Gavin's Golden Hill House... All Kinds of Tidbits & Memories

On October 17th, we are playing at Gavin's Second Annual Guinness Festival Weekend... which will have a neat linup of great bands (including us of course), a big heated tent, pints of Guinness, and a great place for you and the family to stay right there a brief walk from the tent...

Andy Cooney, Screaming Orphans, Padraig Allen & the Whole Shabang, Dermot Henry, Kitty Kelly, Frank Jaklitsch, and Jimmy Walsh as MC .... all great friends of ours. Our spot is at 8:30 PM before Andy and his gang go on. Check out the details...

I took an opportunity to poll the rest of the band for their memories of Gavins over the years... and found all kinds of interesting tidbits for you...

• Gavins was the first place in East Durham that Celtic Cross played... way back in 1989 (before I joined the band... original lineup including Kieth Sammut, Mike Clarke, and my good buddy Kevin O'Neill)
• In 1982, Dave Barckow, our drummer, won a first place in one of Gavin's weekly Amateur Hours... playing drums to a tape of the Who song You Better You Better You Bet...
• Prior to that, member of Celtic Cross have won dozens of Amateur Hour trophys in the seventies emmceed by our uncle in the business... Frankie Curran. There are arguments whether the Dineen Brothers or the Vesey Trio won more... maybe Gavin's keeps some statistics...
• Member of Celtic Cross have played in at least 7 different bands at Gavins over the years including Tippling Way, Dennis Gallery & Celtic Flavor, Glen Curtin, Tommy Mulvihill Band, Tommy Flynn & Flash, Richie O'Shea, Michael Sheehan... and I am sure we are forgetting a few.
• Gavin's is one of the darkest bars and lowest ceilings of any room any of us have ever played in... making for pretty good acoustics & music setting... providing you ain't playing that loud.
• Me and my brother sipped hundreds of Shirley Temples with my parents and learned about Irish music watching some of the biggest names in our parent's generation... Paddy Noonan, Noel Kingston, Dermot Henry, Richie O'Shea, Al Logan, Noel Henry, and Frankie Curren & The Evergreens.

So, not sure of the point of this blog other than to get a few other memories about Gavins going in anticipation of a great music event... and maybe get a few of you to book a Fall weekend trip to East Durham to see us and our friends... the luminary list of course topped by Arthur... Arthur E. Guinness...

Comments? Any of your own Gavin's music memories?