That’s it for the Magners Irish Sessions 2009 but don’t despair we’ll be back, bigger and better next year. Thanks to all of you who attended the Sessions and helped to make the first ever USA Magners Irish Sessions tour a great success.
So until 2010. Slàinte!
Share on Facebook | Share on TwitterMike Austin recaps our final Session and wonders, where did all the Magners glasses go?
What a finish! The Magners Chicago Irish Sessions wrapped up last night with a great concert and party at the Abbey Pub, one of the city’s most storied Irish haunts.
The Holy Hour House Band started things off with their lively mix of songs and traditional dance tunes, and then Kevin Flynn & the Avondale Ramblers came on and spun the volume knob a couple of clicks.They delivered a solid hour-plus of high-energy Irish rock (make that, “Chicago Irish rock”) that often had many people in the crowd doing the hop-up-and-down-in-place dance, especially the huge group of people who came down in a pack from Pharmore Drugs in Skokie. The Pharmore folks had no problem raising their glasses and shouting at the band. And the band loved it. That’s probably one of the reasons they are in a band.
Partygoers were dressed in everything from after-work suits and ties, to hipster stocking caps worn indoors. Flynn himself looked like a newsboy from the 1920s, and his four band-mates looked as if they had played their fare share of cider-soaked rock shows through the years.
“We don’t have mayors in Chicago,” Flynn said, leading off his band’s set. “We have popes. Here’s a song about our first pope, Richard J. Daley.” The band ripped through an original catalog of Chicago-original songs that were harder-sounding than the Waterboys, softer than the Pogues. With a touch of the Clash thrown in. Or as iPod winner Julie Hernandez put it (and no, she didn’t win another one at the Abbey–someone else did), “They were like Irishbilly, instead of rockabilly.”
A twangy electric guitar added to Flynn’s acoustic six-string. There was also an electric bass, mandolin and a thuddy drum set. Flynn sang, played harmonica and tin whistle, and handled all of the between-song banter, including this gem about a 19th century Chicago serial killer: “He was supposedly killing 200 people while Jack the Ripper was getting all the press in London for killing only 7, so Chicago is number 1.”
Besides their Chicago originals, Flynn & the Avondale Ramblers also stormed through some nice standards and covers, including “The Irish Rover,” “The Minstrel Boy,” “The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn” and “I’m A Man You Don’t Meet Every Day.”
In that last song, when Flynn sang the line “Fill up your glasses with whiskey and wine,” the bass player, whose axe looked like a giant white chocolate teardrop with two healthy bites taken out of the sides, calmly interjected: “or Magners.” That’s a band that knows how to play to the crowd.
“This is a proud moment for our neighborhood,” said Rob Reid, an Avondale resident who made the trip up Elston Street to the Abbey for the Magners party. “I’m serious.” He then raised his glass to Avondale and the Avondale Ramblers, and said, simply “Avondale.”
Shortly after that, the Holy Hour House Band’s drummer, Tim Mulvenna, walked by. I think he had just signed an autograph when I overheard him say, “Yeah, they ran out of Magners glasses.” That’s a good sign. If you have to pour Magners into plain pint glasses because all of your Magners glasses are dirty, you are throwing a pretty damn good party.
The night ended, appropriately, with Flynn raising his glass of Magners to the crowd and launching into one his originals. “This is my toast to Chicago,” he said, hoisting his glass above the assembled fans of Magners and music. “Here’s to you, Second City.”
And here’s to you, Magners. Thanks for 10 great parties.
Share on Facebook | Share on TwitterThe was nothing to hide about our awesome Session at the Hidden Shamrock last week. Go ahead and check it out!
Don’t forget tonight is your last chance to experience a real Irish knees-up, so head on down to the Abbey @8PM.
We will see you there!
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The time is upon us. Tomorrow night 11/5 we will be at the Abbey Pub for our final hurrah and boy are we pulling out all the stops. The cider will be flowing, just keep an eye out for one of our gorgeous Magners Girls.
We will be rocking out to the sounds of Kevin Flynn & The Avondale Ramblers. A true Chicago son, Kevin’s music maybe influenced by Celtic tones, yet Chicago is his real inspiration so be prepared to sing about the Harp & Shamrock, Michigan Avenue and even Old Mayor Daley.
As if that is not enough we will also be giving away an iPod to one lucky patron. Suggestion for the winner, fill it up with our free Magners Irish Session downloads.
So do the Irish jig all the way down to Avondale and help us celebrate the best of Ireland & Chicago one final time!
Share on Facebook | Share on TwitterEveryone is getting excited for the final show this week, starring Kevin Flynn & the Avondale Ramblers. Our friends over at Alarm Press have been helping us spread the word. Check out this awesome write up
Can’t wait!
We had another amazing Session last week, at the always rocking Mystic Celt. Don’t worry we caught it on camera, just for you!
Share on Facebook | Share on TwitterThe parade of costumes continued on Friday night at the latest Magners Irish Session in Chicago and Mike Austin was there again to tell us all about it.
At the beginning of the night the Holy Hour House Band waited politely to begin playing until a “Where’s Waldo” and two pirates finished their game of pool in front of the stage. After the last ball dropped, the table got covered and the band fired up just as Paul Bunyan and his ox, Blue, walked in.
“Drunken sailor!” shouted one of the pirates. “This is your opportunity to come up and sing one yourself,” said the smiling HHHB leader Frank Quinn.
Shouts and whistles came from the crowd. Many audience members pointed at each other. In the end, no one stepped forward to sing and the band started in “Magic Slipper,“ a jaunty polka. Waldo clapped vigorously to the beat but did not appear to be any closer to getting ready to sing.
Julie Hernandez was in the crowd. You may remember her from O’Shaughnessy’s, where she won the big Magners giveaway and went home with an iPod. She says she plans on filling her iPod with tunes from the Magners Web site!
The author D.P. Costello was there, too. He was in town from Washington, D.C. to promote his novel, The Rag Tree, at a weekend books and music festival at the Irish American Heritage Center. On Friday night, after a kick-off dinner at the Heritage Center, Costello and Jack Smith hightailed it down to the Hidden Shamrock to catch the second half of the HHHB’s music and drink a few ciders. To settle the stomach after dinner, of course.
“Are there any cider references in your book?” I asked Costello. He paused and looked at the ceiling, trying to recall every word in his book. “I think there might be some cider in it,” he said. “Yeah, I think so .I’m not sure.”
Hey, let’s see you write a book about Ireland and try to remember every word in it, and everything your characters drank.
Captain America was there, too, and so was a dancing banana. It was an odd but delightful scene–so delightful that after the gig, people on the street were mobbing HHHB drummer and bodhran player Tim Mulvenna, who was simply trying to make his way to his car to load it up and head home. I thought at one point Mulvenna might sign some autographs, and maybe he would have, had he not been on his way home with his wife Buzz. When you’re good, you’re good, what can he say?
You’ve got one more chance to catch Mulvenna and the HHHB before the Magners Chicago Irish Session is but a sweet, cidery memory. Catch the HHHB for the last time, and Kevin Flynn & The Avondale Ramblers (perhaps for your first time?), Thursday night at the legendary Abbey Pub. There’s no cover to get in, and the party starts around 7:30. And if you want Tim Mulvenna’s autograph, make sure you catch him before he leaves the building!
Share on Facebook | Share on TwitterMike Austin goes in search of the truth and cider at the eighth Magners Irish Session at the Mystic Celt
Everything you are about to read is true!
Magners Irish Cider hosted its eighth Chicago Magners Irish Session last night at the Mystic Celt in Wrigleyville. The Yankees and Phillies were on TV, whilst the park down the street, where the Cubs usually play, was dark and cold for yet another year.
I saw my old friend Tim Kelly last night. “Look at her,” Tim said, nodding toward a woman listening to the Holy Hour House Band. “She looks just like Elisabeth Hasselbeck from The View.” I looked at her and she did. Spot on duplicate. “No ring,” Tim said.Tim’s wife Adriana said, “You still notice that?”
An elf walked by just then, followed by an angel. A few minutes later a superhero walked by, or maybe he was a Mexican wrestler. He was wearing tights and a mask and a cape. They were all heading to a costume party in back. We were holding our ground at the Magners party in front.
Tilting his cider bottle for a better view of it, Tim said, “It’s like with every sip I’m tasting the apples’ struggle against the beer establishment. And I’ll tell you what, I think the apples are gaining ground.” He then took a guzzle that told the world he was thirsty. We drank a few ciders–Tim Kelly, his wife Adriana, Hasselbeck’s doppelganger and me. About an hour later, the HHHB’s leader Frank Quinn leaned into the mic.
“We’re going to play a Sting song now,” Quinn said. “He performed on The View this morning.” Tim took a swig of his Magners, a big swig. “They’re playing songs from The View?” he said. The band started in on Sting’s “Fragile” and its refrain: “How fragile we are…”
Then, all at once, with collective knowing, Tim and I looked at each other, amazed. The View? We looked over at Hasselbeck’s twin. “He just said The View!” I said. Tim nodded and took another swig. I think Adriana rolled her eyes. “This is where we met,” Tim said, speaking of his wife. He pointed to a spot across the bar, away from Hasselbeck, away from the HHHB. “July twenty-first.”
“I don’t remember meeting him,” Adriana said. I said, “Is that because you were hammered or…”. “Hammered,” she said. “It was my birthday.” So that’s how he remembered the date, I thought. “It was a Saturday,” he said. “It was a Friday,” she said. He took another swig.
I didn’t ask any more questions. How fragile we are. Adriana mentioned that Tim asked her to go running with him on their first date. She had to look at pictures from her party to remember what he looked like. They seem perfectly happy now.
Last night it was raining outside and just a bit foggy when the band started playing Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic.” It was a tribute to the bar that was hosting the party, the Mystic Celt. But it also made me think of those two lovebirds, Tim and Adriana, out running in the mist on their first date, not knowing what lay ahead for them, enjoying the view, never imagining how fragile they or any of us are. It got to be too much to consider so I ordered another cider, stopped looking around and just listened to the music.
The last song of the night was “Dance, Dance, Dance,” by Steve Miller, who grew up in Milwaukee, just like Tim.
Too bad Tim and Adriana weren’t there to hear it. They would have liked it, and they might have danced. But they were gone by then, out in the rain, out of the Mystic Celt, into the mist. I promise, it’s all true.
I’ll be seeking out more true stories at the next Magners Chicago Irish Session tomorrow night at the Hidden Shamrock in Lincoln Park. The music starts at 9pm. The truth starts the moment you walk in the door.
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Above everything else, Kevin Flynn is a Chicagoan. Despite the Gaelic-sounding name, the Flynn family is embossed in Chicago’s roots and has been in Chicago since what seems like the dawn of time (certainly since the late 19th century, anyway).
“My family’s always been in Chicago and some of my relatives were even involved in city politics,” Flynn said. “In fact, Elmer Michael Walsh (a Flynn cousin) was the only person to have ever beaten out Old Mayor Daley in an election.”
Flynn’s love of his city is clearly reflected in his music; with rock roots, the guys of Kevin Flynn & the Avondale Ramblers have gradually been influenced by the traditional Celtic tones Chicago is famous for. Think The Pogues rather than The Dubliners; the music of the Ramblers gives audiences the best of both worlds. Their story-esque lyrics, especially when combined with a contemporary rock edge, is what sets the Avondale Ramblers apart from traditional Irish musicians.
“I’m really inspired by Chicago, but its not the downtown that I’m in love with, like everyone would expect,” Flynn said. “I love the pavement, the policemen, the firemen- the city’s true heart and soul. As a storyteller, its my job to describe the Chicago that isn’t often seen.”
The Ramblers’ songs, then, tell tales of Chicago life (as opposed to life in the Emerald Isle) and paint a beautifully honest portrait of a city that is best appreciated by its inhabitants. As city natives, an undeniable passion projects from Kevin Flynn and the Avondale Ramblers and that, ultimately, is whats sure to make next weeks performance a hit.
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As we enter the final stretch of the Magners Irish Sessions, it’s time to kick things up a gear. This week, we are back again with another two shows! First stop: the Mystic Celt in Lakeview on 10/29 @8PM. Come party hard but prepare yourself to do it all over again the following evening; Friday 10/30, we will be at Lincoln Park’s oldest Irish pub, The Hidden Shamrock from 9PM.
As with all of the shows, some of the tunes are well known and others are more obscure. It’s this mixture of the familiar and the new that is at the root of all Sessions. Feel free to throw out requests, get up and dance and even bring along an instrument (assuming you know how to play it), because the difference between a good and great session is you!
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