CaliCeltic

Friday night, March 15th, Frank and I went to a performance of CaliCeltic at the Pleasanton Firehouse Arts Center. Publicity material for the group stated that "mandolin and electric guitars jangle and crunch alongside rock 'n roll drums, melodic piccolo and flute". I photographed the stage when we arrived and also noticed bells, a hand drum, a tambourine, and a banjo rounded out the eclectic and extensive array of instruments. Frank and I were in for a treat.

A fair amount o' green was worn by the St. Patrick's Day crowd. Frank and I tried our hand at selfies and realized we'd do better to take individual photos of each other. 

The music was rousing and cheerful. The flutist, who also played the piccolo, was amazing and clearly extremely talented. The sound of that wind instrument lends a haunting air to folk tunes. Since I also play the flute, it is a favorite instrument of mine. The twanging sound of a good banjo player also makes me smile. The lyrics were fun-filled. They were not always entirely intelligible but we got the gist enough to laugh and enjoy ourselves.

We learned some San Francisco history from the song Hotaling's Whiskey. In 1906 a huge earthquake hits San Francisco with mass destruction, but the song tells of the rescue of the distillery Hotaling. Per https://pre-prowhiskeymen.blogspot.com/2013/03/anson-hotaling-of-san-fran-god-whiskey.html

The song Hotaling's Whiskey, #5 at https://caliceltic.com/#the-music sets that poem to music and further tells the tale of the distillery's rescue. There was a last resort, but a successful one, after sea water failed to extinguish the flames. A bucket brigade filled buckets from the sewers and flung the muck upon the blaze. A verse cites that with cheers, "we saved Hotaling whisky with the product from our rears". Apparently, unbeknownst to Frank and me, Hotaling & Co. is famous to this day with a wide selection spirits.

Another catch tune that caught my fancy was The Mermaid. Typically, songs with a drinking theme can be slightly off-color at times. The Mermaid had a different theme, but managed to be off-color in the final verse. The Mermaid can be heard in its entirety at https://caliceltic.com/#the-music #18. The ditty was cute and entertaining, amusingly bawdy at the end when the mermaid's ugly sister swam by. The repeating refrain goes

The Mermaid
'Cause her hair was green as seaweed
Her skin was blue and pale
Her face it was a work of art
I loved that girl with all my heart
But I only liked the upper part
I did not like the tail.

CaliCeltic's jaunty leprechaun banner at the side of the stage was a fun decoration, adding a bit of gaiety to the evening. Frank and I had a good time. We were happy to have gone out to something nearby where the music was uplifting and even the audience itself seemed in good spirits.