Yesterday turned out to be even more musical than I expected. I had a morning breakfast meeting with some people that I work with - they asked me to sing "something Irish". The owner of the restaurant came out from the kitchen, and I sang Erin Gra Mo Chroi to her. We did the church supper as planned, then on to our regular Sunday night session. When we arrived at the old Baxter hotel, the lobby where we have had the session since '94 was filled with tables and chairs. Everyone was in the smokey bar. The small stage was where they told us we have to have our session from now on, since the new lease owners are going to turn the lobby into a restaurant. The acoustics were totally dead. Half the circle couldn't hear the other half. The smoke was so bad, it was overwhelming. I talked to the new manager, asking if they could make Sunday night non-smoking. I guess they plan to eventually, but will phase into it. The acoustics in the old lobby were great, and the other advantage of the lobby was that alot of kids and their parents would come to listen to the session, and many of the young players now are sons and daughters of session players who have come to listen since they were children. The bar location is going to block out all the families that were regular listeners with their kids. Oh, well. Things change.

Alice