Marie Conniffe: News

so the big news since I wrote to yiz last is that I've become an auntie!

hooray for baby girl Mia Caitríona Conniffe!

she's so tiny! but very cute :) 

In the music world, I played in Fibber Magee's

at the Dublin heat of the mytunerox 'battle of the bands' competition.

The gig went well, and folks said some nice things about me,

but it came down to a text-vote in the end, 

and I think, as a solo artist, I was at a bit of a disadvantage, 

you know, the more band members you have,

the more friends you can convince to vote for you!

So, I didn't qualify for the final, 

sob

In the same way that I keep starting books & not finishing them, 

I seem to have gotten into the annoying habit of starting to write songs, 

and then just wandering off & forgetting about them.

It's not a huge problem, cos I already have a lot of material, 

that needs to be recorded, but I'm pretty bored with most of it at this stage, 

and it'd be nice to have some fresh songs in my repertoire.

So, I should be good & keep plugging away at the ones that need finishing.

In fact I might head & do a bit of that now.

And, in case you're interested...

I have my first driving lesson (since 2006) on Tuesday - eek!

so the first two out of five open mics have gone quite well,

i'm fairly knackered though - i seem to be out of the habit of drinking everyday,

which is probably a good thing, 

but i've met some nice people & heard some good music,

At the Bleeding Horse, I played

(1) Running Free

(2) The Brightest Star

(3) Coming Home

and at Peadar Kearney's, I played

(1) New Song 1*

(2) New Song 4*

(3) The Door

*I will give them titles soon, I will I will I will...

And the folks who run the open mic in Peadar Kearney's

also do showcase nights in The Sweeney on Dame St.

so I'll probably sign up for one of those soon.

Watch this space (www.myspace.com/musicmediumlive)

Slán anois/Bye now

So, at the moment, I'm trying to broaden my repertoire of Irish folk songs.

I'm tackling "The Lakes of Pontchartrain" (dunno who wrote it, no one seems to know).

There's a lovely version here by Paul Brady from 1977 (helped out by Andy Irvine). 

I'm also refreshing my knowledge of "Mo Ghile Mear" (by Seán Clárach Mac Dhomhnaill c. 1691-1757), 

which is a lament for Bonnie Prince Charlie, who was then in exile.

AND, who provided the inpiration for Will Oldham to record some of his albums

under the name Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (he liked the "mellifluous* sound")

And I'm determined to learn "Ar Éireann, ní neosfainn cé hí",

no matter how little understanding I have of the words.

Here's Liam Clancy being deadly as usual:

I've also been re-reading a book my granny gave me when I was 8,

called "Irish Tales & Sagas" by Ulick o' Connor.

It tells the stories of King Conor & the Red Branch Knights, 

and the Children of Lir and St. Patrick among others.

I was hoping to get some inspiration for writing & I still might.

In the meantime, I've nicked a poem by Sir Samuel Ferguson (1810-1886), 

(well, technically the copyright is now lapsed - 70 years after the death of the author), 

Yeats called him "the greatest poet Ireland ever produced", and he'd know!

Anyway, the poem is about Deirdre of the Sorrows.

It's called "Deirdre's Lament for the Sons of Usnach", 

and I've set it to music, although I might have to whittle it down a bit - 

there are a lot of verses to remember, even for me :)

So, that's about it, 

The P.A. system has gone back to the shop to be repaired or replaced.

No one has responded to my Hot Press ad, as of yet - sob.

The driving is progressing VERY slowly.

Slán anois/ bye now.

* 'mellifluous' means 'flows like honey' (i had to look it up)

so I've been around the world and back again, well I'm back a while now really.

time to get cracking, this website being one of my projects, 

and my P.A. arrived by DHL today, although I'm having trouble getting it to emit any noise.

i reckon it's just a temporary glitch, and i'm roping in someone to look it over

but the sooner it's sorted, the better, so i can set about getting a few gigs & hopefully making some cash, 

my credit card bill is quite scary - it's not cheap to fly from New Zealand to Dublin :( 

and i'm again on the lookout for band members, 

i've sent in an ad to come out in the next issue of Hot Press so fingers crossed that goes well.

also, my third provisional license arrived in the post today so i HAVE to learn to drive this time.

i've my test in ten weeks or so, we'll see...we'll see...

bye now