Haggis and Podcasts

I tasted haggis last night.
And it wasn't bad.

The Jug o' Punch played at a Burns Supper event in Leominster last night (and were quite well-received, I might add... they already booked us for next year) and one of the things they served was haggis. For those who don't know what it is, "Haggis is a wholesome, savoury pudding, a mixture of mutton and offal. [in other words, sheep guts] It is boiled and presented at table in a sheep's stomach." Ecch. These words appeared in the program for the event, except for the bracketed comment, which is mine. Now, mind you, when I ate it there was no sheep's stomach to be seen. It was brought to the table in small bowl containing what almost looked like meat loaf. Eamon was the first in the band to try it, I was the second. It tasted like a pate or liverwurst. I had a couple of bites and lived to tell the tale.
A Burns Supper is quite an elaborate event. It honors the bard of Scotland, Robert Burns (whom you may know as the author of 'Auld Lang Syne.') This year was an especially big one, since it is the 250th anniversary of his birth and there were apparently similar celebrations all over the world. Ours featured two different pipe and drum bands, who played both separately and together (and you think rock bands are loud...) as well a demonstration from some highand dancers, raffles, contests, and of course, The Jug o' Punch. It was quite fun.

A few weeks ago, I decided to post some of my songs on the Podsafe Music Network, so that podcasters could play my stuff on their shows free of charge. About a week after I put the songs up there, I was notified that my song 'Prime Rib Blues' had been played on the first episode of the 'Not Picture Perfect' podcast, and for myself, it definitely was not picture perfect: they got my name wrong. Eddie Gibbons.
Out of curiosity, I decided to Google my own name. I found that the same song had also been played on the January 9 episode of the 'Homecast' podcast and on episode 0062 of 'Dave's Music Notes.' Pretty cool. I also found that a video I posted on YouTube of me performing 'Black Velvet Band & The Wild Rover' at Casey's in Somerville had been reposted on several sites including AussieVids, where my video is listed just above The Clash's 'Rock the Casbah!'
But the biggest surprise was one podcast that used just the intro from my song 'Cali' as a transition piece from one news article to another. This one was an official newspaper podcast, but what's really interesting is which newspaper: "The South China Morning Post" out of Hong Kong! They also included a link to my myspace page on their site and a mention at the end of the show.

The interwebs are a pretty cool thing.

Rehearsal

Had an excellent rehearsal with Jug o' Punch last night. We gathered at Barry's house to learn some new Scottish songs for our big Burns Supper gig on January 24th. We sounded pretty damn good, actually. Some of the songs are ready for us to add for our regular gig at the Old Timer next Sunday. Particularly fun were the songs "Donald, Where's Your Trousers" and "Mingulay Boat Song," both of which feature yours truly. We hope to do some recording soon as well. Maybe we can put together a quickie CD in time for St. Patrick's Day.

The First One

I guess I have to start somewhere.
I've been writing songs since I was about 12. I've written folk, rock, jazz, new age, world music, country, blues... as well as having written the scores to 3 musicals (only one produced... more on that another time.) At my current age (which happens to be 48 as I write this) I have realized that I'll never make my living from music. I make a little side dough playing with the Irish-Celtic band 'The Jug o' Punch' (see our myspace page and our youtube page) but it'll never support me and my family full-time. So I've decided to just have fun making music. So I'm offering my songs for free at ezFolk. You can also find some at mp3.com. So feel free to download and enjoy. If, however, you feel guilty about getting something for nothing, and you'd like to send me a donation in any amount through PayPal, I won't object.