Tommy 'The Tape' & Steve 'The Recorder'

Subject: RE: Tommy 'The Tape' & Steve 'The Recorder'
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 22 Jun 18 - 11:09 AM

We were given an unlisted song-file entitled 'Music from Chicago' Alan
I'll check later and let you know
Jim

Subject: Steve 'The Recorder'
From: Alan Woods
Date: 22 Jun 18 - 11:04 AM

The identity of 'Steve the Recorder' has been confirmed now by a couple of people.

The information which I stated in my first post was confirmed to be correct.

His name was Steve Moran and he lived in Shannon, Co. Clare.

Steve passed away 3/4 years ago.

As well as 'The Session of the Century'....other cassettes produced by Steve were Reelin' in Teelin'....The First Encounter...and...One Man, Two Fiddles

Thanks to all the people who responded to my query here on mudcat and on other social platforms.

Alan

Subject: RE: Tommy 'The Tape' & Steve 'The Recorder'
From: Alan Woods
Date: 20 Jun 18 - 06:13 AM

Thanks Steve and everybody for esponding here and/or on TheSession.org

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Somebody back in the 80s and 90s was producing a ‘series’ of good quality cassettes featuring recordings made at sessions, festivals and summer schools.

These cassettes all have printed text on the inlay cards and also printed text on the stickers on the cassettes.
On each of these cassettes, a portion of the text is highlighted in yellow marker.

ITMA have at least 15 cassettes that have been produced in this fashion.
They are clearly the work of one person.
I’m trying to find out who that person is.

The ‘Session of the Century’ is one of these cassettes.

Here’s a few example of some of the material on other similarly packaged cassettes.
They include a concert of a group called ‘Na Ridiri’ which was recorded in Melbourne.

_____________________________

(1) Milltown Eighty Nine: Session in Queally’s Kitchen, 1989 Willie Clancy Summer School
- featuring: Mick ‘banjo’ O’Connor, Michelle O’Sullivan, Noreen Cullen & Declan Fay amongst other.

(2-A) Milltown Ninety Three (session)
- featuring: Jackie Daly, Maire O’Keeffe, Donal O’Connor, Seamus Creagh & Hammy Hamilton….
(2-B ) Listowel Eight Seven (session)
- Dermot Bynre, James Cullinan, Bernie Whelan and Madonna Herron amongst others

(3) Noel Hill & Arty McGlynn - The Brogue Inn, Tralee, 01-01-1994

(4) Listowel Ninety Six
- senior ceili band competition at the All-Ireland Fleadh in Listowel, 1996

(5) Melbourne Tape 1
- Na Ridiri in concert in Collingwood Town Hall, Melbourne, October 18, 1994
MC: Diarmuid O’Cathain
Recorded by the ABC Radio Network

(6-A) Milltown Eighy Six
- featuring: Charlie Lennon, Maurice Lennon, Daithi Connaughton & Donncha O’Briain
(6-B) Sean McGuire with friends in a Chicago Bar in 1958
- the tape is mainly Sean McGuire solo…but also features Jack Fitzgerald, Tom Masterson
and Eileen Fitzgerald.

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6-B….the Sean McGuire recording…as it’s from Chicago in 1958, indicates perhaps that the recordings were not all made by the person who was putting these cassettes together.
Who knows, it’s not impossible i suppose but my feeling is they got that recording from someone else.

Has anybody seen or are they aware of cassettes produced in this style?

They must have been doing the rounds as ITMA have received donations of this style of cassette from three different sources.

Any info will be appreciated.

Thanks
Alan

Subject: RE: Tommy 'The Tape' & Steve 'The Recorder'
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 20 Jun 18 - 05:57 AM

Missed it Peter - heard it was good - followed by one over the road in Hillary's
Ollie Conway's son told me it was like a Fleadh
We really are going to have to do something about the Garda - a cull maybe. ;-)
Jim

Subject: RE: Tommy 'The Tape' & Steve 'The Recorder'
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 20 Jun 18 - 05:52 AM

Plenty of good memories of those days Jim. It was different, these days things aren't too bad, I hear the music in Friel's was brilliant on Sunday night. A piping session in C more or less arranged for the early days of Willie, if you're interested. ;-)

Subject: RE: Tommy 'The Tape' & Steve 'The Recorder'
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 20 Jun 18 - 03:31 AM

Recording in public sessions (can only speak for singing) was far easier in the early days (1970s/80s) - the sessions were smaller and far more co-operative.
The session in Clancy's Bar I mentioned above was a dream.
We sat in the back room around tables and people present would take our microphone and hold it nearer the singer to make sure we got a good recoding (on our reel-to-reel)

Tom Davis had a habit of not turning on his recorder until the singer had begun to sing
I remember Tom Munnelly wryly commenting to him, "If you ever publish a song collection Tom, you're going to have to index each one by the second line"
Good memories
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Tommy 'The Tape' & Steve 'The Recorder'
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 20 Jun 18 - 03:00 AM

Hi Steve,

After I posted above I wondered if I had been clear enough you were Stiamh at the session, not the recording man.

I rarely record sessions but do tend to swipe bits of tunes I want to learn. Phones these days make it a bit easier. I do have a recording of us playing tunes in Hllery's with Geoff Wooff, Fiona Doherty and (I believe it was but I could be wrong:) John Hughes in 85.

Subject: RE: Tommy 'The Tape' & Steve 'The Recorder'
From: Steve Jones
Date: 19 Jun 18 - 06:39 PM

"Stiamh" here. Alan has in the meantime contacted me via another channel and I have told him that I only witnessed the taping of the session in question and am not "Steve the Recorder" - I was never so organised as to travel with a tape machine or even a camera.

Subject: RE: Tommy 'The Tape' & Steve 'The Recorder'
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 18 Jun 18 - 09:42 AM

FWIW, Tom the tapeworm's material went to NUIG, the Hardiman library I believe, after he died. Apparently he harboured a dislike for both 'Meehawl' O'S. and Nicholas C. so both Limerick and ITMA were out when it came to finding a home for the collection.

I don't immediately recall Steve 'The recorder' although so many faces during the Willie week I may yet get a lightbulb moment.

'a person named Stiamh'

Steve Jones, now living in Montreal (I remember him being on his way there at the time. A mutual friend gave him a lift to London after Willie week 85). Bro Steve of whistle pages fame.

I remember the Queally's session too, listened in from outside for a while before getting distracted. Microphones hanging inside the window was not an uncommon occurrence, both in Queally's and Fahy's next door.

Subject: RE: Tommy 'The Tape' & Steve 'The Recorder'
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 18 Jun 18 - 08:10 AM

Nah- never touch that music stuff Alan !!
Jim

Subject: RE: Tommy 'The Tape' & Steve 'The Recorder'
From: Alan Woods
Date: 18 Jun 18 - 07:46 AM

I just came across the following threa on The Session.org which has reference to the session being recorded with a microphone stuck in through and hanging from the window.

https://thesession.org/discussions/34650

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Re: Recordings of the “Session of the Century”
I was at Track 2. Queally’s bar in 1985 in the afternoon. At, not in, because the place was so packed that we couldn’t get in and had to listen standing in the street. My mate taped it through the window but this seems to come from someone else’s recording. It sounds considerably speeded up to me. (They were playing in Eb.) The core of the session was Jackie Daly, Mairead and Frankie, Paul O’Shaughnessy, Eoin O’Neill on bouzouki and Mick O’Connor on banjo. Mary Bergin was there for bits of it. Later on in the afternoon most of them spilled across the road into Cleary’s kitchen where they were joined by Dermy Diamond and Henry Benagh - we were able to get in to that one!

# Posted by Stiamh 3 years ago.

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Re: Recordings of the “Session of the Century”
@peter. If you are talking about "track 2" I’d say more than one recording was made because the one I have doesn’t have all the sets that are in the one Ralex posted, but does have a few others that don’t seem to be there. Mine was made by a friend from Melbourne that I have lost touch with and I don’t know that he’d want his name bandied about. I know that a few other people got copies of his tape at the time. It was made on a Sony Walkman, not the Professional model, and the quality was excellent. I say "was" because my copy at least was knackered from 25 years of repeated playing.

# Posted by Stiamh 3 years ago.

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those comments were posted by a person named Stiamh

Although he mentions in the first message that it was his friend recording....and in the second message he seems to indicate his friend is from Melbourne.

Subject: RE: Tommy 'The Tape' & Steve 'The Recorder'
From: Alan Woods
Date: 18 Jun 18 - 07:42 AM

Hey Jim

'The Session of the Century' was recorded in Queally's in Miltown Malbay in 1985 i think.

Some of the featured musicians were Jackie Daly, Mairead Ní Mhaonaigh, Frankie Kennedy and Paul O'Shaughnessy, amongst others.

thanks,
Alan

Subject: RE: Tommy 'The Tape' & Steve 'The Recorder'
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 18 Jun 18 - 06:31 AM

"Tommy the tape-worm"
Aka 'Le Flic' due to his resemblance to a French policeman in film noire

Not sure what session you are referring to but we have one particular magnificent one recorded in the 80s in Clancys Bar - might well be that one
I seem to remember Tom was there
Jim

Subject: Tommy 'The Tape' & Steve 'The Recorder'
From: Alan Woods
Date: 18 Jun 18 - 06:17 AM

Hello

I'm looking for information on a man who was known to some people as Steve 'The Recorder'.


Much the same as Tommy 'The Tape(worm)' Davis....this man, Steve, travelled around Ireland recording at music sessions, festivals and summer schools....hence his nickname Steve 'The Recorder'.

He made a recording of a session in Miltown Malbay back in the 1980s which became known as 'The Session of the Century'.

This recording has been widely circulated amongst traditional musicians and music fans.
The story goes that the pub was too packed for Steve to get in so he stuck his microphone in through the window to record the session.

I spoke to somebody who suggested his second name might have been Moran and that he lived in/around Shannon in Co. Clare.

I don't know if he is still alive or not.

I'm hoping to find out who Steve 'The Recorder' is or was....and perhaps find out if any more of his recordings are in circulation...or if he passed away, if anyone knows what became of his collection.

Thank you,
Alan