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Last month I was headed to Canada to play in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We discovered that Nova Scotia and Ancient Scotia are very similar - the weather was awful... but the welcome was warm!
I was playing in both Finbar Irish pubs, they are run by Mike Casey, Mike saw me play in New Orleans and booked me when he heard from Michelle (Head of my booking department :) ) that I was coming to Halifax.
The two pubs are very similar - I played a matinee in one and an evening gig in the other on two Saturdays May 30th and June 6th
The first week, it was the 1st sunny day in Halifax for a looong time - we had singing inside and dancing outside. It was a fine afternoon - back home, a rest then out again to the 9pm gig in Bedford, Halifax.
Although a wee bit quieter than normal due to the great weather- we had a good happy crowd well into singing and clapping along. It was a fine night which flew by and my voice held up fine - a 5.5 hour singing day- the longest I've done.
The next week I did it all again, a wet Saturday with bigger crowds and return fans from the previous week - always great to see people coming back again for more Mullen!
After Halifax, we took time out in Quebec and Montreal to experience the joys of France in Canada... and right -- it was more French than France... amazing!
Out of Canada into New York State then into Ohio heading for Dorothy's cousin Alex's place in Lebanon Ohio. It was a great family reunion - lots of food, drink ... and a wee jam session with Alex
My Ohio gig was Friday 26th June in the Dublin pub, Dayton. It was a really big place with a few areas to eat and drink. I was shown the stage I was on - however a big screen showing the live USA vs China womens football was showing - there was no way I was going to get between them and their football, so we agreed I'd go on a wee bit late.
I started up after the football, a full house and away we went - everyone in good mood, the USA had won the game and it was a great time for belting out some Irish songs.
We had a great time, Alex came up and played with me and did a fine job of showing off his "inner Beatle" !
A group of men came in obviously on a night out, near the end of my 2nd set, one of them came over and told me one of their party, Bill, was getting married the next day - he slipped me some $$ and said "embarass him". Poor Bill had never done a highland fling before - but now he knows all the moves as he danced his way through 5 choruses of "Rothsey-o". Nice :)
You should watch the video I put together with clips taken from our travels - Check it out here !!! |
