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LATEST NEWS
28 06 2008 - St Patrick's Day 2009.
We are
now receiving enquiries for St Patrick's Day 2009... if you are
interested
then contact the band.
'Ceol
Agus Craic'
The
History of Whiskey in the Jar Vol 1
CD
Available Now
£8.00
plus £1.50 p&p
'By Request'
The
History of Whiskey in the Jar Vol 2
CD
Available Now
£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.
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.
25 02 2008 - Leigh East RLFC Tickets
Tickets
are now available for the bands appearance at the
clubs new home at the Leigh Sports Village on March
15th. Tickets costing £5.00 are available from Alison
Grainy on 01942 671198, from the clubhouse at LSV or
in person at Phil the Cobbler, 99 Railway Road in
Leigh.
20 02 2008 - St Patrick's Day 17th March.
The band
have opted to be available for the big night of the
year after all, despite racking up nearly 700 miles
already over the weekend. We will consider
offers for gigs within travelling distance of
Manchester.
14
02 2008 - 20 years on the road.
The band
celebrates 20 years this year, and what a great 20
years it has been. A big thank you to the many
people who still keep in touch after all these years.
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.
11
11 2004 - Mason's Apron to record soon.
With limited
opportunity for the band to get into the recording
studio for a while... Mason's Apron will hopefully be
recording some new tracks over the coming months. The
intention is to release a new CD during 2005 of songs
and tunes that feature in the gigs, songs like "The
Rose of Allendale, Jock Stewart, Steal Away, Byker
Hill, The Blarney Roses, From Clare to Here" and loads
more. The CD will feature contributions from as many
friends as we can muster including Ray, Alan and Danny
who have helped the band in the past.
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".
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