Blackie O'Connel

[maze]

So what is up with this Blackie O'Connel that all of a sudden my friends who all went to E. Durham this week without me (teaching every feckin' day this summer, grrr) keep texting me about? Where the heck did this guy come from? Sounds great from what I can tell from myspace....

Who knows this guy and what can ya'll tell me?

My friends are all girls, incl. john from limerick (you know you are ya big ^%&*!) up there, so maybe that plays into it who knows.

maze

[Patrick D'Arcy]

This is great: http://www.discoverireland.com/us/webisode/jsp/

Wait for it to download and click on Clare.

Makes you want to visit the place

Patrick.

[maze]

right there, Mr. D'Arcy. Thanks!

Seems nice a nuff guy

[Patrick D'Arcy]

Yeah. I don't know him at all. He played a bit either on the Dunne Brother video or the Travelling musician programme, not sure which.

Patrick.

[razzmaster]

Blackie playing a Galloway set.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTL1ottGo_c

[RobBBQ]

I met Blackie at a session in Belfast last year- really sound guy, nice playing, generous with his time and happy to chat a good while about all things pipes. I remember he was playing a Cillian O'Briain set at that time and really nice on the regs.

R

[Ballygo]

He plays a Cillian O Brian set . I was there the day he collected them. Galloway makes copies of O´Brian.


Ballygo

[billh]

This is great: http://www.discoverireland.com/us/webisode/jsp/

Wait for it to download and click on Clare.

Makes you want to visit the place

Patrick.

Hey, well done Blackie (/Micheál) !

[Cathy Wilde]

Oh, wow. I get what the girls were talking about!

And awesome piping ... oh to be young and gorgeous and talented and charming ... (erm) single.

[Piobairi Uilleann Inis Fa]

Met Blackie at the IAW last week and attended his classes. He lives in Ennis these days and is only in his 20s. He picked up alot I would say from Micky Dunn as well as others. He started out at around 14 years old I think. He is an awesome piper and a real crowd pleaser (the set he did during a session at McKennas during the week brought the house down). He was dependably at Furlongs through the night - every night - and really is a colorful guy. The only regret I had was the fact that he missed his scheduled gig slot at the Andy McGann festival on saturday and they wouldn't let him play later on (he was in playingat a session Friday night until 10:30 am saturday morning!). On Saturday night though he was back at Furlongs and at one point he, along with Paul Degrae and Matty Crannich borrowed some bight florencent wigs from some young ladies and the three of them jammed with wigs appropriatly adorned for several sets - I am sure some pictures will find there way around, and as Blackie adorned the pink wig, I vote that his nickname should be changed to "Pinkie".

In any event, it would be a a grand treat to have him back at IAW and at any Tional as he is a fantastic musician (I hate to say it, but he takes Paddy Keenan's frolics to another level with so much more material) and a really good teacher, not to mention just a bang up good time to hang out with for some laughs and good criac.

Neil.

[ceemonster]

the deal with blackie o'c is that as well as being a wonderful piper, he is also a professional session entertainer & session carrier, which is an art & a craft in and of itself. a lot of people who do this in ireland when they're younger eventually get sick of it, and he's fresh blood and damn good at it. a hilarious class clown as well as a wonderful player. he's a doolin/ennis mainstay, seasoned in the subtle arts of all-night session momentum, and the simple fact is that they don't have much of this at irish arts week. the musicians they bring in to teach & perform are wonderful, but by and and large, they make it tactlessly plain that when it comes to the 10-12 pm (or whatever hours) skedded seshes they are looking at their watches and can't wait to piss out of the skedded seshes on the dot, which is kind of dismaying for folks who have paid gobs of dough to come there not just to genuflect at the listening altar, but also to do some fine playing themselves---particularly those who have put in a bunch of time and work and CAN play to a very good standard. i mean, this year the skedded sesh i had looked forward to the most featured the delightful experience of having most of them saunter in an hour late, and then very obviously watch the clock and leave as soon as the bell rang. it wasn't that attendees didn't play well or that there were session wreckers afoot. it was that they plain & simple do not want to be there one second beyond the skedded deal....and in that particular instance even shorted it by an hour....you just have to shake your head.

i have wondered for a couple of years (this is only a theory, no personal knowledge whatsoever) if furlong's contracts the jackie daly mobsters to burn the house down all night at least for the final fri/saturday, because indeed they are conspicuously an exception in going all night. it's usually jackie, matt cranitch, paul de grae & others, this year same crew plus blackie. i didn't see jackie as much in the wee small hours this year, but blackie & cranitch, de grae, & co., were indeed burning the joint down. they are brilliant players, a class act and gents even if they are contracted in, but if they are doing it voluntarily for the craic and to give craic to attendees......they should be nominated for sainthood......as should as the queen of furlong's....they gave a lot of delight to a lot of people....

i also thought it was a scream that blackie o'connell put all-night fun with the seshers over a fleeting performance at the andy mcgann egofest the next day......he's got his priorities straight for sure.

[Cathy Wilde]

Some really good points there -- and great travelogue (not to mention stuff to add to my Blackie Moon Room), too. Thanks!

I'm willing to bet that a few years of doing the "teaching and playing and being lovely" circuit year in and year out can get to be a grind, esp. if one's been on a plane or driving 8 hours or was up too late last night or has to be up and reasonably cheerful/coherent by 10 the next morning (thank god I don't have to do that at *my* job), but yeah, as far as those teaching camps go ... the classes are helpful, but it's been the times I've been lucky enough to be around the big dogs "burning it down" that really make me go home and work harder.

[Gabriel]

Met him a few months back in the Irish Rover Pub in Hamburg, Germany, together with Desi Kelliher and some other lads and lasses from Ireland. Hat a nice chat and liked his piping. His friends/colleagues were by far not as communicative as him and mostly did their own thing, ignoring the local musicians.

[Tristan]

I had the pleasure of taking my first couple formal piping lessons from him at his home in Ennis a few years ago. Wish I would've been around longer to take in more learning from him. Hopefully I'll get the chance to pick things up again at some later point. Class piper, and class gent, just as all those above have said.

[Brazenkane]

Kathy made some good points. Plus, unless your a teacher over the age of 35 ( or more), you have zero clue on how completely and utterly taxing that job can be. So, to faulting teachers for leaving a sessiun, many of which become makeshift orchestras due to the sheer amount of participants, is unfair.

Blackie excels at his many crafts, no doubt! More power to him!