Here is the set list for our Gansey Brothers gig at the Spring Arts Festival in the HACC Campus in Lebanon

Ken Gehret playing at HACC

1.  Here I Am Amongst You

2.  The Oul Orange Flute

Finding an accompanist was a challenge. First I was going to do it with Matt Miskie, but he had a short out of town tour planned, Steve Stanislaw, was in New York that weekend however Ken Gehret was able to fill in at short notice, so welcome to the fraternity of Gansey Brothers Ken. Enjoyed hearing your tunes.

One of my literary heroes is an Irish author by the name of Brian O’Nolan, who is often mentioned as the peer of the two giants of Modernist Irish writing, Beckett and Joyce. I have explored Joyce in songs and performances over the past couple of years, but recently decided to re-explore the novels of O’Nolan who wrote his books under the pen names, Flann O Brien and Myles na gCopaleen. Reading is only part of the process; I am also creating a series of drawings. Although O’Nolan was a ranking Civil Servant and a newspaper columnist for 25 years the visual record of his life is scant. The most famous  surviving photos show him with several notable writers of the day setting off to retrace the steps of Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus on the first Bloomsday on June 16th 1954. He left this glorified pub crawl early since he was drunk at the start of the trip.

John Ryan, Anthony Cronin, Brian O’Nolan (Flann O’Brien), Patrick Kavanagh and Tom Joyce on Sandymount Strand in 1954

I fortified myself with a book of recent literary criticism on the subject of O’Nolan called “Is It About A Bicycle?”, the title taken from the constant musings of the memorable policeman who spends his time investigating the thefts of said conveyances in a surreal but identifiably Irish rural landscape. The crimes in question are mostly carried out by self same officer to prevent the immoral and imponderable consequences of atoms from one item permeating another to the point that they start to manifest characteristic poses and attitudes. And don’t even think about a man riding a woman’s bicycle or vice versa!

Solo performance is a bit like tightrope walking. When it’s going well, it looks effortless, but if you slip up you can look pretty lame. However, I have found that the more you do it and the better your rapport with the audience even a memory lapse can be part of the show.

The most impressive use of the sympathetic crowd I have ever seen was at a Philadelphia show by Regina Spektor. She forgot the words to one of her songs and asked the crowd to sing them until her memory returned. They were perfectly capable of filling in for her.

I am not in the exalted position of having people sing along with my songs since I have only written a couple so nobody can help me if my mind goes blank on one of those verses, but as this clip demonstrates a graceful recovery can happen with audience support even if few of them have ever heard the song. Enjoy the Errant Apprentice”, screw-ups and all.

Thanks to Lesley Ham for her video footage.

When I signed up to perform at the SFMS Spring Coffeehouse on April 11th at the Barn in Fort Hunter Park, I was not quite sure what I was letting myself in for. I was sharing the bill with a couple of folks I knew including Seasons. However I had never done one of these things before and had all the usual concerns about performing before a new audience. I wondered was I really top of the bill material or was it just luck of the draw. I had a vision of the crowd leaving when their friends had finished performing and since I was the last act on the bill would all the crowd have gone by then? The first act who took the stage were a trio called Rivers and the crowd loved them. They had their bunch of fans and I snagged one of their free CDs when they had finished their set. As the singer  noted “We are not used to being listened to. Usually we play bars and the audience talk and drink”. They were worth listening to.

My friend in Seasons were very warmly received and deservedly so. Mary Kate Spring Lee and the other Marys sounded terrific despite the missing Peter, but as she said “We have had enough of Winter for a while”. Mary Kate did an unaccompanied song and did not directly used the mike so when I went up there I decided that even though it was a full house my voice could reach everywhere without amplification, so I did without the sound reinforcement too.

I am happy to say that my half dozen songs went down very well, and I look forward to doing it again soon. Thanks to the great audience who picked up on all the jokes and especially those who said hello after the performance.