tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40441570242711147972024-03-13T11:03:53.867-07:00The Devil's Tailors Scottish Celtic - NewsPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-655735221539276112018-09-17T14:42:00.001-07:002018-09-17T14:42:23.428-07:00<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="templateContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px; color: black; max-width: 600px !important; width: 100%px;"><tbody>
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Catch The Devil's Tailors at the White Hart Tavern at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, Saturday Sep. 22nd & Sunday Sep. 23rd: </h1>
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11:30 AM, 1:00 PM, 3:00 PM, 4:30 PM<br /> </h2>
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We're very excited to have been asked to play our first weekend at the <a href="http://www.rennfest.com/" style="color: #2baadf;" target="_blank">Maryland Renaissance Festival</a>, with four shows each day this coming weekend at the White Hart Tavern, with four shows each day. It's a great festival, with a lot of fantastic musical acts - like Peter's mentor EJ Jones in the Piper Jones Band - and there's a lot to do at the festival besides. Come on out and see us!<br /> </div>
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A Great Spring & Summer, with More Coming!</h1>
<br />We had a great spring and summer, with great gigs at Snowden Overlook in Columbia, MD; at the Historic London Town in Edgewater, MD; and at the Virginia Scottish Games in The Plains, VA. We've been on light duty with the turnover in our fiddling spot, as we bring new personnel up to speed, but we are quickly getting our sea legs again, and are going to be looking for new spots and events to play in the DC area.<br /><br />Also, as soon as we're done with the Ren Faire, we're going to resume recording our first albums - we've already laid down some temp tracks, and things are sounding good. We're also working hard to make use of our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiU8LVEy7x-LLQswJ6SpVPA" style="color: #2baadf;" target="_blank">YouTube</a> and <a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-120563740" style="color: #2baadf;" target="_blank">SoundCloud</a> channels, getting more and more recordings up there.<br /><br />Also, Pete and Jim launched our side project, Tweedsyde, an early music Scottish ensemble. It's a duo for now, but we'll be looking for ways to bring the rest of the Tailors in for some period music on period instruments. We'll be launching the Tweedsyde website soon!<br /> <hr />
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Welcoming our New Fiddler, Selena Healey!</h1>
<br />We're also thrilled to welcome our new fiddler, Selena Healey, to the band. Hailing from Alaska, and - like Scott - joining us from the band Dileab Phriseil, Selena will be taking up the mantle of the dedicated fiddler in the Devil's Tailors.<br /><br /><br /> <hr />
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Bon Voyage to Catherine McClain</h1>
<br />Finally, we'd like to send our best wishes to Catherine, who's been playing fiddle for us for the last year. Catherine stepped in when that spot opened up and has kept us going. She's now headed off to Virginia Tech to finish her final two undergraduate years there, studying Civil Engineering. Best of luck, and don't forget to take your fiddle out and play from time to time - but finish your homework first.<br /><br /><br />Mar sin leibh an-dràsda! (Good bye for now!)<br />Peter</td></tr>
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Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-25611572998655830442017-08-23T16:40:00.002-07:002017-08-23T16:40:15.917-07:00Upcoming Shows & Appearances<h2 class="null" style="color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 26px; line-height: 125%; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: helvetica; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">The Devil's Tailors at Fiddle Stage at the Virginia Scottish Games, Saturday September 2nd at 3:30 PM</span></span></h2>
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We're very excited to have been asked to return to the <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.vascottishgames.org/FiddleEntertainment.html" href="http://www.vascottishgames.org/FiddleEntertainment.html" target="_blank">Virginia Scottish Games' fiddle stage</a> (http://www.vascottishgames.org/FiddleEntertainment.html). We'll be sharing the stage with other great acts like Terpsichore, Cello Below, and more; and there's a lot to do at the festival besides. Come on out and see us!<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: helvetica; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><br />The Devil's Tailors at Fiddle Stage at the The Takoma Park Folk Festival, Sunday September 10th at 3:45 PM</span></span></h2>
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We're also thrilled to be returning to the <a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tpff.org" href="https://www.tpff.org/" target="_blank">Takoma Park Folk Festival</a> for a second time. This is a very prestigious local event, and we'll be playing the Abbott Stage at 3:45 PM, sponsored by the Folk Society of Greater Washington; and there are so many other great acts to enjoy there. Come on out and see us!<br /><br /></div>
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<br /><span style="color: black; font-family: helvetica; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">Scottish Jam Session This Coming <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_971163870" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">Sunday, August 27th</span></span> from 2<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_971163871" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">:00</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: helvetica; line-height: normal;"> to </span><span style="color: black; font-family: helvetica; line-height: normal;"><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_971163872" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">5:00PM</span></span> at Fiona's Irish Pub in Kingstowne</span></span></h1>
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<br />Looking for something to do this <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_971163873" tabindex="0">coming Sunday</span> afternoon? Want to see the Tailors (or most of them, at least), in an informal setting?<br /></div>
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Then come one, come all to the only open Scottish jam session in the area. Play or listen to fiddles, pipes, whistles, guitars, and other instruments play the traditional music of Scotland and the Western Isles, as well as Shetland and Cape Breton.<div style="color: #202020; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; padding: 0px;">
The DC-area Scottish jam will be at at Fiona's Irish Pub in Kingstowne (<a data-cke-saved-href="http://potomacvalleyscottishfiddle.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=256623c29cc26e52e497714fa&id=f5ca599237&e=4cb63a57de" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://potomacvalleyscottishfiddle.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D256623c29cc26e52e497714fa%26id%3Df5ca599237%26e%3D4cb63a57de&source=gmail&ust=1490362082372000&usg=AFQjCNF-YpRCp2WAqrpFLnUWF_NYLUoSew" href="http://potomacvalleyscottishfiddle.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=256623c29cc26e52e497714fa&id=f5ca599237&e=4cb63a57de" rel="nofollow" style="color: #2baadf;" target="_blank">http://www.fionasirishpub.com</a>). Fiona's is located at 5810 Kingstowne Center, Alexandria, VA 22315; near the intersection of Kingstowne Blvd and Van Dorn, just a bit south of the Beltway. There's plenty of parking!<br /><br />The Jam will be from 2-5 PM in the bar area (the Special Events room was booked for this month).</div>
Though the session is dominated by fiddlers, all appropriate instruments are welcome, within reason. We try to stick to a Scottish repertoire, from all areas of Scotland and regions with closely-related styles (like Cape Breton and the Shetland Isles), though a few Irish tunes slip in. We mostly play reels and jigs, though we're trying to get more strathspeys and other tunes into the mix. The level of play at the session depends on who shows up. We often start as a slow session for the first 30 minutes or so, and become an advanced session for the remainder.<br /><br />A tune list from previous jams is maintained on our jam blog (<a data-cke-saved-href="http://potomacvalleyscottishfiddle.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=256623c29cc26e52e497714fa&id=8b8d9da6ff&e=4cb63a57de" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://potomacvalleyscottishfiddle.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D256623c29cc26e52e497714fa%26id%3D8b8d9da6ff%26e%3D4cb63a57de&source=gmail&ust=1490362082372000&usg=AFQjCNG36x0S8r70lugHS2VFpF19BjDTCw" href="http://potomacvalleyscottishfiddle.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=256623c29cc26e52e497714fa&id=8b8d9da6ff&e=4cb63a57de" style="color: #2baadf;" target="_blank">dcscottishsession.blogspot.com</a>), as well as an "important tunes" list sorted by key and tune type.<br /><br /><h1 class="m_-5224395125706084887null" style="color: #202020; font-size: 26px; line-height: 125%; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">Scottish Gaelic Song Circle before the Jam!</span></h1>
<br />The jam will be preceded by a Gaelic Song circle that begins at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_971163875" tabindex="0">1 PM</span>, and we're trying to overlap with puirt-a-beul in the beginning of the jam. Look for a list of jam tunes that are also are tunes for well-known puirt at the jam blog.</div>
<br />Mar sin leibh an-dràsda! (Good bye for now!)<br />PeterPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-82476589902410940532017-06-21T05:49:00.002-07:002017-06-21T05:49:35.945-07:00Shows to watch out for...With our band back at full strength, the Devil's Tailors are back to gigging. We don't have a lot on our plate yet, but we can confirm that we will be playing the Fiddle Stage at the Virginia Scottish Games, and the Takoma Park Folk Festival again! So look for us there, and look for more news about bookings soon.<br /><br />We're hoping to be back into a regular pub gig by fall.Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-91302842708473028022017-06-21T05:42:00.001-07:002017-07-24T14:04:09.662-07:00The Devil's Tailors Welcomes Scott Morrison to the Band<span style="color: white;">After being short-handed for a year and a half, the Devil's Tailors is very happy to be back at full strength! </span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">We're very excited to welcome Scott Morrison to the band. We're very excited to welcome Scott Morrison. Scott is an extremely talented percussionist, whistle player, and Gaelic singer (and is actually Amy's Gaelic teacher, soon to be Pete's as well), as the 5th member of the band. He sat in with us at Southern Maryland for two shows, and everyone in the band spontaneously decided they wanted him to join us full time.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">With Scott filling out the 5th slot the band, we'll stay with a single fret player, so we'll be retooling some of our orchestrations, moving Peter from whistle back to fiddle in places, and we'll probably be shifting more of our song repertoire into Gaelic in the future. So very exciting stuff!</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">Here's a little about Scott, in his own words:</span><br />
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<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-8215277e-caa5-bd37-ee0c-76b279c77c16" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Scott Morrison is a private music instructor living in Elkridge, Maryland where he has been running his school, Rimshots, Inc., for nearly 20 years. He holds a B.S. in Music from Frostburg State University with a double concentration in K-12 Music Education and Percussion Performance. His teaching credits include private percussion lessons through Rimshots, regular workshops on the bodhràn, spoons, bones, and tin whistle at The House of Musical Traditions in Takoma Park and at The Appalachian Bluegrass Shoppe in Catonsville, annual appearances at area Celtic Festivals in Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Southern Pennsylvania, and at the Gaelic College in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br class="kix-line-break" /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mr. Morrison plays in the world beat band called Big Blow and the Bushwackers and he leads his own Scottish/Irish traditional ensemble called Dìleab Phrìseil (Precious Heritage) and has performed with Celtic music notables like Billy McComisky, Bonnie Rideout, Neil Foley, Anrew Dodds, Ben Williams, Skylark, Donna Nomick, and now The Devil’s Tailors. Mr. Morrison is a fluent Scotish Gaelic speaker and has worked part time as an on-line Gaelic instructor for the Atlantic Gaelic Academy and as a Gaelic phone interpreter for Language Line Services. He also writes Gaelic poetry, sings traditional Gaelic songs, and is currently working online towards a BA in Gaelic Language and Culture through the Gaelic College on Skye, Scotland called An t-Sabhal Mòr Ostaig. Mr. Morrison also has had an article on the history of the bodhràn in Percussive Notes back in 2011.</span></span></span></blockquote>
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<br />Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-49745370052835103982017-03-23T06:46:00.002-07:002017-07-24T14:02:06.729-07:00We're playing a jam this Sunday, and Southern Maryland Celtic Festival 4/29!<h2 class="null" style="display: block; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 26px; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 125%; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-size: 18px;">The Devil's Tailors at Pub Stage at the Southern Maryland Celtic Festival, Saturday April 29 at 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM</span></span></h2>
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<span style="color: white;">We're very excited to have been asked to return to the <a data-cke-saved-href="http://www.cssm.org/events/festival/" href="http://www.cssm.org/events/festival/" target="_blank">Southern Maryland Celtic Festiva</a>l
(http://www.cssm.org/events/festival/) for two shows this coming April,
at their pub stage. We'll be sharing the stage with other great acts
like Iona, The American Rogues, and more; and there's a lot to do at the
festival besides. Come on out and see us!</span><br />
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<span style="color: white;">Amy and Peter will be traveling to Scotland soon after, in May, but look for more shows to be announced starting soon.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; line-height: normal;"><br /><span style="font-size: 18px;">Scottish Jam Session This Coming <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_971163870" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">Sunday, March 26th</span></span> from <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_971163871" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">2:00</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; line-height: normal;"> to </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; line-height: normal;"><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_971163872" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">5:00PM</span></span> at Fiona's Irish Pub in Kingstowne</span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Looking for something to do this <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_971163873" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">coming Sunday</span></span> afternoon? Want to see the Tailors (or most of them, at least), in an informal setting?</span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-size: small;"><br />Then
come one, come all to the only open Scottish jam session in the area.
Play or listen to fiddles, pipes, whistles, guitars, and other
instruments play the traditional music of Scotland and the Western
Isles, as well as Shetland and Cape Breton.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: helvetica; line-height: normal;">
<div style="font-family: arial, 'helvetica neue', helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 125%; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: small;">The DC-area Scottish jam will be trying out a new home, at Fiona's Irish Pub in Kingstowne (<a data-cke-saved-href="http://potomacvalleyscottishfiddle.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=256623c29cc26e52e497714fa&id=f5ca599237&e=4cb63a57de" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://potomacvalleyscottishfiddle.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D256623c29cc26e52e497714fa%26id%3Df5ca599237%26e%3D4cb63a57de&source=gmail&ust=1490362082372000&usg=AFQjCNF-YpRCp2WAqrpFLnUWF_NYLUoSew" href="http://potomacvalleyscottishfiddle.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=256623c29cc26e52e497714fa&id=f5ca599237&e=4cb63a57de" rel="nofollow" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">http://www.fionasirishpub.com</a></span><wbr></wbr><span style="font-size: small;">). Fiona's
is located at 5810 Kingstowne Center, Alexandria, VA 22315; near the
intersection of Kingstowne Blvd and Van Dorn, just a bit south of the
Beltway. There's plenty of parking!<br /><br />The Jam will be from 2-5 PM in the bar area (the Special Events room was booked for this month).</span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-size: small;">
Though the session is dominated by fiddlers, all appropriate
instruments are welcome, within reason. We try to stick to a Scottish
repertoire, from all areas of Scotland and regions with closely-related
styles (like Cape Breton and the Shetland Isles), though a few Irish
tunes slip in. We mostly play reels and jigs, though we're trying to get
more strathspeys and other tunes into the mix. The level of play at the
session depends on who shows up. We often start as a slow session for
the first 30 minutes or so, and become an advanced session for the
remainder.</span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-size: small;"><br />A tune list from previous jams is maintained on our jam blog (<a data-cke-saved-href="http://potomacvalleyscottishfiddle.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=256623c29cc26e52e497714fa&id=8b8d9da6ff&e=4cb63a57de" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://potomacvalleyscottishfiddle.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D256623c29cc26e52e497714fa%26id%3D8b8d9da6ff%26e%3D4cb63a57de&source=gmail&ust=1490362082372000&usg=AFQjCNG36x0S8r70lugHS2VFpF19BjDTCw" href="http://potomacvalleyscottishfiddle.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=256623c29cc26e52e497714fa&id=8b8d9da6ff&e=4cb63a57de" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">dcscottishsession.blogspot.<wbr></wbr>com</a>), as well as an "important tunes" list sorted by key and tune type.</span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-size: 18px;">Scottish Gaelic Song Circle before the Jam!</span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">The jam will be preceded by a Gaelic Song circle that begins at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_971163875" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">1 PM</span></span>,
and we're trying to overlap with puirt-a-beul in the beginning of the
jam. Look for a list of jam tunes that are also are tunes for well-known
puirt at the jam blog.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Mar sin leibh an-dràsda! (Good bye for now!)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Peter</span></span>Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-18652281635653330452016-12-04T09:00:00.001-08:002017-07-24T14:05:59.707-07:00More Changes to the Devil's Tailors<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">It's been a few months since we last checked in, and some great gigs. After our gigs at the Virginia Scottish Games, the Takoma Folk street festival, and the Outlander Fashion show, Rosemary Hall has had to say farewell to the band. She's going to be immersing herself in her last semester of grad school, among other projects, and so decided it was time to step away from performance.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">We'll really miss Rosemary, and wish her the best of luck in all her future adventures!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">But with that second hole in our line-up, we had to fill the ranks quickly. Fortunately, we found a new fiddler almost immediately, in the form of the electrifying Kaitlyn Likas!</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.thedevilstailors.com/Assorted_Images/Kaitlyn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Kaitlyn is the fiddler for Capital Celtic and The Wild Irish Roses, and will be also joining the Devil's Tailors full time. As her bio on the <a href="http://www.capitalceltic.band/" target="_blank">Capital Celtic site</a> says:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "myriad pro" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Kaitlyn Likas (A.KA. The Wild Irish Rose) is an award-winning fiddler and Irish/ Scottish dancer based in the Washington DC area. From an early age, Momma Likas ingrained in Kaitlyn and her siblings an awareness and appreciation of their cultural heritage. As a first-generation Irish American, Kaitlyn makes a point to be active in her local Irish community here in Virginia, DC and Maryland. You might have seen her sawing on strings, and dancing on swords with the well-known Irish sister group, "The Wild Irish Roses." </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "myriad pro" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Kaitlyn began her dancing career at the age of 4, learning Scottish Highland dance because Irish was sadly not available in Southern Maryland "back in the day." She later was taught Irish dance in high school from both the Hunt and Broesler schools in Maryland, winning various competitions and championships. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: "myriad pro" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Kaitlyn is a self-taught fiddler with humble beginnings as a classically trained violinist. After playing classical for over 10 years, Kaitlyn took on the new challenge of teaching herself the fiddle. Since then, she has not looked back! Kaitlyn is the only female fiddler to perform in the Baltimore-based Irish punk band, The Charm City Saints. The Charm City Saints contributed music to various Irish films and documentaries. Kaitlyn has also recently performed with Black 47, O'Malley's March, Celtica, and The Fighting Jameson's. Her musical inspirations are Lunasa and The Chieftains. Since starting "The Wild Irish Roses," Kaitlyn has performed at several Irish/Celtic festivals on the east coast, including ShamrockFest. She has graced the stages of The Kennedy Center, and various restaurants and pubs. One of the most recent highlights of Kaitlyn's career was performing before Her Excellency, Ambassador to Ireland, Anne Anderson at Fiona's Irish Pub in Kingstowne, VA.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: "myriad pro" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">In her spare time, Kaitlyn volunteers as secretary to the Ballyshaners, a charitable Irish organization in Old Town Alexandria. She enjoys painting and sculpting, and dreams of opening a Celtic arts school in the future. Kaitlyn currently works as a contractor to the Department of Defense.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">We are very excited to have Kaitlyn with us! We've already played two gigs with her - one a house concert/ceilidh for a wonderful couple and their friends and neighbors who had visited Cape Breton but hasn't had much chance to see any music; and the other the St. Andrew's Day Kirkin' at Christchurch Episcopal in La Plata, MD, which we first played last year. A great thank you to everyone who saw us there.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">But Kaitlyn is not our only change. We have become a smaller band in another way, and this time in a permanent one. Soon after our Mid-MD gig, Peter was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. You might have noticed from the pictures taken from Strongbow's in August 2015 that he had become a very... jolly... piper. Well, no more of that. Much of this year has been a relentless focus on his health and weight, and so music has had to take a back seat to that. The good news is that Peter is down 75 pounds as of this writing, with 25 more to go, and his blood sugar is completely under control - meaning he'll be playing tunes in good health for the indefinite future, but the bad is that this and the personnel change has once again slowed down work on the album.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">So the plan moving forward is this: </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">We're going to be spending December and January getting Kaitlyn up to speed on some of our current material, while working up a few sets that were in the pipeline - some of which Peter composed! Peter and Jim will also begin laying the groundwork for the album, with an eye to the first tracks going down in January and February, after some December trial runs. We'll resume our hunt for the perfect person to step in and fill Chris' large shoes. And some time in spring, look for the website to be completely revamped!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">It's slow going, but the destination is in sight. Thanks to all of you for sticking with us!</span></div>
Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-24053105672622191582016-08-23T13:26:00.002-07:002016-08-23T13:27:42.940-07:00<h1 style="font-size: 26px; line-height: 32.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;">
A line-up of shows this September!</span></h1>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;" /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;">Saturday 9/3, 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM, Main Stage, </span><a href="http://thedevilstailors.us11.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=7a2f1c127f67617a35e9a3427&id=6d336944b9&e=967a3cdb8e" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;" target="_blank">Virginia Scottish Games</a><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;">, The Plains, VA</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;" /></span><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;">Sunday 9/11, 10:00 AM, </span><a href="http://thedevilstailors.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7a2f1c127f67617a35e9a3427&id=f3d75307f2&e=967a3cdb8e" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;" target="_blank">Takoma Park Gazebo</a><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;">, Takoma Park, MD</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;" /></span><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;">Saturday 9/17, 12:45 PM, </span><a href="http://thedevilstailors.us11.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=7a2f1c127f67617a35e9a3427&id=44dff9ab28&e=967a3cdb8e" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;" target="_blank">2nd Annual Scottish Heritage Weekend: Outlander Style</a><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;">, Carlyle House Park, Alexandria, VA</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;" /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;">After a summer break, we've got three great shows coming up in September. Firstly, we'll be returning for the 3rd time in a row to the main stage of the Virginia Scottish Games. We'll be joined by Jennifer Lubell on the bodhran. Entrance is $20/adult for one day, and there's so much to see at the games.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;" /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;">The next weekend, we'll be in Takoma Park playing in the downtown gazebo, just up the block from the House of Musical Traditions, opening the Takoma FOLK festival. This is a small festival put on by many of the organizers of the much larger Takoma Park Folk Festival, which is taking a year off to look for volunteers to help run the event (email me if you're interested!).</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;" /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;">Finally, on 9/17, we'll be in Alexandria, VA at the Carlyle House, performing in period costume on period instruments for an Outlander-themed Scottish heritage festival. We had a lot of fun doing this last year, and it'll be great to do it again. The event runs both days, and you can see a fashion show of reenactors on the following Sunday (to which Peter might turn up as well).</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;" /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;">We keep running into roadblocks for our album, but October has been set aside to go into the studio. I've got the gear, I've got the software, time to lay down some tracks. Stay tuned for more info!</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;" /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;">We're also performing at a St. Andrew's Day/Kirkin' o' the Tartan festival at Christ Church Episcopal in La Plata, Maryland on November 27th, along with the City of Alexandria Pipes and Drums! This'll be a great event for everyone in the Southern Maryland area to come out and enjoy! More info on this event as we get closer to it.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px;">Mar sin leibh an-dràsda! (Good bye for now!)</span></span></span>Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-53769089664795899882016-03-08T18:06:00.005-08:002016-03-09T07:15:37.625-08:00Taking Stock in 2016With the year that was 2015, things are going to be different in 2016.<br />
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We've been powering through the fall and winter, but now that spring is here, we're going to take a little break from performance.<br />
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We've had some wonderful gigs; what looks to be turning a regular Ceilidh hosted by Fraser Brown and Kuki Hansen in DC in February, with another coming up on May 7th. We'll be performing on St. Patrick's Day for a convention hosted by the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry. And we'll be playing the acoustic stage at the Mid-Maryland Celtic Festival on May 14th.<br />
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But after that, we'll be taking a break, except for the occasional event or Ceilidh that might come up. For several reasons - we're down a man with Chris' departure, and Rosemary has a wonderful internship opportunity that will take her away from us for the summer.<br />
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We've got a lot of work on our plates, and it's time to roll up our sleeves and get it done.<br />
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I know I've talked about "finally getting that album out" for a lot of years now, but this summer it will happen. It has to happen. The first album will cover the material we've been playing since we started out as a band, and I hope to get a couple of favorite guest musicians to show up as well. Planning for that will occur in April, and tracks will be laid down in late May and June. For real, this time.<br />
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We'll be adding new songs and sets, and for the first time, Amy will begin to take lead on a couple of them. We'll also bring our website into this decade with a complete overhaul.<br />
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We'll also be diving into looking into a new permanent fourth member; and depending on the skill set of the person that is a match for us, will likely be re-orchestrating a lot of our sets to take advantage of that.<br />
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With any luck, we'll be back in the beginning of September with a head of steam, with albums to sell, a new website, a new face, and some great new material.<br />
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So stick with us - there's more great stuff to come.Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-36822168679581159522016-03-08T17:51:00.003-08:002016-03-08T17:51:33.552-08:002015 in reviewWow, that was a whirlwind of a year, our busiest yet. The Devil's Tailors played over 20 times, including such highlight events as a Burns Supper for the University of Glasgow's Alumni Club, a Reception at the British Embassy, the Virginia Scottish Games, and the Takoma Park Folk Festival!<br />
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We also played some Ceilidhs, and did a set of 18th century music for an "Outlander Fashion Show" hosted by one of the historic houses in Alexandria, along with the Stewarts of Appin Regiment living history reenactors.<br />
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We added some very fun new repertoire, instrumentals and Gaelic songs alike. We gained a regular venue: John Strongbow's Tavern in Old Town Alexandria, building a relationship that also allowed us to find a new home for the DC area's only open Scottish Jam!<br />
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We saw familiar faces - our former fiddler, Chelle Fulk, and long-time friend to the band, Andrew Dodds, filled in the fiddler spot until our permanent member could arrive. We saw Liz Donaldson call and play piano with us at a ceilidh.<br />
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We saw new faces - Rosemary Hall finally graduated from St. Andrew's University in Scotland, and claimed the fiddler spot in the band we'd been hoping to offer her since before she went off to college! Also, Pete's wife Amy began turning out with the band to provide more back-up vocals, but most importantly to be our full-time sound engineer.<br />
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We had some great guests, including Adam Bern and Caitlin Perdue on fiddle, and Jennifer Lubell on bodhran, and shared the stage at Strongbow's with Janie Meneely and Molly Hickman of Calico Jenny. We were introduced to a great young Ceilidh caller, and college pal of Rosemary's, Mel Butler.<br />
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We also had to say good-bye. After many years with us, founding member Chris Lindsay has departed the Devil's Tailors. Though not official until just after the new year, his last performance with us was at the Takoma Park Folk Festival. We hope to work with Chris on a project or two in the future, but for now, we wish him well in all his endeavors.<br />
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So that's it - a crazy year all around, and a level of intensity we won't be able to sustain in 2016. But stay tuned, because we're not going anywhere.Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-45762595813413714762015-02-12T16:25:00.000-08:002015-02-12T16:25:12.635-08:00But 2015 looks like it's going to be awesome!<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We started off the year with a bang - with Andrew Dodds as guest fiddler, we started things off right at <a href="http://johnstrongbows.com/" target="_blank">John Strongbow's Tavern</a> for their New Year's Eve celebration. We brought out the <span style="line-height: 18px;">gaita grileira</span> for the debut of Maggie Lauder, and introduced a few new sets - the Beach Jigs (including two tunes by Peter), The Crookit Hornpipe, the Nuptial Jigs and Troy's Turf.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">John Strongbow's Tavern is a fun little place with a medieval/renaissance theme. And when Peter began to learn more about the place, he discovered that his old friend Karla Booth (back from when he was just starting out on pipes and fiddle) was one of the co-owners! So it was a perfect fit. Every band needs a home port, and we're lucky to be given the chance to make John Strongbow's ours.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">So for the foreseeable future, we'll be playing John Strongbow's monthly. Our first two gigs are on the calendar, with Chelle Fulk joining us on fiddle.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We've also got a Burns Supper gig coming up, the National Capitol Tartan Day Festival, and in fall we'll be playing a showcase at a local winery, hopefully leading to a regular gig there.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We're hoping to get some new shows in new venues as well, both festivals and pubs. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We'll be debuting even more new sets at National Capitol Tartan Day - including a march, strathspey, and reel set entirely written by Peter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And is this the year we finally record that album we've been promising for the last four? Well, now that we'll be gigging more, Peter can't use "I'm out of practice" as an excuse anymore!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But the most exciting bit of news is that we'll be having a full-time fiddler joining us in June. Rosemary Hall (bio in the "the band" section) finishes up school to return to DC. She'll be spending the summer at the Smithsonian, and while we can't predict where grad school takes her, we're hoping she's with us for a while! We've known Rosemary since she was in High School, and have played with her in the regular DC jam on many occasions, as well as with the Tailors at least twice, and are extremely excited to be working with her again as our fiddler!</span>Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-17493765943015346192015-02-12T15:56:00.003-08:002015-02-12T15:56:40.843-08:00It was a slow 2014Well, we never really recovered from our fiddler shortage in 2014. We more or less took the year off, playing a total of four gigs. We had a blast making our annual return to the National Capitol Tartan Day festival, with Chelle Fulk returning to play fiddle. It was cold and windy, but a lot of fun.<br />
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Then we played a small fundraiser for the U.S. National Mòd, alongside some wonderful Gaelic singers, and with Barbara Saliunas. We provided a bunch of instrumental sets, and one Gaelic waulking/rowing song, which also saw the public debut of Peter on the wire-strung <i>clàrsach</i> (Gaelic small harp).<br />
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Then we got a wonderful opportunity - we got to play the main stage on both days at the Virginia Scottish Games, with Andrew Dodds as our guest fiddler, in addition to our usual showing at the Fiddle Tent. THAT was fun. Seriously. We had good and responsive crowds, and I got to debut my new Gaelic song, <i>Duthaich Mhic Aoidh</i>, which is about the clearances. We had a lot of people come up and talk to us afterwards, including our new friends at <a href="http://johnstrongbows.com/" target="_blank">John Strongbow's Tavern</a>.<br />
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Which leads to our final gig of the year, and the first of the next...<br />
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(to be continued)<br />
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<br />Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-18042859795646540972013-10-16T05:51:00.002-07:002013-10-16T05:53:22.173-07:00Farewell to Chelle & Susan, and where to go from here?We had a great year with Chelle Fulk. Chelle was the consummate musician, and with her along, our musicianship and professionalism improved by leaps and bounds. Chelle showed us what we could be, and we all rose to her challenge. But we're all semi-pro/amateur musicians with day jobs, but Chelle's a real pro, and she needed a band that gigged a lot more than we did, and - combined with a move from Reston to Gaithersburg (and the vast longer commute to practice in Alexandria that entailed) - to our great regret, Chelle left the band in fall 2012, just as her other Celtic band, Keltish, was ramping up its performing and touring schedule. We hated to see her go, but before she left, Chelle recommended a new fiddler for us, Susan MacIntosh-Worrell.<br />
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Susan hails from New Zealand, by way of the Caribbean, and grew up doing Highland and Scottish Country Dance, and though she'd performed in a lot of genres, had never played Scottish music until she played with us. She was a quick study, and we were up and running in our 2.5.0 version of the band very quickly.<br />
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We had some great and memorable gigs in this incarnation. The most memorable was the Burns Supper for the Glasgow University Alumni Club, at which Bonnie Rideout was an honored guest (who rocked out to our music all evening, which was very flattering!). Liz Donaldson joined us for that gig, as well as a Law School graduation party ceilidh. We also played for the birthday party for one of the instructors at the Culkin School of Irish Dance. In these three gigs, we got the chance to really hone our skills playing for dancers, but playing for the Irish dancers was a unique treat for this Scottish band (and the were all very wonderful and friendly and made us feel very welcome!).<br />
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Another memorable gig was at the 2013 Virginia Scottish Games when Clandestine's EJ Jones joined us on stage as my wife Amy and I sang <i>Whaur Will We Gang</i>, which we had first performed at our wedding reception six weeks earlier.<br />
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But after a year with us, Susan regretfully left the band after the 2013 Virginia Scottish Games because of family obligations and scheduling conflicts, and right now we're searching for a replacement fiddler; ideally I'd like someone who can play piano as well.<br />
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The question is, where will the band go from here? Will we be 2.6.0, or will we make real changes to our format to become 3.0?<br />
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We have seen one change to our format: my lovely new wife, Amy Gray, is joining us more and more on backup vocals, and there may be a bombarde and some an dros at some point in her future! But we still need a 2nd string player, to provide fiddle for songs, and for when I'm playing the pipes.<br />
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We'll see more emphasis on the pipe sets, and a little less on the fiddle-only sets. We'll be doing some more jigs and hornpipes, and some sets that start off as competitions MSRs before going into round reels. We're singing more in Gaelic; so far we've got <i>Hi Ri Him Bo</i> and <i>Là Dhomh 's mi a 'm Beinn a' Cheathaich</i>, and I'll probably add a few more, like <i>Tha Tigh'n Fodham Eiridh</i>.<br />
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In the interim, this coming November through January, we'll finally finish recording the first album, and probably lay down tracks for the next while we're at it. I will play some of the fiddle tracks on the pipe instrumentals, and we're likely to hire Chelle to join us for the songs.<br />
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With any luck, we'll find the right fiddler, and you'll be seeing and hearing a lot more from us in 2014!<br />
<br />Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-67083895849899962682012-05-02T06:30:00.002-07:002012-05-02T06:32:14.397-07:00Welcoming Chelle, and the Devil's Tailors 2.4.0We're very excited to introduce <a href="http://www.chellefulk.com/">Chelle Fulk</a>, the Tailors' latest seamstress, who has joined us in the 2.4.0 incarnation of the band!<br />
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The dedicated fiddler slot has been hard to keep filled, with such great friends as Lauren Brenzo, Andrew Dodds, Barbara Saliunas, Katy Summerlin, Rosemary Hall joining us on stage either as one-time guests or recurring players; and for much of the band's life, Susanne Bard in this role.<br />
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As of last September, Susanne departed the band, for reasons of health and family, and we wish her the best! Soon after, we began looking for someone to step into that slot, and Chelle - with whom I have had the opportunity to work and play on several occasions - seemed an obvious choice.<br />
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Chelle comes to us with a long resume, having played in The Pyrates Royale, Coyote Run, Keltish, and many other groups. Chelle's biggest strength is the diversity of accompaniment, harmony, and improvisation she brings to her playing. This frees me up to do less fiddle in the songs, and be bolder on fiddle in the instrumentals; and at the same time she can rock a tune when playing unison on fiddle while I pipe.<br />
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Chelle joined us for our performance at the Southern Maryland Celtic Festival, and will be playing at least two private events in the immediate future and looking to book more.<br />
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Chelle's a busy (and famous!) gal, and so when we can't get her for gigs in the summer and around holidays, we will likely still share the stage with the lovely and talented Rosemary Hall, when we can pull her away from her studies at college.<br />
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With Chelle's arrival, we'll be rolling out some new repertoire - a set of slip jigs, a new Gaelic song, and some fun Scots songs to be accompanied by 17th Century Lowland Bagpipe (also known as the Galician Gaita Grillera).<br />
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We hope to soon have some more surprises with regards to gigs and personnel, but I want to note that starting in 3 weeks, we're going to back on the wagon with regards to recording our long-delayed first album which, honestly hasn't got much further than the scratch tracks we laid down a year ago.<br />
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-PetePeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-24398299368650027482011-06-23T07:22:00.000-07:002011-06-23T07:28:51.087-07:00In the StudioThe Devil's Tailors are (finally) recording our first album! It will cover our oldest repertoire, the stuff we were playing pretty much when Susanne joined the band, leaving us with an additional album's worth of material for the next effort.<br /><br />This past weekend, Jim came over to my house and we laid down five scratch tracks and four guitar tracks, and on Tuesday night Chris came over and we recorded a click track for one of his songs. Jim will be returning Sunday morning to record three more click tracks and four guitar tracks. And I've got a workaround in place for a click track for sets where we're changing tempo, like those with a strathspey/reel and/or march/strathspey transition.<br /><br />We're very excited to be finally doing this, and hope to have an album to sell in the late fall. Not soon enough for the Virginia Games, probably, but soon after that.Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-74581754037875768082011-05-27T06:18:00.000-07:002011-05-27T06:29:41.334-07:00New Performance DatesWe've just booked some interesting gigs. We'll be playing the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nrl.navy.mil">U.S. Naval Research Laboratory</a>'s Diversity Day festival on June 8th, with <a target="_blank" href="http://liltirishmusic.com/">Lilt</a>'s Keith Carr sitting in for Chris Lindsay (who's on travel), the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.homespunceilidh.com/">Homespun Ceilidh Band</a>'s Jennifer Lubell joining us for some steps & bodhran, along with Rosemary Hall, who'll be returning to play with us for a third time.<br /><br />On July 6th, we'll be playing an employee picnic for the folks at the Smithsonian on the DC National Mall, playing on one of the stages put up for the Folklife Festival (which will be on break). A lot of acts put in bids for this one, and we are very pleased to be asked to perform.<br /><br />We're also finalizing a concert-on-the-lawn at the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nvrpa.org/park/carlyle_house_historic_park">Carlyle House</a> in Alexandria, VA. This is a new concert series they're putting on, and is open and free to the public, so come on out. Dates are still being discussed, but we're probably looking at late July. <br /><br />We're also likely to play a birthday party in August, and are looking at a possible pub gig, before the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.vascottishgames.org/">Virginia Scottish Games</a> over Labor Day weekend.Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-90245406756925266982011-05-18T05:46:00.001-07:002011-05-18T05:50:13.277-07:00Some New TunesThe Devil's Tailors will begin looking aggressively at new festivals & venues to play, and we're hoping to be performing a lot more in the fall. <br /><br />In preparation for this, we've dusted off a few sets we haven't played in a while, specifically a great - and very challenging - set of stathspeys and reels in C and G (major and minor), a set of very elegant Scots Measures in D minor, a hornpipe/reel set, some old Highland jigs, and a set of equally old slip jigs. And a few songs we've performed a couple of times but really are looking to polish up.<br /><br />Fun times are afoot!Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-47851593611481176302011-04-20T06:15:00.000-07:002011-04-20T06:20:05.914-07:00A Proud MomentI had the good fortune to catch Laura Cortese "and friends" (Natalie & Brittany Haas, and Mariel Vandersteel) last week at The Lyceum in Alexandria. Great show, mostly focused on Laura's songs, showing Laura's continued evolution away from the strict Scottish/Celtic idiom.<br /><br />Before the show, Kent Murray (who produced the event) was making announcements, and asked Sarah Brenzo, president of the Celtic Society of Southern Maryland, who was playing at their upcoming festival. After listing a couple of names, Sarah, sitting right behind me, proudly added, "The Devil's Tailors are also playing!". Kent nodded, and asked, "Great. Is Peter here?"<br /><br />Thought that was a nice plug for a band yet to break out, like ours.<br /><br />-PeterPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-76631876172877722922011-04-20T06:04:00.000-07:002011-04-20T06:20:25.768-07:00Micing the SmallpipesOne of the persistent challenges I've faced is how to amplify all my various instruments, and mute them individually where necessary. I've pretty much worked out the system for my fiddle, big pipes, and finally the flute. I use a 4-input mini-mixer to balance the levels of the various instruments, and a volume pedal (for the fiddle) and stomp boxes to mute the various channels.<br /><br />The smallpipes have been a tough nut to crack. Previously we'd given them their own vocal mic channel, shared with Chris' bodhran. The levels on these two instruments were so different, though, that it proved impractical. And there's the issue of the sound guy forgetting to turn up the smallpipe mic (as happened at Southern Maryland last year). Chris loaned me a wireless vocal mic package to try to use, and we thought we'd got it balanced in time for the Tartan Day gig - but the mic was so hot it ended up being a feedback magnet.<br /><br />So I'm going to try a new approach for Southern Maryland this year: I will run a vocal mic through my mini-mixer, and have a dedicated stand for it, which will also host the mic stand clips for my whistles and flutes. The mic and cable will be stored in my pedal case, and the levels pre-set, so it'll be transparent to the sound guy. It would also facilitate me using the border pipes as well, which I'd like to do on Tramps & Hawkers eventually. <br /><br />Wish me luck!<br /><br />In other news, look for some minor site updates this afternoon in the "Calendar" and "The Band" sections.<br /><br />-PeterPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-76396824153676833342011-04-13T05:51:00.000-07:002011-04-20T06:03:56.981-07:00Tartan Day 2011 & Band UpdateThe National Tartan Day Festival in Old Town Alexandria was one of the more challenging gigs we've played this year, mainly because of some very Scottish weather! Despite a forecast of 18% chance of 0.01" of rain through the day, we alternated between bouts of pouring rain and sunshine through the whole day. Much of the day was spent waiting for breaks in the rain to bring out our performers. Scheduling conflicts reduced our turnout of performers this year, but we had good crowds considering the weather.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.capd-online.com" target="_blank">City of Alexandria Pipes and Drums</a> put in a fantastic performance during one of our dry spells, and we did a long set early in the afternoon and a short set to wrap up the show. It was a lot of fun to have our friends at the Carlyle House, Celtic Society of Southern Maryland, and Virginia Scottish Games in the audience to hear us, and we appear in the video that the Washington Times put up, shown below:<br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="560" height="349" align="center" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XuYUiRKXMA0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />Especially fun was having fiddler Rosemary Hall play with us again, and we've invited her to join the band for all future gigs for which she's available (what with starting college in the fall!).<br /><br />We've taken something of a hiatus, performing only two public events, plus a birthday party and a Burns supper, in the last year, but we're back and trying to get into venues and festivals, and are hoping to be playing a lot more in the last half of this year. We've added new songs to our repertoire: <span style="font-style:italic;">Hi Ri Him Bo</span>, <span style="font-style:italic;">John Barleycorn</span>, and <span style="font-style:italic;">Craigieburn Wood</span>; and are working on some new instrumentals, specifically some slip jigs, a hornpipe/jig set and a hornpipe/reel set.<br /><br />And it's finally that time. Soon we will sit down and begin to record our first album.Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-5865256922558186242011-03-28T05:56:00.000-07:002011-03-28T05:57:30.647-07:00New Shows!The Devil's Tailors are coming off a bit of a break and are playing shows again. Come check us out at Market Square in Old Town Alexandria, VA on April 2nd for the National Tartan Day celebration, and on April 30th at the Southern Maryland Celtic Festival!Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-66927037090650214682010-03-10T06:46:00.000-08:002010-03-10T08:14:11.243-08:00Lots of New HappeningsGreetings, all!<br /><br />The Devil's Tailors played a fantastic gig at <a href="http://www.royalmilepub.com">The Royal Mile Pub</a> on January 9th. We started a bit late, but the house was packed almost until we finished up around midnight, and had a great reception! We debuted a lot of new material, including "Ye Banks and Braes", our Shetland-inspired take on "The Bonny Ship the Diamond", a 17th century song called "The Mosstrooper's Lament", and the original version of "Auld Lang Syne".<br /><br />I'd like to apologize now the the server who tripped on one of our <a href="http://www.zzounds.com/item--BEHF1520">monitors</a>, causing the breakage of a plate, delay to a customer's meal, and the loss of a perfectly good fish & chips. To prevent a repeat of this situation, I have purchased some <a href="http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Fender-1270-PA-Monitor?sku=601710">smaller ones</a>, which we tried out last night with great success. <br /><br />Driving into DC the second of this winter's four snowmageddons, on January 30th we followed up with a Burns Supper and Ceilidh for the Edinburgh University Alumni Association of DC, with <a href="http://www.lizdonaldson.com/">Liz Donaldson</a> joining us on piano for some dance sets: The Gay Gordons, Strip the Willow, Dashing White Sergeant, and The Eightsome Reel. In addition to the brilliantly fun dances, we got to play some slow tunes not normally in our repertoire during dinner, and debuted the Burns song "John Barleycorn", in addition to "Ye Banks & Braes". Thanks to the Edinburgh U. Alumni for having us, thanks for dancing to us, and we hope to see you again!<br /><br />And we've got some great new gigs on the horizon. <br /><br />There's the National Tartan Day Festival at Market Square in Old Town, Alexandria on April 3rd - a staple for us, and we'll be sharing the stage with a pipe band, highland dancers, Scottish Country Dancers, and possibly another band (more details as groups confirm).<br /><br />Then a week later, we're playing a tartan ball in Arlington, again with <a href="http://www.lizdonaldson.com/">Liz</a>, for the St. Andrew's University Alumni Association of DC.<br /><br />On April 24th, we've been invited to take the Pub Stage at the <a href="http://cssm.org/festival/">Southern Maryland Celtic Festival</a> at Jefferson Patterson Park in St. Leonard, MD. We're very excited about heading down for this one!<br /><br />Then we return to our home port of <a href="http://www.royalmilepub.com">The Royal Mile Pub</a> on May 22d with guest fiddler Katy Summerlin, and again on July 24th. <br /><br />After that, it's the <a href="http://www.vascottishgames.org/">Virginia Scottish Games</a> and more fun through fall 2010. So keep watching, because great things are happening!Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-78200515881798975582010-01-06T09:18:00.001-08:002010-01-06T09:21:50.610-08:00New Dates2010 is going to be the Year of the Tailor!<br /><br />The Devil's Tailors is proud to announce that we've booked several engagements; we'll be playing the Royal Mile this Saturday (January 9th), and again in May and July. We're playing the National Tartan Day festival in April, and the Virginia Scottish Games again in September. We're also playing a private Burns Supper at the end of January with caller and master dance-pianist Liz Donaldson.<br /><br />We're also trying to book another couple of festivals and pub gigs from February through June, stay tuned and check our calendar page.Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-15339527784581588072009-09-12T09:06:00.000-07:002010-01-06T09:13:12.636-08:00The Devil's Tailors play the Royal Mile Pub<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.royalmilepub.com/photos/2474032.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 604px; height: 404px;" src="http://www.royalmilepub.com/photos/2474032.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />We had the great honor of being invited to play the Royal Mile Pub for the party celebrating the transition to its new owner, Michael Moore. Michael and the Royal Mile sponsored the fiddle tent at the Virginia Scottish Games this year, and we were thrilled to return the favor by playing the party in his honor.<br /><br />Also thanks to Barbara Saliunas (who came away from the Potomac Valley Scottish Fiddle Competition with an arm full of prizes just last Sunday!) for filling in for Susanne, who couldn't make it.<br /><br />We had a blast, and the audience and pub loved us, and really look forward to playing there again in the future!Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-73123151500076279322009-09-08T14:21:00.000-07:002010-01-10T18:26:00.782-08:00The Virginia Scottish GamesTwo shows at the Virginia Scottish Games left us ready for more. We shared the stage with some great acts, Dileab Phriseil, The Potomac Valley Scottish Fiddle Club, Terpsichore, Peat & Barley, The Homespun Ceilidh Band, Becky Ross w/ Liz Donaldson, and the teriffic trio of Andrew Dodds, Liam Andrews, and Collier Hyams.<br /><br />Saturday was the wilder gig, with a tent flowing to capacity and more; but we had a great crowd Sunday as well. Just someone remind me not to wear ankle socks with the kilt ever again.<br /><br />Pictures over on our <a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=109968&id=50210313411" target="_blank">page </a> on Facebook, and possibly some video soon!Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4044157024271114797.post-61708151656151968282009-08-25T08:57:00.000-07:002009-08-25T09:48:46.639-07:00A Diabolical SummerGreetings, all!<br /><br />Well, we've been quiet since our most recent gig at Celebrate Fairfax! But we've been busy.<br /><br />In the last couple of months, we've been solidifying our instrumental repertoire, and looking toward some future sets. But we've mostly been working on new songs! We currently perform five songs, and we've got another five that are almost ready to debut, and another half-dozen we might see by year's end. At that point, we'll be about 50/50 on songs versus instrumentals.<br /><br />What does this mean? Well, it means that we'll be booking more pub gigs, longer gigs and concerts, and gigging more frequently. And... maybe an album on the distant horizon...<br /><br />In the meantime, we've got two shows coming up at the Virginia Scottish Games over Labor Day weekend, and possibly a pub gig on 9/9. Stay tuned for details!<br /><br />PeterPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12425550507135906000noreply@blogger.com0