Levelling up a bit in Musician

Last night was arguably the most awesome of the sessions we’ve had yet at A Terrible Beauty, for quite a few reasons!
I actually got there first, it turned out–since I wanted to make a specific point of ordering food from the pub so as to support the place, I jumped on the 101 pretty much right after I got my daily market berries. That got me down there by 6:20, plenty of time to have tasty pub foods. This gave me a chance to note with GREAT amusement when a very familiar song came over the sound system: none other than “Rant and Roar” by my very own beloved B’ys! Y’all may imagine how at home that made me feel in the place. ;D
Shortly after I showed up, session leader Matt did, getting his instruments together–and then , formally joining the session for the first time, and armed with drum and shakers. I introduced him to Matt, and while the others started showing up, we got settled in back in what’s rapidly becoming the rhythm support section of the session. And, this gave Glenn an opportunity to give me an early birthday present! Specifically, a SIGNED hardcover copy of this, which was pretty damned awesome. Thanks Glenn! Props to him as well for acquitting himself nicely on the drum, especially when Matt called upon him to drive the beat of one set.
was running late due to rehearsing other music with , but showed up in time for the session’s beginning. And Annie started us off quite nicely with the “Road to Lisdoonvarna/Morrison’s Jig/Drowsy Maggie” set–2/3rds of which, I can now happily say, I can keep up with pretty well. I still need to get down the chord’s to Morrison’s, though. More homework is required!
The biggest unexpected thing of the session turned out to be this QUITE boisterous dude who proclaimed more than once that despite looking Mexican, he was actually Scottish; certainly his brogue backed him up on that, so he was either actually Scottish or did a hell of an impersonation of the accent. He got in on the session with us on three different songs, one of which was–wait for it–“MARI-MAC”. Not the same arrangement I know from the B’ys, of course, but close enough that I could follow along well enough on backup, AND we had the opportunity to trade off little instrumental solos while Looks-Mexican-Sounds-Scottish guy kept cueing us in.
Which leads me to mentioning that I actually played the piccolo this time, after being initially reluctant to get it out due to it not feeling quite properly session-y enough. But then I remembered what I’d already known from Jam: i.e., it may not be Irish but it’s pretty close to tin whistle in sound, so hey! And I did in fact start pulling back bits of my previous piccolo twiddles as long as we were all tearing through “Mari-Mac”. Which, it must be said, ROCKED.
Dara gamely went through “I’m a Rover”, and I backed her up as best I could, but we’re going to need to practice that one some more, I think. I’m also seriously going to have to practice “Salmon Tails Up the Water”, better known to me and mine of course as the bridge to “Jolly Butcher”. If I’m going to be showing up at these things with my piccolo, I’m going to have to damn well start learning more of these tunes! AND, next time we get called upon for a song, I’m going to have to be prepared to belt out “Paddy Murphy”. ‘Cause I mean, seriously, next best place for that song after “GBS concert”, wut? ;)
Looks-Mexican-Sounds-Scottish guy got perhaps a wee bit TOO boisterous for this crowd when Navy guy John, the other mandolin player besides Dara, started in on “Wild Rover”. Let’s just say some of the verses took on a distinct theme of sheep-shagging, and there was almost some dancing on the bar; L-M-S-S didn’t quite make it to the bar, but he was up on a chair at one point! But hell, he was clearly having such an awesome time that you couldn’t really hold that against him at all, and it must be said that the dude COULD indeed lead a song. After we finished up, he even hugged me at the bar. Aw!
And here’s the other thing that happened when I was at the bar paying the bill for me and Dara: the bartender (who, if HIS accent is any indication, is actually Irish) gave me one of my drinks for free.
This means, ladies and gentlemen, that I have been given complimentary booze for playing music in a public place.
I think this means I’ve levelled up a bit in Musician. :D