The session at Ryan’s Daughter Pub was an intermediate-advanced session that often includes the great accordionist Billy McComiskey who wasn’t there when John visited because he was in New York to play a concert.

In February 2016 John played at a session at Pizza Italiain San Antonio while attending the Texas Music Educators Conference.In December 2016 he played at a session held during the Society for Ethnomusicology annual meeting in Austin at the conference hotel that was organized by the society’s Celtic Music special interest group.

John states:“Playing at sessions while traveling is a great way to hear the repertoire played in other parts of the country.Typically, this is a mixture of familiar tunes and unfamiliar tunes and may include familiar tunes played in unfamiliar ways”. Prior to attending a session John searches thesession.org, to find the site of the pub that hosts a session, and confirms the session time with the pub by phone in advance to make sure it’s happening that day.

At Kells I introduced myself to the manager and had fish and chips for lunch (with of course the usual glass of Guinness). Once I had verified that they would indeed have a Traditional Irish session that evening I was free to roam about downtown Portland and enjoy the sunshine and 65 degree weather (in August) for the afternoon.I asked about all the dollar bills on the ceiling (see picture below) and was told that patrons would roll two quarters in a dollar bill and throw them at the ceiling where they would stick (magic?). Once a year the staff removes all the money and donates it to a local charity.

As I walked about the streets of Portland I came upon a small gathering of people who were listening to a young man telling stories about how Portland got its name, and of the Shanghai trade that was a huge industry in the early days of Portland. I decided to join this 2 hour walking tour and find out a little about Portland’s history. Turns out there were two main industries in Portland in the old days: bars and shipping. The young men would often go to the bars to get drunk and then after they passed out, were hauled away in covered wagons to the ships at dock a few blocks away. There they were thrown in the hold of the ship only to wake up the next day out at sea. It is said that most of these ships were on their way to Shanghai, China and so that is where the term shanghaied was invented.

After the tour, it was time to eat dinner and go to the session. We had about 6 musicians show for the session (less than usual due to a huge music event taking place in a nearby community). We played many familiar tunes at a moderate speed which was great fun. Turned out 3 of the 6 musicians were whistle players so I ended up playing concertina as often as possible since 3 whistles (no matter how well played) can be a bit shrill at times. Later, two fiddle players showed up and took over the session and played tunes that only the two of them knew at amazing speed. It was a great concert. My ride to the concertina camp arrived exactly on time and thanks to his GPS unit we were able to get to the camp without a hitch. All-in all a perfect day that came from my unstoppable desire to experience Traditional Irish Sessions wherever I find them,

Gallagher’s Boxty House is in the Temple Bar area of Dublin.A boxty is not something I have had at any Irish pub in the USA.It is a traditional Irish pancake made out of potatoes.I have seen different sorts on the internet, but the ones at Gallaher’s are light and fluffy like a crepe, but with a creamy texture.Stuffed with chicken and a lovely sauce, it makes a huge meal.And I would vote their seafood chowder as the best I have had in my life so far. A note to Guinness fans, and I am one for sure; the Irish serve a great alternate to Guinness which they call Beamish.

You must see the Oliver St. John Gogarty and its accommodations, restaurant and pub.On their menu is a Dublin Style Coddle.It is hard to explain this dish but it is like a white stew with potatoes, carrots and sausage.You got to try this with brown bread, it is heavenly.The atmosphere and music at this pub is all Irish traditional. They even have statues of little elves about the place.

All I have talked about so far is food, but we did do other things.We also went to many places in and around Dublin such as St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the Guinness Storehouse, the Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin Castle, the Wicklow Mountains, the village of Howth, and other marvelous places.

I have not used near enough words to tell you about the beauty of Ireland.Going on and on with words alone will never do it justice, so I have included some photos that will help you see a little of what we saw and possibly convince you that a trip to Ireland is well worth the money.And if you do make the trip; my hope is that you might find yourself asking, as did I, ‘When will I be fortunate enough to go back?’
So when are you going?”

Still, no other musicians appeared and the guitar player left without ever playing a note. The highlight of our session was when the young woman who had waited on us at dinner did a step dance to my rendition of Willie Coleman’s.

After a few more tunes, we decided that this was all the session there would be for this cold, wet, Tuesday evening so we left somewhat disappointed.

The moral to this saga: Not every session turns out the way you planed. Sometimes life gets in the way, so make the best of it and have fun.”

After the set was over, I introduced myself and found a seat near the session leaders. They graciously introduced me to the local players as they trickled in. Eventually we had four players on fiddle, two each on flute, guitar and banjo with one player of the Uilleann pipes who also played flute.Some doubled on other instruments including bodhran, penny whistle and concertina.

This session at Murphy’s followed a format that was very familiar and comforting. The players sat in a rough circle with some sections being two deep. Each player could choose a free drink from Murphy’s extensive beer menu. For the first two hours the playing was quite brisk, including many tunes that I was not familiar with. One guitarist flat-picked a few tunes up to speed on a twelve-string guitar!After the “official” two-hour period was over, the leaders left. I stayed with the smaller group, playing until nearly midnight. This group included some intermediate players who had not played much yet. We played many of the “chestnuts” and “war-horses” that we are all familiar with. This is not to say that intermediate or beginner players were shunned earlier in the evening. The leaders had particularly asked one fiddle player to start a tune, as he had not yet played, though he demurred.

Two unexpected things happened. Early in the evening the Uilleann piper placed his wooden flute on a chair while he was playing the pipes. The flute was promptly knocked to the floor. The owner was quite concerned about his instrument, but did not find any cracks, though the light wasn’t bright enough to thoroughly check. Later, I started hearing what sounded like a tambourine to my left. When the set was over and I could look, I saw a young man sitting on a wooden box that he was banging on. I asked him what it was. He told me that it was a cajon (pronounced with an “h”sound in the middle) that he had added some type of rattle to. No one asked him to leave, but mercifully he soon started playing more quietly when he realized he didn’t understand the tunes. He packed it up after no more than 1/2 hour.

When I planned our trip to Seattle, I had not thought of playing in a session, but am very glad that I found one. I even followed up with the session leaders the following day to swap tune books so we can each see what is being played in the other’s city. I would highly recommend that session players sit in on sessions in other places when traveling.”