seamus tansey's letter

[glauber]

I detect some limited defence of the man here.

No. I'm just saying that people who know him are not surprised with this latest outburst. You had said: "Anyone who's followed this sorry saga will have difficulty listening to his playing again in the same light." And i was respoding to you, that this isn't anything new.

No defense. As i said "nobody has a right to act as a jerk and expect no consequences."

[Azalin]

I think one problem with this whole story is that we're trying to compare oranges with bananas. They're both fruits, but still totally different.

It has to be understood that many old timers, who's been playing for 40 years, would react the same way Seamus did if told they were out of tune by a young player. He was totally wrong to lash out at her the way he did (poor her!) but I think he sensed a lack of respect and wrongfuly reacted that way. I think she will need to be more diplomatic in the future, and I'm sure she will, 'cause she sounds a lot wiser than him (women usually are wiser than men, arent they?!).

Now, the real reason of Seamus' anger is the tradition slipping away. What I don't understand is that we're talking about stage music here, and for me stage or CD music is 100% different than session music. I agree that if we want to have sessions where there's a good chemistry going on with rich, tight music, we should keep the repertoire and style as traditionnal as we can, but when you're on stage you need to play what people want to hear, and rules change.

So bottom line, you get an old timer who's been playing for 40 years on stage with a box/guitar duo who didnt really expect him and never played with him before, with no good mic available, and you get the ingredients for that sort of thing. It's Seamus' mistake to have accepted to play in this gig, that's for sure.

[Nanohedron]

Now, the real reason of Seamus' anger is the tradition slipping away.

His part of it, perhaps. But I'd be hard-pressed to agree that the tradition is slipping away. I think he's objecting to the experimental changes that all living traditions go through, and I'll bet that most of them won't survive the test of time.

[Joseph E. Smith]

....whatever his reasons, valid or not, this was a demonstration of bad form....something, I would think, did more to alienate and possibly mar the complexion of ITM than it did to promote it....too bad; for his is a mighty talent and gift.

[djm]

Tansey has a long history for lashing out at people verbally at the slightest hint of disrespect or disagreement with him. I doubt this has changed ITM, as it is not new. You will get heated debate over just about any aspect of ITM and pure drop, and none of it means anything or goes anywhere, but some pretty nasty stuff gets exchanged along the way. As for the letter, I don't know, I kinda liked it ....

djm

[Azalin]

She's only a box player, after all...

[SteveShaw]

She's only a box player, after all...

We can't know what the exchanges were on stage as we only have the protagonists' word for it, let alone know about the tenor of the exchanges, therefore we shouldn't presume to judge the situation in a speculative way from what may or may not have been said on stage. The guy left the stage in high dudgeon, and must have been galled even further by the fact that his "inferior" stayed up there (I assume) to complete the gig. He hadn't left the building so he must have been only too aware of this. The poor old bugger was probably sitting in his dressing room, seething as he heard the muffled sound of the fun going on through the wall.... Talk about sh***ing in your own bed. Hoist by his own petard. The bottom line is that he saw fit to send an appalling piece of poison-pen sh*t to a young woman a long time after the event - not even in the heat of the moment, and he seems to be completely unapologetic. Let's face it, he's just a sad old has-been who, paradoxically, still has a lot of growing up to do. If he is the face of pure drop today, then I shall spend the rest of my life consoling myself with my Irish supergroup CDs. Ha.

Cheers

Steve (only a bloody harmonica player after all )

[Joseph E. Smith]

djm:"Tansey has a long history for lashing out at people verbally at the slightest hint of disrespect or disagreement with him. I doubt this has changed ITM, as it is not new. You will get heated debate over just about any aspect of ITM and pure drop, and none of it means anything or goes anywhere, but some pretty nasty stuff gets exchanged along the way. As for the letter, I don't know, I kinda liked it ....

djm"
===============================================

....

THAT'S IT!!!!!!! I have had just about enough from you.....mister........mister....mister 'I'm so nice I come from Canada".!!!!
You make me.....really sit down and evaluate just what it is I SHOULD be contributing... as opposed to what I....uh....ummmm, just what I ought to be....man**** I forgot what it was I was going to use to soil and make your gotch itch with....uh...hey, be a good hosehead and pass the Molson eh? There's a good man.

[Azalin]

Steve (only a bloody harmonica player after all )

A very good one, at least...

[rh]

(only a bloody harmonica player after all )

they do stick together, these free-reedists... when you think about it, the gob-iron is a tiny melodeon, after all

[meemtp]

I can't imagine why Tansey is getting all self-rightous about the pure drop tradition slipping away. He recorded the Easter Snow album with that godawful keyboard backing on most of the tracks. His flute playing is good on it, but the keyboards totally wrecked it. He'd have been better off recording it with box and guitar.

[djm]

mister 'I'm so nice I come from Canada".!!!!

ROTF
I'll fix you, my pretty, and your little dog, too! A-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!

they do stick together, these free-reedists

As I noted above, there's enough poison being spit as it is. Let's not spread this even further. Let Séamus roll up into a ball and curse the world as he may. There's more than enough room for all of us in ITM to make our mark with the instruments of our choice. Let's all join together in a circle. Maybe hold hands. Does anyone know the words to "Kum Bai Ya"? Or maybe ... hey remember that old Coke commercial?

I'd like to give the world a hug
And tell it jokes and stuff.
And pull its pants down to its knees
And chase it through the rough .... um, no .... maybe that's not quite it ....

djm

[Joseph E. Smith]

...I wanna do the 'hokie pokie'. Can we do the 'hokie pokie' pleeeease?

[djm]

Really? Do you have to pee, too?

djm

[rh]

they do stick together, these free-reedists

As I noted above, there's enough poison being spit as it is. Let's not spread this even further. Let Séamus roll up into a ball and curse the world as he may. There's more than enough room for all of us in ITM to make our mark with the instruments of our choice.

now now, i was just having a bit of fun... i've been known to take a quick turn on the tin sandwich meself now and again.

i HAVE been a bit pissy lately, and for this i do apologize. there is a back story to this i think i should share.

for some months, i've been putting my compositional skills to work by setting Tansey's book, "The Bardic Apostles of Innisfree" to a traditional music background played by an ensemble consisting of melodeon, didgeridu, kalimba, reco-reco and theremin. i was dearly hoping to enlist Tansey's aid for this project; now that i've found out that he doesn't like melodeon, i'm just crestfallen.