Southern California Uilleann Pipers' Club Tionól (2013)
By Tom Klein
Lead a Boy Scout trip: make a difference in a boy’s life. Cancel a Boy Scout trip: feed a tionól for a weekend.
The Southern California Uilleann Pipers’ Club (henceforth referred to as SoCal) played host to yet another terrific tionól at the home of Gabriel and Eileen McKeagney in glorious San Juan Capistrano, California. Gabriel McKeagney is a man of many talents and interests; one of these is helping lead his son’s Boy Scout troop. When inclement weather forced the scrubbing of the troop’s tionól-weekend camping trip, it proved an absolute boon for the piping event. Gabriel was able to salvage the already-purchased food stuffs and redeploy them for the tionól attendees. And the food came with its own chef: Scout lead- er and Minnesota- boy Brent Doble whose enthusiasm was infectious. What a treat to be a weary traveler and have a heaping bowl of hot stew thrust into your hands on a chilly evening.
As is de rigueur for many a tionól there was a meet-and- greet party on the Friday evening of the weekend. This al- lowed people to not only catch up and click some pints, but also check in on what meisterwerk master-woodcarver, de- signer and engineer Gabriel was working on in his workshop. A notable project was a large walnut table featuring stunningly flowing and intricate leaf motifs. I was fearful of getting too close to it in fear of some whoopsie-daisy that would result in the better part of a pint of Guinness cascading down one of the acanthus adorned table legs. I’ve seen that sort of thing happen.
Dawn on Saturday came up like thunder (or was that a double-bass regulator?), but with pot-upon- pot of tea everything fell into place and the tionól got underway with instruction from guest pipers Pat D’Arcy and Jerry O’Sullivan. By all ac- counts the magic was transmitted intact from these two guys to the students who came away with some tasty mazur- kas, marches and some jigs and reels.
For those of you familiar with the tionól—but did not get the memo—the default food stop for the event, Señor Pedros, closed its doors last spring. This bullwork, buttress, feeder and satisfier of countless tionól attendees, over many years, is no more. The loss of this iconic eatery cast a bit of a pall over the tionól between the hours of 11:00 and 2:00. But some excellent Boy Scout pulled pork proved a delicious substitute.
Here’s a snapshot of the weekend’s concert.
The Saturday evening concert was held at the same location as in previous years, the Community Center about a mile from the tionól proper. This venue is well suited for an unplugged uilleann piping concert (how did the architects know?), with a “live,” elevated stage that appears to have no problem projecting any note or utterance. Starting the show with “some white noise, a plastic cup and the odd thump”™ was the Patsy Touhey Experience (PTE). If you’ve seen PTE then you know what your missing! Following PTE’s set of reels—a performance that was at once stunning and bewildering—was young master Brian McKeagney on whistle. Brian’s focus and thoughtful tune- fulness brought the show back to its senses. This reporter is looking forward to some great music from Brian in the years to come, a view shared by the concert goers, I am confident. We were treated to the talents of piper Ben Jaber and fiddler Peter Polansky, two musicians who made the drive up from the San Diego area. Ben is one of those pipers who copped on quickly and has become quite a skilled player. Ben played his Kennedy B set, which features a “direct-in” bag (the bag neck connects directly into the chanter top). The duo were also joined by flute player (and stepper), Ben Power, near the end and gave us some fine trio music.
Pat D’Arcy. Pat featured a lashing of tunes culled from his recent release, “Wallop the Spot.” Pat was joined at one point by his own dear daughter Tierna, who treated the house to some lively steps set to the tune of Cailleach an Airgead.
Joining the concert (after a couple year’s hiatus) were the pipes/fiddle Chicago duo Pat Cannady and Karen Cook Cannady. It is always a treat to experience two players whose mu- sic and per- forming is so intimately entwined. Their interesting tune and settings never fail to hook the wonkier listener who is re- warded for his or her attentiveness.
Rounding out the evening was Mr. Jerry O’Sullivan. Many superlatives have rightfully been heaped upon Jerry as a piper, teacher, and all- around gent. He is a complete master of the instrument, and this performance was a showcase for Jerry’s interpretations of piping. In particular his addition of an E regulator to his set has served to shift the melodic and harmonic possibilities of the pipes into an entirely new arena. Only a person who knows the instrument, the music, and its history could make this leap so successfully. Well, that’s Jerry O’Sullivan for you.
All in all a great show. These concerts just get better and better every year. For variety, comfort, accessibility and attention to length and timing, they are hard to beat.
The evening (and when I say evening, I mean well into the next morning) continued with merry making and sessioning back at Tionól Central. In particular, a terrific B session happened in the living room at that time, while an O’Carolan- centric session was held in living room two.
Impressively, Sunday got going more-or-less on time. The day featured more group tutelage from Jerry O’Sullivan and Pat D’Arcy, with an added lecture from master reed maker Michael O’Donovan. Michael has perfected a technique for making chanter reeds in which he *gasp* soaks the cane slips in water! There is much thoughtful intent that has resulted in this novel step, the de- tails filling an article on their own. But the long and short is that the procedure allows the tails of the reed to remain pliant, allowing for better binding to the staple I look forward to this event every year. It has good music, good food, good friends, and good karma. I highly recommend you make the trip to the SoCal Tionól. You won’t be disappointed.
Piper, scholar and gentleman, Tom Klein resides in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
For a complete PDF of the original Winter2013 Pipers Review this article is from, click here.
