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Ar bhur marcanna
Tá Rith 2010 ag rith leis, ag déanamh a bhealach ar fud na tíre.
Ar ndóighe, thosaigh an rás seo i dTír na mBascach, an Korrika. Ar maidin, chuir Martxelo Otamendi, eagarthóir an nuachtáin laethúil Bhascaise Berria an leathanach seo as Berria ag cur síos ar an Rith.
Deir Martxelo nach bhfuil breith na cúirte aige go fóill sa chás cúirte a chríochnaigh i mí Eanáir ina bhfuil gaolta íobarthaigh ETA ag iarraidh go ndaorfaí é ar feadh 20 bliain cé go bhfuil sé go hiomlán neamhchiontach.
Ar ndóighe, thosaigh an rás seo i dTír na mBascach, an Korrika. Ar maidin, chuir Martxelo Otamendi, eagarthóir an nuachtáin laethúil Bhascaise Berria an leathanach seo as Berria ag cur síos ar an Rith.
Deir Martxelo nach bhfuil breith na cúirte aige go fóill sa chás cúirte a chríochnaigh i mí Eanáir ina bhfuil gaolta íobarthaigh ETA ag iarraidh go ndaorfaí é ar feadh 20 bliain cé go bhfuil sé go hiomlán neamhchiontach.
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New deal for St. Kevin’s and St. Peter’s properties
Gintautas Dumcius, Contributing Reporter
The former St. Kevin parish campus on Columbia Rd.The former St. Kevin’s Parish property in Uphams Corner and two parcels of the St. Peter’s Parish campus on Meetinghouse Hill are going to be converted into affordable housing for Boston families, with some of the new residents emerging from homelessness.
The Archdiocese of Boston will be conveying the St. Kevin’s site to a partnership of three organizations that includes St. Mary’s Women and Children’s Center, Holy Family Parish, and a nonprofit real estate developer tied to the archdiocese, and Holy Family Parish. Separately, the sale of St. Peter’s convent and rectory buildings appears to be imminent.
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Mar 11: Tallaght Hospital shortcomings worsen
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Winter wanes, and so do Celtics’ and Bruins’ playoff dreams
It wasn’t exactly an epiphany but suddenly late on a Sunday early in the unforgiving month of March it became stunningly clear that the winter here in balmy New England was just about over. At least in terms of our eternal sporting aspirations, that is.
Because the standard bearers of our tender winter dreams -- both of them -- are on the rocks. The lights will dim early on Causeway Street this season. Not that we haven’t been down this road before.
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Marr-lin Swim Team to Attend Regional Championship Meet
Marr-lin Swim Team to Attend Regional Championship Meet
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Bounding into Spring
“Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love.”
By Chief Sitting Bull
I would not have expected this lovely thought to have been said by Chief Sitting Bull. I only know that Sitting Bull and Chief Crazy Horse were the leaders of the Indians that killed Custer and his soldiers at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Chief Sitting Bull must have said the quote at this time of year when Spring is returning.
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A walk along the length of Dot Ave connects with memories and dreams
By Lew Finfer
I started my walk on Sunday at the Dunkin Donuts and Dark Horse Antiques at 2297 Dorchester Avenue in Lower Mills. I had decided to walk the length of Dorchester’s part of Dot Ave and take it all in by foot. About one-and-half hours later, I reached the last storefront at the other end, which is Maria’s Market at No. 779.
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Remembering The Great Hunger
Ireland’s great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger (An Gorta Mór) took place in the middle of the 19th century, caused by a blight on the potato crop in the Emerald Isle. Beginning with the harvest of 1846, and lasting for five years, the fungus caused the potato crop to fail, and millions lost their sole source of food.
In that first year, 1847, some 400,000 people starved to death, and as many as 1.5 million Irish died from starvation over just five years.
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Boston Ballet bolsters dance card at Strand
Long something of a wallflower, the Strand Theatre is finding its dance card filling up quickly in 2010 with a couple of noteworthy debuts.
On Valentine’s Day weekend, the former movie palace hosted the world premiere of a Tyler-Perry-like musical by a Dorchester minister. And next week Boston Ballet makes its first-ever visit to Uphams Corner with a presentation specifically designed for the city-owned arts venue.
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Poetry, arts enhance outreach worker’s life, and his connection to city’s youth
Jill S. Gross Special to the Reporter
Matthew ParkerMatthew Parker began turning his feelings and thoughts into poetry when he was a young teen growing up in the South End, with the rhythms and stories he created providing an outlet and an escape from the violent street life he saw around him.
At the same time, he was a budding leader in his community, organizing neighborhood activities and taking his first job as a camp counselor. Now, more than a decade later, his talents for poetry and leadership have made him a quiet force to help Boston youth find their own passion to steer them away from the streets -- be it poetry, music, sports, or dance.
“I try to give them something else to enjoy outside of their daily routine that is filled with so much trauma,” said Parker, who now lives in Dorchester.
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Pols to tune each other up at St. Patrick’s Day breakfast
For some politicians, it can be more petrifying than Election Day: Getting up on a stage and trying to be funny.
But that’s exactly what the Bay State’s top elected officials – and perhaps some of the folks running against them – will be attempting at the annual St. Patrick’s Day breakfast in South Boston on Sunday morning.
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Staffers at four Dot schools face re-applying for jobs
With state education officials pressing for dramatic improvement at twelve schools citywide that have been deemed underperforming, staff members at four Dorchester area schools will be asked to reapply for their jobs, local school officials said this week.
The schools taking action are Jeremiah E. Burke High, William Trotter Elementary, Paul Dever Elementary, and Harbor Middle School.
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Neighbors stir in support of library branches
Residents are rallying in support of their branch libraries as city officials consider consolidations and the closing of an expected $3.6 million budget gap in the fiscal 2011 budget.
In Lower Mills, the head of the local merchants’ association is organizing a letter-writing campaign in a bid to save the local branch. Tony Paciulli, the president and CEO of Meetinghouse Bank, said it is the “most vulnerable one” out of the 26 neighborhood libraries.
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Brian drain, brain exchange
I was in the Belfast Habour Offices last Thursday (I know, I'm falling behind with my postings) for a presentation on the Diaspora by Kingsley Aiken of the Ireland Funds.
He scored some good points: what the Irish once viewed as brain drain (emigration), and brain gain for the US and other countries, is now viewed as brain exchange. That is, our diaspora helps the host country and 'the old sod'.
The former Ireland Fund ceo also suggested that Ireland isn't the best in the world at exploiting its diaspora. India is certainly better and we've a lot to learn from Australia. No one of course can compete with Israel.
And in a confirmation of what I've learnt to date about networks, he regards the Ireland Funds' database of almost 100,000 "sliced and diced" names as their greatest asset.
One more tip: it takes 15 contacts with a potential donor before the Ireland Funds solicits a donation from a person.
Of this I am sure: Fundraising is a key part of the work of any serious organisation. Fr Parkes is raising $4.1m per annum for Cristo Rey. Fr McShane is raising $500m for Fordham University and James Browne, President of NUI Galway, who I met in Áras an Uachtaráin, is raising €150m over five years for his college. There's great ambition there but the world is now being divide between those organisations which have fundraising departments and those that don't.
There is no fundraising section in St Mary's University College on the Falls or indeed in the University of Ulster. Nor does the Linen Hall Library, that venerable institution, have a fundraising arm.
Just back from another wonderful trip to Dublin but didn't see any sign of building work with the exception of road construction. Things grim there for a while yet, methinks.
He scored some good points: what the Irish once viewed as brain drain (emigration), and brain gain for the US and other countries, is now viewed as brain exchange. That is, our diaspora helps the host country and 'the old sod'.
The former Ireland Fund ceo also suggested that Ireland isn't the best in the world at exploiting its diaspora. India is certainly better and we've a lot to learn from Australia. No one of course can compete with Israel.
And in a confirmation of what I've learnt to date about networks, he regards the Ireland Funds' database of almost 100,000 "sliced and diced" names as their greatest asset.
One more tip: it takes 15 contacts with a potential donor before the Ireland Funds solicits a donation from a person.
Of this I am sure: Fundraising is a key part of the work of any serious organisation. Fr Parkes is raising $4.1m per annum for Cristo Rey. Fr McShane is raising $500m for Fordham University and James Browne, President of NUI Galway, who I met in Áras an Uachtaráin, is raising €150m over five years for his college. There's great ambition there but the world is now being divide between those organisations which have fundraising departments and those that don't.
There is no fundraising section in St Mary's University College on the Falls or indeed in the University of Ulster. Nor does the Linen Hall Library, that venerable institution, have a fundraising arm.
Just back from another wonderful trip to Dublin but didn't see any sign of building work with the exception of road construction. Things grim there for a while yet, methinks.
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Day 243: A Revolutionary Idea
Soul Mama's got a rasp that sounds like the love child of Darth Vader and Stevie Nicks, and speaking of love children, she's feeling a lot like Alice when she's ten feet tall. In other words, she's getting sicker. So, she's made a revolutionary decision to take an old-fashioned action. Tomorrow, she's going to pretend it's the old days, before humans became machines, and she's going to unplug. Completely. A sick day, no less. Wish her well. But don't call, because the phone will be off.
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Caorbhuí abú
So what can compare to meeting the President of Timorleste? How about seeing the female goldcrest outside our offices on the Hannahstown Hill today.
Incomparable and as beautiful as the scarf the President of Timorleste boasted last night — no monkey suit for him but a Nehru-style jacket and shirt. He did sport some war medals but the scarf hid them for the most part.
He also walked somewhat gingerly given the gunshot wounds he suffered in the 2008 attempt on his life.
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Conference survey
As part As part of our 25-26 March City of Quarters conference — www.cityofquarters.com — we have designed a survey about the emerging quarters and the New Belfast.
There are just eight questions in total and the survey should take no longer than three minutes to complete.
The findings will be released at the conference.
Click here to take survey
There are just eight questions in total and the survey should take no longer than three minutes to complete.
The findings will be released at the conference.
Click here to take survey
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ITM Repertoire: Quantity or Quality?
A good friend of mine has been struggling. He's been working on tunes for the last year or more, practicing daily, and slowly adding to his repertoire. He regularly attends a "slow session," a learning session that plays a finite number of tunes, all at a comfortable pace. Still, despite all his work, he feels like he still knows practically nothing. He shows up, plays his twenty tunes at different times of the night, and the rest of the session, he just sits there. He's frustrated. He's not learning the tunes at the same pace as the others. Is he just taking up a seat? Should he take up the bodhran to fill in the gaps and at least play along to the tunes he can't do on whistle?
I hear the cry arise from legions of experienced ITM musicians: No! Not the bodhran!!!! The world does need dedicated bodhran players who are willing to work hard at perfecting the rhythm and the music, but it doesn't need part-timers. Frankly, it also doesn't need more whistlers, fluters, or fiddlers. It doesn't need much of anything, actually. (It may need a few more uilleann pipers, but if you're having a patience problem, this is NOT the instrument to take up.)
What it does need is honest, good spirited people that are dedicated to making great music, and that have the patience and the will to put the time and the work in on their instrument to make a beautiful sound. That's all.
Easy, right? No. Wrong. Not easy. We're going to need to explore this answer in several parts.
Part I: The Session.
A wonderful social experience to which we can escape to play music with others, release our doldrums, get out of ourselves by participating in a communal experience. The session is not a performance. Session musicians are not playing for an audience. Session musicians are not playing for themselves. Session musicians are playing with each other.
A fascinating animal is our auld session. It is a social environment determined by those who frequent it. Every session has a unique character, and unique goals. There are sessions leaders who, when you join, will hand you a list of the tunes played in that session, with a CD, and you are expected to learn those tunes if you're going to participate. Sometimes you're even warned not to stray from that selection.
Then there are sessions that allow their repertoire to be guided by the
varied repertoires of those that attend. Different every week. Some days the session will be great. Other days you'll arrive and a domineering musician will arrive and only play tunes that you don't know or don't like. Some weeks everyone will drink too much and will sound horrible and start fighting at the end of the night. Some weeks you won't know any of the tunes at all. Much more unpredictable, but... welcome to real life.
When I was writing See You at the Hall, an older musician told me that back in the old days, most musicians only knew maybe ten or twenty tunes. They learned their tunes from the people around them, and played with people they knew and liked. There weren't thousands of new tunes coming at them every day from scores of tune books, thousands of Irish CDs, websites, Celtic radio stations, satellite stations, and television. They weren't obsessed with learning all the tunes. He seemed to be suggesting that at one time, it was more about quality than quantity.
So, yes, maybe a session somewhere has concocted a list of 250 tunes that it will play in regular rotation, and when they see that you want to come regularly, they will provide you with a CD and sheet music. That, to me, sounds like an invitation to join their party, and that's kind. It's a warm, extended hand. One of the best ways to learn tunes is to get them in your head, and if you go to a session that plays the same tunes every week, then you can really get those tunes in your head and you can learn them on your own.
Just be mindful of whether the group is serving the repertoire or the music. Is it just a group of people going through the motions, or are they really making music? Is it group calistenics or is each person making an artistic contribution to a greater whole? It's not this, right?
I've become more of a performer than a session musician, partly because I find that it's possible to get deeper and more connected to music in a performance. I'd rather learn fewer tunes and play them as well as possible than be able to "play along" with hundreds of tunes at a session... but never truly learn any one of them. Still, half playing can be a blast, too. You can't beat a night of tune after tune. You get caught up in the momentum, your mojo's workin', and it just feels great. It's like being in fabulous shape and sprinting your way into the sunshine. But of course, we can't sprint until we're in shape, and getting in shape takes time.
(Did I mention the word "patience" yet?)
Martin Hayes wrote an article titled "Tradition and Aspiration," in the Journal of Music a few years back. He said,
"It is important that what is offered from a performance is something that truly reaches the heart of people, that it moves people in a deep way.
That is performance. Traditional music ‘sessions’ are another thing. I don’t turn up at sessions very often, usually because I’m afraid I won’t like it, and that people will expect me to play all night! I did organise sessions in Chicago when I lived there. I found out that it wasn’t always about making good music.
I would get people together to play at whatever level suited them, and usually I found that the lowest level was the best level to play at. I got people into a kind of communion, and I became very engaged in the concept of community, in the concept of people feeling united in their music. I was very concerned that we didn’t get too caught up in trying to make it the highest musical experience possible. It could get there. Sometimes it would get there for just five minutes a night."
So, to return to the original question, are you just taking up space if you're only playing a few tunes a night, I respond again with an emphatic "NO." You're doing the second most important thing: being there. Now take it up a notch and do the very most important thing: listen actively while you're at it. And strive for those fabulous five minutes that Martin talked about. If you can get to those five minutes, do you really need anything else?
If the session is truly an open learning session, they'll welcome you every week because they'll recognize your patience and dedication. If you start playing the bodhran, it may suggest that you're not so patient and you're looking for the universal session shortcut. If you're already a great bodhran player, then go for it. But contrary to popular belief, being a great bodhran player requires as much work as being a great whistle player.
So what do you do in the meantime, when you're just sitting there? Listen actively.
Stay tuned for Part II: an exploration of active listening.
I hear the cry arise from legions of experienced ITM musicians: No! Not the bodhran!!!! The world does need dedicated bodhran players who are willing to work hard at perfecting the rhythm and the music, but it doesn't need part-timers. Frankly, it also doesn't need more whistlers, fluters, or fiddlers. It doesn't need much of anything, actually. (It may need a few more uilleann pipers, but if you're having a patience problem, this is NOT the instrument to take up.)
What it does need is honest, good spirited people that are dedicated to making great music, and that have the patience and the will to put the time and the work in on their instrument to make a beautiful sound. That's all.
Easy, right? No. Wrong. Not easy. We're going to need to explore this answer in several parts.
Part I: The Session.
A wonderful social experience to which we can escape to play music with others, release our doldrums, get out of ourselves by participating in a communal experience. The session is not a performance. Session musicians are not playing for an audience. Session musicians are not playing for themselves. Session musicians are playing with each other.
A fascinating animal is our auld session. It is a social environment determined by those who frequent it. Every session has a unique character, and unique goals. There are sessions leaders who, when you join, will hand you a list of the tunes played in that session, with a CD, and you are expected to learn those tunes if you're going to participate. Sometimes you're even warned not to stray from that selection.
Then there are sessions that allow their repertoire to be guided by the
varied repertoires of those that attend. Different every week. Some days the session will be great. Other days you'll arrive and a domineering musician will arrive and only play tunes that you don't know or don't like. Some weeks everyone will drink too much and will sound horrible and start fighting at the end of the night. Some weeks you won't know any of the tunes at all. Much more unpredictable, but... welcome to real life.
When I was writing See You at the Hall, an older musician told me that back in the old days, most musicians only knew maybe ten or twenty tunes. They learned their tunes from the people around them, and played with people they knew and liked. There weren't thousands of new tunes coming at them every day from scores of tune books, thousands of Irish CDs, websites, Celtic radio stations, satellite stations, and television. They weren't obsessed with learning all the tunes. He seemed to be suggesting that at one time, it was more about quality than quantity.
So, yes, maybe a session somewhere has concocted a list of 250 tunes that it will play in regular rotation, and when they see that you want to come regularly, they will provide you with a CD and sheet music. That, to me, sounds like an invitation to join their party, and that's kind. It's a warm, extended hand. One of the best ways to learn tunes is to get them in your head, and if you go to a session that plays the same tunes every week, then you can really get those tunes in your head and you can learn them on your own.
Just be mindful of whether the group is serving the repertoire or the music. Is it just a group of people going through the motions, or are they really making music? Is it group calistenics or is each person making an artistic contribution to a greater whole? It's not this, right?
I've become more of a performer than a session musician, partly because I find that it's possible to get deeper and more connected to music in a performance. I'd rather learn fewer tunes and play them as well as possible than be able to "play along" with hundreds of tunes at a session... but never truly learn any one of them. Still, half playing can be a blast, too. You can't beat a night of tune after tune. You get caught up in the momentum, your mojo's workin', and it just feels great. It's like being in fabulous shape and sprinting your way into the sunshine. But of course, we can't sprint until we're in shape, and getting in shape takes time.
(Did I mention the word "patience" yet?)
Martin Hayes wrote an article titled "Tradition and Aspiration," in the Journal of Music a few years back. He said,
"It is important that what is offered from a performance is something that truly reaches the heart of people, that it moves people in a deep way.
That is performance. Traditional music ‘sessions’ are another thing. I don’t turn up at sessions very often, usually because I’m afraid I won’t like it, and that people will expect me to play all night! I did organise sessions in Chicago when I lived there. I found out that it wasn’t always about making good music.
I would get people together to play at whatever level suited them, and usually I found that the lowest level was the best level to play at. I got people into a kind of communion, and I became very engaged in the concept of community, in the concept of people feeling united in their music. I was very concerned that we didn’t get too caught up in trying to make it the highest musical experience possible. It could get there. Sometimes it would get there for just five minutes a night."
So, to return to the original question, are you just taking up space if you're only playing a few tunes a night, I respond again with an emphatic "NO." You're doing the second most important thing: being there. Now take it up a notch and do the very most important thing: listen actively while you're at it. And strive for those fabulous five minutes that Martin talked about. If you can get to those five minutes, do you really need anything else?
If the session is truly an open learning session, they'll welcome you every week because they'll recognize your patience and dedication. If you start playing the bodhran, it may suggest that you're not so patient and you're looking for the universal session shortcut. If you're already a great bodhran player, then go for it. But contrary to popular belief, being a great bodhran player requires as much work as being a great whistle player.
So what do you do in the meantime, when you're just sitting there? Listen actively.
Stay tuned for Part II: an exploration of active listening.
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