Friday, March 14, 2008

Hey, check it out!

Not only do I apparently have a pretty skewed moral compass, but I'm pretty kick-ass at fighting 5 year-olds...

25

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

The big weekend is finally here! It's been a lot of hard work preparing for St. Patrick's Day, so I'm pretty excited to get to it. We've been rehearsing with the full band, playing some cool shows out on the road to tighten up, and generally getting things together.

This past weekend we got to travel with everybody (by that I mean the guys--Lantz, Lunna and Nathan--the Wild Colonial Bhoys Deluxe, as it were) to do a couple of gigs in the Chicagoland area, and Racine, Wisconsin.

We were playing at Ballydoyle Irish Pub in Downer's Grove, IL on Thursday night. The Pogues were playing in town that night, so I think a lot of people went to see them instead. Not that I blame them, haha! But Ballydoyle was a great time. We had played there once before (Thanksgiving weekend), so it was good to get back. Being Thursday night I wasn't sure what to expect, but since it was Ladies' Night, it was a hell of a lot of fun! We even got to judge the Miss Ballydoyle Pageant, so who could ask for more, eh?

The gig went well; we played well and the sound was pretty good too. I think people enjoyed themselves. lol

Thanks a ton to Shannon from Mankato, the GM of Ballydoyle. He made sure we were taken care of, and has a great staff working with him; we felt right at home!

Friday we drove to Racine, WI (about 70 miles so it was an easy drive) to play at McAuliffe's Irish Pub. I didn't get the sense that there were a ton of Irish people in Racine, but then again I'd never been there before. JJ the owner has had some great big Irish rock bands (Black 47, Gaelic Storm) play in his bar, and he himself is a former member of the Sandcarvers (they rock so check them out), so he is definitely tuned into the scene.

They had a head-shaving fundraiser for the St. Baldrick's organization, which we had become familiar with here in town locally (they do it at O'Donovan's every year). It's a group that raises money for childrens' cancer research, so it's a great cause. If I had time to organize some pledges, I might have shaved my head for it. Maybe next time.

We had a GREAT show at McAuliffe's. I don't really know if the locals knew what to expect, but I think they got into it. ;o) We really rocked, and the sound was awesome, so that helped. We pulled off some new material, wrote a couple of neat little ditties on the spot, and even played a trad tune or two. You never know what type of creativity breaking a guitar string is going to spawn! We look forward to going back to McAuliffe's!

This weekend is of course the big SPD thing. Are they doing that this year? haha It's funny because although the holiday is technically Monday, the Archbishop of Mpls/St. Paul's Archdiocese has moved it to Saturday the 15th, since you can't celebrate a Patron Saint Day during Holy Week (Easter is the following Sunday). So, St. Paul has moved it's official celebration day to Saturday. The parade and all that is that day, plus my guess is because it's Saturday night our gig in Minneapolis at O'Donovan's will be crazy.

Then we've got Sunday night at the Dubliner. Should be a big night; we're playing in the big tent they're putting up, with our full band. The Alarmists are opening and they are hugely popular; they are playing in Texas at the South By Southwest music conference right now, and that's a pretty big deal so there you go. We're excited to have them on the bill.

Then of course the traditional St. Patrick's Day thing on Monday. Minneapolis is giving the big finger to the Catholic Church and going ahead with their parade on Monday, despite the fact that it's actually a religious holiday. Interesting... But it should make for a big party. The highlight is going to be our set at First Ave of course! hehe Come check it out though. We're playing a tight 45 minute set, and the label is filming us for a DVD, so if we get a good crowd, we might release a video or two! Come be on film! ;o)

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Hey strangers! Hope everyone is well. It's been a LONG LONG time since I've blogged anything. My apologies to those of you who read this (all two of you) and have been waiting and waiting for something new to read!

It's been a pretty busy last few months for WCB, to say the least. Record contracts, gigs in ever far-reaching locales, and lots and lots of craic. hehe We've got some cool stuff on the horizon too, so keep posted for new info.

What's going on? Hmm... well, we're going to Omaha this weekend, to a new bar called the Brazenhead. Should be fun. It's always nice getting a change of pace. We love playing our usual haunts of course, but a breath of fresh air is always good, you know?

The Steelers lost, and about that I am sad. Oh well. I don't think that it was really their year, and their O-line sucks, so it wasn't exactly a shocker when they lost out in the playoffs. Too much attrition. Too many injured guys, and too many of the other teams are too good. Blah. Do I hate the Patriots? Yes. Do I think they cheat? Yes. Do I think they will win the Super Bowl? I hope not. I am pinning my hopes on Bret Fav-re and his Packers. I think they look pretty good and I for one am looking for any chance to be spared the next forty years of "The 2007 Patriots were the best team of all time" talk that we are sure to be innundated with if they win. I'd much rather hear "sure they were good, but they didn't win the Super Bowl and that's the only win that matters". We shall see.

We're going to San Diego in February! We've got some gigs down there playing for some good old Republican groups (the Irish kind, duh). I'm really looking forward to not only a break from the cold, but some good interaction with people involved in Irish politics.

On a personal note, I've started playing hockey again, after about seven years off the ice. It's been interesting so far, to say the least! I've got a ways to go until I'm in shape again. Got to do it though; with no hurling going on right now I'm starting to get rather fat. Grr. Why fat? Well, I've been playing Xbox online a lot! hehe Anyone playing Call of Duty 4? My gamertag is Adambhoy so look me up! Okay, I'm a major nerd. Hope everyone is keeping warm! See you soon!

Adam

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1527321414

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Cheers from Fargo!

We played Dempsey's last night. It was a lot of fun, and then things got a bit hazy... I think we played well, and were pretty well received. Stupid me, I forgot my phone charger, so my "lifeline" as I call it is dead at the moment... It's off to the mall for us today so I can get a new one. Ooops.

Another night at Dempsey's tonight, and then it's back home for the Dub tomorrow.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Well, another Irish Fair in the books!

Thanks to all of you who showed up. It was great seeing so many familiar faces! I love the Irish Fair... Such a great time. It's fun to hang out with all the bands, to have a few pints and to compare notes.

Here's my little rundown of what happened:

Thursday night I went to the Liffey to meet up with our friends the Young Dubliners, along with WCB strongman Michael Gibbons. Much fun was had. Fuchsia was there too, so it was cool to reintroduce myself to them. That's what's so cool about the Irish music scene. When I played in rock bands it was all "Minnesota nice" (which means nice to your face). Bands would be very suspicious of each other, and only fake camaraderie seemed to develop. In the Irish scene, bigger bands actually seem to want to help the smaller ones (us). What a great group of people the Irish music community is made up of!

Friday the band was scheduled to play on the main stage starting at 5:30, right in front of the Young Dubliners and the Mahones. The Mahones didn't bring any backline gear with them, so we lent them some drums and amps. They were really cool and it was good to be able to help them out. They gave us some CDs, which is always a nice thing!

Things were lagging behind a bit Friday, and due to some technical problems with the PA we only got to play half our set. I was really bummed about that, as I think all the sound issues forced us to go over less than I'd have liked. The full band sounded pretty good, but it sure would have been better with everything firing on all cylinders! Oh well. Still, the Dubs and the Mahones both gave us props from stage, so that was great. Put a big smile on my face!

Saturday, Geno and I were scheduled to play in one of the big tents at 10pm, AFTER the main stage show was over. The city makes the Fair shut down the big stage by 10, but the Fair was scheduled to go until 11, so they wanted us to keep people around. I'll tell you, I really wasn't looking forward to it, as the day was SUPER hot and muggy, and not only had I done a rebel song symposium in one of the smaller tents, I had played hurling before that. I was wrecked. THEN... It rained. The sky turned green, and pretty much opened up for about 30 minutes. Time to go home for a shower...

After waiting out the rain (something you can pretty much count on always being able to do in Minnesota), I went back to the Fair to watch the Young Dubs and do our set. Gaelic Storm was playing before the Dubs but the rain cut their set short. Great. I knew I'd catch them the next day though, as we were going to open for them.

Even more apprehension about this tent gig was setting in...

But it was great!! The sky cleared, the Dubs played to a great crowd and a nice starry night, and all was well. They even got Geno and I up on the big stage to sing Brown Dog, which is one of our favorites. It was interesting, since as I got up on stage I realized that since they all use in-ear monitors, I had no way to hear myself... Still, we know the song well enough to do it anyway. It was great--chills and the whole deal!

After our guest appearance Geno and I RAN to the Crossroads Tent to do our 10-11pm set. It ROCKED!! The tent was full; there were a ton of people dancing, and we had a really great time! Such a load off. I'm telling you though; it was really weird being done with the night's playing at 11pm! Time to go to the Liffey it was. And what a party--everyone from all the bands were there. We got lots of pics with everyone and had a great time. Did I mention that I love Irish Fair time? ;o)

Sunday was no less rocking than Saturday. All the sound problems had FINALLY been worked out, and we got onstage on time for our 5pm slot with the big band, right before Gaelic Storm. I think we put on a pretty solid show, and we got a lot of compliments. Good, because I really really really wanted to show some people what we could do. The show was near flawless, so I was happy! Patrick and Steve from Gaelic Storm both had some really nice things to say--hope we get to meet again guys!

After Gaelic Storm came the Scattering Set. This is time for ALL the bands, small, big, local, international whatever to get on stage for a couple of tunes and a couple of songs and say goodbye until next year. It has been a little messy in the past, but this year they really had their acts together and were prepared. Fitz introduced Geno and I right after Gaelic Storm and Fuchsia, so I felt pretty cool at that point. We sang "Dublin in the Rare Auld Times", listened to some of the traddies do some tunes, and then sang on "Go Lassie Go". I was going to sing a verse but forgot the words. Oops. Next year, I promise!

AND... the night wasn't over! Within an hour, it was off to the Dub to do our regular Sunday show!! I was so keyed up from after the Fair that I think we turned in a really energetic, fun set that night. Man, I'm STILL keyed up! haha

Tomorrow we head to Fargo, so look out North Dakota!

Thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks to all of you who came to see us, and who said hello. Special thanks to our GREAT friends the Young Dubliners for supporting us, and for our new friends in the Fuchsia Band, Gaelic Storm, the Mahones and Poitin!! It's so nice to be liked by one's peers!!!

Cheers, and see you on the road!

Adam

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Hi All...

Thank you SO MUCH to those of you who inquired as to Geno and I's safety. We are both fine, as are our families.

To those people who lost loved ones in yesterday's bridge collapse, my prayers and thoughts are with you. It was certainly a scary time for all of us here in the Twin Cities, and I certainly hope it never happens again!

Cheers, and thank you all who called/wrote/texted to make sure we were okay!

Adam