March 4th

HI Folks, For all the McCabes fans in Washington DC, our apologies for not making it down to Four Provinces on March 5. Due to illness I am not able to leave NYC at the moment. Hopefully we will make it down to the nation's capital before too long. But we will be bringing our brand of Fast Irish Music to the capital of the world tomorrow night, Times Square, and the venue, of course, Connolly's, on the third floor. Black 47 have been rocking this joint since they left Paddy Reilly's a few years ago. Now we humbly follow their footsteps and take up residence there, for a little while on the Saturdays, and, when the boys come back to town, we, if all goes well, will switch over to the Fridays. Let's say, we are keeping the Fires 0f Freedom burning, in their absence.

Unfortunately we are obliged to raise the cover at the door to $7. Hard Times and all that. We have extra expenses to cover, like lighting and sound and after hours drinking, in the environs of Times Square. No, just kidding. It gets more and more expensive to run a band. We need to install a VCR in the van and things like that. Come to think of it, we need to buy a van. 

Anyhow, I hope you can support us in our new venue. Let's make Times Square the home of Irish music, especially Fast Irish Music. Cheers,
Sean.

February 21st
Hi Folks, The latest McCabes news is that we will be starting a residency at Kate Kearney's, on Wednesday March 10. It will be an early gig, starting at around 8.30, right after the Kate Kearney's daily Happy Hour, which you can check on their website (KateKearneys.com). The city, as we all know, empties out during the summer weekends, so at least you will be able to catch us before you head to the Hamptons, or The Catskills! Also, the first Wednesday will be our cd launch party, March 10. A week before Paddy's Day. This will be my tenth Paddy's Day the USA, and I am glad to be in NYC for that occasion. 

My first Paddy's Day gig was, as I have described before, at Madison Square Garden, in the train station. The cops wouldn't allow that one to continue, despite protests from the crowd, but we understand, being gallant citizens, that a certain amount of law and order must be kept within the big apple. But if there's anyone out there who wants to do a spot of busking early in the morning on Paddy's Day please let me know. Busking has its own pleasures and rewards. My second Paddy's Day we played in a bar in Queens which has since burnt to the ground; the third year we played in Brews, which was razed to the ground a couple of years ago to make way for an apartment building. Witnessing the changing face of NYC makes me feel like I'm participating in history. It also makes me feel that I'm here too bloody long. That very same day we played in Paddy Reilly's(The morning slot), not with The Mccabes but another band I used to play with, when Paddy Reilly's was cool and they had an inhouse sound system and you could spit on the ground and feel that you were doing a totally normal thing. Mind you, the last time I was in there, picking up my gear for the last time, I spat on the ground and also felt that it was a completely normal thing to do. Anyhow, that first Paddy Reilly's Paddy's Day gig was fun because we had the marching band take a tour around the bar blowing their pipes, and that always inspires me to at least a guinness or five, and then we headed over for an acoustic gig to Eamonn Dorans(another bar which has disappeared off the landscape) on 33rd and they had another marching band(flown in all the way from Dublin), and by six pm nobody could stand. 

Ah yes, those were the days. That's why it's fun to be in NYC for Paddy's Day. You can do several gigs within a few yards of each other and everywhere the streets are thronged. This year will be the same. Connolly's first, the one on 45thStreet on Broadway, and then later that night, Kate Kearney's. 0h yes, we played there a few Paddy's Days' back also. Did'nt they have a fire recently too. Yes, and on 17th March the place will be on fire again, with our music! 0kay, alright. I am living in NYC too long. 

Cheers,
SEan.

February 11th
Hi Folks, Well McCabes quiz has come to its deadline. We had a lot of people who got four out of five answers right and will be getting a copy of our new cd in the mail, but we only had a two or three who got all the answers correct. That fifth question seems to be proving a hurdle for many. Anyway, we have decided to extend the quiz for another week, because the cd will not be out until the end of this month. Yes it is finished! The questions are listed in the McCabes weekly page from a couple of weeks back. 

Because the last question proved so difficult I'm going to give a clue. The title of the song refers to a place which I love dearly, a place which has inspired me to verse several times. No it's not Cavan. That happened only once. It's a place that has several pubs converging on one block, although that could be anywhere. But it's not in Ireland! But there are many Irish there. Okay, enough clues.

A second date has been added to our St Patrick's day celebrations. Kate Kearney's at 10pm. Kate's is located on 50th Street between Second and Third Avenue. We will be having our cd launch party there on Wednesday March 10, early in the evening.
Cheers,
Sean.

January 29th
HI Folks, One of my favourite places in Ireland is the bogs of Cavan. You don't see the bogs of Cavan mentioned too often in tour guides of The Emerald Isle; it's usually the mountains of Galway or the Ring 0f Kerry, or Achill Island or The Cliffs of Moher. All those places, as most people will agree, are beautiful in themselves; you can't beat the sight of The Atlantic waves whipping against the western coastline, or the view of Lough Corrib from the top of one of the Twelve Pins in Connemara. The thought of those views is nearly enough to make you call up your travel agent and book a guided tour; or at least pick up one of those guide books and browse delightedly through its pages.

No, I am not about to announce a McCabes Tour of the thirty two counties although that idea has been suggested and has not been dismissed as a possibility for the future. Instead, I want to get back to Cavan, and go there, once again, in my mind, as I often do, when, to quote Wordsworth, in vacant or in pensive mood. Wordsworth would have liked Cavan. He was inspired by The Lake District in England and Cavan has more Lakes than anywhere else in the world, per square mile. So why is it not mentioned in the guide books? I don't know. 

Maybe its grey desolate beauty is not as immediately attractive as The Mountains of Mourne. Once you witness the black hills of Cavan, you will never go back, I can gaurantee you, you will never go back, to Clare or Galway anyway. And the rain and the peat; and the bogs. The bogs of Cavan. 

So anyway, thinking of Cavan one afternoon a few weeks ago, as I often do, while lying idly on my couch, which I often do, I penned these lines. Now, I'm no Percy French, but I hope you appreciate the sentiment.

Cavan Is My Home. 
I might wander I might roam, 
Dublin Paris I have known, 
A long time I've been gone but always
Cavan is my home. 

I've walked the streets of London,
Slept under the stars in Rome.
But no matter where I go I remember 
Cavan is my home. 

Cowshit on the road,
An old man on his own;
A lonesome night wind's moan 
Yep, Cavan is my home. 

These things I always see 
When I lie on my couch alone. 
No matter where I wander 
Cavan is my home. 

On the lake the heron's cry, 
Weeds and nettles overgrown 
In every field and lane; 
Cavan is my home. 

The bitter miser's groan
When it's time to pay back a loan; 
The snorting of pigs in a pen;
Cavan is my home.

I've travelled the wide world over, 
Seen the Colusseum in Rome, 
Danced at the dome in London,
 But Cavan was calling me home. 

Maybe it's just a hunger,
But something won't leave me alone.
0 bury my heart in Virginia, 
Cavan sweet Cavan my home.

Cheers, 
Sean.

January 22nd
HI Folks, Announcing the McCabes Quiz: 

All you have to do is answer four of the following five questions correctly, and you will receive advance copies of our new, highly anticipated and long-awaited cd, 'Dark Before The Dawn', featuring many of the band's current favourite songs, such as 'Coney Island Train', 'Where's My Baby Gone', 'Fields Of Athenry', 'Better Future In London', and others...

If you answer all five questions correctly you will receive the complete canon, all three Mccabes CDs, 'Live At Paddy Reilly's', 'Whatever makes You Tick', and 'Dark Before The Dawn'. All answers must be sent to :info@mccabesband.com, before February 10, and don't forget to put a mailing address. If you get the answers right and don't post your address we can't send you the spoils of victory....

And now for the questions: 

1. Name two fiddle players who have played with The McCabes. 

2. Who wrote 'The Van'?

3. Who directed the movie: 'Mystic River'? 

4. What's the capital of Mozambique? 

5. In which McCabes song does the singer wish to get away to 'Jersey or the moon'? 

Good luck!!

March 17, Paddy's Day, or as some people prefer to say, Saint Patrick's Day, we will be playing at Connolly's Pub in Manhattan, 47th Street on Madison Avenue. The starting time is three pm, and there is no cover!! 

Also, every Wednesday night, at Doc Watson's, Brian Tracey (on congas), Monty Monaghan(mandolin), and myself(Sean Mccabe) are appearing at Doc Watson's on Second Avenue and 78th Street. Starting time is nine. It's a nice place to go for an extended after work drink.

January 15th
Howdy folks, A belated happy New Year to All. 'The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new'. 

Whenever someone asks me "what's the latest"?, I think of this opening line from Samual Beckett's novel, Murphy. It always makes me laugh. Anyway, there is nothing new, you know, life goes on, the sun is still shining, the rain is still falling, dependng on which way one prefers to look at things...The Mccabes are still playing. One is still alive. once again I am reminded of Ireland's greatest writer, who also happens to be Ireland's greatest crank, Samuel Beckett. He lived in paris for most of his life and achieved fame only towards the end of it. One day he was in a park and an English jounalist approached him with the question:(The sun was shining. It was spring. The birds were singing) "On a day like this, Mr Beckett, one has to admit, despite all, that it's great to be alive?" Beckett's answer: " I wouldn't go that far."

Despite his pessimism, Beckett lived to the ripe old age of eighty-three or four. I was in Paris myself when he died, but alas we were not on first name terms, much as I would have liked to be. 

A poet friend of mine claimed to be a friend of Beckett's. They had a literary correspondance, which would have been a badge of honour for an Irish writer in Beckett's last years, much like a musician claiming an acquantaince with Bono, or to have an open pass to that bar of his in Dublin, what is it called again, oh yes is it the pink elephant?--I have partied there on a few occasions during my trips home. Anyway. this poet friend of mine showed me a review Beckett wrote of his poetry. "Strangely moving", said Beckett. My friend seemed immensely happy to have what he interpreted as a strong stamp of approval from the master. I wondered myself what Beckett actually meant, afterwards, in the privacy of my thoughts, and it still bugs me to this day. Did Beckett mean that my friends poems were moving in a strange sort of way, in a way that you can't put your finger on it, beautiful mysterious....?0r did he mean moving but he didn't know the bloody well why because they were a....?--I'm sure he mesant it the first way....but can you ever be sure? Does it really matter after all? Everyone takes things their own way, after all, at the end of the day, I guess.... 

In the meantine the sun shines, it's a new year, and The Mccabes are back in town, with a new cd which will be out in a couple of weeks. Now when you tell me what you think of it I don't want any ambivalence. Just say, 'brilliant as always'. Thnaks very much. I just hope it moves millions. Millions of copies, that is. It's called 'The dark before The dawn.' An it will be available at gigs. Cheers,
Sean.

November 6th
HI Folks, 0 Flanagan's is the place to be these days if you're a McCabes fan. We performed there for the first time last Saturday, Nov 1, and had a fun night. many of the faithful turned out and I think they had a good time too. We will be there on Saturdays for the time being. The Upper Eastside needs a kickass Irish band. Enough with the gin and tonics. Time for a guinness, or two, every day, at least. 

Unfortunately we will not be in Connecticut until January. The Fall was booked up before I realised that we hadn't included one of our favourite gigs, The Half-Door, in Hartford. But Connecticut ain't that far....especially from the Upper East Side! It's as far as Navan is from Dublin, about an hour. Starting time, as always is 10.30/11.00pm. Cheers, SEan.

August 31st

HI folks, One of the busiest months of the year for us is just around the corner-September....we will be hitting the road again and playing some great Irish festivals. Our first stop will be the city of Syracuse, which will be hosting its third annual Irish festival. We did this one last year and had a lot of fun, as we always do at outdoor festivals. This year we take the stage at seven thirty, and if last year is anything to go by, the party will continue after the festival at Kitty Hoynes, just off the square.

Then we head for Buffalo for another outdoor Irish fest. (All the details will be on our gigspage). We didn't make it to Chicago for Memorial Day Weekend this year but we will be in Chicago for The Festival by the river, put on by the city, on September 14th. The Fall is, of course, coming, and we will be kicking off The Fall schedule with a gig at Kate Kearneys, Tuesday September 2, the day after Labour Day. Perfect way to celebrate the beginning of the 'season of mists and mellow fruitfulness'. It'a an early gig(9pm) so you won't have to go into work the next morning misty-eyed. There'll be plenty of time to sleep off the few pints.

And then it's back to Paddy Reilly's by popular demand, or some sort of demand, on Saturday 13th and all the way through....to the end of the year, at least.

Cheers, Sean.

July 17th

HI Folks, Thanks to all who supported us on our recent summer tour, exhausting but fun. In one week we clocked up two and a half thousand miles and crossed about fifty bridges. We endured many sleepless nights to reach our destinations, well, some of us did. Others could be heard snoring in the back of the van. A lot of the venues we played for the first time, and hopefully not the last. The festivals, as always, were great craic, especially The Newport, Kentucky Fest, right by the banks of a river (don't ask me which one, I'm not a historian). At one point the river flooded and the tent, as you will be able to see, from the photo on the photos page, had to be evacuated. While waiting for the floods to subside, Mazz, Darryl and myself drank margheuritas on a hillslope and admired the view of downtown Cinncinnati, across the river. Then, when the floods did subside, the John Whelan Band put on a great, energy-filled show on the mainstage. No mean feat, in the ninety degree heat! We returned to New York and went straight into the studio to record some new songs. We will have a new CD out in The Fall. Proceeds from the sales of The CD will go towards buying a new van. Yes, The McCabesmobile has departed, this time without the Mccabes! Darryl took off to Vegas. He said the air conditioning is better down there in the clubs.... So it's farewell to Darryl for now and this weekend we have two new musicians in the band: a piper by the name of Isaac Alderson and a guitarist by the name of Rick Snell. It's been a while since we played as a six-piece, so that should be exciting. The stage of course, is too small to hold five musicians, nevermind six, but Dan said he will jump on the bar-counter if things get too tight. Paddy Reilly's is the venue, Friday 18th and Saturday 19th. Our thanks to Steve and Darryl for their contributions to the band. Cheers, Sean.

May 23rd

HI Folks, We will not be in Paddy Reilly's tomorrow night (May 24). As I noted last week, we will be in The Catskills, enjoying the good summer weather. Thanks to all who came down to our listening party on Monday night. It was a great success and my favorite moment was drinking a shot of 200 year old Irish Whiskey from Portadown, Ireland, that Steve Duggan himself distilled and saved for the occasion. At that time it was illegal in Ireland to (1) speak the Irish language (2) get an education (3) drink, buy or sell whiskey....so we appreciate the lengths Steve went for us. It was definitely the best whiskey I have ever drunk. We will be back in Paddy Reilly's on the 31st. 
Cheers, Sean.

May 16th

HI folks, Next weekend is memorial Weekend and The McCabes will be in The Catskills, performing at the Irish Festival. We are one of the early birds: we play at 2.15pm and you can get the info on the gigs page. I'm glad we're playing so early because then we get a chance to enjoy nature. The Catskills is a very beautiful place to be in the summertime. This is our third or fourth year in a row coming up here, and we have played every joint in the neighbourhood...The Blackthorn, 0'Neills...you name it...we played it. This year, on the Saturday night, and The Sunday night, we will be playing at Furlong's(details on gig page), and the wonderful thing about playing these pub/guesthouses is that you can rent a room and don't have to worry about driving a car back down the mountain.

Lord knows it's been a long winter. It's time for that early summer getaway!

Sharing the stage with us at Furlong's on Sunday night will be The Prodigals. The Prodigals have been our buddies for a while now. In fact I was in that band at the beginning. They hold down the Fridays at Paddy Reilly's, and they have a new album coming out. You can go to their website through our links page. Their current drummer, Chris, was in Darryl Conlon's previous band, Crossroads, before Darryl was whisked away to notoriety by myself. Brian Tracey, their former drummer, has been playing with The Mccabes on and off for the past five months....there are many other connections between the two bands; so the Sunday night at Furlongs will almost have a family reunion type of feel, because the two bands have never played together before under the one roof.If there is a roof. Who needs a roof in the mountains in summertime....? This coming Monday Paddy Reilly's bar is organising a 'listening party' for The McCabes. It's a party where people listen to the band, music industry people and suchlike. It starts at sevenpm, and all are welcome. Cheers, Sean.

May 1st

HI Folks, The summertime is approaching and this time of year I am always reminded of a favorite song of mine by The Undertones called 'Here Comes The summer'. Who? and What?, I hear you say. Yes, The Undertones, one of the most under appreciated bands. They came from Ireland and even in Ireland they remain under mentioned when it comes to discussions of the heroes of Irish rock.

They came out of the North of Ireland at the height of The troubles, around the same time as Stiff Little Fingers. They weren't political like Stiff Little Fingers; they were a punkish sort of band but not as hard core as SLF; their songs were and still are really great. If you're ever in a record shop and see anything by this band, don't pass it by. Such songs as "Happens All The Time", "Jimmy Jimmy", "My Perfect Cousin" should be in every record collection. 

To me, it's amazing how such good rock never made it huge over here. There are many great bands from that period in Ireland and the U.K. that didn't cross the Atlantic, and it's unfortunate. A lot of the punk bands at that time were very political and what makes The Undertones stand out is the fact that they're not political. The songs are good for anyone with ears, even an old fucker like me. 

John Peel, the highly revered English DJ, who championed the punk rock music, said The Undertones were his favorite punk band.

They split up, as all bands do, and the lead singer went solo, as many lead singers do, after their bands split up. Feargal Sharkey, as he was called, had an opera trained voice (kind of unusual for a punk band), and had a couple of solo hits in the UK with awful, sappy songs. But good things can't last forever. What was it that Shakespeare said: "Violent fires soon burn out themselves".....

How true, Willie, how true. Anyhow, here comes the summer.

April 2nd

Hi Folks, I am pleased to announce that Brian Tracey, formerly of The prodigals, will be playing with The McCabes for most of the next two months, while Steve Holloway is on the road. Brian and I go back a long way. In fact one of the first Prodigals gigs was way back in 1996 or so, and the lineup consisted of Alex Tobias(Who has since changed his name to River) on fiddle and harmonica, myself on vocals(or something resembling that) and guitar, and Brian Tracey, who we called in at the last minute to play drums. The bar was Dillons in Woodside, at the time the musical hub of that neighborhood. Brian arrived with his snare drum and we proceeded to play. The place was packed. I have never seen a bigger crowd in a bar in my life. It was great to see it. I have a tendency to close my eyes when singing. It helps me get in tune with my inner self. Sometimes I get oblivious to the crowd around me. It was lucky I got oblivious to this crowd becasue when I opened my eyes fifteen minutes into the set I noticed that the place was empty, except for a dozen or so sinners at the bar. I guess they were there for the TV. 

It sobered me up pretty quickly, despite the fact that I had drunk about seven pints before the show started.

 I was amazed that we got paid, quite a sizeable amount in those days. I decided not to ask the owner for another gig that night. Actually a few months later, on New Year's Eve, a fire started during a performance by the legendary Irish band, 'Four to The Bar' and Dillons was burnt to the ground. I was disappointed because I wanted to play there again, and I felt bad for the owner, who, by all accounts, was a decent man, who used to change cheques for the Irish workers who didn't have bank accounts. Anyway, that was the last we saw of Brian for a year or so. He had to be really persuaded to play with The Prodigals again; this time it was when the band landed a regular Sunday bruch gig at a place called Brews, just a stone's throw from Paddy Reilly's. At that time Gregory Grene was with the band and we were rocking. Brews was razed to the ground as well, in order to make way for a big apartment block. So you see, we cause destruction wherever we go, me and Brian. We'll be causing destruction tomorrow night at Finnegan's Wake in Philadelphia (April 4), and in Paddy Reilly's on Saturday (April 5)

 By the way, between my stints with The prodigals and The McCabes, I recorded a CD with Brian and a few other great musicians (including Andrew Harkin of The Prodigals). It's called 'Ships Are sailing' and it has just been re-mastered and re-issued by Sony records in a box set that includes extra songs and clips of some of the conversations conducted by the band members during the recording sessions. Thanks to Brian, sony put an 'explicit-language' warning on the packet. And if you want to avoid that aspect of the album you can order it directly through this website (on the orders page) and we will send it out to you. Some of the songs we do at gigs today are on this CD, such as 'Whiskey On A Sunday', and 'The Road To Amsterdam', and there are also some other unperformed treasures, I think. Cheers, Sean.

March 19th

Hi Folks, Well, the big weekend is over. But don't worry, it's only 362 days until Paddy's Day 2004. It's only 181 days until Half-Way to Paddy's Day. That's an even bigger consolation.

 The McCabes had a wonderful time in Chicago. A big thanks to The 0 Looney family for being such nice hosts. We played three nights at their pub, The Abbey Pub, and a second gig on the Saturday at The Irish-American Heritage Centre. It was wonderful to see all those people hanging from the rafters and jumping on the tables, in response to the music. We also got a spot on Fox TV early on Monday morning. Amid all the talk of war and talking fish, they were able to find time for a jig and a song. The Establishment hasn't totally gone mad yet..... 

The local senator was there giving his two cents to the camera on the Iraq crisis and he came in to congratulate us on our performance. He said he was going to meet U2 later on that day(I guess they were in Chicago too, unless he was flying down to Washington for the Paddy's Day party). We didn't enquire too much about that but Darryl did take the opportunity to tell the Senator to tell Bono that he would return the latter's calls when he got the chance.

 It was a crazy week. We played five nights (and days) in a row and here I sit now looking out the window at the East River- always a picture of calm, except for the military choppers that whizz by every five minutes and the garbage tankers that sail by every once in a while transporting Manhattan's garbage to New Jersey. It's a wonderful sight. On a clear morning when the sun is shining I sometimes long to swim in it-not the garbage the river, but it's twenty three stories down so I'll have to be content with the swimming pool on the plaza. For now.

 If it wasn't for the traffic and the underwater currents I would try swimming from Manhattan to Queens, or Queens to Manhattan. Just for the heck of it. God knows I need to get rid of this beer-belly of mine that has suddenly appeared since the weekend. 0kay I'll shut up. Cheers,
Sean.

March 12th

Hi Folks,
Saint Patrick's Day is upon us once again and once
again the arrival of this Day of Days has inspired me
to poetry. It goes like this:

Paddy's Day

See them marching one by one,
Long green sashes under the sun,
0n Paddy's Day.

Everybody's drinking having fun,
They play the pipes they bang the drum,
0n Paddy's Day.

There's the Mayor and there's the Gov,
Greedy for your votes of love,
on Paddy's day.

I'm pushing through the push-'n'-shove,
Hat on head and hand in glove,
On Paddy's day.

Everyone's Irish one-two-three,
Consorting in the land of the free,
0n Paddy's Day.

Remember the dead got left behind,
Remember the poor the sick the blind,
On Paddy's Day.

The billionaires round out the march,
From Harlem to the Eighth Street Arch,
On Paddy's Day.

The coffinships no longer sail,
They're in a museum telling their tale,
0n Paddy's Day.

The riots over, the bellies full,
The lapels shining, the faces dull,
0n Paddy's Day.

Straight to the bar for another round,
A Long Island teenager kicked to the ground,
0n Paddy's Day.

More bagpipes, whistles, dancers too,
Everyone's Irish, even The Jew,
0n Paddy's Day.

Celebrating I don't know what,
Maybe the land that time forgot,
0n Paddy's Day-

-Don't ask me I'm just with the crowd,
We're loud, we're American, we're proud,
0n Paddy's Day.


Sorry, I hope I didn't bore you. It's better to be
there than read about being there for that magical
experience. See you in Chicago on the 17th.
Cheers,
Sean.

February 26th

Hi Folks, I didn't write anything last week because I was laid up with the flu. But many thanks for the hundreds of get well cards and E-mails that came my way. They definitely speeded up my recovery. I even got a couple from Africa, where we are known as the Muggabbees(not to be confused with the terrible dictator in Mozambique). Another greeting came from France, (There they call us :Les McCabes), wishing me well, and a flu-free rest of 2003. I'd sooner they called us leMcCabe, because if you have a 'le' in front of your name in France it means you come from the nobility. I don't think Mac in Scotland or Ireland denotes any hint of royalty or nobility, unfortunately. It just comes from the Gaelic word :Mac, meaning son. Therefore, a name like McCabe or McDonald might mean (in the old days) 'son of Cabe' or let's say, 'son of Donald', or 'son of a bitch', or even 'son of Siam'. It's very interesting to go back and look at the actual origin of the names of people and things. For example, the American name 'Green Hill'. Maybe a man in recent times was called Green Hill because he lived on a hill that was green. Maybe he sold tomatoes in the village. They'd see him coming from a long way off on his horse and cart with boxes of fresh tomatoes and they'd say: Ho! Here comes Bill from the Green Hill. And then there's the familiar name 'Rush', the sound of which I personally like. Maybe the first Rush was a man who was always in a rush to get places. People would see him go running by and they'd say: "ah! There's Joseph again. He's always in a rush. So maybe he became known as Joseph Rush, and that was the beginning of the Rush dynasty. It sounds a bit simplistic I guess but you'd never know. Actually we had a bass player by the name of Rush way back at the beginning of the band. One thing was true: he was never in a Rush to get to gigs. He was always about ten minutes late but sometimes later generations shed the characteristics of the earlier ones. They learn to slow down and take life easier, adapt to changing environments. He was a good bass player. Lynch is an Irish name. I better not speculate as to where that came from. The word 'boycott' actually has its origin in Ireland. There was a landlord in the west of ireland who tried to evict his tenants. They protested by completely ignoring him whenever he walked by. This mental torture broke his spirit and he went back to England. The tenants won the right to stay on the land. Anyway, let me not bore you any further. This Friday we're in McGeary's in Albany. Saturday we're in Paddy Reilly's. Don't forget to vote for us in the band competition: Stephen@Irishvoice.com is the address you send your vote to. Cheers, Sean.

February 14th

Hi folks, Our apologies go out to anybody who came to see us at The Half-Door last Friday. They had twelve inches of snow up there so between the bar and ourselves we decided to take the night off. But we will be back! It's been a cold winter but I'm one of those people who likes the cold, or cowld, as we say at home in my part of Ireland. 

Tomorrow we do a special Valentine's Day gig at Paddy Reilly's. We're only going to sing love songs all night. No rebel songs, no drinking songs. Just love. One of the songs we perform is called "Hanging Around", and it is a song written specially for a woman on Valentine's Day. I met her one night in the subway by chance about a week before Valentine's Day oh many years ago and I immediately fell in love as we waited for the train to pull in. There was a busker singing love songs and I noticed she was admiring his style. I automatically admired his style too and told her so. That was enough to get her card with a phone number and an address. I set to work and bought her a Valentine's Day card, composed a little wee poem, called: "Hanging Around" and put it in the mail. To my amazement she never got back to me but hey: you can't win 'em all. Anyway, we still play the song at the gigs, at least there's that. I won't print the words though. I'm embarrassed enough singing them. I asked Darryl to sing the song but he wouldn't. Anyway, happy valentine's Day. 

Cheers, Sean. 

PS: If you'd like to vote for The McCabes in the Murphy's Irish Voice Band Competition all you have to do is send an E-mail to Stephen@Irishvoice.com

January 31st

Hi Folks, May I be so bold as to recommend a songwriter that I have been listening to-There is no McCabes News this week that I can think of, it being a very dull time of the year....the Mccabesmobile is pretty stationary at the moment. Ron Sexsmith hails from Toronto and has been praised by the likes of Elvis Costello and Paul McCartney. He is not famous famous but his stature is growing, and in my opinion his songs are the perfect accompaniment to the dreary weather we're experiencing at the moment. Not that his songs are dreary, let's say: a little melancholic but in a gentle, hopeful way. He sounds like an angel, but sometimes the angel gets too angelic, as in the song 'God Loves Everyone', which is on his latest CD, 'Cobblestone Runway'. I like the harder-edged songs, the ones without messages, such as 'Secret Heart', which is on his first CD, 'Ron Sexsmith'. Secret heart is a great tune, which literally carries you up to heaven, if there is a heaven, and this I bet, is the song which prompted Elvis Costello to appear on the Cover of Rolling Stone a few years back holding a copy of that debut CD. It carries you out of your body, the way some Indian scitar music does. You'd want to be careful if you're living in a high-rise apartment. It might induce you into a dreamlike state in which you start to fly and suddenly you're flying out the window and down to the ground below. Yes, it has that effect. I've seen Ron perform twice, first at The Olympia in Dublin, a three man band, him on guitar, plus a cellist and a drummer. It was one of the best shows I have ever seen, although it does help knowing his songs if you go to one of his shows. At first I didn't think much of his music but a friend of mine kept raving about it so I gave his first CD a few more listens till I was hooked. It's that type of music, like Townes Van Zandt's. It grows on you until you realize you were in a musical wilderness before.... Anyway, enough ramblings. I hope he comes to town sometime next year. He played last September at the Pier 17, WFUV sponsored concert series (Which we participated in thank you very much) and I didn't like the show as much. I didn't know the new songs but he seemed a bit tired anyway. I think he was coming to the end of a long tour. He has about five or six albums. I have two but I'm planning on getting more. Steve Earl (one of our favourite artists whose songs we cover sometimes at McCabes shows (Galway Girl, Copperhead Road, My Old Friend The Blues) produced the album before the current one, entitled 'Blue Boy' or something like that, and that's one I'm going to lay my hands on soon-as soon as we get a raise in Paddy Reilly's.

 Cheers, Sean.

January 23rd

HI folks, Bill Phillips, our website host and host of CelticTV.com, was in a bad car accident on Christmas Eve. There is a benefit being held at The baggot Inn on January 30th(details on home page) and we hope you guys can make it down. The other bands on the scene will be there, including Larry Kirwan of Black 47, Joe Hurley of Rogues March and many more. In fact it's been a while since the New York Irish bands got together under the one roof so I'm sure it will be a blast-each band will play for a half-hour or so. And by the way, The Irish Voice is having a band competition. All you do is buy the paper, select from the band list on the back page (I bought the paper myself yesterday for the first time in months and I saw that our name is on the list), fill out the form with your favorite band and send it back. The winning band gets a big prize. I don't know what the prize is but that's what the paper said. And newspapers don't lie. Don't rush out and buy the paper! (It's only a marketing ploy) But if you do get it on a regular basis I guess a vote in our favour wouldn't hurt. Me, I'm going to vote for Celtic Cross. They're good friends of ours and in fact we're sharing the bill with those guys down at The Jersey Shore on Sunday march 2, the day of their Saint Patrick's Day Parade (The details will be on our gig list for march), in a place called :The Springlake Manor. The last time I took part in a band competition the band I was with came in only second. The winner was a boyband called Bloo and they got a huge record deal out of it, and a spot at the guinness Fleadh, then being held for the first time on Randall's Island. I guess they thought they were headed for the big time. They were quite a good band too, as were the other bands who competed on the final night (At paddy Reilly's). Of course the real winner's were the bars where the competition was staged. They made lots of money. So what am I trying to say? Band competitions suck! It's the music that matters. I'm not just saying this because we lost. I mean it. Cheers, Sean.

January 15th, 2003

Hi there folks, I had a request to print out the lyrics of some of my songs, so here we go. I'll just do a couple of songs to start with. How about 'Sunday Afternoon'? I wrote this song about fifteen months ago. I woke up one Sunday morning with a pretty bad headache-it had been a late one at Paddy Reilly's-and decided that a walk and five or six bottles of water would effect the cure, and then a nice big Irish breakfast on Queens Boulevard. It didn't work. Two hours later I left the diner with the same headache so I decided to go for an Irishman's cure in Bloom's. There was a nice Sunday Afternoon feeling in the newly opened bar, with families spread out over the tables, sexy waitresses running around, and of course all eyes were on the GAA match being broadcast from Ireland. I forget who was playing, but no matter, the couple of pints I had definitely helped, and inspired by the happy scene around me I went back to my apartment and wrote the song, and it goes like this:
 

Sunday Afternoon
Sitting in a pub reading the paper/A Queens Boulevard pub the usual caper/Sexy waitress with the Northern smile/I'll be over in a little while/TV GAA games on in the corner /everyone cheers Meath are playing a stormer (Chorus) It's a Sunday Afternoon Sunday afternoon Sunday Afternoon, It's a Sunday Afternoon Sunday Afternoon Sunday Afternoon. (Verse 2) First pint for the hangover, second for tomorrow's/And the third and the fourth and the fifth 0 how quick the day goes/Sunday Afternoon in a pub in Queens Boulevard/Foul on the TV someone gets a red card (Chorus) (Verse 3) Live from Ireland then the band arrives/Days are getting short but we'll survive/Till the next week anyhow then the week after/Prams to the door sound of someone's laughter/It's the sexy waitress and the boys from Armagh/Green football shirts and blah blah blah (Chorus)(Verse 4) October Sundays evening comes/Out into the night then with the other bums/Or maybe a little further down the road/Somewhere else to lay down my weary load/0 sexy waitress with the northern smile/I'll be over love in a little while 'cos (Chorus)

There you go, folks. It's on our new album and Matt Mancuso plays a mean trumpet solo.

Luna was inspired by a trip I made to Barcelona about four years ago. I was busking in Paris and I decided to mosey on down to that ancient Spanish town. I hitched a ride and was taken all the way by a man who told me that if a guy went to Barcelona and didn't get hooked up with a woman (he used a coarser expression) within three days of his arrival he was gay. Lo and behold I walked onto the beach and there was Luna waiting for me, arms outstretched. We spent a few days together and she inspired this song. 

Luna 

We lay together by the sea the beautiful Luna and me/The sun was falling down the sky we didn't care time passed us by/We walked along a darkened street my Luna everybody greets/She's the girl everybody knows on the beach she wears no clothes (Chorus: Luna, Luna) (Verse 2) I took her to my hotel room We lay there in the evening gloom/Shouts from upstairs loud guitars jukeboxes in empty bars/She was mine at least for now for the time being anyhow/I'd almost stay and not go back I'm tired of moving with the pack (Chorus:luna, Luna, Luna, was mine for a day) (Verse 3) I'd almost give it up for you sometimes I don't know what to do/The evening it grew dark and dim and that was it 'twas just a whim, (Chorus).

Cheers, Sean.

January 8th, 2003

Hi folks, Happy New year to all. We have an action packed year ahead; hope you can join us for some of the gigs. 

We will not be in Traditions this Thursday but starting next Thursday, Jan 15, we will be there every Thursday, starting at about ten-ten thirty. Traditions is in Jamaica, Queens and if you want directions just E-mail us and we'll E-mail you back.

 We're going to be starting up a radio-station very soon. It will be called :Radio McCabe, and we will be broadcasting twenty four hours a day, both of our CD's in rotation, seven days a week. Ah no just kidding. We wouldn't punish you like that. We will be broadcasting one two-hour show per week, and we will be playing our favorite music, and we will be accepting requests. We will accept them but it doesn't mean we'll play them. Ah no just kidding but you can actually join us live on the web radio and chat with us about your favorite things. I'll have more details later. 

We're back in Paddy Reilly's every Saturday so I hope you can make it down. 

This past Saturday was, as usual, a lot of fun, both onstage and off. We did a long set, nearly two hours long, and Erin (God bless her) kept us supplied with Guinness, and for the Guinness song somebody came up and knocked back a pint in three seconds, almost breaking the Paddy Reilly's world record for speed drinking. If he hadn't spilt half the pint over his shirt he would have qualified, but there you go. It has to go into the mouth.

Thanks to Backy for playing all those Clash songs on the jukebox. It made me sad sad to think that Joe Strummer is gone and there will now be no Clash reunion.

I was supposed to continue with memories of 2002 but I forgot to do it last week, as I was away in Sweden. I think my favorite gig from last year was The Kansas City Irish Festival, which I described in Last week's Weekly (Two weeks ago). Another favorite was The Syracuse Festival because they had two huge screens on either side of the stage so I was able to look at myself while playing. I felt like Bono. 

My least enjoyable gig was (I admit) The Florida Irish Fest because we were the last band and The Wolfe Tones, who played before us, drove the crowd away. This was Saint Patrick's Day! The crowd consisted mostly of older people so maybe the they actually had to go to bed. They don't really celebrate Paddy's Day in Florida that much but maybe that will change. All we need is a few more trips down there. It was my First sober St Patrick's day and I promise you it was my last. And now for 2003!

December 18th

Hi Folks, I hope you can make it down to our Christmas party this coming Saturday at the usual spot. It's my last gig of the year and the next day I'm off to Sweden for the Holidays. I'll be up in The Arctic Circle actually, and believe it or not there is an Irish band called The Molly Maguires who do the rounds in that part of the world. They have a song called: Whiskey In The ice. You'd need lots of whiskey up there. This time of year they only have three hours of daylight. And lots of snow and wild reindeer. Very Christmasey indeed. Anyway, a big thanks to all our fans for supporting TheMcCabes in 2002. We had a highly enjoyable year. And we'll be back for more in 2003. 

You can also catch the band now on the webcam every Saturday. All you have to do is log onto our website, like you've just done, and click the webcam page. Now the broadcast fills the full screen and you can hear it on stereo. This is every Saturday night at eleven Eastern Time. Including this coming weekend and the following The McCabes have done 146 gigs in 2002. 

Some of the more memorable moments of 2002: The Kansas City Irish Festival, September: One of the best sets of our career. Crowd went wild at the end; didn't want us to leave stage, thousands of 'em screaming for more. But our buddies The Elders were waiting to go on so we obliged them and went straight to the beer tent. As soon as they started their set the power went. I swear, we didn't throw a spanner in the works. The crowd waited restively while Dave Shaughnessy, the festival organizer, took the power that fueled the vendors' machines and transferred it to the stage. The vendors weren't happy but the crowd sure as hell was. We were well on our way by this time to the airport. We had a flight to catch to Boston, as we were playing The Oyster Festival the next day. We loaded a few beers into the van, as we often do, and as we sped along the highway we discussed how we were going to handle the hatchet-faced woman at the airport security who had warned us that we would not be allowed to take our instruments aboard the plane to Boston. But we argued in vain with the officials. We were forced to hand over the instruments or 'walk to Boston'. Dan refused. He took apart his bass and walked it onto the plane, thereby gaining a moral, if bitter, victory. He had just paid a thousand dollars for his new instrument and worried the whole way to Boston whether it would be okay when he put it back together. It was. We went to the Oyster festival the next day very much in the mood for playing only to discover that it had been cancelled due to rain. Apparently no one had shown up the day before so the owners decided to cut their losses. It had been a stormy 
weekend weather wise but at least they paid our expenses, albeit grudgingly. 

These things happen, I suppose. We'll make it back up to Boston in 2003. 

To be continued------next week.

December 11th

Hi folks, Only a couple of weeks left till Christmas, only six McCabes gigs. Guess where? Yes. Three of them will be in Paddy Reilly's.

 A friend asked me do I ever get tired of playing in Paddy Reilly's week after week. The answer, to be quite honest is no. It's always different every week, but always a lot of fun, and by the time Two AM comes round I'm ready to keep going. We can't though, because the neighbors start complaining. As Lez, our former drummer, once said, 'if it's too loud you're too old'. How right he was. Anyway we're not that loud. At least you can talk during our shows. The Prodigals gigs are louder than ours. Have you seen the amount of gear they use? That's enough to fill Shea Stadium with sound. Still, as Lez said, 'If it's too loud you're too old'. That's our other motto, by the way. We play Fast Irish Music and if it's too loud you're too old. McCabes' music comes out faster than McDonalds cheeseburgers.

 Anyway, to get back to the original point (sorry for rambling), I never get tired of playing in Paddy Reilly's of a Saturday night because it's always a lot of fun. If the audience is having fun we're having fun, if we're having fun the audience is having fun, if the audience is not having fun we're having fun anyway, and if we're not having fun.......I don't know about that because I can't remember a time when we didn't. It was great fun last Saturday. Mazz did a lovely version of The Fields Of Athenry, and in doing so reduced Darryl's standing from being Ireland's number two balladeer, to being Ireland's number three balladeer. As Steve Duggan himself said about her rendition of the song, she 'gave Paddy Reilly himself a run for his money'. Does that mean Paddy Reilly is now Ireland's number two balladeer? 

The Half Door was also great craic last Friday. The 0 Connor girls were there, more of them every time, and their Irish dancing was even better. As if it could get any better! We also had Mike McKenna's son up to sing The Wild Rover. We don't let many people up on the stage with The McCabes - apart from The 0 Connors I don't know of anybody who is permitted to join us- and of course the Sheila's of this world- anyway, Mike said his son was a great singer. Well, he wouldn't be a candidate for The Manhattan Pub Choir, but it was all done in the best of spirits. We'll be up in The Kilmeggan tomorrow night, 60th Street in Woodside, Queens, take the 7 Train to Woodside; Saturday Paddy Reilly's, and that's it.

Cheers, Sean.