St. Patrick's Weekend 2010

Cutting back this year, Poor Ould Goat played three shows in two days for the St. Patrick's Day weekend, and now we're giving the Irish music a rest for pretty much the remainder of 2010. Hoping to stay busy however with some other opportunities.

On Friday, March 12th we played downtown on Porter Ave. near Kleinhans for a benefit called "The Wake". Proceeds to the Irish Classical Theatre. There were theater actors milling about, getting into arguments, jumping on stage to sing along, mourning, fighting - all the things you'd expect at an Irish wake! Kind of a formal event so we dressed up, enjoyed some Dundee beer, and food afterwards.

Up early on Saturday to get to the Valley Community Center by 10:30 for our annual post-parade party. Pouring rain, wind, and cold temperatures didn't seem to bother many as the center was mobbed. We were running later than usual getting there and Joe actually got stuck on Fuhrman Blvd. because the cops had shut down the roads leading into the First Ward for the marchers. We had to have organizers call the cops and have them keep an eye out for a red pickup truck so we could get the sound equipment in. With the help of various Center volunteers we got the equipment loaded in and we ended starting right on time. Three sets of music, corned beef and Belhaven beer and then we tore down and I headed home for an hour to change and rest.

Out of the house again at 8:15 and over to The Irishman Pub in Williamsville. Small restaurant but a good (drunk?) crowd stuck around till the end of our third set (an ad libed set of Beatles, Petty, Marley and Paul Simon to name a few) at 2 am, which magically became 3 am right before my eyes due to daylight savings time. Home and in bed by 4 am and for the first time in 4 years, off on Sunday which was nice.

Goodbye 2009

Closed out 2009 by subbing in Youngstown NY at the last minute as drummer for Wheelhouse – a cover band offshoot of The Bailey Quarters band. I’ve known Mark and Tom for a number of years and have played in a few short-lived projects with them. There was no time to rehearse and I had two days to learn 24 songs, half of which I had never or barely heard before. Thank God for mp3’s though. They emailed me about 15 songs and I looked up the rest on YouTube, listened to them over and over (and then over) again and took notes. The gig went well overall, especially the second set. The biggest problem was song endings, which mostly found us all looking at each other and then, like a set of domino’s one would fall and the others would follow a brief moment later. A good time though, and some really good songs. Some of my favorites:

- Flagpole Sitta (Harvey Danger)
- No Matter What (Badfinger)
- Big Me (Foo Fighters)
- Take Me Out (Franz Ferdinand)
- Everything You’ve Done Wrong (Sloan)
- Santaria (Sublime)

- Bobcaygeon (Tragically Hip)

2010 begins year 4 for me with Poor Ould Goat and we've already begun booking shows. Woo Hoo!!

McCarthyizm Benefit with Poor Ould Goat

For the third straight year that I’ve been in the band, Poor Ould Goat played the McCarthyizm Christmas Party at Nietzsche’s in Allentown. It’s a benefit for The Friends of the Night People which provides meals, clothing and care to the city’s needy. 8 bands, two stages, and the turnout was really great this year. The last two years have had bad weather or the threat of a storm, but this year I was amazed to see people still coming in at 2:00 am. I’m not used to being out at that time anymore!

The Goat’s closed out the show, playing around 2 am until just before 3. Helen, the fiddle player from McCarthyizm joined us onstage for a half a dozen songs, and Joe McCarthy came up and did a couple with the band too. 6 people on a stage the size of a dining room table! It was like one of those “see how many people you can get in a phone booth” contests.

Once again, it was great night for us, and hopefully for the Friends too.

(Brian squeezes out a couple feet of real estate on stage)

(McCarthyizm rocks The Who)