Zach was a writer. A way better writer than me, if I’m honest and hell, might as well be. He had a way of grabbing people with his words both in person and on paper. He could talk just about anyone into just about anything and he often did. He wasn’t above trading on his good looks and winning smile to get what he wanted, but no one ever minded because what he wanted always seemed to turn out to be a hell of a good time for everyone he’d suckered into it. Zach was charming.

I met Zach when I moved from South Georgia to the Buford area, which is about forty five minutes outside of Atlanta. We were both in the second grade, and we were weird little kids. We eventually got taller, or at least Zach did, but I think we’ve stayed consistently weird. On the subject of height, and the lack thereof, he’s about the only person in the world who could call me leprechaun, pixie, and other names that basically boiled down to - oh my god you’re a teeney tiny, without me assaulting them with intent to perform serious bodily harm. I did mention that he was charming.

We finished up elementary school, and went on to the same middle school, and then the same high school. We took weird little smart kid classes, participated in the Future Problem Solvers of America program. At some point Zach drew half of a picture titled “Snake Valley” whose centerpiece was a guy getting squeezed by a boa constrictor. I finished the other half, and it resides in a box with some of my most precious things. We had classes together and apart, agitated for a drama club in the eighth grade, were thespians in high school. Zach, with his mom, who is an amazing and classy lady, sent me flowers and a card when my grandfather died.

One of my best memories ever is an afternoon that I spent with Zach and three of our other friends, Sarah, John, and Drew. We walked through the green, humid woods, hung out at Sarah’s and watched movies in the cool air conditioned house when night fell. I’ve tried to write that day perfectly at least fifty times but I can never capture it.

After high school we lost touch for a while. I worked, got married, bought a house, got divorced, and moved around. Zach went to college, wrote, studied, partied, and got sick - cancer. I can’t say that he never complained, but he never complained to me, apart from a mention or two about how the meds sometimes made him queasy. He showed off his impressive surgical scars, and made up tall tales about how he’d gotten them. Some of the stories involved velociraptors.

Zach loved Star Wars, books, music, Firefly, and good beer. He liked Jack Kerouac and looked at me disapprovingly when I remained willfully ignorant of one of his favorite authors, Hunter S. Thompson. If he didn’t love the Celtic punk rock and filk music that I insisted he listen to, he faked it well enough that I couldn’t tell the difference. As for me and his many, many other friends, we loved some or all or none of those things, but we all loved Zach.

Zach’s passing has left an aching void in a lot of people, but his presence in our lives was more than worth the price. So, do me a favor. Love your friends extra hard today. Call them and let them know that you’re doing it. And if you have a couple of dollars burning up in your pocket, lob them at the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life if there’s an event in your area.

You can read a sample of Zach’s writing by clicking here. Lonely Night In Gainesville

Zach - I’m going to miss your wit, your wicked smile, and seeing your face. Love you, thank you for everything.

– Bonnie

Zachary Saunders 6-13-1982 - 7-9-2009

Bonnie exclaims: The problem with really loving a band, and especially with being nuts over the members personally, is that when they send us a CD to listen to, I’m terrified. What if I can’t stand it? What if it’s awful, and I feel ethically obligated to tear it apart? Thanks to everything holy, The Langer’s Ball did not put me in that position. We really adore Hannah Rediske and Michael Sturm here at Celtophilia, and they keep giving us more reasons to do it. The duo’s second album is called Ships Are Sailing, and I’m tempted to have it surgically implanted into my forehead. Okay, not really, because that’s pointless and gross and vaguely impossible, but you get the idea. It’s good stuff people.

Despite what the name suggests, Ships are Sailing is not solely a collection of seafaring tunes. The content ranges from songs about being transported, to the sinking of the Titanic, to sailing songs, a drinking song, and even a rainy night love song. It sounds like it ought to be chaotic and fragmented,
but somehow it’s a cohesive and compelling whole.

My two favorite things about The Langer’s Ball are Michael’s vocals and Hannah’s ability to make the piano accordion awesome, so when they are combined on the performance of one of my all time favorite rebel songs, I am ecstatic. Despite my one little issue with their arrangement of Patriot Game (where’d the verse about De Valera go? Why does everyone let that guy off the hook?) It’s a tragically beautiful version of a powerful song.

The Sailor’s Return is one of the best instrumental songs by a Celtic band that I have ever listened to over and over. I am easily bored by many instrumentals and it’s rare that one will pique my interest, particularly if it’s nestled in amongst songs with actual words. This track is also a rarity in that it employs some environmental sounds that don’t annoy the daylights out of me - in this case some unobtrusive thunderstorms placed at the beginning and end of the tune that add to the overall appeal of the song
without being distracting.

The Titanic is a charmingly strange, throw-the-kitchen-sink-in-there-might-as-well, kind of song. It’s nautical, it’s sort of Celtic, it’s dark and morbid, yet it’s upbeat. I can’t explain it, I can only love it with a great and terrible passion. I certainly didn’t think that it would turn out to be one of the best songs on the CD, but it is.

I have been looking forward to this album pretty much since the moment I listened to the last song on The Langer’s Ball’s first album, and that is no lie. I fell hard for this band at first listen, and after hearing Ships are Sailing, I remain smitten.

Mike proclaims: It’s no secret that Celtophilia loves, The Langer’s Ball. We have featured them here multiple times, reviewing their debut album which was arguably the best CD to be released last year, interviewing, and posting news of Michael and Hannah whenever we can get it. So obviously, we couldn’t have been happier to hear news of a new album on the way.

Ships Are Sailing continues on all the good things that were started in last year’s As I Roved Out, and builds on that formidable foundation to present a CD that will be a standout in everyone’s collection for years to come. I can tell you honestly, I’ll be listening to Ships Are Sailing exclusively for the next few weeks. There’s just nothing here not to love.

Since I do love trad songs, all my favorites from Ships Are Sailing trend in that direction. Botany Bay is a perennial favorite, and every one I hear is my new favorite version. The one presented here puts all others to shame, though. Upbeat, with Michael’s somewhat rough vocals, make this a full-on Celtic Rock song, which is a bit of a departure from the last CD. I’ll offer as my sole criticism for the entire CD, though, several liberties were taken with the traditional lyrics. It’s weak tea as criticisms go, though, because I love the song anyway.

Sam Hall, another trad piece which is more than a little reminiscent of Ye Jacobites By Name, or Captain Kidd, I like for its martial sound, despite being another “I’m going off to die now” song at its heart, with the added twist that Sam seems quite angry at the arrangement, rather than mournful. It’s angry, defiant, and fierce.

The song that totally blows me away, though, is at the very end of the CD, and highlights what I’ve come to love the most about The Langer’s Ball. I’ve heard I’m A Man You Don’t Meet Every Day at least a dozen ways, but I’ve never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever… ever, ever, heard it done this well. This song is always quaintly pretty, but with the male and female vocals intertwining, it becomes magical.

If I leave you with no other impression, let it be this. You are not going to want to miss this CD. The Langer’s Ball has done the impossible, and made a CD better than their first. It releases on July 25th, but is available for pre-order at their website at www.thelangersball.com Go order it, or you will be missing out on some of the best Celtic music that will be released this year.

The Irish Experience is an Appalachian influenced Celtic band out of Seattle, Washington. Green Energy is their sophomore release, impressive in it’s diversity, depth, and scope. The sound on this album ranges from traditional Celtic fiddle and percussion pieces, to folky Appalachian tunes, to outright rock guitar. Green Energy could easily have been a train wreck of clashing styles, but somehow it’s the opposite, a harmonious musical concoction that borders on addictive.

I love the progression of songs, it’s clear that a lot of thought went into the order that the tracks were arranged on the CD. From the teasing rock beat underneath the very traditional fiddle on the first track, The Wicked Jig, to the twangy John Brown’s Dream, (reminiscent of the Allman Brothers) to the haunting and lovely final tune, The Fiddler’s Lament, this is an album that takes you on a well defined journey, and leaves you wishing you could have traveled a bit farther.

The somewhat cryptically named Brenden McGlinchey’s (Brenden McGlinchey’s what?)* guitar intro wouldn’t be a hair out of place preceding a rock ballad, then the addition of alluring fiddle and a melancholic bass line turns all of my expectations
upside down. At all of two minutes and ten seconds, this song is one of my favorites.

Anyone who reads here often knows that I am not a big fan of the twang. However, I have been known to make exceptions, and I’m making one for Within A Mile Of Dublin. It’s twangy, it’s out of my comfort zone, it’s the sort of song I usually whine
bitterly about. Well, I can’t do it. It fits so well with the rest of the album, and adds such a taste of je ne sais quoi that I like it in spite of myself.

Just to prove that I’m actually me and not a pod person, my least favorite track on the CD is Bunch of Keys. This song is not only overtaken by twanginess, it sounds absolutely frantic about it. There’s too much going on here and I don’t care for it.

Most of the tracks on Green Energy are relatively short, many less than three minutes long, only one over four minutes, and that by a mere second. The Irish Experience shows that when your music is good enough, there’s no need to muck about with it. Quality wins over quantity here, and I admire a band that leaves me wanting more. Check out this CD if you love instrumental music that is awesome enough to make you think vocals are simply extraneous.

If you want to grab a copy of Green Energy for yourself, you can always go over and at CD Baby. If you want to find out more about The Irish Experience, you can find them at www.myspace.com/irishexperience

*On a serious note, I’m guessing that this is a nod to Brenden McGlinchey, the Armagh City born fiddler and composer, most well known for his album Music of a Champion.

I know that there *are* a few of you out there who were legitimately interested in joining the forums. Okay, I know there was one person out there who took the time to email me about it, and I never responded because I kept meaning to make *this* announcement “any day now.” To that person, I’m very sorry.

Hopefully Celtophilia will be on an upswing again soon. I’m about finished building my first boat, and Bonnie has just about chopped all the digital tree stumps a person could be expected to chop without dropping from complete exhaustion. We’ve got the limerick contest coming up in a month or so, and that should be exciting and fun for everyone. Until then, Mike and Bonnie need to get their backsides in gear and do some writing. We’ve got a lot of great CDs to tell you about!

Slainte,

M

Bonnie Declarificates: Síocháin, (that’s Gaelic for peace, if you’re curious) is a Celtic Rock band from Indianapolis. This album is cleverly titled Peace By Peace, and it contains most everything you’d think of when you think about Celtic music. That is, bagpipes, a tin whistle, fiddling, and a touch of bodhran. Toss in some guitars and a drum set - it is Celtic ROCK, after all, and you have Síocháin. To be honest though, it’s a bit more like trad leaning towards soft rock, I never felt tempted to do the things I am prone to doing when I listen to rock music. (Like dance, have immoral liaisons, and play records backwards and worship Satan. Or Cthulhu.)*

On to the part of the review where I pick apart the songs and tell you which of them makes me squeeee! With happiness, and which of them makes me squirm with discomfort.

Firstly, the awesome. Keg of Brandy is my favorite song on the album by a mile. Claudia Campbell is Síocháin’s lead vocalist, and if she doesn’t *quite* tear the house down with this performance, it’s a close call. There’s some very enjoyable guitar work going on here as well. Not only do I love this song, but it’s worth noting that so do a whole lot of other people, it was voted #1 song of 2008 on Marc Gunn’s Celtic Music Podcast.**

King of the Fairies is an enchanting instrumental that showcases the band’s musical chops, which are considerable. This is a pleasure to listen to and made it onto the i-pod along with Keg of Brandy.

Secondly, the good. Wild Mountain Thyme has more great vocals, especially the harmony. This is an upbeat rendition that sells the story of the tune, which we all know is about cruising for lots of girls. I appreciate the decision not to change the lyrics from “lassie” to “laddie” just because a woman is singing them. Interpret away, and I get why it happens, but it’s a pet peeve of mine. So, props there. I could have done without the … two bridges? I haven’t had a music class in way too many years, but I reckon there’s something wonky along those lines going on here.

Thirdly, the not so good. Pretty much everything else. Hate me if you will, I had a hard time getting into much of the album. Rocky Road to Dublin in particular grated on my nerves, and several of the songs went on and on interminably for no good reason.

Peace by Peace as a whole didn’t really light my fire. When I find myself not feeling a CD I listen to it more, just in case it’s something that I need to get used to, perhaps stylistically out of my range, new to me, etc. Unfortunately I think here it was the opposite situation, I was a bit bored. There are moments of brilliance and almost brilliance, but I often found myself tuning out. Maybe what the band needs is a little less síocháin and a soupçon of fearg (rage.)

*Mom, I know you read this sometimes. I don’t actually worship Satan. We can, uh, talk about the Cthulhu thing later.

**Celtophilia loves you Marc, mwah!

Mike Rambles Aimlessly: If I had to describe this CD in three words, I would say, “It’s pretty average.” If I had to describe it in two words, I would say, “It’s pretty.” If someone asked me to describe a CD in only word, I’d say nothing and walk away, shaking my head at the stupid things people ask me to do sometimes. I do like Peace by Peace, but I’d be lying if I said I loved it. The singer has a voice that I can only really describe as different. Sometimes it’s quite pretty, and other times I kinda wondered if it was coming from a real person. Rocky Road To Dublin, a song I know well, was almost impossible to decipher. That being said, Keg of Brandy was beautiful. I can’t explain the discrepancy.

As for musicianship, there’s a lot of stuff going on here, and pretty much all of it is positive. Love the fiddle, and all the other instrumentation to be found. I think I would have liked Amazing Grace given a more simple arrangement, especially taking into account that there are more than 2 minutes of buildup before the song breaks out in earnest. The whole thing struck me as a bit overwrought, I guess.

Perhaps I’m being a bit of a traditionalist here, but I had a similar problem with Wild Mountain Thyme. The song was made very long by a break at about 3 minutes, picking up the next verse about a minute later, but the song could easily have ended at about five and a half minutes. However, there was a whopping extra 2 minutes of the singer murmuring “will you go, lassie, go” while the music continued on behind. I’m not sure there’s any reason to stretch a track seven minutes long just because you can, especially with a venerated tune like this one.

King of Fairies is the runaway winner of the Mike’s Favorite Song award on this CD. I was captivated from start to finish on it, from the simply, two instrument opening all the way through the massive crescendo and back to the solemn ending. I had a hard time believing it was more than six minutes long.

One of my surprise favorites was the track called Lady Maryanne, which is essentially a country-rock-ish version of the trad song The Trees They Grow High, mixed with some lyrics from the Robert Burns poem Lady Mary Ann. Maybe it’s the Burn poem mixed the song. Okay, it’s taking me a while to work out exactly what it is, but I like it.

The last thing I’ll say about Peace by Peace is that it did something no other CD has ever done, which was grind Celtophilia to a screeching halt. Overall I’d say it is a good, if not great CD, but neither Bonnie nor myself seemed to be able to come up with just the right words to form a proper review. Part of that could just be our inherent laziness, but I’m attributing it to the band anyway. The disc is different, and the band itself is inscrutable. I couldn’t find any real info about them, either on the CD cover or their website. Another mystery added to the many life already provides.

If you want to find out more about Siochain, check out their website at www.siochain.net If you want to give a listen to Peace by Peace, you can always at cdbaby.

M
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Okay, so I watched the new Tim Burton version of Sweeney Todd, and it put me in the mood for some dark humor. In that spirit, I offer you Flu Pandemic, by Flying Fish Sailors.

Sadly, my French is so limited that it’s basically nonexistant, but I still can’t get enough of these guys. This song is called Regarde au loin, I hope ya’ll enjoy it as much as I do.

Slainte,
Bonnie

It was an absolutely freaking amazing show. If you ever get the chance to see him, do it without fail. Voltaire often tours solo, so it was very exciting to see him with his band, the Skeletal Orchestra, who are all awesome, but particularly the accordion player and the violinist. In addition to the top notch music, Voltaire is extremely personable and gobs of fun to watch. He swigged Captain Morgon straight from the bottle, interacted with the audience, and simulated an orgasm.

After the show I shamelessly threw myself and my camera in Voltaire’s path, so he took a pic of us together. I got to chat with him for a minute, and he admired Mike’s kilt and Celtophilia shirt. I meant to do a better job at pimping the website, but frankly I was a little starstruck and stammery. (Whoa, by the way, completely unexpected, and something that has never happened to me before, even when I’ve been lucky enough to meet other musicians that I’m really into.)

Just a word or two about the band that opened for Voltaire, The Extraordinary Contraptions. They are an Atlanta, or Terminus, as they like to call it, based steampunk band. I have to confess that I don’t know much about the steampunk scene, but they were charming and I was intrigued. The second song of their set was great and Mike and I both enjoyed it a lot. Sadly most everything else they played was a bit too cacophonous for my taste. They were good performers though, we were impressed with their barefoot drummer, their time traveling outfits, and their witty banter. You can check them out at their myspace page if you’re curious. www.myspace.com/theextraordinarycontraptions

All said, the evening would have been hard pressed to be more perfect than it was, Mike and me had a splendiferous time. (And I promise an actual Celtic music post for tomorrow!)

Slainte,
Bonnie

Mike’s Note: I totally agree with everything Bonnie said in this short review of the evening. I *thought* the highlight of the night was going to be on Voltaire’s second song, when he played my absolute favorite of his tunes, The Headless Waltz. Instead, it came later, when I learned my *new* favorite Voltaire song, Death Death (Devil, Devil, Evil, Evil Song). I’m including a video of it from a different performance (which just happened to be in Altanta also) here, so you all can make it your favorite song Voltaire song, as well.

Then, I caught an offhand Facebook status update by my friend (in a vague sort of way) Cat about being paid to be a zombie. To which of course I had to respond because most people spend their whole lives hoping not to become zombies. Most people aren’t getting paid $100 a day, though, so I guess it makes a kind of sense. All this brought to mind a song I wrote sometime last year… conveniently titled “I Wish I Wasn’t A Zombie.” I’ve been meaning to post it for forever, but never seem to get around to it.

I feel entirely justified posting it here, because the tune will be instantly recognized by pretty much any fan of Irish music. The first person to name it in the comments earns themselves a smile and a huge pat on the back.

I should warn you before you start playing this thing… I’m not a singer… or even much of a guitarist. I can bang out a few chords, and I’m not *completely* tone deaf, but that’s about the extent of it. Plus, this was recorded on my iMac’s built in microphone, all in one take, so what you’re getting here is just about as raw as it could be. I am proud of this song, though, because it still makes me smile every time I play it, and I hope it makes you smile too. Good luck.

Now playing: Celtophilia

Still here? My God, you poor, poor soul. The song is set up as a free download over at Soundclick, so if you want it, have it, with my blessings. Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, laugh at my expense, find a way to put it on stranger’s MP3 players and watch the horrified expressions on their faces. It’s up to you what you do with it, really. You can get it from the download page here. You’ll have to sign up for a membership, but it takes about 30 seconds, and you can find lots of really good music over there, after you finish downloading mine.

Slainte,
Mike

Then, a little thing like reality comes along and gets in the way. Not a single email was sent with pictures for the contest. I’m certain there are a number of factors for why this idea failed SO miserably. One: I never posted a follow-up post about it. Totally my own fault. Like it so often does, life got in the way of blogging, and I simply didn’t much feel like getting the post together. Two: Maybe folks were too busy having a good time to really take pictures. This would make a kind of sense, I suppose, but the Celtophilia crew had a really good time out that night, but we managed to get a ton of pictures.

Still, I figured things would come along. The original photo contest post got hundreds of viewers, so surely the emails would start pouring in eventually.

At the very least, this whole thing gives us a good opportunity for a little self-mockery. So, I’ve taken some of our more ridiculous pictures from St. Pat’s to share, and make you all feel bad for not sending us your photos.

Now look what you did. You made her cry. Shame on you. I hope you feel awful. You do feel awful, right? No? Evil, evil person, you.

So, now what? Well, I would still like to give away these CDs, because I said I would. Obviously, you folks don’t wanna share your St. Patrick’s Day pictures with us, so I’m going to make things even easier for you. The first person to leave a comment on this post AND send me an email with your mailing address gets 4 CDs and a Celtophilia T-Shirt. But, you have to take a solemn vow to SEND US A PICTURE of you in the t-shirt after you receive it! I’ll update the post once we have a winner.

Slainte,
Mike

********************UPDATE*******************
Turns out it’s a lot easier to give away CDs this way. Half hour in, and we have a winner! Thanks Ken, for being such a good friend to Celtophilia, and I’ll get the stuff out to you as soon as possible.
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