craftygal travels - Checking Out the Local Irish Jam Scene

IrishRochester.org is Rochester’s local Irish events website.

The science of the black and tan (read: these guys have too much time on their hands).

Charged with Attempted Irish Jam Session Viewing, I Plead Guilty

by Christy

I can’t tell you how often Taryn and I say, "We really should go take some Irish step dancing lessons," with all the enthusiasm of a couple of jiggin’ fools. Well, the month of the Irish is upon us, and we were all set to take our Craftygal outing to a step dancing class when we realized that it would be quite difficult given the fact that I am still recovering from foot surgery. Moving on to plan B, we settled on an Irish jig jam session at one of the local bars.

The plans were set. Not only were Taryn and I going, but we had talked it up to friends and associates and had successfully persuaded others to join in the pre-St. Patty’s day festivities. So come 8 P.M. on Friday the 8^th, we headed out to Barnstormers bar (we being Taryn, Charles, Michael, and yours truly). Now, this place has always been a little suspect to us. Even pre-September 11^th, the butt-end of a model-sized airplane sticking out of the side of the roof of this bar always seemed a bit disconcerting. But the local Irish events website said Irish jam session, so we were there, plane or no plane!

Excited at the site of several folks walking into the joint with fiddle cases, the anticipation was building.

We arrived at 8:15, give or take few. Excited at the site of several folks walking into the joint with fiddle cases, the anticipation was building. When we entered the lobby (I suppose now would be a good time to mention that Barnstormers is the bar attached to one of the nearby Ramada Inns) we headed straight past the gentleman directing two of the aforementioned instrument-toting ladies to Business Room 118. We obliviously headed straight into the bar, where I saw two friends already having a pint at the bar, and looking a little out of place amongst the Quick Draw lotto fiends and the 1980 throwbacks.

There was some manner of band setting up to play in the "stage area," and we naively assumed it was for the jam session. I even went so far as to suggest that "all those people we saw carrying instruments into the place are probably just warming up in some hotel room." But I think Taryn and Charles were onto the reality of the scene a little before me. Charles mentioned something about a band being mentioned on the white board that served as marquis that touted "The Time Bandits, beginning at 9:30!!" Suddenly the feathered hairdos and the acid-washed jeans made sense. Taryn was adamant about getting out of there before the Time Bandits made off with any more of our precious time.

After further assessing the situation and finishing off my Harp, I asked the barmaid where the Irish jig group was playing. "Oh, they’re in room 118," and off she sauntered to the other end of the bar to deliver the Saranac brew she was pouring. Great! So I have friends here on my account to see an Irish jig jam session that’s taking place in what sounds like a hotel room? Oh, sounds fun! Never one to accept defeat, I decided that before we bailed out on this plan, we ought to find room 118 at least and have a look see at what was going down.

Taryn, Charles, and I headed out of the bar leaving Shannon, Ken, and Mike to hold down the fort of normalcy in the bar. Once in the lobby, we did notice a previously missed 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of paper with a message scrawled on it in crisp, black Sharpie: "Jam session, Rm. 118." We followed the arrow to the right, laughing all the way down the hall of rooms. I kept insisting that it at least had to be in a conference room! If not, Shannon mentioned that when we scoped out the scene, if it was indeed in a hotel room, maybe we could score a seat on the end of the bed.

Just past the din of the vending and ice machine nook, we came upon Business Meeting Room 118. Two circles of chairs fill the room, and each seat was occupied by a fiddler, flautist, or squeezebox player. We walked past the open room and ascertained that this was a session for musicians only. There was no room in there for spectators. We stood in the hall listening to them warm up for about 5 minutes, and then decided to report back to headquarters about our findings.

With just minutes to spare, we shifted gears to plan C...

I had to apologize lots to Shannon and Ken for coming out expecting authentic Irish music, and getting only the Time Bandits warming up for their 9:30 show, but we made it out of the bar just in the nick of time! With just minutes to spare before the first set started, we shifted gears to plan C, which ended up being another beer and some late-night eats at an Irish pub. We talked a little about Ireland throughout the night. I asked Taryn a few questions about her trips to Ireland (you know… important stuff like, "Didn’t you say there was no good ketchup in Ireland?"), and we laughed about how the best-laid plans can somehow go awry.

None of us are chalking the night up as a total loss, we honestly had a fun time and know that this night of misguided adventure will be as fondly remembered as our nights when all things went as expected. Perhaps the universe knew that the craftygal at the helm of this travels outing was indeed not an Irish lass, but really a Swedish-Polish-American girl who was out of her league. At last home, Taryn did find a big Irish music festival advertised in the paper. Perhaps we’ll try that out, but I’m afraid Taryn will have to assemble the gang, and make the plans because I’ve lost all credibility!