Introducing Silas, my featured musician for September and October! I’ve only had the privilege of working with Silas for one year and it is astounding to look back and see all that we’ve already explored together. Silas is a natural adventurer, choosing to learn about the world by jumping right into the experiences that spark… Read More Congratulations to Silas!
Introducing… Coppers & Brass Frank Claudy, flute & whistles Joe Dutcher, bodhrán Tara McGovern, fiddle & vocals Keith Reins, guitar & vocals Come celebrate our newly christened band at one of our favorite places, the Sanctuary Pub in Iowa City, on Saturday, September 15 from 5 to 7 pm!
Introducing Lucy, my featured musician for July and August! One of my favorite aspects of producing these featured musician profiles every other month is what I learn about my students and how that new knowledge relates to what I’ve already seen from them in the context of working together each week. I knew of course… Read More Congratulations to Lucy!
We first performed John Rapson & Daniel Gaglione’s Hot Tamale Louie just days before the 2016 election. My heart breaks at the degree to which democracy and compassion have degraded in our nation in the meantime. Hot Tamale Louie is a project that defies description but I quite like this one from that early performance’s… Read More Hot Tamale Louie on the Main Stage at Iowa City Jazz Fest
Jeff and I loved playing for you at The Sanctuary! Special thanks to Aaron, JD and the spectacular Sanctuary staff. The Sanctuary is Iowa City at its best.
Introducing Trapolin, my featured musician for May and June! Every teacher knows that you learn at least as much from your students as you could ever hope to impart to them. This has never been more true than in the case of Trapolin. Trapolin has a huge breadth of knowledge in so many interesting and… Read More Congratulations to Trapolin!
This was our 13th year attending the wonderful St. Louis Tionól! We look forward to it every year. I have several videos to upload from our Friday night performance so I’ll be back with those once more pressing household responsibilities have been attended to but in the meantime I leave you with some photos from… Read More St. Louis Tionól 2018
I didn’t know what to expect. I’ve sat in on touring shows before but never for a band that lit up the soundtrack of my childhood. Here’s what I learned from being lucky enough to serve as a violinist in the Dave Eggar Orchestra for two tour stops of the Foreigner Orchestral Tour: kindness begets… Read More Foreigner
In what has become an annual tradition and also in the spirit of not throwing the baby out with the bathwater (by which I mean green beer, does a more apt analogy exist?), I give you a poem that has had a lifelong influence on me: Patrick’s Rune, origin anonymous, translated by James Clarence Mangan.… Read More Patrick’s Rune
Our second very special guest on Saturday for our St. Patrick’s Day show at the Sanctuary Pub in Iowa City is no stranger to the traditional Irish music scene in eastern Iowa and was really the engine that kept The Beggarmen running all those many years in his multiple capacities of drummer, singer, sound technician,… Read More …and Friends, Part Two
Tara McGovern 