St. Paddy's Day 2010

17 March 2010

This was my first year doing extensive pub crawling. The first year I was a gig or so late due to either miscommunication, or forgetfulness on the part of my mother-in-law, I don't know which (and I don't want to know). I left after 1 or 2 pubs, too.

This year I was able to get to the Celtic Center for the tune-up (barely; had to pick up Red-Haired Daughter and take her home due to illness) and then proceded to do 10 pub stops. The bars were pretty empty for the first few hours of the afternoon (12:00 til about 3:00), but as afternoon turned into evening, and evening to night, they got fuller and fuller, until it was almost claustrophobic. We are used to having a big space to circle up in and play. There was no room for circles, or even ovals, in these pubs. We sort of squose in where we could, facing each other--sort of. We aren't even talking polygons, here. More like amoebas. As time wore on, the crowds got louder and more appreciative, too.

Ian overscheduled us, as he apparently has done in years past. At one point we had 30 minutes to do a 20 minute gig, drive 50 blocks and tune up again. Of course that set us up to be late for all subsequent gigs that evening. At one bar I saw Vickie Newton from work, and at another, Fair-Haired Daughter. I did the Amazing Grace solo at a bar called Gracie's and overblew it big-time. I felt terrible, and didn't volunteer for any other solos, though I think PM would have given me another chance if I had raised my hand. I don't think he really wanted me to. So I'll work on overblowing and volunteer another time.

Just as a side note . . . some of those bars were really creepy.