| Atlantic Crossroads Newfoundland 2005 |
| The festival may have been over for the night, but session at Erin's was just beginning at 2 AM! It was somethin� else! Niall and Clare were joined by Hugh, Darrell, Mike Hanrahan and Ger for one heck of a session. Hugh sang The Lion Sleeps Tonight as the others harmonized, Niall and Darrell sang together, Ger wanted to sing Perry Como songs, he said, but ended up wailing Your Cheatin� Heart. Jim had armed me with the mic and I had a ball walking around, following the guitar, recording the session. Darrell sang I Hate Mondays and another country song in deference to Ger�s country leanings. LOL! Hugh �s voice belted out Ring of Fire, Jim did Redemption Song and Darrell countered with Paul Simon�s Late in the Evening. Niall gave us his own Long Weekend and Clare sang one of hers. We sang Happy Birthday to Clare since it was her birthday. Mike Hanrahan ran around playing bouzouki accompaniment to everyone�s songs. Boy, I was impressed he could keep up with songs that were new to him. It was great! Ger brought out a whistle and a harmonica and played along. Jim and Ger sang Curra Road together and Niall sang The Lakes of Ponchatrain accompanied by Darrell and Hugh for harmonies. |
| They also sang a bunch of 80�s songs whose titles and words I didn�t know. I was very busy raising 4 kids in the 80�s and didn�t listen to the radio much. I know nothing of the 80�s music scene. But I can tell you the joy I felt, being in this room with all these wonderful musicians singing all these songs together. It was another moment I really didn't need a camera to remember. |
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| At some point during the evening Darrell approached me told me there was a guy from Pitcairn Island here and he was trying to convince him to sing something in his native language. He thought maybe if I took a few photos, the guy might stick around and talk or sing a bit so Darrell could hear the language. Darrell graduated from MUN with a dual degree in Education and Linguistics. He�s still very interested in the linguistics. We tried our best and the gentleman sang half a song in his native language but then lapsed back into English. He couldn�t seem to understand why we didn�t want him to sing in English. �I can hear English any time I want!� exclaimed Darrell. |
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| The Australians stayed to the very end and I think none of us wanted the evening to turn to day. Darrell made me feel like a friend tonight and I got a big hug from Jim after we left Erin�s. He was just so happy things had worked out so well this evening. We got back to the house about 4 :30 AM and I fell asleep a very happy person to have been there this evening.
Tuesday, June 28th We all woke up with a bang. Several bangs, actually. It was Ger at the door. He had gotten a taxi to bring him over to Jim�s for to go to the interview at the CBC office. (I have become a frequent user of the phrase �for to go.� Used extensively by Newfoundlanders and by some Cape Bretoners, it has crept into my everyday language even when I am not in Newfoundland. It was one of the first Newfoundland phrases I picked up. And when I am talking ABOUT Newfoundland, I will most certainly use it in conversation!) I don�t know how long he banged on the door but eventually we awoke. There wasn�t much time to get dressed and out the door as the interview was scheduled for 8:30 AM and it was now 8:05. We told the cab driver to go and Ger came in while Jim got dressed. I threw on some clothes and rushed the guys out the door, getting to the CBC offices with 5 minutes to spare! They weren�t supposed to be long, so I slipped around the corner and picked up Tim Horton�s coffee for everyone. I waited inside the door and chatted with the security guard who was a big fan of Jim�s. It was cool, �cause I could hear the interview over the speaker system while sitting right there in the lobby. They played a song of Ger�s and one from Jim�s new album and they talked about the festival and about songwriting and music and the similarities between Ireland and Newfoundland. And in less than 30 minutes they were there in the lobby, gratefully accepting their coffee. |
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