Thank you, Seamus Egan

Right now I am coming down from various highs: Tequila shots and mojitoes has left me giggly and silly, but the thrust behind my bouncing and general giddiness is that tonight I not only saw one of my favorite bands, Solas, (the best Celtic band in current existence), perform for the first time in a few years, but thanks to my roommate's assertive ways, I also got a photo taken with Seamus Egan, the band member I have ummm admired, for some time now. It was a real thrill for me.

Who the fuck is Seamus Egan?

Watch your language! We're talking about Seamus Egan, American-Irish-American man who plays more instruments than fingers on your right hand (and often all during the same song!). A man who not only plays, but writes, produces, and my GOD I hope receives royalties, particularly for recording the entire soundtrack to the fine movie, "The Brother's McMullen" and Sarah McLachlan's "I will remember you" which was a modified version of his own "Weep not for the Memories" (much better title, though I did think she did a good job with lyrics) as well as "Dancing on Dangerous Ground" which I unfortunately can't comment on. I just read somewhere that he's playing the flute in a cameo in the hysterical movie, "Waking Ned Devine." Well, that's a good reason to rent it and watch it again.

I first saw Seamus in a "Winter Solstice" concert I was dragged to when I lived in Madison, Wisconsin. Then, it was just him and another man, who at this inebriated moment, I believe was John Doyle? (so sorry!). Perched on bar stools, Seamus charmed the crowd with jokes and stories as the two of them played several songs that had the audience bouncing and clapping with gusto. The music, relatively new to me (except all the stuff we've all heard, like The Chieftains), was a delightfully impressionable experience. Maybe more importantly, he made me laugh, a lot. Those are the moments that foolish crushes are made of.

In the few years to come, I would see electrifying performances that blew my mind, with him in the original incarnation of Solas with Karan Casey who has sadly since moved on to do her own stuff. Some of her songs are still my favorite Solas ballads, for instance, my favorite, "I Am a Maid that Sleeps in Love," the bouncy "Níl 'Na Lá," and of course, the cheekily cautionary tale of, "Roger the Miller," which was first introduced to me by my beloved Dr. Mike (an Irish-American man who loves the group as much as I), who after giving me a brief and colorful synopsis, cranked up the volume and acted out the song with his large, expressive hands. A couple of years later I would turn my friend, who is now my roommate, onto Solas using the same song. He still loves to bring it up and is always harshly disappointed when Solas fails to play it at their performances.

I still remember blasting out "The Maid on the Shore" on my car radio as my friend and I made a day trip to the Mississippi river, especially the two parts in the song where Seamus just takes off! How geeky does it sound to be rocking on a road trip to Celtic music? But when you're rocketing down empty rural roads and the music is shooting up Up UP into the sky with the passionate ferocity like in this song, you feel like you are too.

I don't mean to pretend as if Solas hasn't been making albums, post-Karan Casey. They of course have and have been kicking just as much butt as ever before. I have their latest cd, Another Day next to me at this moment! Buy it! (and I don't usually say this about other music, but don't you dare download it!). This isn't taking $15 from disgustingly-rich Britney Spears. These are people who go out and play much more modest venues and give a lot more heart and soul to each performance than Britney gives in her left breast.

Their "new" singer is Deirdre Scanlan who has a strong and beautiful voice that I have come to admire more and more. And kudos to her for being friendly enough to actually encourage email to the group and then actually answer it too!

I have heard rumors since the beginning that Seamus and fellow talented bandmate Winifred Horan have been an item for years, *sigh* and can easily believe it by the moon eyes they seem to make at each other during a performance. It's not hard to imagine how playing live music with someone you fancy could be incredibly arousing. It's just another way to be intimate and connected, I suppose. I think I would jump the guy backstage as soon as the curtain fell.

There's just something about someone who is not just enormously talented, but after all these years (now 35, he recorded his first album at 16), seems to still play with such passion, such bliss. It makes me feel drawn to him the way you are to an actor who connects with you on screen. His head bobbing and dipping with the beats of his banjo, or the way his body sways along with the blur of his flying fingers on the flute. It's like the music is flowing through his fingers, through his body, and just bursting out of his skin. Besides the fact that each band member is enviably talented, I believe one of the reasons that the audience has been so completely alive and involved at every Solas concert I've been to has been to is that the band members play with this explosive joy that's unbelievably contagious. They lock eyes with each other to give encouragement, they grin and nod at each other as if they're just so glad to be doing this very thing at this very moment. The crowd stamps, it claps, it gives off numerous "YIPs" along the way. Everyone's having a great time. In the past I've found it difficult to stay in my chair and not jump up and dance around like a loon, as I did at a Paul Simon concert years ago, but sadly I suppose dignity takes precedence over spontaneity.

My boss at work said, "Well, did you talk to him?" and I had to stand there feeling like an idiot. Of course I had wanted to have a conversation with him, but I was just so surprised to get a picture that, as usual, I didn't really say anything, but babble on a few remarks about hoping they'd come back to NYC. Besides, I'm sure anything I might have said about his performance would have sounded ridiculous. "You were great, you were wonderful, I liked X song, I like when you play the flute (I do)," etc. You know, when you replay those moments later, you think of all the meaningful or interesting things you could have said. But the reality is that we do not think that fast, and besides, I have this weird thing about "bothering people." I wasn't always like this. I used to prod people, ask questions, delve into their lives (and often, people enjoy this!). But as I have grown older, and become even more private myself (if one who knows me can imagine that!), I have found a real reluctance to push myself into someone's life or to try and goad something out of them that they are not willing to offer up themselves. Asking someone to take a picture with you (me being a total stranger) is enough of an intrusion. To then stand there and force him, after an exuberant performance, to chat with said total stranger seems rather arrogant.

When I was in Thailand (blue-eyed, and at the time, blonde), I was constantly a curiosity, and people were always inserting themselves into my life. Normally, I tried to be polite and kind, but the truth was that most of the time I just wanted to escape. Strangers were always waving and saying 'hello' (which is nice). Sometimes they would just walk up to me and start talking in Thai or broken English. People poked their heads into the doorway of my home to get a good look around, then reported to all those around their impressions (usually about how messy I was for a single woman). Sometimes they just wanted to chat, which is okay, though often the topic of conversation was something along the lines of, "How much money do you make? You must be so rich!" Or of course, there's always the, "You are fat, you are beautiful!" said in the same breath. Other times they'd do things like ask me to start tutoring them in English (for free of course, since they could tutor me in Thai, ha ha). I think I was asked to tutor about 40 times during my stay there.

And aw hell, give me a break, I'm shy too! I'm sure the NEXT time I see Solas, whenever they decide to show their faces again, I will try to say more than, "Thanks for the picture."

Anyway, enough about me! Keep it up Solas, and don't stay away so long from NYC!