St. Patrick's Day

(Posted on the Rainmakers message board.)

Okay, so, I was wrong. Going see the first Elders show and Bob as well worked out just fine. So long as one doesn't mind a half mile walk on a nice day. :)

I got to Molloy's about 4. Allied Saints were playing outside in the tent. I listened to them. But they ended about 4:20 or so. Since Bob and Jeff weren't there yet I figured the 6 pm start time was likely correct. And I didn't see any Bob fans I know there yet. So, I was like, okay, I'm going to see the Elders.

Had Sharon got there 4 minutes earlier than she did I might have stayed at Molloy's rather than seeing the Elders. :)

So, I walked from Molloy's to the Beaumont Club. (Actually, outside across the street.) I missed the beginning of the Elders set, but caught most of it. And they played "Someday Soon" which they hadn't played in a while and I'd been wanting to hear. That was nice. That alone was worth the walk. :)

The Elders ended about 5:45. Time to head back to Molloy's. :) I stopped for a hotdog ("cajun dog") and Diet Coke from a street vender on the way. This time I had a walking companion. Bill, a fellow Elders fan who lives near Molloy's and was heading to Molloy's, though not to see Bob. Got to Molloy's, went inside, and Bob and Jeff were setting up, almost ready to start. And shortly they did. Perfect timing. :)

Good show. Lots of covers, but nothing unusual. A mix of covers and originals that was appropriate to such an event.

I remember the 2nd song was "Width of a Line". Hearing that song, without Norm, after just coming from an Elders show made me definitely miss the bass part. (I love Norm's bass on that.)

Two years ago yesterday was my first visit to Molloy's. To see the Elders. I remember seeing a Bob poster. I thought "the Rainmakers guy" and wasn't particularly interested. Only of vague interest because I knew Steve was in the Rainmakers. Like, "some guy Steve used to play with", basically.

Two years ago was also the first time I tried Beamish. :)

This year I tried Jameson's for the first time. Me like. :) Strong stuff, though.

According to the Molloy's ads, Bob and the Kelihans were both scheduled at 6 pm, one inside, one outside. The Kelihans actually started after Bob finished. :) (To be fair, the email they sent out said 7 pm, and, the Kelihans being the Kelihans, one doesn't necessarily expect them to start on time.) Since they weren't playing yet, Bill came inside and hung out with Lilli and I watching Bob. He enjoyed it. And I did let him know that Norm plays with Bob most Wednesdays and that Steve and Bob were in the Rainmakers together. :)

So, after Bob was done, and trips to the bathroom taken care of, the 3 of us headed up to catch the Elders 2nd set. Much colder out for the 2nd set! Instead of short sleeves, I was wearing 2 jackets. :) We missed the beginning, but I don't think we missed much.

And then, after we walked back to Molloy's, I went inside and caught a little of the Kelihans (who were still playing).

Then I drove to Cheeseburger in Paradise for the Nace Brothers. Where I sat at the bar rather than dancing because after 6 hours of walking and dancing, my feet needed a rest. :) They did get me on my feet, though, for Elvis' "Suspicious Minds". :)

I enjoyed seeing Bob at Molloy's on St. Patrick's Day. After missing last year because I was working, I definitely wanted to experience it this year.

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(Posted on the Elders message board.)

How nice of the Elders to schedule their St. Patrick's Day playing around my plans. ;)

As I mentioned, my plans were to see Bob Walkenhorst at Molloy's as part of their St. Patrick's Day festivities there. No problem. It's not too bad of a walk between Molloy's and the Beaumont Club. (Half mile according to Yahoo Maps.) And the shows were scheduled such that I was able to see both.

Okay, I did miss the beginning of both Elders sets. But that's okay. :) I still got lots of great Elders music.

Different stuff each set, except I believe they did "Turnpike" both sets. (And I can't guarantee no repeats in what I missed.)

After the first set, I'd been thinking they'd done all the biggies, and thus expecting them to repeat stuff. Nah, they managed to find plenty more great songs. They have so many great original songs, plus several good covers they do.

Highlight for me I think was "Someday Soon". I'd been wanting to hear that one, which they hadn't played for a while. That song alone was worth the mile (round trip) walk.

I wouldn't have gone to the 2nd show if I hadn't had someone to walk with. I really didn't want to be walking around Westport alone after dark. But I had a couple other folks to walk with.

The 2nd set, they did the set, they did the encore, and they people still wanted more. They came back out, and they did "Men Of Erin". I had to leave though, 'cause the folks I was walking with were leaving.

It was so nice to not have to choose between my favorite bands. I got to hear a little of the Kelihans at Molloys before and after the Elders 2nd set (the Kelihans started just before we started walking over to the Elders show). And then I went out to see the Nace Brothers at Cheeseburger in Paradise (which is near where I live).

Elders, Hoolie, March 11, 2005

Hoolie Pictures

Posted March 12, 2005 at the Elders Message Board.

[Someone asked about the setlist]

I can help out there. I happen to have a copy of the set list. :)

Michael's Ride
Saint Kevin
Big Box Dinny
Haverty Boys
American Wake
Old Land
Moore Street Girls
Love of the Century
Hard Line
Battle Zone
It'll be all Right
(Eddie Delahunt sings a song) [Irish Ways and Irish Laws]
Men of Erin
Send a Prayer
Brettski's Medley
Ballymun Road
Buzzz's Jig
Packy
Ten Lb. Earhole
1849
Turnpike

Devil's Tongue


I forget what the song Eddie Delahunt did was. It wasn't listed on the set list, but I remember when in the set it was. Brett joined Eddie front and center on that one, and the rest of the Elders were around in the or sides of the stage playing along. It was a good song. I'm glad they had Eddie Delahunt do a song with them. [It was identified by someone else as "Irish Ways and Irish Laws"]

I loved hearing "Ballymun Road". Awesome song. That one, I think, from remembering when they did it live in early 2004, I think it doesn't really come across well at the bar shows, but at shows like this is does.

Great show.

The Kelihan's opened. They sounded really good. I always enjoy the Kelihans, but I thought they sounded better than usual. Maybe it was the venue. Or maybe it was Buzzz on sound added a little extra sound quality.

Back to the Elders. I noticed on "Men of Erin" the blend on the harmony seemed different. Less Steve, more of the high harmony. Or so it sounded to my ears.

As I said, I did quite enjoy the Kelihans. And those who were there saw me dancing. Hey, it was a real live dance floor, may as well use it. :) The Kelihans, though, much as I like them, they don't inspired the thrill of anticipation that the Elders do.

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One more note on the show. On the Elders' encore song, 3 of the Kelihans joined the Elders on stage. They didn't play, or even sing. Well, Ian did give Jack a tamborine. Mostly they were just acting silly. Good silly. :) Fun silly. :) But, anyway, that was cool, I thought.

I have pictures. There's one that, if it turned out well, I'll have to decide whether to post it or withhold it for bribery. :)

I got a good jump shot. At least it looked darn good on the little camera monitor. Since I wasn't able to jump myself, it was a good day to try to catch the jump on film. :) Er... not film, actually. :) My vocabulary hasn't caught up with technology. :)

Young Dubliners, March 9, 2005, Molloy Brothers Irish Pub

Posted 3/10/05 at Dub's 4 All.

Awesome show. Of course.

I got there early and caught some of the sound check. That was interesting. It was the Dubs up on stage, playing Dubs songs, sounding great, but they weren't in their stage dress. Not that they exactly dress up, but they do take off their hats and jackets. :) I didn't even recognize Keith at first wearing a winter hat. Heard 3 songs then.

I got to help sell merchandize. That was kinda fun. :) My friend Cheryl and I were the merchandize ladies.

They have some cool shirts. Green Shirts that say "The Young Dubs" (I think it's just Dubs, anyway) with a shamrock on it. They had womens shirts (or should I say girls, or young women?) that say "Dubilicious" in pink. And they have the tour shirts, black with the album cover on the front, and tour dates on the back.

Ah, I see the Dubilicious and the tour shirts are on the website for sale.

We sold 19 CDs last night. Not bad, I think.

It was a nice size crowd, I'd say. Full but not overfull. Maybe someday they can come back on a weekend and do overfull. :)

The new stuff sounds good live. :)

A local band, the Kelihans opened. They were good. I've seen them before.

The Dubs are such an awesome band. It's a treat to listen to them live. Nice guys too. Keith's a sweetie. Sweetie don't quite work for Chas, but he was friendly and nice.

They did most of the songs off Real World. Gives the show a slightly different feel from when I saw them last year. Still awesome, of course.

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Posted 3/10/05 at the Rainmakers Message Board.

It just didn't feel like Wednesday last night at Molloy's. It felt like a weekend. So how come I had to get up bright and early to go to work today?

Cheryl and I got to sell merchandize for the Young Dubliners. That was cool. We got free merchandize in exchange for doing that. And during the show we traded off so one of us could dance while the other manned the table.

And Chas is a cool person and Keith is a sweetie. :)

And, Bob, thank you for sacrificing your Wednesday night. Not that you probably had any choice, but thank you anyway.

And next Wednesday all I get to do is watch the Elders on TV.

Is it St. Patrick's Day yet? :)

And, one more comment on last night. Wow... bright stage lighting at Molloy's. That was weird. Nice, but weird.

Bob Walkenhorst, March 5, 2005 (part 2)

Well, even though I already posted a few comments in the "Sat. March 5 - pub crawl" thread, I'll start a new thread here for posting pictures and making a bit more comments.

Whoever has read what I wrote there should probably thank Ernie for his post. Replying to his post gave me some organization to what I wrote just after arriving home after the show. Otherwise you all would have gotten something along the lines of me repeatedly saying "wow".

Seeing and hearing Bob play drums was so cool. Okay, so, this isn't actually the first time. But, first, this time it was a full drum set. Plus, this time nothing else was different (er, on stage, anyway). When Mike Bliss was there, well, Mike Bliss got a lot of my attention and Bob over playing drums not as much, though I did notice and appreciate his drum playing. And at the Christmas show when they were doing the lounge jazz trio thing on some of the Christmas songs, I was too busy being astonished by Jeff's piano playing to pay any mind at all to Bob's drum playing. This time, all my attention was on Bob. :)

Okay, maybe not all. I did notice some quite nice bass playing from Gary. He's an excellent bass player.

But mostly I was watching and listening to Bob's drum playing.

Story time. I didn't used to pay any mind to drumming. Except for those occasions when my subconscious took to analyzing the drums (and drum machines) on Don Henley's Building The Perfect Beast But Pat Tomek's drumming caught my attention. (On the other hand, Bob's drums on his solo album didn't. At least they hadn't yet then.) Then I got a copy of Balls. My impression of Bob's drumming having been formed from the two live Steve Bob and Rich videos on the video anthology, I was expecting to not like hearing what is essentially Rainmakers music, but with Bob rather than Pat on drums. So, I was pleasantly surprised to listen to it and discover I couldn't tell the difference on the drums. Heck, just today, after hearing and watching Bob play drums last night, I was listening to the latter half of Balls and noticing the drums and having to remind myself "that's not Pat, that's Bob".

They aren't the same, and I'd certainly say Pat's a better drummer, but Bob's a pretty darn good drummer too, and there is something similiar in the feel of Pat's drum playing and Bob's drum playing.

So, I suppose I'd say that, as far as liking Bob's drum playing, it's not that he's a great drummer. It's that he is a good drummer, and I like his style.

Anyway, it was way cool hearing and seeing Bob on drums.

Okay, now some actual comments on the show.

John Northern opened. He was good as always. Lots of rugby players there while he was playing. At least two of them commented positively to me. Also, they didn't realize that he was an opening act, it seems.

Most of the Rugby players didn't hang around to hear Bob, Gary, and Jeff. Though a few did.

They started off with Bob, Gary, and Jeff on their usual instruments, playing minus the drums. Bob said this was the mellow part of the show (or something like that). They did in there do one song with Jeff on drums.

Somewhere in there, I noticed a really nice Jeff guitar part. Not a mere good guitar park. A make Ellen swoon guitar part. Or maybe swoon isn't quite the right word, but something like that.

Then, right about 10:30, the pub crawl arrived at Molloy's. (And stayed till midnight.) At this point they switched stuff around and Bob played drums for the rest of the night, singing while playing. Now, seeing a guy singing and playing drums isn't a novelty for me. I've been to quite a few Nace Brothers shows in the past year or so. Seen Night Ranger several times over the past few years. Yet, somehow, seeing/hearing Bob do it, it seemed odd. Though less odd as the evening moved along.

Lots of people. And, okay, the Elders shows get pretty darn crowded, so it's not like seeing Molloy's jam packed with people is a novelty. But this was a distinctly different crowd. Okay, that's an understatement. The same comparison goes for comparing to a regular Bob show. There's a distinction between people who are there to see a particular performer or band, and people who are there to party, have no clue who the band is, and are ready to have a good time. Bob and band kept them entertained.

I remember there was one cover tune they did that got quite a lot of cheers when they started it. I forget which one, unfortunately. But I remember wondering why that song in particular.

They played quite a few covers in that later part of the show. Though a bunch of originals too. It got heavier in covers later in the show. Nothing unusual for a Bob show, there. And nothing unusual in the choice of covers. I haven't seen them do that many covers at a weekend show previously before, though. Appropriate, I think, to throw in some good, fun, covers for the pub crawlers.

View the photo album to see more pictures.

Posted originally on the Rainmakers Message Board.

Bob Walkenhorst, Saturday, March 5th, 2005 (part 1)

This one is a reply to something someone else wrote. Read the original thread with what I'm replying to here.

Brief background notes. Yesterday was the monthy Bob Walkenhorst show. There are some rugby players, or a team, or something, that sometimes hang out at the bar. They were there that evening. Also, a pub crawl was happening that evening, and Molloy Brothers Irish Pub, where Bob plays, was one of the stops. Also, Pat Tomek, who usually plays drums for Bob at the weekend shows, was in the hospital till a couple days ago. Below is my post from the Rainmakers message board (which is the one linked above, and linked elsewhere in this blog).

SCENARIO #1

Actually, most of the Rugby players were long gone by the time the pub crawl got there. In fact, most of them were gone before Bob ever started playing. There were a few left at the beginning of Bob's set, though, because they cheered when Bob mentioned the Rugby players.

A couple of Rugby players I talked with liked John Northern.

The pub crawl actually got there at 10:30 and stayed till midnight. It was wild. And they all seemed to be having a great time, and they seemed to enjoy Bob and band.

SCENARIO #2

Bingo. Well, no "A Little Bit of White Trash In Us All".

They started out drummerless. Bob and Jeff on guitar, Gary on bass. They did one song during the early portion with Jeff on drums. Then, when informed the busses for the pub crawl were there (5 of them), Bob switched to drums. And played the rest of the night that way.

Hearing and watching Bob play drums was awesome! I quite like Bob's drum playing. That was a definite treat. I'd been looking forward to hearing Pat play, but hearing Bob play more than made up for it. Though it would be better if Pat didn't have reason to not be there. I do hope he's okay.

Jeff sang "Little Sister" and part of "The Weight" ("Take a load off Fanny..."). Question on "The Weight". Does the original have a split lead vocal? 'Cause I noticed Jeff sang the same part that Jimmy Nace sings rather than Dave Nace (when the Nace Brothers do that song). The rest of the songs were all Bob on lead vocals.

They did a lot of covers. Plenty of originals too, though.

Bob Walkenhorst, March 2, 2005

(Originally posted at the Rainmakers Message Board.)

Good show tonight. It was a fun sort of night. A forget all your troubles and have fun sort of night.

Thankfully, my recently sprained ankle (courtesy of the Elders show last Saturday) was doing okay enough for me to dance. I'd've been bummin' if I'd've been stuck chair dancing when Bob was playing so many good dance songs. Not that there was much dancing. Just us incorrigibles, until right near the end when others joined us.

Lots of good songs. A few of which were sung just a tad differently than usual.

They did "I Walk The Line". I love listening to Bob sing the really low part. He sounds good singing low. :) Listening to him next sing "Small Circles", which is fairly high, I couldn't help noting Bob has a nice vocal range. He sounds good over a pretty wide range. Those two songs back to be demonstrated that.

Let's see, I think the Beatles song played was "Hard Days Night". Which I enjoyed. Several covers. Plenty of originals too.

On one of the originals, I forget which one, I noticed Norm singing harmonies where I'm used to hearing just Bob and Jeff. It sounded good. It threw me a little hearing an extra voice, though. What I noticed was not that there was a 3rd voice, but that there was a voice I'm not used to hearing.

Oh, and we got treated to a bit of spontaneous on stage songwriting. Bob said something like today or yesterday his life fell apart like a house of cards, and he made mention of the band members having a related conversation, and said that would make a good song, or there's a song in the making there, or something like that, and then something like he's writing it right now. So, he starts playing, and sings a verse on that "House of Cards" topic. It was good. And I recall laughing, so I guess it was funny too. I don't remember the words, other than something about cards falling on his head. I was thinking, there are worse things to be hit on the head with. And I'm probably telling that badly, but that's as best I remember it.

It was a really nice show.

And it's so weird getting to be there for the whole show, when I'm still used to getting there at 8:45 like I had for so long on the Wednesday shows.

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Pictures. :) None right now to post right here on the board, but here's a link: Pictures

And one more comment on the show. It's about beer. Now, as some of you may have noticed, Bob's in the habit lately of ordering a Guinness sometime during the show. Well, Bob discovered that Guinness is brewed in Canada. Probably via a comment from Norm, I'm guessing. So, after mentioning that, Bob goes "I'll have a Guinness, eh". :) After a bit of banter, Bob says "I'll have a Canadian Guinness", and Jeff then says "I'll have a Irish Beamish". (Me, I like Beamish better. One point for Jeff. :))

Elders, February 26, 2005, Rose Theater, Rockhurst High School

(Orginally posted February 27, 2005 at the Elders Message Board.)

Good show last night.

I think the highlight, though, came before the Elders went on.

First the O'Riada Academy of Irish Dance performed. They were good as usual.

Then Eddie Delahunt and John Morris performed. John Morris is a teacher at Rockhurst. They were good.

Well, during their set, they got Fr. Baum, the president of Rockhurst High School, to come sing a song.

Before singing, he said something like the song he's singing isn't an easy one, or a simple one, or something like that, but it's the only Irish song he knows. Gee, any guesses? ;) For those who didn't guess, he did "Danny Boy". And he sounded awesome. He has the voice for it. He got lots of cheers from the crowd and a standing ovation from a good part of the crowd when he was done.

A definite highlight of the evening.

The Elders were great as always. :) For me, the highlights of the Elders set were "Big Box Dinny", "1849", and "Send A Prayer". Ever since getting to hear Mike Bliss sing it live in person "1849" has been a favorite.

I had an interesting viewpoint, directly left of the band (when at the microphones). Not usually a viewpoint one gets in the audience. Actually, I was a little farther towards the middle, but I moved outward because, the way the microphones were set up, Ian was blocking Steve. Moving allowed me to see Steve. :)

Oh, and I fell and twisted my ankle. :) Same one as back in Oct 2003. Not near so bad, though.

Yeah, I was dancing. Not many dancers, but there were a couple of us incorrigible dancers over on the far left (er, stage left, audience right) dancing.

Bob Walkenhorst, February 23, 2005

(Originally posted February 24, 2005 at the Rainmakers Message Board)

Hard to describe the mood of the show. Perhaps best described by noting that "This Land Is Your Land" was the last song, and a fitting end to the evening.

First song was "Dry, Dry Land". I was noticing and appreciating Bob's singing on that one. He's has a good voice. After that, though, no thought to Bob's voice. It's the songs that take center stage.

As Jim noted, Bob mentioned the tribute band, J. Walkers. I think Bob said something to Norm like "I bet the Elders don't have a tribute band". Norm goes "no they don't" and then said, "I think you got to reach that 25 year mark". (All quotes not exact and subject to errors of hearing and memory.) Which seems to be take as a remark on Bob's age.

Hm... that brings me a thought not related to the show. But I'll share it anyway. Besides, it relates to the age thing. :) Today I was looking at the National Enquirer while at work (yeah, okay, I was supposed to be shelving it, not looking through it) and there was something about a guy who's a Michael Jackson fan and has had plastic surgeries in order to make himself look like Michael Jackson. I couldn't help thinking of, and laughing at, the idea of making myself look like Bob. No thanks. :) I think, though, in 15 or so years time (more if I'm lucky, less if I'm not), I ought to have the hair color down. :)

I enjoyed "We Can Work It Out". I pretty much always enjoy the Beatles. ("Yellow Submarine" not so much, though the guys had so much fun with it I enjoyed it for that reason. And "Rain" I don't know as a Beatles song, so it just don't count, as far as playing Beatles songs, though not at all a bad song... and, just to be clear, referring there to two songs played in the past, but not played at this show.)

I only took one picture. Well, 3 actually, but only one of the band. :)

I enjoyed hearing Norm sing harmonies on "Paradise" (sometimes 2 part harmonies with Jeff, sometimes 3 part harmonies). Norm doesn't do a lot of harmony vocals at Bob shows, but he does quite a lot at Elders shows. He's a good harmony singer.

And that's all I can think to share at the moment.

Oh yeah, I no longer work Wednesday evenings. (Choir practice switched to Thursdays a while back.) So I got to go to the whole entire show and will in the future. :) Cool. :) Except on St. Patrick's Day when I may have to leave early to go to choir practice. :)

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Okay since I've edited this to correct typos and other errors, I may as well just add my additional comments to the same post. I remembered a few things I forgot to say.

Yeah, the Elders don't have a tribute band, but my favorite member of the Elders has two people filling his spot in the Rainmakers tribute band. :)

When Bob was talking about them, he said something like he was talking to someone about them and, I'm not sure how he said it, but something to the effect of the band acting like the Rainmakers, but he said, except the singer is nothing like him. And he gave this description supposedly of the lead singer, and, I don't recall what all he said, but it included egotistical and arrogant. Now, I got the sense that Bob was being ironic and actually poking fun at himself. The thing is, though, I totally don't see any of those things in Bob.

After giving the March schedule notes, Bob noted that John Northern (who was in the audience) will open the March 5th (Saturday) show (wow, that's coming soon). Norm commented to John that he's never around when John performs. Bob says "Well, if you'd quite that other band...". :)

After the show 3 of us went over to Cheeseburger in Paradise to see the Nace Brothers. The Nace Brothers play a combination of originals and covers. Hearing them right after a Wednesday Bob show, I couldn't help thinking, I quite like that combination of covers and originals that one gets at both Nace Brothers shows and Wednesday Bob shows.

Speaking of Cheeseburger in Paradise, I noticed on the schedule that Gary Charlson plays there on Saturdays from 12-3 pm.

And speaking of the Nace Brothers, Steve Phillips is producing their new album they're working on. (The basic tracks were recorded at Brent Hoad's studio, and the overdubs and such are being done at Steve's. Why it was done like that I've no clue, and didn't think to ask. Brent Hoad, by the way, says the album is good.)

Intro

I'm going to use this blog to publish show reviews. Mostly, I'll collect what I've written on message boards and post them here. I may occasionally, though, write stuff here that I didn't post to a message board.