Really appreciate a call from Paddy of Christy’s team to say the chancers advertising the NCH gig as a free concert were a team of cyber criminals trying to phish data from fans. A terrible world when a Christy gig is used by gangsters. God if I could only write, there’s a song in there somewhere!
Great to be back online. Thanks to all the great contributions keeping us all educated and entertained, back catalogues and all…
Will you be in the GPO 1916 museum bit Christy, or beside the great statue? If they put you behind a counter, have a look for my pension book…
A bit of online confusion about the Mayday live-stream from the NCH. it is of course the gig rescheduled from January, for which a lot of us bought tickets. They are now advertising it as a free gig. Now I don’t mind at all the couple of bob for the ticket, you are more than welcome to that, you deserve all that and much more. But it is confusing, maybe a mistake, to see it now presented as free.
One way or another, will be there, and really looking forward to it.
‘Twould be grand to get the GPO gig online somehow…
I think it’s left for Gib.
Christy's reply
Thank you very much Pat…I got on to my backroom team who contacted the promoter…just heard that it was an information gathering scam emanating from the far east..so fair play to you for letting us know…..
Just getting my make up done for the GPO tonight…. when I’ve squeezed into the corset I’ll have my nostrils, earholes and eyebrows trimmed..its all systems go here in the ballad lounge
the GPO gig will be streamed in due course..we’ll post the relevant info here when it materialises
next up is the NCH stream…fierce rehearsing going on here…the nerves are only brutal….
Hello Christy,
Is it tonight? I hope you will get chance to tell us about it.
I’ve been to the GPO twice. I went with my Mum and I learnt so much. Then I took Steve there. Me and my Mum also saw the declaration of independence in Trinity College Library. And the trinity college harp. That harp got most of my attention, I’m ashamed to admit. I stared and stared. There’s a recording of it, you know. It was strung and it still makes a noise. As far as I know, the soundboard cracked, so no more stringing.
If you get chance please tell us about your Gpo adventure.
Rebecca
Christy's reply
Tonight’s The Night
all roads lead to the GPO…bring yizzer Thompson’s
Dear Christy,
A stamp, wow.
I used to collect them in Primary school, licking and sticking the unknown historic faces of china, the bizarre animals of africa, the despots of south america and now you. Congrats.
Now i like everything you do but could you ask for yours to be self adhesive stamps. I have never been an ass-licker in my adult life,and i ain’t starting now even with the genius that is CM.
I hope there is a collection of stamps, you, rachael blackmore, nicky kelly and jp mcmanus…the 4 riders of the storm.
I hope you are shown in a dramatic pose, astride a charging stallion or on the deck of a sinking ship ( you and st brendan).
Well done, great news.
For Charlie’s christmas i got him a sheet of stamps from the Soviet Union of the glasgow revolutionary John MacLean ( who once lived in Hawick) which now adorns his glasgow flat wall….i shall need to get a sheet of CM …self adhesive of course…to go alongside it.
Take a bow.
Rory
Christy's reply
Rory,
I’ve been in contact with The Ministry of (gate)Posts and Telegraph(poles). I’ve requested that only self adhesives be issued in the Border Regions…I’d certainly like to adorn an envelope with Rachel and Nicky but ,in my opinion, JP probably belongs to a different set.
with regard to an appropriate pose might you consider my being astride a Honda 50, on the deck of the SS Kangaroo, steaming right or left for Gibraltar with Joxer riding pillion after 14 pints of stout…
Christy – I am delighted to hear your news. No better man to raise the rafters of the GPO and look forward to the recording down the line. Second jab due soon so, also looking forward to the easing of lock down, getting the train to Dublin in the Green, staying in Wynn’s and sending cárta poist with your face on them! Go well.
Christy's reply
Good luck with Jab 2….its a grand morning here Thanks Be…last night I sang 3 songs in the G.P.O….. James Connolly ( the Patrick Galvin) The Foggy Dew ( the Charles O’Neill) and Nancy Spain ( Barney Rush)….for me , the first one was special…I was sitting near the spot where Connolly was mortally wounded, where he lay upon the marble floor in that iconic GPO painting (Birth of the Irish Republic by Walter Paget : Oil Painting)..it was , for me, a truly memorable rendition of Patrick Galvins great song…I have a sinking feeling that they will not use it..hopefully I’m wrong…
What took them so long, you’ve had my stamp of approval for years,what next, the honorary knighthood can only be around the corner, arise XXX Christy.
Christy's reply
gotta say..singing two songs in the G.P.O. is an honour…the stamp is grand but its not the kind of honour I deeply cherish…stamp collections around the world contain portraits of many tyrants,despots, fascist dictators and murderers ….I’ll not be bending the knee for any any sham honours ….but I’ll gratefully cherish any real roots honour bestowed upon the work….
Hi Christy,
Congratulations on the Stamp….what a thrill it will be for me to watch Mail with your Stamp on them passing through our system. I’m sure my colleagues at work will give me plenty of slagging given that most of them know my music credentials.
I guess your songs been recorded tomorrow will be used as part of the radio and TV ad campaign that will be launched beforehand.
Bring it onn !!!!!!!
Best Regards,
Patsy
Superb news about the GPO gig and stamp…it’ll go with the Planxty issue, a few years back. I’ve always said your music has great ‘licks’…
I’ve just started re reading ‘Bound for Glory’.In an early encounter with a fellow traveller, Woody is criticised (as a musician)for not being able to work as hard as others.His reply reminded me of your paper cut dilemma…
‘By God mister, I work just as hard as you er th’ next guy!… An’ I got the blisters ta prove it’… fair play to you – enjoy the day – may the Tak ring with trad,covers and whatever takes your fancy…
‘Now I been here an’ I been there.
Rambled aroun’ most everywhere.’
Good morning Christy,
It is a gorgeous morning here and what better start than to stick on the album This is the Day….matches the mood.
Anyway it has on it Johnny dont do to Ballincollig, and only yesterday i sent Dave a link to a piece in the Cork Echo where JS adapted his song to encourage greener bus use.
Great song, great idea, great man.
Don’t suppose you could adapt St Brendan’s voyage to encourage sailing to holiday destinations instead of flying?
Regards
Rory
Christy's reply
gotta hand it to you Rory…champion of the old back catalogue…it does my heart good to read descriptions of your deep trawling…thank you.
no time now for adaptations, the white flag has been raised and I’m cantering towards the starting tape….trying to put the finishing touches to a basket of songs before the off…
a mix of new and old, some covers, some new cuts, some trad….who knows what way ’twill go….or will it even go at all…..
I like Wally’s “This is The Day” there’s a lovely riff in the original recording…when I try and sing it here in the work room I always miss the riff..can’t play it myself but I remember well the winter’s morning in Ballycallan studio when Declan and Donal laid it down….same place we recorded Sam Beckett’s “Poor auld lousy auld Earth” our beloved Tim Martin at the desk….may the Good Man mix in peace…I miss him….Tim never missed a beat….he’d catch a spider’s fart and remember exactly where she let it off….(dey do tho,dont dey, in anyways, but}
I’m gonna be on a stamp, imagine that, on a stamp, I wish the old folks were here, goin into the GPO tomorrow night to sing two songs….gonna sing at the scene of the 1916 Rising tomorrow night…its an awesome prospect….singing there means more then the stamp itself…no audience, just me and a small crew…not so sure what happens to the recording but hopefully I’ll be able to share it here in due course….writing this note I’ve decided on the second song so you got skin in the game
“A China rat and a Bengal cat, and a Bombay cockatoo.” I think the tape did play so I did get to hear those lyrics.
So Dave you did have a rather similar experience, oh dear.
I could successfully return it and avoid the County Sherrif. (They do exist here.) I dont know anything about county council ‘heavies'(!).
Hello Christy,
I thought he put them in the rocks at the Cliffs of Moher.
From Zozimus to Ben Elton and Richard Curtis
He may have been a third rate captain but he made a first rate second course.
Blackadder, episode “Potato”
Ed had me worried… I thought he was going to be lifted by the Council heavies! Sounds like surgeon type skills saved the day – fair play. No such ‘Prosperous’ disaster, but a few years previously, I had some delicate explaining to do to a school mate, after my reel to reel tape player chewed up his highly prized ‘Incredible String Band’ recording. I did some Ed style surgery, but there was give away audio evidence…
In vinyl world,the clicks and hisses come to be part of the experience. If I play Fairport’s ‘Meet on the ledge’ on CD, I still mentally register my old vinyl copy and hear ‘And now I (click) see…’ Part of the magic. Happy to report that ‘Prosperous ‘is alive and well on robust vinyl.
Tea and falcon check now – must watch out for Ed’s owls…
Enjoy the day.
Dave
Christy's reply
the excitement of it all..
going down to McGovern’s Electrical Shop and purchasing a 78″ of Hound Dog/Jailhouse Rock for 3/8…..then the format changed to 45 rpm…next purchase was Mess of Blues and Elvis had increased to 4/6….but worth every godanged penny…we’re talkin circa 1960 here
downloading just dont have the same buzz…
then I got my first guitar..away on a hack….C & G7….F,G and Am soon to follow
Back to tapes and coming home. I came home, my local library loaned tapes, I’m here home carrying aloft my borrowed tape, ‘After the Break’. I installed the tape into the near newly purchased pristine Sharp radio/tape recorder. Pressed go, however, no sound, alas, I was not to hear the lovely bouzouki opening and Christy’s singing, ‘Once I was a waiting man….’ Nothing, silence, then a small squeak sound. So upon a ‘not thorough’ investigation and getting the little door to open, I discovered my problem, and to my anxiety, the tape had got eaten up into the innards. Oh do I remember sitting down; crisis. What do I do now? With a eyebrow tweezers, surgical dexterity and precision I got all the tape out, yards(!) of tape, this new Sharp tape recorder I was more worried about, feck the county council and a single cassette tape, so I rewound all the tape back into the cassette, not sure did I chance playing the tape but it was fine. The tape hadnt broken. Somewhere someone has that cassette unknownst that it was ‘eaten’ by a tape recorder and survived. That radio tape recorder is still here.
D, I thought you were going to tell us, the Prosperous tape had fallen out of the bag and was lost.
Christy's reply
“Tortoises from Tenerife and Ties from Timbuctoo
a China Rat, a Bengal Cat and a Bombay Cockatoo”
This is a great site, horse racing tips and live falcons feeding their young, That link was here last year as well, I think. I spotted that result, the Scottish National, he was 20/1 so bookies would have paid out nicely for each way. Another site, about two years ago, had a webcam, paradoxically, the camera was nearly ‘too good.’ A nest box, two baby owls, standing like two soldiers on guard, then suddenly, a big fluttering of wings and excitement and a mother owl arrives through the door, a rat hanging from its mouth and it’s dropped down into the mouth of the most able chick who pushes forward, no table manners. Well and good if the other parent arrives to give a dead mouse to the other chick while our first chick is still burping having swallowed a full rat. It resembled a miniature horror movie. However a pair of feeding owls are worth a lot to a farmer, they’ll help a farmer to clear his farm of rodents. The Berkley falcons and what we see looks tame in comparison but interesting.
Christy's reply
Yes Ed…this old site has fulfilled all I’d hoped for and more besides…
Really appreciate a call from Paddy of Christy’s team to say the chancers advertising the NCH gig as a free concert were a team of cyber criminals trying to phish data from fans. A terrible world when a Christy gig is used by gangsters. God if I could only write, there’s a song in there somewhere!
Thumbs Up
Great to be back online. Thanks to all the great contributions keeping us all educated and entertained, back catalogues and all…
Will you be in the GPO 1916 museum bit Christy, or beside the great statue? If they put you behind a counter, have a look for my pension book…
A bit of online confusion about the Mayday live-stream from the NCH. it is of course the gig rescheduled from January, for which a lot of us bought tickets. They are now advertising it as a free gig. Now I don’t mind at all the couple of bob for the ticket, you are more than welcome to that, you deserve all that and much more. But it is confusing, maybe a mistake, to see it now presented as free.
One way or another, will be there, and really looking forward to it.
‘Twould be grand to get the GPO gig online somehow…
I think it’s left for Gib.
Thank you very much Pat…I got on to my backroom team who contacted the promoter…just heard that it was an information gathering scam emanating from the far east..so fair play to you for letting us know…..
Just getting my make up done for the GPO tonight…. when I’ve squeezed into the corset I’ll have my nostrils, earholes and eyebrows trimmed..its all systems go here in the ballad lounge
the GPO gig will be streamed in due course..we’ll post the relevant info here when it materialises
next up is the NCH stream…fierce rehearsing going on here…the nerves are only brutal….
Hello Christy,
Is it tonight? I hope you will get chance to tell us about it.
I’ve been to the GPO twice. I went with my Mum and I learnt so much. Then I took Steve there. Me and my Mum also saw the declaration of independence in Trinity College Library. And the trinity college harp. That harp got most of my attention, I’m ashamed to admit. I stared and stared. There’s a recording of it, you know. It was strung and it still makes a noise. As far as I know, the soundboard cracked, so no more stringing.
If you get chance please tell us about your Gpo adventure.
Rebecca
Tonight’s The Night
all roads lead to the GPO…bring yizzer Thompson’s
Dear Christy,
A stamp, wow.
I used to collect them in Primary school, licking and sticking the unknown historic faces of china, the bizarre animals of africa, the despots of south america and now you. Congrats.
Now i like everything you do but could you ask for yours to be self adhesive stamps. I have never been an ass-licker in my adult life,and i ain’t starting now even with the genius that is CM.
I hope there is a collection of stamps, you, rachael blackmore, nicky kelly and jp mcmanus…the 4 riders of the storm.
I hope you are shown in a dramatic pose, astride a charging stallion or on the deck of a sinking ship ( you and st brendan).
Well done, great news.
For Charlie’s christmas i got him a sheet of stamps from the Soviet Union of the glasgow revolutionary John MacLean ( who once lived in Hawick) which now adorns his glasgow flat wall….i shall need to get a sheet of CM …self adhesive of course…to go alongside it.
Take a bow.
Rory
Rory,
I’ve been in contact with The Ministry of (gate)Posts and Telegraph(poles). I’ve requested that only self adhesives be issued in the Border Regions…I’d certainly like to adorn an envelope with Rachel and Nicky but ,in my opinion, JP probably belongs to a different set.
with regard to an appropriate pose might you consider my being astride a Honda 50, on the deck of the SS Kangaroo, steaming right or left for Gibraltar with Joxer riding pillion after 14 pints of stout…
Begob, a stamp. We’ll have to buy a stamp and send a ‘carta post’ as someone says. Or a first day cover. Am sure we’ll find out when stamp is issued.
July they tell me…
Christy – I am delighted to hear your news. No better man to raise the rafters of the GPO and look forward to the recording down the line. Second jab due soon so, also looking forward to the easing of lock down, getting the train to Dublin in the Green, staying in Wynn’s and sending cárta poist with your face on them! Go well.
Good luck with Jab 2….its a grand morning here Thanks Be…last night I sang 3 songs in the G.P.O….. James Connolly ( the Patrick Galvin) The Foggy Dew ( the Charles O’Neill) and Nancy Spain ( Barney Rush)….for me , the first one was special…I was sitting near the spot where Connolly was mortally wounded, where he lay upon the marble floor in that iconic GPO painting (Birth of the Irish Republic by Walter Paget : Oil Painting)..it was , for me, a truly memorable rendition of Patrick Galvins great song…I have a sinking feeling that they will not use it..hopefully I’m wrong…
Oh , to be in the GPO with yourself and Cuchullain… listening quietly in the background to your songs…
What was that old joke about the man who licked the back of Queen Elizabeths head ….. ??
he choked on dandruff..?
he got uncontrolably aroused ?
he uttered the cúpla focal ?
she developed a fierce grá for the teanga ?
…answers on the back of of a postage stamp
Spot on Christy! Don’t be a Johnny-come-philately!
What took them so long, you’ve had my stamp of approval for years,what next, the honorary knighthood can only be around the corner, arise XXX Christy.
gotta say..singing two songs in the G.P.O. is an honour…the stamp is grand but its not the kind of honour I deeply cherish…stamp collections around the world contain portraits of many tyrants,despots, fascist dictators and murderers ….I’ll not be bending the knee for any any sham honours ….but I’ll gratefully cherish any real roots honour bestowed upon the work….
Hi Christy,
Congratulations on the Stamp….what a thrill it will be for me to watch Mail with your Stamp on them passing through our system. I’m sure my colleagues at work will give me plenty of slagging given that most of them know my music credentials.
I guess your songs been recorded tomorrow will be used as part of the radio and TV ad campaign that will be launched beforehand.
Bring it onn !!!!!!!
Best Regards,
Patsy
Hi Christy
Superb news about the GPO gig and stamp…it’ll go with the Planxty issue, a few years back. I’ve always said your music has great ‘licks’…
I’ve just started re reading ‘Bound for Glory’.In an early encounter with a fellow traveller, Woody is criticised (as a musician)for not being able to work as hard as others.His reply reminded me of your paper cut dilemma…
‘By God mister, I work just as hard as you er th’ next guy!… An’ I got the blisters ta prove it’… fair play to you – enjoy the day – may the Tak ring with trad,covers and whatever takes your fancy…
‘Now I been here an’ I been there.
Rambled aroun’ most everywhere.’
Dave
Wow! Christy, a stamp and a gig in the gpo. Oh my, that’s amazing! I’ve nothing else to say, just have to say that it’s totally brilliant!!!
Rebecca
Good morning Christy,
It is a gorgeous morning here and what better start than to stick on the album This is the Day….matches the mood.
Anyway it has on it Johnny dont do to Ballincollig, and only yesterday i sent Dave a link to a piece in the Cork Echo where JS adapted his song to encourage greener bus use.
Great song, great idea, great man.
Don’t suppose you could adapt St Brendan’s voyage to encourage sailing to holiday destinations instead of flying?
Regards
Rory
gotta hand it to you Rory…champion of the old back catalogue…it does my heart good to read descriptions of your deep trawling…thank you.
no time now for adaptations, the white flag has been raised and I’m cantering towards the starting tape….trying to put the finishing touches to a basket of songs before the off…
a mix of new and old, some covers, some new cuts, some trad….who knows what way ’twill go….or will it even go at all…..
I like Wally’s “This is The Day” there’s a lovely riff in the original recording…when I try and sing it here in the work room I always miss the riff..can’t play it myself but I remember well the winter’s morning in Ballycallan studio when Declan and Donal laid it down….same place we recorded Sam Beckett’s “Poor auld lousy auld Earth” our beloved Tim Martin at the desk….may the Good Man mix in peace…I miss him….Tim never missed a beat….he’d catch a spider’s fart and remember exactly where she let it off….(dey do tho,dont dey, in anyways, but}
I’m gonna be on a stamp, imagine that, on a stamp, I wish the old folks were here, goin into the GPO tomorrow night to sing two songs….gonna sing at the scene of the 1916 Rising tomorrow night…its an awesome prospect….singing there means more then the stamp itself…no audience, just me and a small crew…not so sure what happens to the recording but hopefully I’ll be able to share it here in due course….writing this note I’ve decided on the second song so you got skin in the game
Is it right or left for Gibralter
“A China rat and a Bengal cat, and a Bombay cockatoo.” I think the tape did play so I did get to hear those lyrics.
So Dave you did have a rather similar experience, oh dear.
I could successfully return it and avoid the County Sherrif. (They do exist here.) I dont know anything about county council ‘heavies'(!).
Hi Christy
Hats off to Rory for raising important issues and Rebecca for reminding me of the genius of ‘Blackadder’…
I hope you still have the 45s and 78s… I’m smiling at the lyrics of Mr Thompson’s ‘Don’t sit on my Jimmy Shands’…
Paper cuts are the devil’s work. I hope you have layers of vaseline for the thumb and some plectrum songs til the wound heals.
All the best
Dave
Hello Christy,
I thought he put them in the rocks at the Cliffs of Moher.
From Zozimus to Ben Elton and Richard Curtis
He may have been a third rate captain but he made a first rate second course.
Blackadder, episode “Potato”
Dear Christy,
I can breathe.
Scales of Justice correctly weighted at last.
Rory
a ray of hope from a dark place
Mornin’ Christy
Ed had me worried… I thought he was going to be lifted by the Council heavies! Sounds like surgeon type skills saved the day – fair play. No such ‘Prosperous’ disaster, but a few years previously, I had some delicate explaining to do to a school mate, after my reel to reel tape player chewed up his highly prized ‘Incredible String Band’ recording. I did some Ed style surgery, but there was give away audio evidence…
In vinyl world,the clicks and hisses come to be part of the experience. If I play Fairport’s ‘Meet on the ledge’ on CD, I still mentally register my old vinyl copy and hear ‘And now I (click) see…’ Part of the magic. Happy to report that ‘Prosperous ‘is alive and well on robust vinyl.
Tea and falcon check now – must watch out for Ed’s owls…
Enjoy the day.
Dave
the excitement of it all..
going down to McGovern’s Electrical Shop and purchasing a 78″ of Hound Dog/Jailhouse Rock for 3/8…..then the format changed to 45 rpm…next purchase was Mess of Blues and Elvis had increased to 4/6….but worth every godanged penny…we’re talkin circa 1960 here
downloading just dont have the same buzz…
then I got my first guitar..away on a hack….C & G7….F,G and Am soon to follow
Back to tapes and coming home. I came home, my local library loaned tapes, I’m here home carrying aloft my borrowed tape, ‘After the Break’. I installed the tape into the near newly purchased pristine Sharp radio/tape recorder. Pressed go, however, no sound, alas, I was not to hear the lovely bouzouki opening and Christy’s singing, ‘Once I was a waiting man….’ Nothing, silence, then a small squeak sound. So upon a ‘not thorough’ investigation and getting the little door to open, I discovered my problem, and to my anxiety, the tape had got eaten up into the innards. Oh do I remember sitting down; crisis. What do I do now? With a eyebrow tweezers, surgical dexterity and precision I got all the tape out, yards(!) of tape, this new Sharp tape recorder I was more worried about, feck the county council and a single cassette tape, so I rewound all the tape back into the cassette, not sure did I chance playing the tape but it was fine. The tape hadnt broken. Somewhere someone has that cassette unknownst that it was ‘eaten’ by a tape recorder and survived. That radio tape recorder is still here.
D, I thought you were going to tell us, the Prosperous tape had fallen out of the bag and was lost.
“Tortoises from Tenerife and Ties from Timbuctoo
a China Rat, a Bengal Cat and a Bombay Cockatoo”
don’t talk to me about China rats
This is a great site, horse racing tips and live falcons feeding their young, That link was here last year as well, I think. I spotted that result, the Scottish National, he was 20/1 so bookies would have paid out nicely for each way. Another site, about two years ago, had a webcam, paradoxically, the camera was nearly ‘too good.’ A nest box, two baby owls, standing like two soldiers on guard, then suddenly, a big fluttering of wings and excitement and a mother owl arrives through the door, a rat hanging from its mouth and it’s dropped down into the mouth of the most able chick who pushes forward, no table manners. Well and good if the other parent arrives to give a dead mouse to the other chick while our first chick is still burping having swallowed a full rat. It resembled a miniature horror movie. However a pair of feeding owls are worth a lot to a farmer, they’ll help a farmer to clear his farm of rodents. The Berkley falcons and what we see looks tame in comparison but interesting.
Yes Ed…this old site has fulfilled all I’d hoped for and more besides…