Celtic Redux, Take 2
Unseasonable weather creates another special opportunity
Okay, I suppose I’ll call this a blog now. Many musician blogs are a little like this one, with musicians writing about their lives on the road, the creative process, recording an album.
This is a little different. We’re not on the road; we haven’t even played together extensively unless you count the time we spent playing from 1980 through 1982. We aren’t a band you’ve ever heard of or even read about (unless you read my last post, went to school with us, or were at our debut at Eldridge Park or the big gig at Centenary Church on 11/31/80.)
The first get-together in September had gone so well that we couldn’t wait to meet again. We had planned to get together in mid-October, agreed on a couple more songs to try, and adjusted schedules. A week before the scheduled date, I came down with COVID.
I’m one of the last people I know that hadn’t had it yet. The timing could have been better, but it could have been much worse. At least I had time to let the guys know I wouldn’t make the trip to Elmira.
Missing the practice was disappointing, but it didn’t dampen our spirits much. We tried to make another date for a November practice, but with four of us, two with busy weekends in Elmira, and Shawn and I travel 230 and 100 miles, respectively, when we have the opportunity.
We came up with a date to meet again, November 5th, but there were a couple of hitches. The first was that Dale, our drummer, was unavailable, but Shawn and I could make the trip, and Brett could do it. We decided to get together anyway.
Then came the matter of where to play. None of us had a venue that could accommodate us. Well, even if we can’t make music, we can at least get together and do lunch or something.
Enter Mother Nature, Global Warming, Climate Change, or whatever you want to call it. The forecast was for an unseasonably beautiful 70-degree day in New York’s Finger Lakes Region, highly unusual for November. I figured we’d play outside.
Why not show up at a park, grab a pavilion, and start playing acoustic or semi-acoustically? What was there to stop us? It’s not as if the pavilions would be reserved for picnics on November 5th.
We initially met at my sister’s house; then, it was time to decide where to go. I told the others to follow me. I’d scouted a few places as I came into town the night before.
We arrived at Chapel Park, where Brett and I played as kids. It was about halfway between our houses and behind the church we attended, where Brett still plays weekly. Brett and I grabbed our guitars, and I had two tiny amps.
“It was a beautiful day. The sun beat down”, true to Petty’s lyric, as we started to play under a pavilion in the back corner of the park. The only thing that could be better was if Dale had been with us. Nevertheless, we added a few songs to our list that we hadn’t expected to be in our repertoire, from Sinatra to Elvis…Costello that is.
Like the last time we got together, this went better than expected. We had a lot of fun playing and talking between songs, still catching up after the forty-year gap. We even provided some entertainment for people walking the fitness track.
Four flying hours later, we called it good and left for the day. Brett was going to try and make it home and back for church, and Shawn left to spend some time with the folks. I made my two-hour trek back home in time for dinner and a fire in the pit on the deck.
Our first two practices, if we can call them that, provided some surprises, chief among them how well we actually seem to sound. Yeah, we have something going on here. And we can’t wait to do it again.
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