|
LATEST NEWS
29 07
2010 - Hydes Brewery Promotion.
It's been ten
years but Manchester based brewery Hydes are hosting a
series of promotional nights featuring the band. The
first three dates have been confirmed (see gigs on the
home page).
03 07
2010 - Special rates.
A special offer to
pubs and clubs in South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, one
third off our normal rate if you book the band for
dates between December and February.
03 07
2010 - Phil moves house.
Following Phil's
move to Derbyshire, most of the band are now based
much more handily for working around the Yorkshire,
Derbyshire area and further afield.
02 03
2010 - Batley Irish Club.
We are delighted
to have been asked to play again at Batley Irish
Democratic League Club, based in West Yorkshire.
We return to the
club on Saturday April 17th, hopefully see a few old
friends on the night.
05 02
2010 - Team Spirit (Oldham).
Over the past few
months we have had dealings with a company called TEAM
SPIRIT that I wish to tell you about in order to
suggest you refrain from working with them.
In August last
year this events management company based in Oldham,
Lancashire contacted a highly respected band agent
with a view to booking Mr Grumpy’s Ceilidh Band. Team
Spirit initially asked the agent to reduce our fee as
they told us they were under pressure from the client,
we therefore reduced our fee accordingly yet found out
that they added a whacking £500 to the bill for their
own ‘administration’, nearly doubling the charge to
their clients.
With only a week
to go before the October booking, Team Spirit
eventually agreed to a contract which included payment
within 30 days. After two months without payment we
had to revert to the Small Claims Court to force them
to pay, they kept telling us that they had not been
paid by the client. We found out that they had in fact
been paid in full weeks before the booking took
place.
Team Spirit also
told the client they had contracted the band for a
second event in February and took another hefty
deposit for that event. In fact they had not contacted
the agent or the band.
My advice is ask
your agent if any booking has come through Team Spirit
on behalf of a client. These people have no qualms
about how they treat clients, agents and bands alike.
Phil: Whiskey in the Jar.
12 01
2010 - Clancy Brothers Tribute night.
Saturday
6th March sees the band perform a tribute to The
Clancy Brothers as part of the Manchester Irish
Festival. The evening takes places at the Union Bar,
Levenshulme.
14 11
2009 - Another new date.
Saturday
12th December sees the band play for the first time at
St Cuthbert's in Withington for a charity concert.
Tickets at £5.00 are available from the Red Lion next
door.
20 08
2009 - New dates added.
New date
added are: August 29th Heaton House Beer Festival,
September 5th Waterloo RUFC, September 18th Bolton
Irish Centre and November 7th Parrswood Hotel,
Didsbury
near Stockport.
10 08
2009 - Change in the line-up.
After 10
years with the band, our long-standing banjo player
Stuart has opted to have a break from the band. We are
fortunate that the band's caller Brendan has agreed to
join the band on a permanent basis adding a new
dimension to the band. Brendan plays Mandola and
Bodhran and enjoys singing too, a great addition to
the band.
10 07
2009 - New diary dates.
Preston
this coming Saturday for an evening with the Shamrock
Dancers and their annual charity gig, St Benedict's is
the venue this time. A few more public gigs have been
added too, see the home page for details.
10 07
2009 - New date for Penketh festival.
A change
of date for our appearance at the Ferry Tavern,
Penketh, near Warrington. The new date is Sunday 2nd
August, starting 4.00pm. A
date not to be missed.
23
02 2009 - Two new gigs announced.
If you're a Glasgow Celtic fan you'll want to
celebrate their anticipated Co-Op cup win on March
15th at the Bolton Irish Centre. If you can't make
that occasion then we are back locally on April 26th
at the Bryn Hall Hotel in Wigan.
06 02 2009 - St Patrick's weekend in Manchester.
A rare appearance in Manchester has been arranged for
St Anne's Social Centre in Stretford as part of their
St Patrick's weekend festivities. Saturday 21st March
is the date.
06 02 2009
- Return
to Bolton Irish Club.
The band return to Bolton Irish Centre on 24th April
following their successful appearance in January. The
club are advising people to arrive early as a big
crowd is expected on the night. Entry is just £3.00
tbc.
11 2008 - Another 20th Anniversary Gig.
The band return to the Haslingden Irish Democratic
League on Saturday 14th February. The club is enjoying
much success in recent times and are again booking
bands.
18 11 2008 - Barrowford gig confirmed.
We have confirmed a rare appearance in the Burnley
area as guests of the Pendle Irish Society. Ticket
details will be announced on this website soon.
08 11 2008 - Bolton gig confirmed.
We are pleased to confirmed that the band are to play
at Bolton Irish Centre on Friday 23rd January. The
band always enjoy the hospitality and great atmosphere
at the club.
14 10 2008 - 20th Birthday Celebrations.
The band is 20 years old in 2009, and we plan to
celebrate with a series of public gigs. We have
written to around 80 venues inviting them to book the
band during the promotion period, so if you want to
see us at a venue near you, give us a call. Details on
the contact page.
20 06 2008 - St Patrick's Day 2009.
We are
now booked for St Patrick's Day 2009.
22 08 2008 - CD's available.
'Ceol
Agus Craic'
The
History of Whiskey in the Jar Vol 1
£8.00
plus £1.50 p&p
&
'By Request'
The
History of Whiskey in the Jar Vol 2
£8.00
plus £1.50 p&p.
Both
CD'S £15.00 plus £2.50 p&p
We still have a limited
number of cassettes available at £5.00 for 1, £9.00
(2), £12.00 (3) and £15.00 (4)
The cassettes, in order
are 'Live 1990', 'By Request 1992', 'Encore 1994',
'Whiskey and Water' 1996.
22 08 2008 - More rare public gigs.
Our next public gigs are confirmed for Colne Valley
Beer Festival at Slaithwaite, Nr Huddersfield and BB's
in Widnes. See the date sheet on the home page for
details.
04 03 2008 - Our new website.
Welcome to the new-look home of Whiskey in the Jar and
Mr Grumpy's Ceilidh band. Some changes being
planned here... soon you'll be able to listen to many
of the songs listed on the band
page.
15
06 2006 - Second CD due out soon.
A new compilation of
tracks taken from the band's previous recordings will
be available as a follow up CD in July. The release is
to be promoted by a live appearance on BBC Radio
Manchester's flagship Irish programme "The Parlour" on
Monday 26th June. Due to the many requests that we
receive, we are re-releasing all four previous
cassette recordings at the same time.
25
01 06 - Problems uploading the latest news.
We apologise for the
lack of up to date news on the band. Difficulties with
the web server have prevented regular updates.
Hopefully we are back to normal again and back with
the latest news.
23
08 2004- Thrapston Fire Station Gig.
A mention of a rare
gig in the midlands.
Thrapston Fire
Service. We have played for the lads at Thrapston for
the last two years and are chuffed to be asked back
this year. All the lads are part-time fire-fighters
but give up a lot of time in helping charities, not
just their own charity too. This years gig will be
another sell-out occasion and a special thanks to John
Lynch and the rest of the crew at Thrapston for the
way they look after the band and make our trip so
worth-while. We look forward to meeting all our
friends again in the future.
09
08 2004 - C D released.
Our new CD entitled "Ceol
Agus Craic" (music and the crack) is now on sale at
£10.00. The one hour long CD charts the history of the
band and features songs from all the different
line-up's over the years. The last four tracks are all
new recordings from the present line-up.
25 07 2004 - TOUR of
IRELAND 2002.. What a great
week in Ireland
Wed 18th
.. arrived at Bundoran, Co Donegal, spent the first
night gently breaking in to the spirit of the week...
or was it the Guinness.
Thurs
19th.. a sign for a
session out the Bridge tonight but the landlord said
we'd be too late after playing at Donegal town, after
buying us a beer or two and listening to the music..
he told us .." sure we're open till 4 in the morning,
just ring the bell". Nice to see our friends from
Leitrim on a day trip to Bundoran, Marion and Brendan
Shanley.. certainly gave us a surprise for the day.
Followed that with a trip to Glenties in Donegal..
home of renowned Donegal fiddlers, then back to
The Central Hotel in
Donegal. A great gig to start the tour.. followed by..
the session back at The Bridge.. the drinking had
started.
Fri 20th..
The short trip down to Sligo for a drink at The Harp
Tavern.. an old haunt of the band, followed by some
bar at Strandhill, followed by a drink or two at
tonight's venue.. The Venue
at Strandhill. Another great gig and great
hospitality from Peter and Yvonne.
Sat 21st..
another short journey, this time to Mayo.. and
breakfast at the local supermarket, followed by.. a
pint or two. Got to the venue for tonight's gig,
The Humbert Lodge at
Killala and the sad news of the sudden death of my
(Phil) friends mother, so had to relocate the beds to
the pub we were playing. Took a ride to Ballycastle
for a drink but my first choice was closed as it was
the brother of the bereaved family, so next door to
the welcome of the week. Michael at Katy Mac's.. a
Dubliner and nice whistle player.. what a fabulous
man. It was a pleasure playing for 3 hours to such a
man as he (and a few regulars).. the only trouble was
that by five o'clock we were already feeling the drink
again. After a very private couple of hours with Tony
and Carmel's family at Belderig (thanks for inviting
us and letting us sing to you on such a sad occasion),
and a couple of Belderig measures of whiskey, we had
to go and do the nights work back at Killala. Thanks
again to Ger and Geraldine at the Humbert for putting
us all up at short notice.
Sun 22nd..
Great to be back in County Leitrim and people I have
known for over 25 years, and who have been good
followers of the band on previous tours. Jamie and
Stuart just HAD to play some O'Carolan tunes at a pub
called O'Carolans.. and we thought the drinking was to
stop today !!. McKeons
at Keshcarrigan was the first Leitrin gig.. and to see
my old friend Ben in such fine form was a bonus... he
booked the band before we were good !!
Mon 23rd..
Woke up at the home of Margaret and Pat Curran..
familiar friends and familiar breakfasts.. and at last
a day off from the drink. followed by the familiar
surroundings of Quinn's
Lounge at Fenagh. Thanks to new landlord
Tommy Flynn for taking the risk of putting on a band
on a Monday night.. fair play to you and a great
night.
Tues 24th..
and the last night of the tour. The drive to Dublin
was quieter than usual.. the end was in sight. Not the
busiest gig of the week at
The White House, The Ward, near the
airport and just outside the city, but what a welcome
from those who turned up.. and the promise of a gig
next year on a Friday night when they get 200-250 in
the place. Thanks Simon Rutledge for your hospitality
on the night.
01 08 2002 - FIRST IRISHMAN INTO
SPACE !!! (True story) !!
It was Easter
2002 when Stuart, the bands banjo caller received a
visit from his life-long friend Lawrence O'Brien.
Lawrence knew he didn't have long for this world and
asked Stuart to take him on a "last look" around some
of the parts of Lancashire he so loved. In particular
he took Lawrence to the "Pots and Pans" landmark, near Saddleworth where he asked Stuart to spread his ashes
when he died. It was not many weeks after that that
Lawrence's wife Sonia rang from their home at The
Boghill Center, near Doolin, County Clare, to tell
Stuart that Lawrence had indeed passed away, and
arranged for the ashes to be brought to Oldham.
To cut a (very) long
story short, Stuart and his friend John Harrison, also
a director of the Boghill Center, arranged for his
ashes to be spread, but were refused entry onto the
land because of the foot and mouth epidemic, and could
not afford a "helicopter drop". On a visit to his
local hardware store, Stuart discovered a £17 firework
rocket.. and yes.. the answer to his problem. Along
with a host of fiddlers and other musicians fro across
Ireland and England, off came the top of the rocket,
in went the ashes, and up went the firework.. bursting
into a cloud of dust, and settling over the Pots and
Pans as the crowd cheered for Lawrence.
That night at the
wake in the local pub, Stuart and the lads played
among others, a tune called "Michael's Waltz". The
tune was written by Stuart in memory of Lawrence's
brother, Michael, along with "O'Brien's lament"
written during a quiet moment in the company of
Stuart's memories of the family. During the evening a
local reporter interviewed Stuart and John and took a
few photo's as usual... think of the surprise next
morning in the Manchester Evening News, Oldham
Chronicle, The Sun and The Mirror at the headlines .
.
"Retired
Rat-catcher sends first Irish man into space".
Top |
