Harat’s has contacted us. We have been invited back to do monthly gigs from September onwards. This has come as an unexpected and pleasant surprise. No mention of sessions, however. There will be complications regarding pay and social insurance, which might make playing a non-starter. So far nobody has come up with a working solution for this. The employer’s contribution is significant, I think. Add to that, the musicians, while insured, are taxed. We used to do an annual gig in Angelochori. That did not go ahead last year or this month because of the tax situation.
Regarding our sessions, I have written a second draft of our proposal, which I hope to present to different bars, but I am not sure about how we go about it. Do we email the bars with the proposal attached, or do we visit the bars and present them with a sheet of A4? The latter makes more sense as we can case the joint, assess it for size, shape, overall suitability and absence of sports on TV! I’m also thinking of a resumption date of 21st September, a week later than I had planned. I feel the additional time is needed to get people out of holiday mode.
My uncharacteristic burst of creativity has deserted me. No new tunes in my head. I don’t think I’m going to become the new Ed Reavy, a prolific exile from Co. Cavan who wrote more than 500 tunes. I’ll need to check if I can outdo Junior Crehan from my own county. He penned some great tunes including the Mist Covered Mountain. To be honest, I think he borrowed (I’m being generous) that one from the Scottish Mist Covered Mountains of Home. Listen and tell me if you agree,
Here is the Scottish song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axMIQACtB-Q
and this is Crehan’s jig: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tYq5Htk4Sg
After I’ve posted this, I’ll be sending some of my compositions to Rob for ‘chordification’ as I call it. Incidentally, Rob was in South Korea recently. There are 23 Irish pubs in Seoul – in Seoul, not in the whole country. Impressive.