So I Sez to Myself...

Self, let's pop into the Poor Mouth for a couple of beers, Mary Courtney is playing from sixish to ninish, so I'll stop in for a couple of hours...

Well, not having the benefit of the narrative technique known as "foreshadowing", I did not know that a second act would be playing soon after ninish. Well, suffice it to say,the best bar band in the Bronx, perhaps the world was the second act of the night. Jameson's Revenge started out as a seisiun, and it still has that loose, easygoing vibe. These guys played a glorious, sprawling mash up of everything from Bach to the Beatles to Biggie, with a mix of jigs and reels (while drinking dirty big pints of stout). These guys took the stage shortly after nine, and played until damn near 3 AM. Not only are they virtuoso musicians, but they have a wicked sense of humor, and they have the infectious vibe of a bunch of folks who are having the time of their lives, and want everybody in on the fun.

Wow, we get a version of the Waterboy's Bang on the Ear, with the chorus of House of Pain's Jump Around (no link- not a particular fan), a sprawling version of Counting Crow's (?) Round Here features improvised "rapping"- yeah, the younger of the two flautists starts singing ”No sex in the champagne room” during the mic-swapping round. As could be imagined, they encouraged crowd participation, and the crowd rose to the occasion.

There are a few videos of the combo on teh t00bz, but they really don't capture their awesome, sprawling, messy glory. They typically hold court on Sundays at the Rambling House on Katonah Avenue in the Woodlawn section of the Bronx. These guys don't typically tour... fiddler Denis McCarthy, who also plays fiddle for Shillelagh Law, and has a day job as a firefighter, told me that his wife wouldn't be happy with him touring. Anyway, I have some advice- if you live within 100 miles of NYC, get your asses over to the Bronx to see these guys, and if you live outside this radius, take some time off from work, and get your asses over to the Bronx to see these guys.

As an added bonus, the cherry on top of the sundae, so to speak, I ran into a cousin of mine (not the cousin who took the picture of me with Larry Kirwin and an orb)- he's working on a Bronx construction site putting up scaffolding (his dad being a safety expert, he knows how to wear a safety harness). Yeah, fambly is awesome. Tonight, my cousin is going on a booze cruise (I gotta work!) featuring local favorites who have been on hiatus for a while- their first single was perhaps the finest song ever written about an area code.

Well, suffice it to say, tomorrow evening will be spent at the Rambling House- hopefully, I'll be able to gather more of the tribe for this night out.

Note: I edited this post to correct a couple post-bender typos.