across Lake Street. Let's change that, TC Chiffers. Merlins Rest is one of those places that really ought to thrive, and besides, "sliders" and sessions just seems, well, wrong.

(*Although the Grand Opening saw the place full to the gills, so maybe things are rolling along better than I thought; the other weekdays will tell.)

Also, Keegan's is instituting an ear-learning group on Mondays, 6pm. This will be for slow playing and for beginner to intermediate-level players, to be led by any advanced players who can generously lend their time to it. Kudos and plaudits to owners Terry and Victoria, who are on notice that their participation-as-students is expected.

[Nanohedron]

Looks like Merlins Rest is just doing the Friday session, now. The People have Spoken.

Mondays at Keegan's are going quite nicely; all sorts of levels of ability and experience at the beginner level, and everyone who plays a traditional melody instrument is welcome. Please be clear that this learner's group is NOT a session per se although it is loosely based on the session model; it is strictly about learning and playing the tunes only, so backup instruments such as bodhráns or backup-only guitars and the like do not really have a place, and such are kindly directed to the real sessions for that sort of participation. This project uses no sheet music whatsoever, for the goal is expressly that of encouraging and developing ear-learning of tunes. Well, okay, sometimes one needs to jog the memory, but then the dots are put away. Yes, sir.

Do bring a recording device, and make a habit of relying on it as your part of the equation.

Of course we can't prevent people from using sheet music at home, we ruefully aver. All the same, it's about ear-learning, not acquiring tunes, so participants are encouraged to feel very guilty if they do resort to the dots. Our motto: We are here to empower, not to enable.

Oh, and a basic working knowledge, at minimum, of one's instrument is assumed. Had a beginning fiddler or two sit in at the ear-learning session, and it wasn't helpful to them as they hadn't made a fist of their instruments yet. First things first.

[Nanohedron]

Update:

As of Dec. 5 2010 the Keegan's ear-learning workshop is shifting to Sundays at 4pm, concluding around 5:50pm.

[Nanohedron]

Belated addendum: Kieran's has changed location, and their weekly session has changed, too. It's now on Sundays starting from noon. I haven't attended yet, myself, but I hear it's one of the good 'uns.