LA Greham McDonald Meet and Greet 10/16?

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

Hi all SoCal Mandolin Cafe members,

As many of you may have saw in the following thread:

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...point-mandolin

Graham McDonald will be in Los Angeles on 10/15 and 10/16 for a brief visit with one of his new creations, and I am wondering if there is interest for an evening meet and greet with Graham. I PM'ed him and found out that he is available on the evening of 10/16, Sat, and will be able to drive anywhere to meet up.

I would have liked to host the evening myself, but my place is just too small for such an occasion, plus I have a gig later in the evening. As an alternative, I am thinking about a quiet restaurant in the LA proper, or if someone in the group can host.

Let me know how may be interested to show up. Hope to hear from some of the SoCal members.

Clement

[Eddie Sheehy]

I'm planning a Pickin' Party for the afternoon of the 16th. Then perhaps Graham could join us or we could go to him in the evening. I'm in Irvine, Orange County - all are welcome.

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

Eddie - thanks for replying and bumping the thread to the top. Looking forward to more people replying - the more the merrier.

[sgarrity]

I'd certainly try and make it!

[Eddie Sheehy]

I hope so Shaun. I know driving through L.A. can be a bear. Git someone to carpool with, maybe Bjorkman... Maybe offer to pick up Graham on your way down... Change your arrival/departure times to fit the slack traffic... If it wasn't for the five kids I'd offer an overnighter but it's normally pandemonium around here... Del's Brother? You readin' this? And... I'm only an hour from San Diego...

[Graham McDonald]

Hi folks,

I have organised the meeting I have in LA on Saturday for the morning, so I will be free, and looking forward, to meeting other folks on Sat afternoon/evening. I think Irvine might be just a bit to far to go (sorry Eddie) but anywhere a bit closer to West Hollywood, where I am staying would be good. Between jetlag and having to be at LAX at around 6 on Sunday morning it won't be a late night for me.

cheers

graham

[Eddie Sheehy]

If I could swing a "session" at the Auld Dubliner in Long Beach for the afternoon would that be doable?

[Graham McDonald]

That would be great. 3pm or later might be better for me, as there is a bit of detective novel tourism I want to do...

cheers

graham

[Eddie Sheehy]

The Auld Dubliner in Long Beach will be glad to have us have a Meet and Greet (and Session) on Saturday afternoon. Bring your instruments (acoustic). I asked for 3:00 p.m.to 6 ish, but if someone is knowledgable of the College Football schedule please give me a heads-up as to when would be a good time to grab a corner on Sat. Long Beach is reachable from most of the Greater L.A. area so make an effort and we'll have a craic. The music will not be limited to Irish Trad or instrumentals.

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

Thanks Eddie. Looking forward to it.

I'll post directions and parking recommendations in a little bit.

[Eddie Sheehy]

I believe the Auld Dubliner validates parking....

[Graham McDonald]

Sounds excellent. See you Saturday arvo (Australian for afternoon)

graham

[Eddie Sheehy]

G'dae Graham - Australian for fifths tuning...

[Eddie Sheehy]

The Auld Dubliner
71 S. Pine Ave.
Long Beach
I-710 to Downtown/Aquarium exit
Exit Left to W. Shoreline Drive
Left on S. Pine Ave.

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

The 'official' parking structure is located at:

65 S Cedar Ave
Long Beach, CA 90802

However, if memory serves, there is a parking lot with attendant on Seaside Way near Pine. If you follow Ed's directions above, you will come upon Seaside Way after turning left on Pine Ave. There are also metered street parking on Seaside Way as well.

Across the street from the Auld Dubliner is the Long Beach Convention Center, and there is also a parking structure there as well.

[delsbrother]

Might want to make sure they validate first - some of those restaurants/bars at the Pike/Pine Ave only validate for certain lots (as I found out to my chagrin).

I can't make this meeting, but I'm curious - Eddie, do you go to this place a lot? Yelp says it is quite noisy/rowdy on the weekends (sounds like they usually have an amplified house band?).

[Eddie Sheehy]

The House band starts at 10:00 p.m. on Sat. They also advertise a Sunday Afternoon Trad Session - I've never been in that particular Auld Dubliner - there's one about half-mile from my home in the Tustin District. I might try to start a Sunday afternoon session in the Tustin one...

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

If you do Eddie, I may just come down and be a regular there.

As for the noise factor - most bars can be noisy, but hopefully not too much so at 3pm in the afternoon. We'll make the best of it. I'm just glad to have a chance to meet Graham as well as Eddie in person.

[delsbrother]

meet.. Eddie in person.

Does he still have the 'fro?

[Eddie Sheehy]

Kinda... but it's a different colour...still got that Yamaha 12-string too...and the jeans (but they don't fit)...

[sgarrity]

My appointment with a client just got moved from 9am to noon tomorrow........ggrrrrrrrr! Hopefully I'll still be able to make it down in a reasonable amount of time.

[Graham McDonald]

Thank you. It was a great pleasure to meet you folks

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

Graham - thank you so much for making the drive and it was a pleasure meeting you, along with Eddie and Shaun and others. Hope the rest of your trip is safe, productive and enjoyable. If you ever come back this way we would love to see you again.

And on a side note - if I didn't have to worry about the possibility of a divorce, I would have jumped at the chance of buying that beautiful 2 point mandolin from you. Whoever ends up buying it will be very very happy.

[Eddie Sheehy]

Graham, it was a rare privilege (this is NOT how I spell it - sometimes Americanisms tick me off) meeting with you and chatting and listening to you talk about your experiences, travels, and THE BOOK. I can't wait to read it. It was also great meeting Clement and Shaun and a special thanks to Jon Miller who came out and provided variety with a fiddle and banjo (tenor of course). The session got off to a late start, as was right since the meet n' greet was to "experience" Graham. Graham introduced us to an exquisite 2pt mandolin and a sample of an Australian Mazurka... then we were off and running until 7:30 p.m.
Jon played some great tunes on the fiddle - jazz, ragtime and ITM, Shaun gave a stellar rendition of a few Bill Monroe tunes (Jerusalem Ridge was a knockout), Clement and I joined in the fun - can't wait to hear some OI! from Clement. Instruments on display were: a McDonald 2 pt, a Foley BLARZ, 2 Kimble mandolins, 1 Kimble Mandola, A Kentucky mandolin, a "fiddle - I know nuthin' about fiddles" and a banjo (tenor of course). Shaun also played the banjo, which was kept away from me. Thanks to Dave Copely for the free round, the "newlyweds" for the diversion, and ourselves for the CRAIC!
I will try to organize a weekly - or at least semi monthly - session but I would prefer to start at my house - free hot-dogs, byob. I'll post something soon. Thanks again Graham. Have a safe and productive trip.

Eddie.

[sgarrity]

What a great time! It was nice to meet Graham and see one of his mandos and it was great to meet some other fellow cafe members as well. The asymmetrical two point oval that Graham has with him is a serious mandolin. Definitely deserving of a good look if you're in the market for an oval.

The playing was most enjoyable. Lots of Irish tunes with a smattering of bluegrass, old-time, and ragtime jazzy stuff. Jon playing some chord melody stuff on the mandola was a real treat. Eddie kept us in time with his ginormous Foley zouk. Graham treated us to a few Australian tunes. Clement was ripping through some reels and jigs. And yes, I spent a fair amount of time playing the tenor banjo.

Thanks again for putting this together and I'll look forward to seeing everyone again one of these days!