Nine-8ths Irish - Anecdotes and Antics!!

Fall 2010

2010-10-19T12:05:00.001-07:00

I've been extremely remiss about posting anything here recently, so I thought I'd try to catch up a bit.

The band took a few months off in late spring/summer, while Kathy did her Bluegrass camps all over the country (Tennessee and Canada, among other places), Bo visited his family, and Chris and I tried to survive after I got laid off from my day job in June. Luckily I got another job, but then was laid off again in early August!! I've been on "the dole" since then, but things are working out ok. I've got a few students again, we've gotten a few gigs (a couple weddings, always great gigs with decent pay), and a few exciting band shows!

First of all, we were invited to Jackson, Mississippi for their CelticFest in early September. At first we were reluctant, because though we took the gig as the band Nine-8ths Irish, it was really just Chris and I. Luckily we convinced our good friend Justin

Murphy (from the band Legacy) sitting in on guitar - and he lives in Florida!! Now keep in mind we are used to playing with Kathy and Bo, and that comfort level is tough to do without! But we communicated with Justin via email and MP3s, and once we got to Mississippi, we ran through everything a few times, then had a TOTAL BLAST performing at the Festival!! Special thanks to Don Penzien, Valerie Plested and especially to Justin Murphy for helping us do what we thought might be impossible!!

We got a great response from everyone, and were asked to come back again next year, which, of course, we are HAPPY to do!!

More excitement came after we had been told we were not selected to perform at our favorite local festival, the KVMR Celtic Fest in Grass Valley. Kathy had planned on taking a trip with her husband once we knew we were not selected. But not long after receiving that news, we were asked to play for a Sponsors' Picnic during the Festival, which would get us passes into the Festival for the weekend!! Hell YEAH we'd take that!! This year's scheduled acts included Leahy, Niamh Parsons, Brian Finnegan, John Doyle, and last but not least, Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas!! We were very excited to be able to see all these great acts!

Then we were asked if we would be interested in a time slot on the "Main Side Stage", which is typically regional acts that entertain while the Main Stage is changed out between headliners. We checked it out, and turned out we would have the chance to perform between two of the best musicians of the entire weekend: John Doyle and Alasdair Fraser, the final show on Sunday evening!! Of course we jumped at that chance, and were able to get Pierce Marines to fill in for Kathy on guitar. And we had Dave Cory sit in with us on a few tunes as well. It was a great opportunity for some good exposure, and we got the chance to hear John Doyle and Alasdair both backstage before they went on, which for musicians like us is almost more fun than the actual stage performances!! Thanks to Amy, Izzy and everyone else for a fabulous time once again in Grass Valley!!

We've had a great Summer 2010, and an exciting Fall so far, with our next few weeks filled with anticipation of first being on the radio, playing again at the Palms Playhouse (10/23), my birthday (10/24), then in November sharing a night with Quin and Culann's Hounds for our very first chance to perform at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, CA on 11/24/2010!!!

We'll try to be more diligent about posting updates - we'd love to hear from you!! Visit our website at www.nine8thsirish.com, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nine8thsirish and drop us a line!!

Linda

Spring 2010 - Traumatic Easter

2010-06-17T21:33:00.000-07:00

We had a simply AMAZING month of March: the band played as part of the deVere's St. Patrick's Day Block Party (check out the YouTube video), as well as at McCormick & Schmick's, and ended up at Brew It Up! After that we performed at SS Peter & Paul for this St. Paddy's Day Dinner, had a BIG show at The Palms Playhouse in Winters, CA (got some video of that too, HERE).
April wasn't bad, started out great with a Contra Dance in Sacramento, then a really nice show at Evangeline's Cafe in Colfax. After that, Chris and I headed home, giddy from the great turnout and wonderful people we met.

We got home to our little apartment in Sacramento, whereupon we were robbed at gunpoint by three young black men. They jumped the fence (yes, it was a gated community), one had a mask, two had handguns, and they demanded our debit cards and PIN numbers, which of course we promptly provided. They took both our iPhones, and my entire purse, which among other things had about 10 CDs in it!! All in all, we were lucky, and we're able to get inside, call the cops and start that whole process.
To make a long story short, we spent Easter Sunday holed up in our apartment trying to start to deal with the trauma, and decide what to do. We then found a new place to live (thanks to Craigslist!), and were completely moved out by about a week after the robbery!! We're now in a much better place (a duplex, with a yard!!), and though we're anxious to be getting back to playing, being able to basically rest and recharge for the latter half of April and the entire month of May has been helpful!!

We'll be back to a few shows in July, some exciting shows coming up down the road, and look forward to seeing y'all out there!!

18 June, 2010
Linda

The N8i St. Patrick's Day Marathon, 3.17.10

2010-03-28T13:41:00.000-07:00

It all started at a fairly civilized hour, when Chris and I arrived at McCormick & Schmick's at (11th and J) to set up the sound system. We had plenty of time to get set up, do a quick check to make sure it was all functional, and even have a quick nip to get the blood flowing. That was around noon....

We left on foot to head toGig #1 at deVere's Pub, about 5 blocks away on L Street between 15th and 16th, for their 2nd Annual St. Paddy's Day Block Party. They had been setting up since 4am, and had closed off the street, installed portapotties and police cars, and the Block Party officially started around 8am that day, so when we arrived the stage was already set up, beer was being served, food was cooking and people were starting to stream in, all being recorded for several different local news broadcasts. Kenneally Dancers were everywhere with their curly hair and colorful outfits, gate lists checked, wristbands applied, cold beers gotten, and sound check completed, then we played from 1:30pm until 3:30pm. It was a decent crowd, and we were able to escape before the really REALLY crazy revelers arrived. (Did see one guy puke right in front of the stage, he was escorted out, but STILL HAD A BEER IN HIS HAND!!!!)

Then we walked BACK to McCormick & Schmick's for Gig #2, where we played from 4:30pm to 6:30pm for an Irish Happy Hour!! This restaurant is at the corner of 11th and J Streets, and is absolutely gorgeous! They have a fabulous bar, stocked with just about every Scotch you could imagine (OK maybe not EVERY one...), great food, and one of the best Happy Hour menus around! The crowd was appreciative, and starting to get a bit rowdy, so it seemed everyone had fun.

After Mc&S, we packed up the sound system and headed over to Gig #3, to BREW IT UP! This great brew-pub is located at 14th and H, and they had set up an outdoor seating area, plus they had menu specials throughout the day. We had sore feet, sore fingers and we're starting to get a bit cranky, but once we started playing, it was a blast!! For the third time that day!! Mike and the gang took good care of us, getting us past the crowds to set up, and then we played from 8:30pm to 10:30pm to a very enthusiastic fun crowd!! We only had one close call when a, shall we say MATURE woman was twirling around dancing, and almost took a stage dive over the monitors into the mic stands, but Brady was there and successfully caught her before any damage was done!!

All in all it was an exhausting but fabulous day, and we can only hope that the multitudes who saw/heard us has just a fraction of the fun we had!! We'll do it again next year, though we may decide that two gigs will be enough.
Irish and a wee bit more!!!

Linda

Sonora Celtic Faire, what a weekend!

2010-03-18T09:12:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a week!! It would seem I have been lax in my blogging duties having not put one up about last weekend, but come on, we have been a bit busy hahaha. Well our St. Patrick's week started in Sonora, CA. at the Sonora Celtic Faire. We got to play alongside Golden Bough, those folks are great fun. We met up with some great NEW friends, and fellow Clan Inebriated members (more on that in a bit), and got to hang out with our old friends from Dallas, Needfire! Somewhere out there is video of them letting me sit in with my drum on a tune, that I must say was the highlight of the weekend, or at least the one I can tell you about Muahhaaha. What does that mean? It means you should have been there!

So about the whole Clan Inebriated membership LOL! I found a clan, or perhaps they found me, on the first night we were there, and it would seem I was living via their motto (to drink, to friends, to fun!) , so much so I was told I HAD to come to the clan tent the next morning! I'm surprised I even remembered that truth be told. What I do know is between the C.I. folks and the Kilt Lassies (<-- see photo!) from MacKinnon's Kilts we had a great time that night, and they made it a wonderful weekend that we won't soon forget. Thanks Ladies!

Here is the short video of Needfire with Chris sitting in on the bodhran...he and Mike (the fiddler) totally ROCKED it!!

Sound check done? Check! Players ready? Check! Audience? BIG CHECK! WHAT A NIGHT!!

2010-02-20T10:09:00.001-08:00

FRIDAY, February 19th, 2010: The day started like so many others on a gig day, lots of packing of gear, essentials, and what-nots, followed by a bit of a drive and lots of coffee, but today was a bit different: it was The Center for The Arts.
We arrived a bit early, and it was a good thing too, it gave us time to get sound check done, kinda get some food, and get ourselves ready for the coming few hours. I have to admit I was a bit nervous in the beginning, but once we got the sound check done and had some beers in the green room, I was REALLY anxious, and I don't think I was alone.
All those thoughts and feelings just disappeared once the "curtain" went up so to speak and we all sat/stood at our respective places on stage and started doing what we love to do, play music - Irish music - for people who love to hear it.
The nervous energy we had was turned into drive and rhythm that was then fueled in turn by the energy of a crowd in the throws of dancing and clapping and foot stomping. I felt like I was being given 220v of pure electricity every time I looked at my friends on stage and we were all smiling, swinging, swaying, and having a very good time. We had over 90 in attendance last night, some of them we knew, some we know now. They all worked together to make themselves my pick for audience of the year!

Thanks to Mikail and Marny from TCFTA for the fabulous sound and the star treatment, and Annie O'Dea Hestbeck from KVMR for the great introduction, and everyone else at KVMR for welcoming us to their station - you guys are great!!

In short, the crowd was great, the music was smoking, the night was a huge success, and if you weren't there, you have no idea what you missed. I sure hope you make the next show....lots coming up in March!!!

Chris

(Note from Linda: Special thanks to everyone from Center for the Arts for giving us the chance to play at their wonderful venue; to everyone who came out to support and hear us; to Jon Hartley Fox for his Way With Words, and both Jon and Jacky for help selling CDs, we love you both; and to Kathy, Brady, Bo and especially Chris for helping convince me to get out there on stage when I'm supposed to!! I love you guys!)

SPRING: Busiest Time of the Year!!

2010-01-26T15:07:00.001-08:00

Our new CD, "Out on the Ocean", was delivered on December 11th, but we are just getting the word out on this great CD! We had a great initial CD Release Party at The Fifth String in mid-December; thanks to all who came to see us, and to those who helped out! Then we headed up the hill for a New Year's Eve show at our favorite pub in Reno, Ceol Irish Pub. A great time was had by all, there were no casualties and we didn't even have to use our chains!

We all survived the holiday season, which means we lived through all the visits with family, the stress and extra pounds from those wonderful meals and desserts (love my mom's lemon meringue pie!) We pretty much took the month of January off, and played a Contra Dance on Friday, February 5th, and now we're already ramping up to March....but we've got a few other exciting things coming up before that:

We've got a Fox & Goose show on Feb. 11th, but our big one will be on February 19th at The Center for the Arts in Grass Valley!! We'll have Annie O'Dea and Laurie DesJardin from KVMR Radio helping us out that night, and we're really excited about this one!! Tickets are only $15.00, and can be purchased from The Center for the Arts (in person or online), as well as from Briarpatch Market and Yabobo in Nevada City, and from Cherry Records in Auburn.

We'll post another blog after we are done with that show...we'll have a few days to decompress before heading into March, which is of course the busiest time of year for any self-respecting Irish band!!

It's Already WINTER?!?!?!?!?

2009-12-12T15:53:00.000-08:00

Yup, it is, and Fall was passed here in Sacramento with N8i mostly spending time in the recording studio. Paradise Studios, to be exact...and Craig at Paradise got to know us all probably better than he wanted to!! We did the final recording in September, then spent most of October listening, fixing, relistening, adjusting, changing track order, adjusting levels, and we finally got it all to our liking just after Halloween!! The CD artwork was done, we sent it off for duplication and printing...in the mean time we traveled up to Reno for a gig up there, played on a Friday night at Revolution Wines tasting room (try their wines, they are FABULOUS!! www.revolution-wines.com) and now it's the middle of December.....December 12th to be exact, and we just got the CDs delivered YESTERDAY!!!

"Out on the Ocean" turned out better than we had hoped, and Kathy and I (Linda) were on KVMR radio to help announce the arrival of the CD, and to help promote our initial CD release party, which is taking place at The Fifth String, at 930 Alhambra @ J Street, in Sacramento, on Sunday December 13, at 4pm.

We're also heading back to Ceol Irish Pub in Reno for New Year's Eve, though it will be a more ad hoc group, with Kathy and Brady being replaced for the evening by our friend Frank Frizell, and we'll be doing lots of pub sing-alongs. We plan to have lots of fun, though, and it's a great way to ring in the new year!!

In 2010, we have a big night planned for February 19th, when we'll be playing in Grass Valley at the Center for the Arts, and some great shows coming up for March as well!! In the mean time, happy holidays everyone, and you can always get a copy of the CD for a Christmas gift - just visit the official Nine-8ths Irish website at www.nine8thsirish.com. See y'all soon!!

Summer 2009...It's been quite a ride!!

2009-09-21T09:40:00.000-07:00

We have had an AMAZING summer, and I've been completely remiss in my postings here. I am going to now try to fill in what's happened since May...and it's has been a BUSY few months!!

First of all, we have added a singer to our lineup: Brady McKay, renowned jazz vocalist, is now the lead singer for our band!! We are very excited about Brady, and she seems to be enjoying us as well!! Our first show with Brady was the Valhalla Renaissance Faire up in South Lake Tahoe on May 30th. We were very well taken care of, met some amazing people, got to share the stage with the fabulously entertaining "TARTANIC", and just had a great time!! We're hoping to have an opportunity to work with Marti and everyone from Valhalla again...

Then came the pinnacle of the summer: July 4th weekend, we travelled to Dayton, Ohio to be part of the annual CityFolk Festival!! They flew us out to Ohio and treated us like rock stars!! We had our own "Tour Guides", who made sure we were on time, fed well, had water when we needed it, arranged our rides back and forth, and were just wonderful to us all weekend!! On Friday July 3rd, we played on the Main Stage, where the photo here was taken by Alicia Fidler (an intern with the Dayton Daily News.) Later that weekend we were part of a Workshop with the amazing Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper, demonstrating the close relationship of Irish and bluegrass music. We got to see Bela Fleck with Oumou Sangare, Ralph Stanley, The Duhks, Feufollet (Cajun), Chicago Samba and more!! We were honored to be a part of this great musical weekend, and had one of the best experiences we could possibly have!!

On July 11 we travelled to Reno to take part in the HiRish Festival, which is the "Highest Elevation Irish Festival in the World"!! And it was: it took place at the Sky Tavern area outside of Reno, at over 7,000 feet up!! Besides being an absolutely gorgeous place, the guys from Ceol Irish Pub always treat us like kings!! Though we got rained out and had to do our last set acoustically inside the lodge, we had a great time!! We, along with Autumn and Glen from San Franciso, as well as Johnny Connolly and the members of Skelpin, and all adjourned back to the pub for a great night of sessioning!! After that we found ourselves (quite by accident) at the same bar in the Circus Circus casino as all the gang again, where we drank and laughed till nearly 3am....and even won a bit of money playing slots!! It was a great time, we look forward to heading back to Reno soon...

And finally as many of you know, we started recording tracks for our second CD in late May, at Paradise Studios here in Sacramento. Craig Long, the owner and fabulous engineer at Paradise, had been recommended by Kathy, our guitar player, who had worked with Craig on another project. Mind you, this is after we had recorded our first album in Kathy's living room...so we were very excited about the prospect of recording in an Actual Professional Recording Studio!!

So we went in, met Craig, and immediately settled into the process of tracking....usually fiddle and guitar together, then whistle and bodhran coming in after.....THEN we started really having fun!! We brought Brady in to sing a few songs, Craig had some really amazing ideas, and we are SO excited about what we've got that we can barely contain ourselves!!

We've got all sorts of harmonies, some really great songs, a few production surprises, and overall, an album that we are extremely happy with, and it's not actually completed yet!! We're really hoping for a late October release date, but it could be mid-November....we're really wanting to do this right this time!! The new album will be titled "Out on the Ocean", and it's again going to be on the FGM Records label...check the website for details as the project reaches completion. We've already got some rough mixes posted on the website, which leads to another bit of news -

THE REDESIGNED WEBSITE WAS SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED!! Check out the streamlined website at www.nine8thsirish.com - we've got rough mixes from the new CD, new photos with Brady, and a nice, easy to read Schedule.

So that's been our summer in a long, rambling nutshell....we're heading out to Grass Valley for the KVMR Celtic Festival the first weekend in October, where we will be hosting an Open Session on Saturday afternoon, enjoying the entertainment of Dervish, Dougie MacLean, The Elders, and more....we're planning on late night sessions, many photos, and perhaps even some advance copies of the CD, if we can swing it!!

Spring Hits N8i Hard!!

2009-05-13T11:57:00.000-07:00

Spring usually hits pretty good here in northern California, and it's no different this year. We had a great month of March, a nice rainy April, and now it's May - and we're having a bit of Spring Fever...we're very excited about some of the things coming up this month and during the summer. First of all we are heading back into the studio to record our second CD...we are slaving hard on pre-production, with an initial recording date of 5/29, and have some really great tunes and arrangements, including four of my original tunes. We're not sure when the album will be completed, what with all the gigs we have coming up, but we're hoping for a release date in early fall 2009.

Nine-8ths Irish played our very first Renaissance Faire the weekend of May 9th & 10th in Auburn, where we joined the festivities at the Cain's Crossing Ren Faire. A great time was had by all, as evidenced by the pictures we took, a few of which can be viewed on our Facebook page at www.band.to/nine8thsirish.

We also are scheduled to go back to Reno, Nevada, on Saturday 5/16/09, where we'll play again at Ceol Irish Pub, with special guest Phil Herrold, one of our buddies from Chico, CA. He'll pull out the guitar as well as banjo, and help us entertain the masses and celebrate graduation weekend at UNR (University of Nevada, Reno). The music starts at 9pm, goes to about midnight, and there is never a cover charge at Ceol!!

At the end of May we'll play the Valhalla Renaissance Faire in South Lake Tahoe, CA. This great event puts us in the same venue as Tartanic, an exciting band from Houston, TX. See the Valhalla website for all the details: www.valhallafaire.com

The big event coming up this summer is our trip to Dayton, Ohio for CityFolk Festival....we'll have more information on that soon, including a very exciting announcement about an addition to the band...KEEP CHECKING BACK!!

Linda
(the fiddler)
www.nine8thsirish.com

St. Patrick's Day 2009: Two States in One Day!!

2009-04-06T11:20:00.000-07:00

This year, St. Patrick's Day was on a Tuesday. We all took the day off work (because as we know, REAL musicians have Day Jobs!). We are hosts of the Twice-a-Month Sunday Session at deVere's Pub, and they included us in their First Annual St. Paddy's Day Block Party!! They actually closed down L Street - one of the busiest streets in Sacramento - and had an all-day St. Paddy's Party...we played from 11am to 1pm, and had a few of the Kennelly Dancers come in as well. By the time we left, it was well on its way to being a blow-out party!!

But leave we did....and headed up I-80 to Reno! We got to Ceol Irish Pub a bit past 3:30pm, and had just enough time to set up our system, get a quick sound check, and start playing! The local news was preparing to do a live broadcast, so we played during their broadcast, which included a few dancers as well as N8i on stage...and they did three or four of those live broadcasts throughout the evening!! We played till around 7pm, and just had a blast!! The crowd was great, a few people finally got brave and danced, and the green everywhere was soooo cool!! We just love Ron, Tom, Stacie and everyone at CEOL, and are hoping to head back up there in May.

Synopsis: 2009 St. Patrick's Day, no casualties, played some good music, met some great people, and then headed back to work on Wednesday, with only the slightest of hangovers! I'd say it was a great success!! Until next year.....

Sonora Celtic Faire

2009-04-06T09:15:00.001-07:00

On the weekend of March 14-15, 2009, we were fortunate enough to take part in the 23rd Annual Sonora Celtic Faire, in beautiful historic Sonora California. Though just a week or two before there were massive rainstorms and snow flurries throughout the Sierras, the morning of March 14th was just gorgeous...it was a bit misty through the mountainous terrain of Highway 49, and was a perfect day by the time we got to Sonora.

Our first set was at noon, inside on the Guinness Stage, which seemed ultimately appropriate to us. We warmed up a bit outside, then were introduced to Forrest, who was our Sound Guy on that stage all weekend. He was great, and the sound was quite good, once we got the kinks worked out. We had a nice set, then another at 4pm, during which we all had nearly as much fun on stage as the whisky-tasting servers and customers had!! They cheered each time someone took a shot, so we had a ready-made cheering section!

Other bands that were there included Festival organizer Patrick Karnahan's group The Black Irish Band, the popular Wicked Tinkers, Tempest, and all the way from Texas, Needfire! It was great to see some of my old Texas friends again, and they were celebrating the release of their new CD, "Chasing Orion". Check 'em out if you haven't heard them, www.needfire.com - they are very exciting, high-energy, and great guys each and every one!

Another band that I was looking forward to seeing was Brother, whom I had seen years ago in Arlington, Texas at the Highland Games there...this band was originally three Australian brothers, who played Scottish Bagpipes, lived in Los Angeles, and wrote and performed really quality original rock-and-roll music! Well, Brother is now a power trio, and this time the leader singer/guitar player Angus had to stay behind, as his wife was expecting to give birth to their first child any minute! So the band was only d'Albo the drummer, and Drew, who is generally known as DidgeriDrew! These guys are such professionals that even though they didn't have their singer, the other two still showed up to do their gig at the Festival, and asked some of the other musicians to sit in with them! So along with members of Needfire and others, the guys asked me to come and play my fiddle with them! It was very exciting, and we've included a video of the event - the tune is one of my original ones, which we've named "Escher's Staircase":

NOTE: Angus now has a beautiful baby boy, and has already written a song for him. Check out Angus' Journal Entry here: http://www.brotherjournal.blogspot.com/

As my mother accompanied us to Sonora, she also got some video of Nine-8ths Irish on stage, which can be viewed at these URLs: Sally Garden & Frank's Reel, or Golden Keyboard/Maudabawn Chapel/Dinkie's.

So a great time was had by all, Patrick and Shannon and the whole crew at the Sonora Celtic Faire treated us fabulously, and we got to play some great music, listen to some great music, make some new friends, and share the whole weekend with those we love! Thanks to everyone in Sonora, we look forward to coming back next year!!

February...short month, short blog entry

2009-03-11T13:20:00.000-07:00

In February we started our actual 2nd and 4th Sunday Session at deVere's. At the first one on Feb-8th we had a decent number of people, including Tim Connolly, who evidently had not been playing for quite some time. We were honored to have him join us!!
It was raining that day - and a COLD wind was a-blowin'!! Perfect weather for being in a nice warm pub, drinking a nice (*insert preference here: hot, cold, warm, stiff, etc) beverage, so we had a decent crowd!

The 4th Sunday Session was even better, as we had Dan Engle, Kathy Barwick (our guitar player, who doesn't really frequent sessions), Tim Connolly again, and surprise visitor Shelly Connolly (I believe they are related, but only by marriage). Much fun was had by all, and coincidentally, it was, once again, rainy and windy!!

We got a surprise gig back in Reno at Ceol Irish Pub, which is quickly becoming our favorite pub, home-away-from-home kinda thing. We were asked to come back and play for the last day of February, Feb-28....and it turned out it was the day of Reno's Beer Crawl...resulting in a decent crowd for the evening!

As before, they treated us extremely well, putting Chris and I up in a very nice (resort!) hotel, where we availed ourselves of the down pillows, pillow-top beds and generous nickel slots!! (OK we only won enough to cover our breakfast, but hey, it put us on the plus side!) The next morning, after we leisurely left the hotel and had our well-deserved breakfast, we got on the road back towards Sacramento around 11am, and it was raining. Keep in mind this was Highway 80 over Donner Pass, in FEBRUARY. So when we passed the outskirts of town and saw the big digital Road Conditions sign, it said "Snow Over Pass, Carry Chains". Of which we had none. So we just soldiered on with all the other cars and trucks, watching the temperature drop with each foot we climbed, until it was about 31 degrees, and HUGE snow flakes were falling rather quickly!! It was sticking (there was already snow on the ground, so no big surprise there), but there were just enough cars to keep it from freezing up on the road.....yet. Ultimately the trip was uneventful, we made it back down to Sacramento, but had we lingered over breakfast even another 30 minutes we may have been stuck in Reno for a few days!!

So we once again look forward to March, which this years sees us on a local Sacramento morning show, then off to the Sonora Celtic Faire, back to deVere's for a midday St. Patrick's Day show, and back up the hill to Reno, for a few hours at Ceol, where they take such good care of us. And we're already watching the weather!! ;-)

Reno 1/17/08: N8i Begins to Conquer the World!

2009-01-27T10:13:00.000-08:00

OK we haven't really made any progress on conquering the world, but Nine-8ths Irish finally got to make our first trip out of state when we played Ceol Irish Pub in Reno, Nevada! This was on Saturday, January 17th, which also happened to be our favorite bodhran player's birthday! Yes, Chris just turned 25 (again ;-), and when asked what he wanted for his birthday, he replied, "I get to play music in Reno with the band, and have a few drinks.....I don't need anything else!"
So we trekked to Reno, through the sun-dappled snow-covered hills outside of Nevada City, then onto I-80, through the northern part of the beautiful Sierra Nevada, past Truckee, then into Nevada and to Reno. We arrived to a beautiful warm day, checked into our hotel, and had to go immediately to the casino, where we, being the high-rollers that we are, played 25-cent Video Poker and both 1-cent and 5-cent slots!! We actually won enough to pay for the few drinks that we had, and then went back to our room to prepare for the gig.
We arrived at Ceol Irish Pub around 7pm, got the lay of the land, and were going to go somewhere for dinner, but being that it was Chris' birthday, we left it up to him....so we ordered a pizza!! (Ceol is right on "The Strip" in downtown Reno, and though they don't serve their own food, they recommeded a pizza place and then went to pick it up for us!! It was fabulous! Also their were some patrons at Ceol that were having a birthday party - not for Chris, though it WAS his birthday - but we had a built-in audience of about 20 people before we started playing!
Once we got set up, we started playing - and for this trip, Kathy was unable to make it so we kidnapped Pierce Marines from the Pub Scouts in Chico. He's one of California's best DADGAD guitar players, and he also brought along Connor O'Bryan, a fabulous Irish flute/whistle player. The birthday party-goers were great, and the three sets went by SO FAST, we just had an absolute blast!! Stacie and Tom Cannon, the owners of Ceol, were just wonderful, sweet, generous, and enthusiastic. Ron, the manager, and all the staff were just great, and we ended up closing down the bar!! Actually, we were the ones being pushed out the door while they turned the key!! IT WAS SO COOL!! We haven't closed down a bar in years....
So to recap: we played some great tunes, got some decent video, which we'll post probably on MySpace, Facebook and YouTube...then put links on the website....Chris had pizza, Dead Guy Ale and Tullamore Dew for his birthday, and later (though admitting he didn't remember the drive back to the hotel!) proclaimed it to be the best birthday he's ever had!!
We've been talking to Tom about possibly working something out for another trip up there soon, maybe even for St. Paddy's Day, but also for their "Hirish" Festival: the highest elevation Irish Festival in the country! That will be in July....and there are other events in our bid for World Domination coming soon, including a trip to Ohio!! Keep checking for updates at www.nine8thsirish.com/calendar.html

Exciting Things Coming in 2009!!

2009-01-14T17:30:00.000-08:00

So the last few months of 2008 we quite exciting: we got some new photos, and in the process, Chris broke his leg (which is now completely healed, in case you were wondering.)

In late September/early October we made it to the Grass Valley Celtic Festival again (KVMR Festival), and had a fabulous time!! We got to hear Solas (INCREDIBLE, as always!) We got to play some tunes with the guys from Molly's Revenge, among others, and met all kinds of great people, heard all kinds of great music! We're waiting to hear when the Compilation CD will be available, which will put us on the same recording as those groups named earlier: Solas, Molly's Revenge, Enter the Haggis, Cathie Ryan and more. We'll definitely be posting info about that when we get it!!

In 2009, we are already off to a great start!! On January 17th we are playing in Reno, Nevada (our first out-of-state gig!) at Ceol Irish Pub (website http://www.ceolirishpub.com ).

On the 21st we'll be lending our talents to the "Grand Opening for a Grand Cause" event, which is actually a Benefit for the UC Davis Cancer Center....this event is taking place at the new pub of which we've talked for quite a while: DeVere's Pub in downtown Sacramento, at 16th & L Streets in the old Firestone Building. Tickets for this event can be purchased here: http://www.mixdowntown.net/
DeVere's was originally slated to open back in September, but things took much longer than expected, and they are just now getting close. As of yesterday, Jan.13, they were still installing equipment, finishing the floors, etc. So Wednesday Jan.21 will be a "soft" opening, but the Grand Opening to the public will be on Friday, January 30th. Nine-8ths Irish will be on hand for that as well, with tunes starting around 7:30pm. Then on February 8th, Sunday, we'll be having the first DeVere's Pub Irish Session. This session promises to be a fun one - it will take place the 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month, from 4pm until 7:30 or so. We'll be advertising this as an Advanced Fast Session, so newbies beware.
DeVere's imported the bar from Ireland, and will serve a wide variety of beers (including two specially brewed for DeVere's, an Irish lager and Irish ale), as well as an impressive list of whiskeys, including Scotch and Irish whiskey. They will also have an extensive menu of food items, pub grub and such. Check out their website for all the information: address, map, drink list, menu, etc: http://www.deverespub.com

More excitement for N8i in 2009 comes in the form of a couple of festivals to which we have been invited. First in mid-March is the Sonora Celtic Faire, which puts us on the same bill as Wicked Tinkers, Tempest, and some old friends from Texas: Needfire!! Check the Festival website for directions, schedule and other details: http://www.sonoracelticfaire.com

Next is a bit further into the year - we've been invited to travel to Dayton, Ohio for the July 4th weekend to be a part of their CityFolk Festival, three days of concerts, workshops, fireworks, and the like! If you happen to be in the area and want to drop by, check their website for details: http://www.cityfolk.org/festival/

We're planning on getting back into the studio some time this spring, perhaps after the Big Day for anyone who plays Irish music: March 17th, St. Patrick's Day.....we'll add details on what we're doing that day as soon as we have it all worked out, but for now, there are plenty of opportunities to come and see us, even if you're in Ohio!! We are really looking forward to even better things as the year goes by!

Cheers for now.....
Linda, Chris, Bo & Kathy
Nine-8ths Irish
www.nine8thsirish.com

Coming in Nov & Dec

2008-11-05T17:55:00.001-08:00

And time continues to fly....Linda's birthday has come and gone (10/24, and if you're curious, she's 29 AGAIN!!), Halloween is over (we succeeded in avoiding most of the candy), and we are now heading into a new era with the first African-American president! I'm not sure if that's gonna make any difference, but we'll just have to wait and see.

In the meantime, N8i have a few cool gigs coming up. We entertained Firefighters at the Firefrighters' Ball in Chico, CA, which is took place at the famous Big Room at the Sierra Nevada Brewery. It was not a public event, but we were able to enjoy the great food and drink while we were there, and met some wonderful people, and did our part to show our appreciation for the Firefighters.

We are going to be at the Fox & Goose a few times in both November and December...11/13 and 12/26 are Nine-8ths Irish band performance nights, while 11/25 and 12/30 are Irish Session nights (the Last Tuesday of the Month session).

We're quite excited about the December dates, as the 26th will be the day after Christmas, so we're thinking it'll be a night for everyone to finally relax after the hectic pre-Christmas shopping, the emotional Christmas eve & morning, the stressful Christmas dinner, etc....so what better way to unwind than a few drinks and some Irish music at your favorite pub downtown??! Come as you are, and we'll be happy to see you!!

So if anyone is wondering what to do on Thursday 11/13, or to unwind before Thanksgiving (11/25), or the day after Christmas 12/26 (a Friday night!!), or 12/30 Tuesday, come on down to join us at the Fox & Goose!

Happy Holidays everyone!

2008-11-05T17:03:00.000-08:00

Gosh I've been remiss to have waited so long to add anything to our Blog!! My apologies!!
So let's remedy that.
Here's what's happened since the Cobblestone accident....
In late August, Bo was the host of a fabulous House concert: Paddy Keenan, one of the best Uillean pipers in the world, and one of the founding members of the historic Bothy Band, along with Tommy O'Sullivan, and special guest Pete Grant, a great musician from close by in Auburn. Here are links to find out more about all three of them:
http://www.paddykeenan.com/
http://www.tommyosullivan.net/
http://www.petegrant.com/

We were all extremely entertained, and though Paddy and Tommy were obviously exhausted, they were gracious enough to all a few of us to play a few tunes with them....and the next night they did another house concert in Auburn at our friend Sharon's house. Bo was asked to come up and play a set of tunes with them, and when Paddy remarked about having played at Bo's house the previous night, he also mentioned that he had the opportunity to play with a "fiddler as good as any [he] had heard, here or in Ireland." Which made me feel all warm and fuzzy! We also got a bit of video of the evening, which we'll post soon on our website. A wonderful time was had by all, at least on our end!

Also, Chris got the cast off his leg - though he had to wear one of those removable Velcro boot thingies for about a month, and he's not completely 100% yet (still on light duty at work), he's finally able to wear two matching shoes!! Woot!

So what else......we made it through the KVMR Grass Valley Celtic Festival (9/27-28), where we had a great time, met the members of Solas, and became completed enamored of their new album "For Love and Laughter". We are using that as inspiration for tunes for our next recording, for which we have started organizing and choosing.....perhaps studio time in January....

More to come shortly!!

A Cobblestone Malfunction?? (or The Great Photo Session Caper)

2008-08-19T18:04:00.000-07:00

If you are reading this, you have mostly likely visited our website recently. As you can see from some changed we've made, we have some new photos (taken by the talented Mike Parker) to share with everyone. However, in the process of getting these new photos, we had a bit of a mishap. Perhaps it could be even be considered a cobblestone malfunction. Or a bodhran player malfunction. In any case......as you see in the photo shown here, we were all excited about Chris getting up on the ledge above us, and were amazed as he hauled himself up there....a few photos were taken, and we were ready to move on to the next location, and then....he jumped.

I believe his first words were "Oh crap, get my boot off, I just broke my leg." Or something to that effect. And then he was lying in the alley, on his back wearing his kilt and one boot (there was a bit of writhing involved as well.) Thus ended our photo session with Mike. And Chris was even jokingly asking Mike to take photos of him lying there on his back, but Mike just couldn't bring himself to do it. (I'da done it!!)

So after the 911 call (during which, when Chris was asked if anything else was injured, his answer was "Just my pride!!"), the subsequent arrival of the fire truck, the paramedics and crowd of onlookers (we were in Old Sac on a beautiful Saturday morning, after all), we of course spent the rest of the afternoon at the hospital. Chris ended up getting just a temporary splint put on (sort of a half-cast). At the follow-up session on Monday, the doctor discovered that in additional to the spiral hairline fracture on the fibula (the small bone in the lower leg), he had succeeded in breaking the bone in his ankle, which could end up needing a pin! As they say: Go Big or Go Home!!

So though Chris ended up on crutches for a couple of months, off work for a couple of weeks, and unable to carry his own food or drink (unless it's a beer bottle, and he's wearing shorts with sufficient pocket space, or his Utilikilt), we got some great photos!!

We'll still be at the Fox & Goose Session on the 26th of August, at which time everyone should be able to sign his cast while making fun of him, or at least ribbing him about thinking he's still 17. He'll even provide the Sharpie! See y'all then!

N8i will be back at KVMR Celtic Festival!!

2008-06-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

We've recently found out that we've been asked to come back for the second year in a row to play at the 2008 KVMR Celtic Festival this coming September in Grass Valley, CA!! This will be the 12th Annual KVMR Celtic Festival, and this year's lineup will be extremely exciting!!

The headliners this year are no less than one of the biggest bands in the Celtic genre, SOLAS!! We made a comment on stage last year about being "just a Karan Casey away from a Solas tribute band", and that says in the proverbial nutshell how Nine-8ths Irish feels about Solas. They are one of the best traditional Irish bands, even though the majority of the members are actually American-born! But enough about Solas....you can visit the KVMR website to read more about the entire festival as the late September date gets closer.

N8i will be playing two sets on both Saturday 9/27 and Sunday 9/28 (no Friday performances this year, as they have eliminated that due to lack of volunteers.) Our performance times are still TBA, but check our website - we'll be posting any other information as soon as we have it available!!
See you at the next show or Contra Dance!!

Linda, Chris, Bo & Kathy
Nine-8ths Irish
"Irish and a wee bit more!!"

Summertime!

2008-06-27T12:36:00.000-07:00

It's already nearly July, and somehow it just doesn't seem like it!! School has let out, it's been over 100 degrees, but it's just not like it was when we were kids and summer meant the biggest accomplishment of the day was where to go swimming and how much more tan we were than the day before. Now it seems like a feat when we get an afternoon nap!
Half of Nine-8ths Irish (Linda & Chris) were finally able to take a real vacation, which we spent in Weiser, Idaho for the National Oldtime Fiddlers Contest. This was the first time I (Linda) had gone back to Weiser in about 18 years, and was Chris' first time. He admitted he thought it would be nothing but contest fiddling, but upon arriving and experiencing it, there was plenty of bluegrass, swing music, irish, and old-time, as well as the contest fiddling. We were able to stay up until the wee hours playing music, visiting with some old (and some new) friends, and generally having a WONDERFUL time!! We succeeded in the sleep deprivation experiment, though surprisingly we slept quite well. And the fact that it didn't really get dark until nearly 11 o'clock at night added to that, and made for great music to which to go to sleep.
While there, we ran into Patrick and Robin from Boise, as well as Dave Marshall (and others) from Vancouver, Roland White from Portland, and Clyde Curley even put in an appearance!! Plus there was Larry Chung from San Francisco, with whom my brother John Relph was in the band Cabin Fever (featuring Megan Lynch, who also was there!!) We saw Tristan Clarridge, the Grand National Champion this year (4th time for him, I believe), and his sister Tashina (who took 2nd place), as well as Kimber Ludiker (who took third!). As I understand it, those three are roommates in the Boston, MA area, and they swept the top three...perhaps we should all visit Massachusetts and drink some of the water.....!!
We saw Starr McMullen and her husband Pat (from Oregon...great fiddler, great people!!), and witnessed a marathon jam with quintessential Texas fiddler Carl Hopkins (man that guy can improvise!!). We had great food from Benny's Tacos....spent a bit of time at the grocery store, as well as the State Liquor Store in Weiser, and also ran into Kim & Duffy Markel, who used to run the camping there at the old Institute where we camped. All in all, we had a really great time, and I'll put up some photos in the next post, and continue with the story....

Time for Hot Gigs and Cold Beers!!

2008-04-24T17:25:00.000-07:00

With the weather getting warmer, the Festival season gets into full swing. Or at least gets a good swat at it...or maybe just a putt...either way, there are Festivals aplenty coming up here in northern California, starting this weekend with the Sacramento Valley Highland Games, taking place in Woodland at the Yolo County Fairgrounds.

There will be all the regular Scottish Games fun: beer, whiskey tasting, guys in kilts, bands with Bagpipes (with guys in kilts), bagpipes competitions, Scottish dancing competitions, guys in kilts throwing big heavy things, ladies in heavy dresses following around the guys in kilts, a few sheepdogs, some smoked turkey legs, Scottish fiddling, and perhaps a few guys in kilts drinking beer and/or whiskey.

Many or all of these things can be experienced this weekend, April 26th and 27th in Woodland, and then again in Livermore on the weekend of May 17th & 18th. Click here for more info on the Livermore Games.

On the homefront we've got a Fox & Goose last Tuesday session coming up on the 29th, as well as some Contra Dances coming up soon. We've added all kinds of goodies to our website, www.nine8thsirish.com, including a link to the video footage that was part of our Pre-St. Patrick's Day Fox & Goose show, when KCRA-Channel 3 news came in and stirred up the place!! It's kinda fun to watch.

So come see us soon, add your words to our Blog if you want, send us an email anytime, nine8thsirish@nine8thsirish.com, and most importantly, follow Mark Twain's advice:

"Dance like nobody's watching; love like you've never been hurt. Sing like nobody's listening; live like it's heaven on earth."

New Website!!

2008-04-10T17:42:00.001-07:00

Well, we've successfully negotiated through the maze of domain names, hosting options, database operating systems and so on. After all that, we can now say that our website, though not perfect, is finally up and running!!

Our website lives at www.nine8thsirish.com, and contains the requisite photos, song samples, links, shameless self-promotion, and more!! Soon we'll add a form to join our mailing list (we're still getting that set up), and we'll have sound clips of all the tracks off our CD. For now, there are a few full tracks, plus a link to the live radio broadcast from last year's Main Stage set at the KVMR Celtic Festival. Just visit the MUSIC page.

Check it out, click on everything (it's virtually unbreakable!! ;-)

Cheers and blog on, baby!!

N8i

Until Next March 17th........Deep Breath, everyone!!

2008-03-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

Though we had a great time on March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, and all the musical-filled days prior to that, we are OK with having a few days to catch up on our rest!! As we are all so fond of saying, Real Musicians Have Day Jobs.....and we all had to go to work on Tuesday after being at the Casino until almost 10pm!! But we really had a great time, and want to say thanks to a few people for helping us make it through the weekend:
-Frank and everyone at the Fox & Goose, we love you!!
-Janet and Phyllis at the Vallejo Yacht Club...we're checking our calendar for next year!!
-Thanks again to Laurie DesJardins and the gang at KVMR-FM radio....we'll be crowing about that for a long time!! We'll see you all in September, one way or another!!
-Kyle and the whole crew at the Long Way Home Saloon - your enthusiasm puts us all to shame!! We'll be back to visit as soon as we can make it out to Willows!!
-Don Dibono at Entertainment Services, and Pete Adams at Colusa Casino Resort - thanks for the opportunity, and we're ready for more music whenever you want us!! Everyone was so nice to us at Jacks Lounge....Bo even made a bit of a profit on his blackjack investment!! Let's do it again sometime soon!!

We'll be back at the Fox & Goose for our monthly Irish session on March 25th, so we get a few days to catch our breath after such a wonderful weekend!!
Love ya!!

Linda, Chris, Kathy and Bo

N8i on KVMR Radio, and on TV!!

2008-03-16T23:03:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest in our world:

We successfully made the trip up to Nevada City to the KVMR studio, where we joined Laurie DesJardin for a bit of chat, a few tunes, and some promo. We got a recording of the segment, and will post it as soon as we can!!

We were at the Fox & Goose on Friday night, where a great time was had by all! We played a few tunes, we were on TV, we made some new fans, sold a few CDs - WAIT, did I say we were on TV??!! Yes I did. Turns out the local news, KCRA-Channel 3, was there doing a live broadcast, and had a bunch of revelers with Nine-8ths Irish rockin' and reelin' in the background!! We hope to get a video record of it, perhaps our first YouTube video, but for now, it's exciting to just talk about it and be able to say we were on TV!! So we had a few beers, a few shots, even a car bomb was imbibed, but no one was hurt in the making of the evening, and we're hoping that those who took us home with them did not regret it in the morning! ;-)

Saturday night, we traveled down to Vallejo California, where we were the entertainment for the night at the Vallejo Yacht Club!! This was our second year in a row enjoying their hospitality, and a great corned beef and cabbage meal to go with the beautiful view! Barring a minor vehicle mishap, it was a great evening, and we've already been asked back for next year!

Tomorrow, Monday, St. Patrick's Day, March 17th, we'll be hopping in the trusty Ford Escape Hybrid to travel to Willows California, then over to Colusa Casino Resort, where we'll end up our SPD weekend, then it's back to work on Tuesday!!

More to come later.......

linda

Hello from Nine-8ths Irish!!

2008-02-28T15:27:00.000-08:00

We've just set up this blog in anticipation of our new website that is currently in the design/construction phase. We'll have something posted soon at (you can probably guess....) www.nine8thsirish.com!! So keep checking back, and we'll also get all the band members to do something on the Blog so it can be just as silly as possible!!