Tuesday Music Night

*** If you get all of this in the morning (for you people), make sure you read the other Tuesday post first. ***

I don't know if I can add the audio, so I might have to send out a mass e-mail with the audio from our pub crawl.

When we got back from PwC, the guys were giving me crap about something, so I went to my default reaction to give an overly dramatic threat against their lives.  I honestly don't know what they were teasing me for, but I threatened to cut off half of Byron's hair, and someone said that I needed a drink and to chill out, and I said, "what, so I can lopsidedly cut off half your hair?"

Flashforward, and I have completely forgotten that this happened, but Byron didn't and he thought I was really going to cut off his hair.  He came up to me on the way to dinner, and asked if he could buy me a drink to apologize.  I said he didn't have to, but he bought me a glass of white wine anyway.  (Funnily enough, the waitress accidentally gave it to Leta instead, so at the pub, he bought me a shot instead.)

After dinner, we took off for Chaplin's, to meet with the musicians who would lead us through the pub crawl.  I recorded nearly every song they sang, and it was incredible.  She played the violin, and he played the guitar and the drums and sang.  They were hilarious, and I had a fabulous time.

After a while, we moved on to the Parlor Room of the Stag's Head, to finish our night.  They asked for volunteers, and you'll hear it on the audio that Leta very loudly volunteers me to sing.  So by now, I've had a shot, a whiskey ginger, and am half way through a half pint of Guinness in the last hour and a half.  I'm not drunk, but I am very well lubricated, and willingly sang.  Listening back, I was very pitchy, but I sang a Capella, and I did a pretty good job.  Emy and Dale sang as well, but no one else sang a Capella like I did.  I was incredibly proud of myself, and I believe I have officially broken through my fear of singing in front of adults.  No promises, but I might actually go to a karaoke bar in the future.  Maybe.

Our tour was over at nine, and I was suggested a good music shop to buy the two musicians.  Lauren, Tanner, Dale, Marnie and I wanted to hear more music, and were recommended the Temple Bar, where live musicians play nearly every night.  We found it fairly quickly, and just as we arrived, the three guys who were playing were finishing up their set.  Lauren and I were very excited that we could tell the difference between the reels and the jigs.  A reel is in 4/4 time, and jigs are in 6/8, which is double speed of a waltz (and obviously, not very waltzy).

These two guys came up next, who could have been brothers or cousins, with a guitar and a banjo.  They obviously knew their audience well, because they played great Celtic covers of well known American songs.  It was a really wonderful end to the night, from hearing the really authentic stuff, to things to sing along to.  They played Wagon Wheel by Darius Rucker.  It was amazing.

So that, in two parts, is all of my Tuesday.  While I was listening to the music, it was honestly, the happiest I've ever been.  It was exactly all the things I ever thought Ireland would be.  We roamed back around 11:30, amid promises to start an Irish band in Seattle, and to stay close friends forever.