MARK CLAVEY

My return to The ’Stilly at Restless Spirits Distilling could hardly have gone better – in every measure!

It started as a late-afternoon jaunt with Michelle and I heading over to the Distillery about 3:00. We arrived, and went inside and checked in with Adam Blake (the Assistant Manager at The Tasting Room, aka The ’Stilly) who still had a little bit of prep to do before I could set up. I loaded in the gear and visited with Lorna and Terry – who were passing through NKC to engage in some bartering (my old Yamaha mixer for a new bottle of the Sons Of Erin 10-Year Rum Finish before heading to another engagement.

Adam finished up and I began setting up the gear. Close to the end of set-up, Michelle walked over to Hawaiian Brothers for some carry-out dinner. On the heels of her return, her sister Heather arrived… and then, in short order, Alli and Mike. The four would be the core group of an audience that would hover between 10 and 20 throughout the night.

Before starting, I had gotten a water and a whiskey – my spirit of choice being the aforementioned Sons Of Erin 10-Year Rum Finish… and while I ordered a double, I was graced with an incredibly-generous triple-and-a-half… the kind of lubrication that makes your engine tick. As before, the format of the evening was a couple of 80-minute sets that went quite great (more about that in bit) and a short break. The ’Stilly is a great venue, and its great acoustics make it a near-perfect listening-room. And the modest audience was very appreciative. And I added a couple new songs into the set since the previous Saturday’s performance at The Craic… The Rangers Of Gonzales and Only Our Rivers Run Free.

At the end of the set, the friendly four helped break down and load-out… I had some very friendly words with Adam – who teased the notion of shifting Live At The ’Stilly to Friday nights in January, and favorably about bringing me back more regularly! And then we all left.

(Photos courtesy of Alli Stein and Michelle Clavey.)

[Epilogue: I don’t know if this observation is one of execution or context… but Thursday evening’s performance was, without a doubt, my best solo-performance to date, and also my all-around best since I started performing Celtic music. On the drive there, Michelle and I had a conversation around such topics as “Why am I doing this?” and “Do I really enjoy this?” and “Is this what I want or merely what I do/have done?”. For so long, making this music has been far more about all the infrastructure and dynamics than the experience of performing (almost to the point of… numbness?) Talking through all this on the way there had me very present to my performance – including my experience of myself throughout it. Was the performance actually mechanically better than any other? I doubt it. It FELT better given the space I created to be present to my joy and appreciation and gratitude. Bottom line… this IS what I want, and I DO really enjoy doing it. 💚💙💚💙

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it was another GREAT night at The Craic on Main last Saturday evening.

Said greatness began walking out the front door of the house accompanied by my beautiful wife Michelle – who would be meeting her three sisters and friend at the pub. We arrived in Parkville to find a suh-WEET parking spot right in front of the pub. Our first load in revealed a pub mostly empty on account of the oppressive heat – it was both the hottest it’s ever been since I started performing there as well as the emptiest it’s ever been. That would change within the hour as Michelle’s sisters would arrive and occupy the “band table” (rank hath its privileges), Charity (my daughter) would arrive with her eightsome to occupy  two of the other front tables, and Amie and Mac would snag the last front table and be joined (in short order) by Angie and Jack, and Deb. I got the gear set up in more than enough time to sit back and relax, and have a Reuben and fries… then ruminate a bit before kicking off the music.

As the heat ebbed, the pub eventually filled up. The sets came off nicely, the music was well-received, and the crowd responsive. A almost-score of friendlies turned out for the evening… Michelle, Heather, Ana, Laura, and Mary; Charity, Natalie, Mackenzie, Latasha, Tony, Nasra, Sarah, and Ritter; Amie and Mac, Angie and Jack, Deb, and George… all of whom conspired to make the evening a great one. I threw in a couple new pieces to try out on the crowd… and there was a few requests, some of which I could do (Grace, If I ever Leave This World Alive, Brown-Eyed Girl), and one I couldn’t (The Times They Are A-Changin').

After wrapping up the second set, goodbyes were said all around. Michelle offered moral support while I broke down, and then helped with the load-out. Then after a few minutes of gab with Pat, we headed home. We did have a sobering moment (figuratively speaking) with a kind member of the Parkville Police Department. What with my vehicle being serviced a couple days before, the lights ended up in the setting of fog-lights on and conventional-lights off… so while I had no problem seeing where I was going, said officer couldn’t see the van clearly. A warning was given, all was otherwise forgiven, and back on the road we went… making it home without further incident.

As always, my sincerest thanks to those who came out to support me!!

(Photos courtesy of Michelle Clavey, Charity Clavey, and Sarah Maxwell.)

This past Saturday’s return to The Craic on Main was EPIC!

I got an earlier start than the last two visits since I’d be going up alone and having to manage loading-in and handling the van. I scored the first spot at Parkville Coffee (across the street, 90 feet away)… and on my way to make a third trip lugging gear in, I saw a people heading to their car parked right in front of the pub… so I hot-footed it to the van, backed out, and moved over to their spot after they left it. A great omen!

I finished loading in and began setting up. One of the four front tables was empty, and the other three were getting ready to turn over. In short order, friends began turning up… Alli and Mike; Angie, Jack, Erica, and Anthony and Rebecca; Jim and Vicki; Kelsey; Mary; Jason, and Paula and Jeff; Matt; and Mike and Gayla. This was the largest number of Tulla-folk who’ve turned out locally – it was quite gratifying.

The front window was open again and the weather was really great. It wouldn’t surprise me if it were open at my appearances there through at least September. In any case, the atmosphere was great. And as I knew Mary was intending to show up, I brought an extra mic for her. It was a pleasure to have her join in - which she did in some back-up singing... but not in doing any lead-singing (which I’ll have to make a tweak in that regard).

That said, the show continues to be a work-in-progress. I introduced a couple of new songs into the two sets I did the last two times there. Since I’m singing fewer songs than are in the set-lists I’ve made, I sang some of the ones I hadn’t sung previously. And I’m still wordsmithing the storytelling. But overall, I’m liking what I’m doing. And like the last two times, I ran a little long trying to fit in as much as I could.

After finishing, goodbyes were made to (mostly) everyone. A couple folks helped me break down and load out. I had a few minutes of gab with Pat, and then headed home. It really is my new home-away-from-home.

(Photos courtesy of Alli Stein, Mike Higgins, and Mary Hanover.)

Last night was a great return-appearance at The Craic on Main!

Michelle and I drove to Parkville right after I got off work, arriving only to discover that the sweet parking-spot right in front of the door (that we scored the first time we were there) was occupied… so I unloaded the gear and started schlepping it into the pub while Michelle found a parking spot. Once inside, I began setting up – which took nearly all the way until go-time, leaving just enough time to wolf down half-a-Reuben and some fries (leaving the other half for Kelsey).

The night went just like my first appearance there – two sets with a short break to a very-attentive, very-responsive crowd. That seems to be the norm at The Craic, and is a quite welcome one at that – as it gives me the opportunity to do more listening-room material than I typically would at a pub. The evening flew by… and before you knew it, I was running a little long trying to fit in the pieces I most wanted to do.

A fun feature of the pub was a front window that opens completely - which it was when I arrived and all the through the break... by which time it had gotten a little too chilly for the window to be open, so they closed it and on we went.  It was, at once, fun AND mildly-unnerving that I was playing for all of downtown Parkville. That said, I AM  looking forward to the summer months - where I expect the window to be open all night (which I think would make for some pleasant evenings).

Besides Michelle’s, I was pleased to have the support of Alli and Mike; Mike Moran; Amy; Kelsey; Carrie and Ray; Greg and Lisa, and Becky and Gary; and old friend Tom Meehan… PLUS a crowd that kept the pub filled the entire night notwithstanding a normal turnover. After the final song, goodnights were said and I broke everything down, and loaded out. I had a couple minutes of conversation with Pat – who was just as glowing about how the night went as he was in March… the response I was hoping for. Then it was back to Blue Springs.

(Photos courtesy of Alli Stein and Mike Higgins.)

It was a great Saturday evening at my debut-appearance at The Craic On Main in Parkville. So much to say about it!

Right off the bat... the biggest, bestest news is that I’ve found a new home in Kansas City. Pat and Ginger were sufficiently entertained by the music and content with the response from the crowd – to the point of wasting no time soliciting dates from me and scheduling another half-dozen appearances there through Fall (dates at the bottom of this post). (TBTH… it’s responses like this that go a l-o-n-g way in driving off the Imposter Syndrome.)

The evening started with our drive into Parkville. Michelle joined me for the evening, and her sisters would end up joining her. We scored a suh-WEET parking spot right in front of the pub (if you’ve been there, you KNOW how sweet that is), and loaded in. I got all the gear set up (which included the super-simple Bose L1), and had some dinner while waiting for the gang of gals – who were sitting where I’d be playing – to leave. They left, we shifted tables around, and completed set-up.

The Craic is a great Irish-themed pub. Being in one of the older buildings on Main, it’s long and narrow, with just a few low tables and the rest of the seating at a bar that runs the length of the pub. It’s beautifully decorated, they have a great selection of beer and whiskeys, and their Reuben is literally the best one I’ve ever had!

The evening comprised two sets and a break, and I ran a little long (shocked-face). The pub was full the entire time, and the crowd very attentive and responsive – so much so that they gave the venue the feel of equal parts pub and listening-room. And they quickly got the hang of calling for toasts – which gave me the opportunity to inject some humor into the show. I was graced with the company of Michelle; her sisters Heather, Ana, and Laura; Alli and Mike; and Carrie and Ray (a special treat).

It was a VERY enjoyable evening, with the net result that it flew by. When it was over, we broke down, loaded out, packed the van, and made our goodbyes. I left Michelle in the van to go in and have a couple minutes of chat with Pat… recap the evening and whatnot. That’s when he shared how well the music went over and how glowingly the people at the bar spoke of it. He said the questions he heard the most were “Who is this guy?” and “When will he be back?”. I am content.

So it appears that The Craic On Main will be, on an indefinite basis, my new home in KC – with appearances elsewhere (of course).

Well… what a weekend!

WHAT A WEEKEND!!

So much great music, so many reunions, so many breakthroughs to be had at the North Texas Irish Festival this past weekend… it’s hard to know where to start! I suppose the beginning is the most appropriate place.

I didn’t have a Friday-evening set, so my trip down was leisurely… arriving at KCI at noon and getting into Love Field at 3:00p. David would be in Sherman all weekend attending to the Pater Familias – thus enabling Bob to play host and chauffeur all weekend. Bob retrieved me from the airport, and we made our way to Hyatt House (not the Doubletree this time around… more about that in a bit) with one errand on the way – at Total Wine to pick up the gift of the life-giving water for my new adopted family at the Clan Lindsay tent. From the hotel, it was off in the direction of Fair Park with a late-lunch stop at Torchy’s (Damn Good©) Tacos.

Once out at the site, we moseyed over to Instrument Check-In to drop off the guitar and electronics, then over to the Food and Fiber Building – the new location for the In The Tradition Stage. The Festival was unable to wrangle use of the Women’s Building, so the concert-hall quality stage was out of the mix… but the Food and Fiber Building was sufficiently smaller than either Centennial Hall or the Automotive Building, so it still proved to be a good stage on which to perform listening-room material.

The Festival pulled out the stops this year – bringing Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas, Altan, Cathie Ryan, and Cherish the Ladies back to headline. They were joined by the always-great Celtic Aire… and Conor Mallon Unearthed, and The Consequences – both first-timers. Over the course of the weekend, we had the opportunity to see them all, as well as at least half of the regional acts… BEHAN (on Friday), Vulcan Eejits, Gold Ring, Doc Grauzer, Plunk Murray, Beyond the Pale, and Jiggernaut (on Saturday), and Boxing Robin, The Whalers, Skeleton McKee, Micheal Price, and Wolf Loescher and the Growlers (on Sunday). And there were snippets of more while we were in transit.

After we wrapped up on Friday night, Bob dropped me off at the Doubletree for all the craic and headed home. Sadly, the only two craic-ers (hehheh… see what I did there?) were Sheri and Bobby, and they went to bed shortly after I arrived (having been up since zero-dark-thirty). So thwarted and forlorn, I hoofed it back to Hyatt House and went to bed. Dallas hosted the NCA National Championship this past weekend, and the city was awash with cheerleaders – who snagged big room-blocks at all the hotels convenient to the Convention Center. This included the Doubletree – where the Festival usually has their main block, so they had to make do with a small block there and a larger block right across North Central Expressway at Hyatt House… which made for some wonkiness when it came to post-Festival socializing.

Bob was over to the hotel early Saturday morning – as I had the opening set on the In The Tradition Stage. We dined at the Scottish Restaurant, and then made our way to Fair Park, collected gear from ICI, headed over to the Food and Fiber Building, and began setting up. Nick (the sound-tech) showed up shortly afterward… and a half-hour later the set was underway. The butterflies were out of my system by the end of the second song (more about that later), and the set ended up drawing an appreciable crowd – not bad for being the 11:00a set on Saturday morning. I was content with how the sent went, as was the crowd. And then I turned over the stage to Gold Ring (Therese Honey and Larry Mallette) – always a treat to hear. Bob headed off to meet friends, and I returned gear to ICI. The rest of the day was spent wandering the site (with and without Bob from one moment to the next), catching snatches of performances, visiting with folks, ducking into the Green Room for a meal or a beer. We left shortly into the 8:00p set and Bob dropped me off at Hyatt House. About 10:00, Jil and Jack dropped Dan off at the hotel and picked me up, and we headed over to the Doubletree for some beers and craic, returning to our hotel a couple hours later. And so ended Saturday.

Sunday was a slightly later start as my first set (at the Star & Harp Pub Stage) didn’t begin until noon. Bob picked me up, luggage and all (I was checking out), and we headed off to the Park with a quick stop for some McBreakfast. I retrieved gear from ICI, and we headed over to the Automobile Building – arriving at the Star & Harp just in time to see them wheel away the last palette of folding chairs. (It seemed that there had been a handful of accidents on Saturday on account of the flimsier plastic chairs the Festival had received from the company providing seating, and ALL those chairs at EVERY stage were being replaced.) So the folks who came to see me at noon either sat on the floor or stood. It’s ALWAYS an adventure at NTIF!! Ben did some exceptional engineering, the sent went very well, and when it was over we were off and running – there was a lot left to see and time was short. There was just one set between my performance at the Star & Harp and my 3:00 performance at the In The Tradition Stage. It was another great set (back in Nick’s capable hands), and with that, my duties at the Festival were fulfilled. We caught a few more snatches of music from friends, collected product and a check, made our farewells, and headed out. We had dinner with Kathryn and Rusty Powell at Torchy’s (again!), and from there went to the Doubletree to have some last-minute craic and kill an hour or so. Then Bob dropped me off at Love Field, I flew back to KC, drove home, and promptly hit the hay.

It was a really great weekend on several counts. It was a beautiful weekend the entire time – with only a little bit of drizzle right when Sunday was ending. The music was great – I think this line-up of headliners was the best I’ve seen in a good while. And it’s ALWAYS great to reconnect with what is one of my three largest fan-bases… people I’ve known going back to the early-1990s at Scarborough Fair. But it was a REALLY great weekend for me personally.

[This is where it gets real. If you’re not in the mood for real, please jump to the end of this paragraph: I’ve lived my entire life with imposter syndrome… busting my ass to create as great of a show as possible, and then rebuffing any/all praise or acknowledgement of that great show because I’m not good enough for anyone and it’s all an act. That all fell away this weekend. The fact that I’m sharing this with you all now is part-and-parcel to it having fallen away. I did three great sets, I made mistakes, the world didn’t end, people loved the sets, and they were effusive in their acknowledgements. I was the only solo singer in a slate of 30 acts, and I held my ground to the appreciation of the people who came and saw me. It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me, and I'm feeling good!]

I’m grateful to Sawyer, Sheri, and John for having me in their line-up… to Ben and Nick for their work behind their sound-consoles making me sound good… to Bob for being the consummate roadie/chauffeur/sidekick… to the folks at Instrument Check-In and the Green Room for the exceptional care they took of ALL the performers… to all my performer-friends who get my world and who make me a better musician… and to all my fan-friends who came out in droves and held me up and brightened my weekend. ❤️❤️❤️

I’m already looking forward to all of this next year!!

(Photos courtesy of Alison D, Alison M, Jess, Kate, Kennie, Pamela, Ren, and Steve)