Sunday was great! The co-owner of my favorite local coffeehouse said she would like some Irish music. So since the Irish session was kicked out of their downtown "Irish" pub in order to pack it with rowdy drunks, I invited a couple of players and another half dozen of my musician friends to play and sing Irish music for about three hours in the afternoon. We had a great time jamming together and doing solos, and drew in a good number of patrons to listen as well. One of my non-playing friends said "We went down to the [Seattle] Center House Saturday for the music, but enjoyed the music at the cafe yesterday more."

St. Paddy's Day was not so nice. I got a call in the afternoon from an "Irish" bar in Everett to play some music (their band had canceled at the last minute). Against my better judgment I invited a friend to do the gig with me. When we arrived at about 7pm the place was packed and so noisy you couldn't carry on a conversation without shouting. We did have a fairly nice free dinner and Guinness. But after that we waited for the manager to turn off the canned music(??) and for the place to quiet down some so we could play (didn't happen). We did attempt a few tunes, but nobody could hear or even cared. So we just packed up our instruments and slipped out the back door. Never again will I be tempted to go to an "Irish" bar on St. Patrick's Day, at least not here. Just a drunken bash - nothing Irish about it.

Cheers, S. in Seattle