Latest / The Delicious Culture with Jon Francois / Irish Traditional Music Is Delicious w/ Tara Connaghan

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Irish Traditional Music Is Delicious w/ Tara Connaghan · The Delicious Culture with Jon Francois

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  I was called to the principal's office. Could
• 0:02
  Tara Conahan please come to the principal's office?
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  Yeah. And they were like, I'm sorry. We see on
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  your form you've decided to, you know, you've
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  ticked the woodwork box. You're going to have
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  to select something else. Oh my God. And I was
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  like, why? Because that's not a girl's subject.
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  I was like, that's not a reason why. I was like,
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  but can I not try it? And they're like, no. But
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  I want to. And they're like, but I'm sorry. And
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  I was like, well, I'm going to be there. And
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  they're like, no, you can't. And I was like,
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  well, I am. So I did it. I was the first girl
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  to do woodwork in this school. Hey, delishies,
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  grab a plate and feast on the delicious culture.
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  I'm your host, John Francois. We're feasting
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  on food, pop culture and lifestyle with Irish
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  musician, host of the In Tune With Tradition
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  podcast, tour guide, arts manager, bestselling
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  author Tara Conahan, right? You did it. God,
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  this is like a running joke where I just always
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  like have to double check pronunciations of people's
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  names as we start the episode. Because if I don't
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  check in, then you know, before you know it,
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  someone gets mad at me and then I lose and then
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  I lose my podcasting license, Tara. There's a
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  podcasting license. I just made one up right
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  now. I think I better apply for one quickly.
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  Yeah. If you don't, I'm going to come to your
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  door and arrest you. It's not going to be pretty.
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  Oh my God. Well, thank you for your patience.
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  We were dealing with some very strenuous technical
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  difficulties beforehand, but we got it all together.
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  I think the message that we've all learned is
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  that Riverside is not so perfect and Zoom kind
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  of is. Sometimes one works, sometimes the other
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  doesn't. We just have to go back and forth. Yes.
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  It's always good to have a backup plan. Tara,
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  so I want to know more about you. You are a professional
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  Irish fiddle player. What is the difference between
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  that and I guess what Americans think of as a
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  violinist, if any. There's none, really. A violin
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  and a fiddle are exactly the same instrument.
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  We just play a different repertoire normally
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  on it. So if I said I was a violinist, I most
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  likely would be a classical musician or maybe
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  another genre. But in Irish traditional music,
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  we just say fiddle. And a lot of folk musics
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  call it fiddle. Yeah, same instrument. Interesting.
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  And how did this fiddle playing come into your
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  life? What makes you want to get into it? I started
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  on the guitar, actually. So I was kind of a bit
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  of a rock guitarist. I loved playing the guitar.
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  My sister learned the fiddle. Yeah. And so she
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  was teaching me little bits and pieces. I was
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  about nine. She was eight. And a couple of years
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  later, she passed away. And so, I mean, I think
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  as a kid, things are more black and white. You
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  don't have to carry the baggage that an adult
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  does when somebody passes away. And about a year
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  after she died, my fiddle teacher or her fiddle
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  teacher asked my mother if he could buy the fiddle
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  offer. And I think maybe it was a bit raw. So
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  I think the alternative was, or maybe Tara would
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  like to take it up. So she asked me if I would
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  like to take it up and I was like, sure, what?
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  Why not? Okay. What harm is it going to be? Because
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  it sounds like there was some hesitation because
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  it seemed like you were more passionate about
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  the rock guitar and maybe the fiddle was going
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  to be a learning curve. Well, I mean, I had already
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  done a little bit from her. She had taught me
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  a little bit and I was playing the guitar was
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  my first instrument. Then I picked up the classical
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  flute and the classical piano, neither of which
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  I was mad about. But I just love music anyway.
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  So, yeah, I think. I just wanted to be on stage.
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  Yeah, play music like every like every young
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  girl or every young person just want to be on
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  stage, want to be a singer, want to be a guitar
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  player. Yeah, yeah. And so I was given, I was,
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  you know, said, right, let's go to the Fiddle
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  classes now on a Saturday. And I was really lazy,
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  like really lazy. And I discovered my ear was
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  quite quick because I would, my rehearsal, my
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  practice for the week would be I would get my
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  mother to drive me the 30 seconds drive. It could
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  have been like a five minute walk or a 30 second
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  drive. So I got her to drive me and she would
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  put the tape that I had recorded the week before
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  cassette tape into the car, into the player.
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  And I would listen to the tune that we'd just
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  learned last week. And that would be kind of
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  in my head then I'd listen to it twice. And then
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  I'd go into the class and pretend that I kind
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  of knew it. And I kind of half, I could bluff
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  it, but I was only bluffing me. I wasn't bluffing
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  the teacher. And then when I was about 16, one
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  of my friends, so I did have one of my best friends
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  was playing fiddle as well. So that kind of helped.
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  And her dad used to bring us to different festivals.
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  And there was a festival that he brought us to.
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  And there was a couple of festivals leading up
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  to that in my hometown. And I just saw the fun
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  and I was like, oh. Oh, I could do this. What
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  fun were you seeing at the festivals? Like, how
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  did it become enjoyable to you? Well, it was
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  just, you know, people were playing. I suppose
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  maybe it was independence from parents. Yeah.
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  And it was that, you know, people were joking
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  and laughing and like treating me like an adult.
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  I was at this stage, we were 16 and they were
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  treating us like, you know, kind of like adults,
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  but, you know, at the same time, protecting us.
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  So not, not fully an adult, but. There was that
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  level of a little bit of freedom and a little
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  bit of, you know, those people haven't, you know,
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  taken drink around us and, and they were just,
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  you know, at the same time, they're very, they
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  were protective of us as well. So there was just
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  a lovely community atmosphere in it. It was really,
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  really cool. And then they're like, right, you
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  know, it's 10, 30, 11 o 'clock. You really need
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  to go to bed now. You can't be in the pubs any
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  longer. And this is what, 30 something years
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  ago. Um, the, the licensing laws weren't as,
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  as strenuous. Um, so we were kind of, we weren't
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  allowed to stay out all night, but, um, and then
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  you could be a child fiddle player and play in
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  the pubs where normally adults would drink, right?
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  Yeah, I could. Well, you can still do it up until
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  about nine 30 here as well. Oh, nine 30, like
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  PM at night. There's a curfew. Yeah. Okay. Okay.
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  Gotcha. And I think it was, it was just because
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  we were staying in a B and B and they were like,
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  no, like you better go back to bed and you better
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  go back to the B and B. So we stayed up on the
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  B &B waiting for them to come home and they didn't
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  come home till like four or five o 'clock in
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  the morning. And I'm sorry, what's a B &B bed
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  and breakfast? A bed and breakfast, yeah. OK,
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  OK. All right. So we were just waiting for them
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  and we were dying to play music with them when
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  they came back, but of course they were tired.
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  You know, we were just so enthusiastic and so,
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  I suppose, naive and young. Yeah. It was just
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  so cool. Is there a fashion? Is there like a
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  type of clothing or fashion associated with Irish
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  fiddle playing? Because as you're like talking
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  about this, I'm just imagining you and like some.
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  sound of music child dress, like, you know, skipping
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  around doing a, doing a, doing a, doing a dance.
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  Like, what was it? What was that guy? The, the,
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  the, the, the, the, the step dance guy who did
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  the movie. I can't lower the dance. Is that what
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  it was? I'm imagining that with fiddle playing,
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  but you're saying that it's not, it's definitely
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  not. I'm imagining. It's funny. I actually had
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  to do, um, when I was in second year in university.
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  So it was about 19 at the time. I got a call
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  to go to Germany to perform on a TV program.
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  It's called Lindenstraße, which is like the Coronation
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  Street, which is a very big UK and Irish, well,
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  it's a UK program, a soap in the UK that everybody
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  in Ireland also watches. So it's a really like
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  long standing soap on the TV. Soap opera. Yeah.
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  Soap opera. Yeah. So I got called to do the one
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  in Germany. where the main family were going
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  to be in an Irish, where they were moved, they
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  were going to Ireland on holidays, supposedly,
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  which was all filmed in an Irish pub in Cologne
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  in Germany. And everybody there was wearing that
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  kind of clothing. The tweed kind of, you know,
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  not three piece suits, but the, you know, the
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  waistcoats and the grandfather shirts and things.
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  And we were the only ones wearing modern clothing.
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  We were the only Irish ones in it. How would
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  you describe modern Irish clothing? Because I've
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  never been to Ireland where you are based, and
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  I don't know what the modern fashion would be.
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  Honestly, I don't even know anything about the
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  history of Irish clothing, so please educate
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  me on what kind of clothing would be considered
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  in trend. Like right now, what you're wearing
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  right now seems to be something that any American
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  could wear. Exactly, yeah. Well, at the moment,
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  I'm kind of wearing farming clothing, so excuse.
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  If you could see the bottom, there's probably
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  little bits of like hen poop and things. Wait,
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  do you live on a farm? I do, yes. Oh my God.
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  What animals do you have? Tell me about that.
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  So I have hens, ducks, geese, goats, sheep, cats,
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  a cat and two dogs. You know, I feel like for
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  anybody who's not living on a farm, Hearing all
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  of those animals sound fun, but I feel like for
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  you, it's a mixture of like, okay, you obviously
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  love all these farm animals, but it's work, I
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  imagine. What's your average day like? Because
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  I know it's good. I mean, what me and my wife
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  deal with here with our dogs and cats here at
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  our house in Vermont, it's probably like a walk
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  in the park compared to like the responsibilities
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  that you have with your 2 ,000 farm animals in
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  Ireland. There isn't 2 ,000, we only have about...
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  Oh, I know, I'm exaggerating. Probably like 30
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  sheep and, you know, 10 hands and two ducks,
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  no, 10 ducks, six ducks and two geese. So, I
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  mean, my biggest nightmare is trying to run away
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  from the male goose when he gets temperamental,
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  he would bite me on the legs. I've heard geese
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  are very mean. But I want to know what the average
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  day is like in terms of, like, making sure they're
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  fed and they, you know. Yeah, I mean, I think
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  it's just feed and protection, really. So we
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  get up in the morning, we let them out. We have
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  like a kind of almost like a bunker for them
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  so that they're safe from the foxes or the minks.
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  So we let them out in the morning. Then sometimes
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  we have to go and find where they've laid their
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  eggs. Sometimes they like to play hide and go
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  seek with us. OK, you're talking about specifically
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  the chickens. OK. Yeah. And the ducks. And the
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  ducks too. Oh, ducks lay eggs? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
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  The female ducks. Yeah. White ones. White duck
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  eggs. Yeah. That is something that I just found
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  out now. OK. And a goose. The female goose lays
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  eggs as well. So the goose egg is about like
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  four or five times the size of a hen egg. It's
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  huge. It is really cool. And they're very, very
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  delicate tasting as well. They're beautiful.
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  I'm going to bring this back to my Vermont born
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  wife and she's going to be like, yeah, of course,
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  ducks lay eggs, of course, because like, yeah,
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  this is the rural culture that she grew up in.
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  I grew up in a more urban, suburban environment
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  in Connecticut here in the States. And I thought
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  that only chickens lay eggs, but apparently ducks
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  and geese do too. Yes, they do. So we have to
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  go and find those eggs. Sometimes they like to
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  play hide and go seek with us. And yeah, we make
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  sure they're fed a couple of times a day and
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  then we make sure they're put to bed before just
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  as it's getting dark because the hens will go
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  in by themselves. Our hens will go in kind of
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  just before it gets dark. But the ducks, we have
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  a little pond made for them and they will not
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  come out of the pond. You have to throw stones
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  and go get into bed. Why is that? They just love
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  the feeling of the water and they love to swim
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  and don't want to come out of the water. Yeah,
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  so I don't blame them. I mean, especially during
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  the summertime, I would imagine it's very, very
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  nice and cool. Yeah. And here we don't we it
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  doesn't get dark like in midsummer. It doesn't
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  get dark until 11 o 'clock at night. What? Yeah.
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  Yeah. Do you guys not observe daylight saving
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  time at all in Ireland or like daylight saving
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  time? The day the brightness starts at about
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  430 in the morning and continues to about 1130
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  at night. Sometimes actually in the midsummer
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  it's maybe around one o 'clock before it gets
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  one a .m. before it gets dark. So there must
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  be a really low rate of depression there with
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  that long amount of daylight. That's, that's,
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  that's great. I envy that because I mean, we
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  hear like, I think in the summertime, um, you
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  know, when, uh, when me and my wife get up at
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  five in the morning for work, we, yeah, we'll
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  see daylight. So that typically is when it'll
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  start. And then, um, it usually gets dark around,
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  I mean, sunset is like seven 30. So maybe like
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  eight, eight. Yeah. Oh God. How late is your
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  sunset? Um, like half to 10 30. What? Why do
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  you guys have such long days? We need to go to
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  Ireland. This is insane. What? 430 AM to 11 PM.
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  That is a long, so, but this is only the summertime,
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  right? Like just the summertime. Yeah. Yeah.
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  So, so, so what is it like when daylight saving
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  time ends? Like, is it like in the winter time?
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  Yeah. That's winter time is, is it can be quite
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  depressing. I could, um, you know, probably wouldn't
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  get bright in the morning until 9 AM and then
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  it'll be. Dark by four p .m. That's tough. Oh,
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  OK. So the universe is like, hey, you are going
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  to have the longest daylight ever in the summer.
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  But as a trade off, you know, you're going to
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  have a god. I mean, that's not even a full eight
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  hour workday. Yeah, yeah. It's it's tough, especially
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  when you're like if you're coming home when I
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  used to work outside of home and you're you know,
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  you're it's dark at four o 'clock. So it's completely
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  dark at five thirty when you're. finished work.
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  So the stereotype, the Irish like to drink a
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  lot, is that is that partially because that your
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  your your winter daylight is so short? I think
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  that stereotype was created by the the English,
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  the oppressor, sorry, to make us look like fools.
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  And that's why they had come and save us. I don't
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  want to get into biologic three. No, no, no,
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  it's okay. It's okay. I mean, I, I, but that,
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  that, I don't think that worked out for the English,
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  right? I, I, I'm so bad at my history. Um, well
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  they still occupy six, six counties, like a part,
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  a part of the, um, in the North of Ireland. So
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  they, they still occupy Northern Ireland. So
• 14:22
  you, yeah. Ireland is part of the UK, correct?
• 14:24
  No, it was never. Uh, it was part of England,
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  I suppose. Um, yeah. And they still have. a part
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  of it in the north of Ireland, but not the rest
• 14:33
  of Ireland. So they have a small part in the
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  top northeast, but not the rest of it. So I'm
• 14:38
  in the northwest, which is belonging to the Republic
• 14:40
  of Ireland. So we do not like being called part
• 14:44
  of the UK at all. It's a very sensitive thing.
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  That's hey, you know what? That is OK. I totally
• 14:51
  understand that. I mean, I don't like to be called
• 14:54
  an American right now. So I guess we sort of
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  have that in common. Yes, exactly. Yeah. Sort
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  of, sort of. Wow. I mean, so many great things
• 15:07
  I'm learning about you. God, I don't know where
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  to. Oh, so going back to your, your music, you're,
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  you're, you're wonderful at your fiddle playing.
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  Um, when I was looking through your profile on
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  pod match, uh, what stuck out to me was the fact
• 15:21
  that you like are, you know, teaching people
• 15:24
  the art of the traditional Irish music session.
• 15:29
  What exactly does a traditional Irish music session
• 15:31
  mean? Well, I suppose the Irish music sessions
• 15:34
  are actually quite new. They're like, they've
• 15:36
  only been developed in the last 60, 70 years
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  and they kind of developed outside of Ireland.
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  Probably the first one was in London from all
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  the people who emigrated, the Irish people emigrated
• 15:49
  to England in the 50s and actually when we've
• 15:54
  been emigrating for years. So when they... moved
• 15:59
  to England and it was kind of around the time,
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  I think, when some of the dance halls changed,
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  the music was kind of, it used to be some kind
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  of Irish music they would find in the dance hall.
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  So they would kind of hear that music that was
• 16:10
  familiar to them and feel like home. And then
• 16:14
  people kind of got more interested in jazz music
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  and the dance band, you know, the kind of the
• 16:19
  dance band era, the big band era and Irish music
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  kind of Caleys, which would have been the dance
• 16:25
  music. Can I ask how to a dumb American like
• 16:30
  me, like how would you describe Irish music?
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  Cause literally I hear Irish music and the only
• 16:35
  thing I can think of are those... uh, Celtic
• 16:40
  woman PBS specials that I used to, but I used
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  to watch when I was like, uh, you know, uh, taking
• 16:46
  phone calls for the, for the PBS pledge drives.
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  I don't even know. Do you guys have a public
• 16:50
  broadcasting equivalent in Ireland where, you
• 16:52
  know, you have the Celtic women do specials and
• 16:54
  then, and then you have some people on TV say,
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  Hey, buy their CDs. We do have a public broadcasting
• 17:01
  service, which is called RTE. Oh yeah. I heard
• 17:04
  of that. Yeah. Yeah. Um, radio, television, Aaron,
• 17:07
  which is the. television and radio of Ireland
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  and in Irish. But we don't have like the almost
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  like the QVC sort of by thing. I think maybe
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  sometimes late at night. I actually don't have
• 17:18
  a television have to say no, sorry television
• 17:22
  since I've been an adult. So I have no idea.
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  No, no, no. Why? Why? Why is that? Or do you
• 17:27
  have like something against? I do. I hate television.
• 17:31
  What do you hate about it? When I was a kid,
• 17:33
  my mom was going to kill me for saying this.
• 17:35
  Sure. Let your mom kill you right now. This is
• 17:37
  going to be controversial. I love it. When I
• 17:41
  was doing my homework, that said aforementioned
• 17:44
  Carnation Street and all the soap operas that
• 17:47
  were on, my mother was addicted to them still
• 17:49
  as she loves them. And when I was doing my homework
• 17:52
  and I'd be like, you know, I've got I've got
• 17:54
  a question. I can't get something done. How do
• 17:57
  I do this? Carnation Street is on. And then I
• 18:01
  could never I'm very singular focused. When I'm
• 18:05
  driving, I have to turn off the radio to reverse.
• 18:07
  I can only focus on one thing at a time. So,
• 18:10
  yeah, I couldn't do my homework because all I
• 18:12
  could hear was people screaming on the television.
• 18:15
  And so then I was I had to do my homework after
• 18:17
  the television programs were all over, which
• 18:19
  was very late. And then I was given out to because
• 18:21
  I was why had I not done my homework? So, yeah,
• 18:26
  I I kind of swore as a child, I will never have
• 18:29
  a television. I effing hate television. That
• 18:33
  is interesting because television has that negative
• 18:35
  association of, yeah. All right. I'm trying to
• 18:37
  focus and get something done, but I can't because
• 18:39
  my mom has the TV blasted up loud and wow. Okay.
• 18:43
  And I, and I wonder if this is like a, a cultural.
• 18:45
  Sorry, mommy. No, no, no, it's okay. No, no.
• 18:47
  I'm just wondering if it's a cultural difference
• 18:49
  thing because like, I mean, I, I, I related to
• 18:52
  my mom who. You know not only is patient but
• 18:55
  also American and you know I'm used to the idea
• 18:58
  of the mom being like no like You know do your
• 19:00
  homework first and then you'll watch TV like
• 19:02
  watching TV for a child was like the reward for
• 19:04
  for finishing up your homework, but for you It's
• 19:06
  kind of twisted around and that your mom loved
• 19:09
  watching TV and wanted to get to that and you
• 19:12
  were trying to do your homework Were you what
• 19:15
  would you describe yourself as a very passionate
• 19:17
  student? Like it sounds like you were very intense
• 19:20
  on getting your education and not really so into
• 19:24
  the the fun and play of Yeah, I would probably
• 19:28
  but no, I don't mean a bit of both Okay. Yeah,
• 19:31
  I think I would have had a nice balance of both.
• 19:34
  Okay Yeah. Did your mom ever want to help you
• 19:38
  with your homework and turn off the TV for a
• 19:39
  second? I don't remember. I feel really bad.
• 19:43
  My mother's going to kill me for a second. No,
• 19:44
  no. OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, we can take this
• 19:47
  out of you. No, it's OK. Yeah. Did she? I suppose
• 19:52
  she was probably wouldn't. I think she she both
• 19:54
  my parents left school quite early. No, you're
• 19:56
  probably quite a bit younger than me. So that
• 19:59
  probably wouldn't. How young do you think I am?
• 20:02
  You're probably a good 10 years younger than
• 20:04
  me. Give me a specific age. You're probably not
• 20:08
  even 40 yet, are you? This is true. I'm not even
• 20:10
  40 yet. Yeah. See, I'll be 50 in a couple of
• 20:14
  months. So there is a generational difference.
• 20:17
  Yeah. I'm not even 40. Like, be more specific.
• 20:20
  What do you think I am if I'm not even 40? I
• 20:24
  always like to prod people. Like, what do you
• 20:25
  think I am if you think I'm not a certain age?
• 20:29
  I would say you're kind of mid 30s. You would
• 20:31
  be correct. Yeah. Yeah. You're pretty much on
• 20:33
  the money. I'm 34, about to be 35 this year.
• 20:35
  Oh, very good. Yeah. See, that's a big difference
• 20:38
  in terms of eras, I think, as in, I think parents
• 20:45
  were much more aware of what was, you know, the
• 20:48
  whole TV thing wasn't acceptable then by the
• 20:50
  time you were, you know, because by the time
• 20:52
  my sister came along, she's 11 years younger
• 20:54
  than me. She wouldn't have had as much television.
• 20:57
  It would have been, you know, you go and do your
• 20:58
  homework in another room or something. You know,
• 20:59
  it was just a different, it was just like smoking
• 21:01
  as well. You know, my dad would have been a smoker.
• 21:04
  He would have smoked in the car. And by the time
• 21:07
  my sister came along, they'd be like, Oh God,
• 21:09
  you can't be smoking in the car. No way. Not
• 21:11
  with kids in a car. It was just a different,
• 21:13
  in the 70s, early 80s, it was not, where to wear
• 21:16
  those kind of things. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And
• 21:18
  there's actually some of that in the American
• 21:19
  culture for the Gen X generation. Like, yeah,
• 21:21
  it was a time of like, you know, no seat belts,
• 21:25
  you could have a beer, you could smoke a cigarette
• 21:27
  in the car and maybe not worry about a cop stopping
• 21:30
  you. Exactly. It was a different era. You do
• 21:35
  your homework and have the TV blasting on at
• 21:37
  the same time, the radio blasting on and many
• 21:40
  people screaming in the household. Yeah, I get
• 21:43
  a good indication of that era. Yeah, different
• 21:45
  era. So you have never had a television in your
• 21:49
  adult life whatsoever because of what it meant
• 21:51
  as a child. On and off the odd time if I was
• 21:54
  renting a house and there happened to be a television
• 21:56
  and I seem to get sucked into it and I said,
• 21:58
  right, no, I can't have this. So how do you because
• 22:03
  television is one of the most popular forms of
• 22:06
  people entertaining themselves. How do you entertain
• 22:08
  yourself? What do you like to do? Well, I play
• 22:11
  music as well, so I'm out playing music when
• 22:13
  other people might be entertaining themselves
• 22:15
  with the television. I'm also a bit of a workaholic.
• 22:18
  Okay, a bit. All right. Tell me how intense your
• 22:24
  workaholicism is. Like how much of your day or
• 22:29
  week is filled with work compared to not work?
• 22:33
  Probably a lot. I don't even know. I don't even
• 22:36
  have a figure on it. I'm trying to be a bit of
• 22:40
  relaxed time and time with my other half and
• 22:43
  the dogs. You know, cause that's important. Do
• 22:46
  you have like a five day work week and then weekends
• 22:48
  off like Americans do or no? Most people would
• 22:51
  have an Ireland, yes. But you're not most people.
• 22:54
  You're not most people. What are you? What are
• 22:57
  you? I work when there's something to be done.
• 23:04
  And there's always something to be done. Always
• 23:06
  something to be done. Yeah. Yeah. Always. 98
• 23:09
  % of the time there's always something to be
• 23:10
  done. Yeah. Yeah. So I sometimes wake up in the
• 23:12
  morning and go, Oh. Oh, I need to do this. Oh,
• 23:15
  yeah, I'll do that now. And then I'll get, you
• 23:17
  know, I can be easily distracted as in, you know,
• 23:20
  televisions and radios and things. So I, yeah.
• 23:25
  And then I'm like, Oh, right. I need to do this
• 23:26
  now. They need to do that. Yeah. So I need to
• 23:28
  have a focused. I need focus. I mean, you know,
• 23:32
  me too. I mean, I, I hate to say this, but like,
• 23:35
  I feel like I have undiagnosed ADHD. Yeah, I'm
• 23:39
  not even going to say that. Yeah, yeah, that's
• 23:42
  okay. That's okay. You say whatever you want
• 23:43
  to say. I yeah, I'm just like you. I mean, especially
• 23:47
  when it comes to driving out there on the road,
• 23:49
  if I'm like mindlessly because I do I do ride
• 23:52
  share for a living. I do like Uber and Lyft rides,
• 23:54
  pick people up, drop them off to where they need
• 23:56
  to go. And I will usually mindlessly listen to
• 24:01
  something if it's just, you know, the simple
• 24:03
  monotone, pick up, drop people off. But if it's
• 24:05
  like a big thing where it's like, oh, God, there's
• 24:07
  a difficult parking space. I got to back out
• 24:09
  of and you know I have to try to not hit this
• 24:11
  car then yeah I got to like turn the radio down
• 24:14
  and make sure everything's quiet and and focus
• 24:16
  and stuff like that so yeah oh my god I got so
• 24:20
  distracted I apologize that's another thing about
• 24:21
  you know undiagnosed ADHD is that you just you
• 24:24
  just go from one thing to the next because I
• 24:26
  think we were originally talking about like what
• 24:29
  a traditional Irish music session meant and also
• 24:32
  what, how would you define Irish music? Because
• 24:35
  like I said, like the Celtic women, it's like,
• 24:36
  oh yeah, these like, you know, four or five talented,
• 24:39
  attractive women and they're like playing the
• 24:41
  fiddle and they're dancing and they're just,
• 24:43
  you know, the do -da -day, whatever they call
• 24:48
  it. But you gave me the reaction as if you don't
• 24:51
  like the Celtic women. Is that like a thing in
• 24:53
  Ireland? Is that? It is a genre, I suppose, in
• 24:59
  itself. Is it like how the Mexicans looked out
• 25:02
  on Taco Bell? Is it that kind of thing? Probably,
• 25:05
  yeah. Well, I mean, they're all very talented
• 25:07
  females. It's just, I mean, what they... that
• 25:11
  kind of ethereal sound, like the Enya sound.
• 25:15
  I mean, it's all, it's all, I wonder, is it sometimes
• 25:17
  just put on for, because it sells records? Yeah.
• 25:21
  Yeah. I feel like maybe there's this like American
• 25:25
  version of what like, you know, Irish countryside
• 25:28
  kind of music feels like. And the Celtic women
• 25:31
  seem to represent that. Yeah. But what do you
• 25:36
  think like? actual authentic homegrown Irish
• 25:39
  music is, if you could define it. Well, I suppose
• 25:42
  Irish music as a Irish music is kind of any music
• 25:46
  that's in Ireland. But if we're talking about
• 25:48
  Irish traditional music, I think it's which is
• 25:52
  what I play is I mean, some of those the Celtic
• 25:56
  women people actually can play this as well.
• 25:58
  So they are very talented. So, you know, this
• 26:01
  is what that's what sells for them. So I'm not
• 26:04
  going to criticize. But so for me, a session
• 26:07
  is when you're playing the likes of reels and
• 26:11
  jigs and horn pipes and slip jigs. And so they're
• 26:14
  all music types that are played with an Irish
• 26:19
  traditional music. And we're sitting in a corner.
• 26:23
  We're just playing. We're having like a musical
• 26:25
  conversation with friends. It's a bit like a
• 26:27
  jam session, but not a jam session. If that makes
• 26:29
  sense, because some people think a jam session
• 26:32
  is, you know, a jam session normally is when
• 26:34
  anybody can join in and you might know something
• 26:36
  about music or you might not, but everybody's
• 26:37
  kind of welcome. It's not quite that far. You
• 26:41
  have to kind of know something about Irish music.
• 26:43
  You have to be able to play a little bit of Irish
• 26:45
  music before, you know, because if you could
• 26:48
  be playing with somebody like a session might
• 26:51
  have some of Ireland's top quality musicians.
• 26:54
  And that's what happens in Ireland. So there's
• 26:56
  so many. There's thousands and thousands of really,
• 26:59
  really talented quality musicians in Ireland
• 27:02
  and they're just playing in the pub next door.
• 27:04
  So I think sometimes when you see that they're
• 27:06
  in a pub in a corner, it devalues them slightly.
• 27:11
  So yeah, that could devalue their music and devalue
• 27:17
  them as well. So I think that's maybe why people
• 27:21
  look down on Irish music or think it's a jam
• 27:23
  session that anybody can join in because it just
• 27:25
  happens to be there. Yeah. And you describe like,
• 27:29
  you know, how you teach traditional Irish music
• 27:31
  sessions to people, you describe like, all right,
• 27:33
  let's, let's teach you in a way where we avoid
• 27:35
  like, or handle, if you will, awkward missteps,
• 27:39
  learn from whatever anxiety might come through,
• 27:42
  you know, learning this, you know, traditional
• 27:45
  Irish music sessions. Can you tell me more about
• 27:47
  that in terms of like, what are the common, you
• 27:49
  know, missteps and anxious moments that people
• 27:51
  have going into traditional Irish music? Yeah,
• 27:53
  I think a lot of people might be common at it.
• 27:56
  especially as adults, because if you're a kid
• 27:59
  coming into Irish tradition music and you're
• 28:01
  kind of learning it from a teacher and then you
• 28:04
  go to a session and maybe the teacher or somebody
• 28:06
  that's an adult would say, oh, you know, if you
• 28:09
  do something out of place, they kind of go, oh,
• 28:11
  just hold on a wee second, we'll get your turn
• 28:13
  now in a minute. Or, you know, or you sit here.
• 28:15
  It's kind of like a natural sort of correction.
• 28:19
  in place between generations. That happens in
• 28:22
  all communities. But when you've got your peers
• 28:24
  as adults, but they're not your peers as skilled
• 28:27
  musicians, it's very hard to go. Would you mind
• 28:32
  waiting? I mean, that's horrible because I'm
• 28:36
  like, who made you go out like that? You know,
• 28:40
  when you're like, but so it's not it's not it's
• 28:43
  not a democracy. A session is not a democracy.
• 28:46
  A session is a meritocracy where there is You
• 28:49
  know, there's people who've put in years and
• 28:51
  years and they're at the top of their, you know,
• 28:53
  they play top quality music. They have to be
• 28:55
  given a certain amount of, I suppose, respect
• 28:58
  and maybe like a which which isn't happening
• 29:03
  is that people might see that session and and
• 29:10
  say to themselves, oh, look, that session's too
• 29:12
  good for me. I'll let them play. And that doesn't
• 29:14
  happen enough, I think. I think some people just
• 29:16
  go, oh, I'm learning. I want to play with that
• 29:19
  music because that musician is supposedly the
• 29:22
  best. Well, I'm going to jump in there with them.
• 29:24
  What? What? Yeah. No. Yeah, right. Right. So
• 29:29
  someone that's a very small minority, but there's
• 29:32
  a there's a I suppose a bigger majority of people
• 29:34
  who are who are terrified and they would maybe
• 29:38
  go, oh, sugar, I don't know enough tunes to join
• 29:41
  a session or I don't I can't play fast enough
• 29:43
  or I don't have enough. tunes I don't know those
• 29:46
  tunes there's different regional tunes there's
• 29:49
  different variations don't know you know and
• 29:50
  oh I'm maybe not supposed to sit in that seat
• 29:52
  and there's just so many so many questions and
• 29:54
  so anxious about all the questions so that would
• 29:58
  be the majority I think that would be like 90
• 30:00
  percent to 95 percent of people and then there
• 30:02
  would just be the the other couple of percentage
• 30:04
  who would be like well I can do this I can just
• 30:07
  jump in. I think earlier you had mentioned like
• 30:12
  when you were growing up and trying to learn
• 30:15
  this music, learn the fiddle, you had mentioned
• 30:17
  that you were lazy for a period of time. How
• 30:21
  would you define that then, and also, how would
• 30:27
  you define it now in terms of trying to teach
• 30:29
  somebody traditional Irish music? Maybe it's
• 30:32
  a simple question to answer, but what is... Yeah.
• 30:36
  For that world, what is lazy versus what is like,
• 30:40
  oh no, you're putting in the work and you really
• 30:41
  want to learn this music. I think I got bitten
• 30:44
  by the bug at 16. Yeah. And that was the difference
• 30:48
  because before that I was lazy. And after that
• 30:51
  I said, well, actually, so after that, when I
• 30:55
  was about 16 and I was brought to that brilliant
• 30:57
  festival and I came back to my fiddle teacher
• 31:01
  and I said, oh, I knew I was so excited. I said,
• 31:04
  can I want to learn this tune? He said, oh, yeah,
• 31:06
  yeah. And he could tell I was completely smitten.
• 31:10
  I mean, besotted at that stage. I was totally
• 31:13
  into it. And so I asked him to teach me a tune
• 31:16
  and he said, yeah, I'll give that to you. Yeah,
• 31:19
  write that out for you. No bother. And the next
• 31:22
  week came and he hadn't done it. And I was like,
• 31:24
  OK, well, maybe he's probably busy. And the following
• 31:26
  week, my friend, my best friend was playing that
• 31:29
  tune. And I was like, oh, Denise, where did you
• 31:32
  where did you learn that tune? And she says,
• 31:34
  oh, Seamus, as I'm the music teacher, he gave
• 31:37
  it to me last week. And I was like, what? So
• 31:39
  I marched up to Seamus as my little 16 year old
• 31:42
  self. And I said, why didn't you give me the
• 31:44
  tune Seamus? And he said, Tara, you don't practice
• 31:46
  when you practice, I'll give it to you. OK. So
• 31:49
  that's, that's simply what we mean by being lazy.
• 31:51
  It's just like you, it feels like you're coming
• 31:54
  in and phoning it in and not putting in the practice
• 31:56
  outside of the sessions. But then you got hit
• 31:59
  by the bug when you were 16. And then, you know,
• 32:02
  practice. And then I got to kick up the bum.
• 32:03
  I needed to kick up the bum as well. And then
• 32:05
  I practiced. Like literally somebody kicked you
• 32:08
  in your bum or just like. Well, like he just
• 32:10
  said, you know, well, you don't practice, therefore
• 32:12
  you're not getting the tune. When you practice,
• 32:13
  I will give you the tune that you want. Yeah.
• 32:15
  That's what you meant. I thought, yeah. Not literal.
• 32:18
  Yeah. I thought he was just like, yeah, let me
• 32:20
  give you a physical kick up the bum and wake
• 32:22
  you up. And I was annoyed for two weeks. I was
• 32:26
  annoyed for a couple of weeks and I wouldn't
• 32:27
  go back to the class for two weeks. And then
• 32:29
  I, you know, ate humble pie, not actual humble
• 32:33
  pie, you know, not actual pie. Where does the
• 32:36
  phrase humble pie come from? I'm so fascinated
• 32:38
  by that. I think it might be an American phrase,
• 32:40
  isn't it? Define humble pie. I'm sorry. I know
• 32:46
  the word humble, but like we need to the meaning
• 32:49
  of humble pies figurative serving of humiliation
• 32:51
  usually in the form of a forced submission apology
• 32:53
  or retraction often used in the phrase eat humble
• 32:56
  pie. Okay. So it never was originally an actual
• 32:59
  pie. It was always just a way to say the years,
• 33:04
  the way that you're kind of brought down to reality.
• 33:07
  Yeah, I. Lazy, you don't work hard, work hard.
• 33:10
  Yes. Eat some humble pie. Eat some humble pie.
• 33:12
  And then I had to kind of crawl back with my
• 33:14
  tail between my legs. Another saying. Look at
• 33:18
  you with all the sayings today. Yeah. And I came
• 33:20
  back and I was, you know, I just I spent two
• 33:23
  weeks actually working on the tune, trying to
• 33:26
  learn the tune by ear. and I did it and it was
• 33:29
  the best thing ever happened to me because I
• 33:31
  needed that kick, that push forward and I because
• 33:34
  I then I like I find and I tell my students now
• 33:38
  as well, the key to like I think the key to learning
• 33:42
  music is being able to hear it and being able
• 33:44
  to learn it by ear. And if you can't do that,
• 33:46
  you're always kind of there's a crutch that you
• 33:50
  need music notes. And whereas if you can learn
• 33:52
  something by ear. Yeah. I mean, that's just you've
• 33:55
  unlocked something that most people can't do.
• 33:58
  When you are playing the fiddle professionally
• 34:01
  in a public setting in front of an audience,
• 34:03
  so to speak, have you had the urge to cough?
• 34:05
  And if you did, did you actually do it or did
• 34:09
  you hold it in and then afterwards you were just
• 34:13
  coughing up a storm? That's a good question.
• 34:16
  I'm trying to think. Can I play and cough at
• 34:18
  the same time? I hope so. I wonder. I don't remember.
• 34:23
  I had a very bad chest infection about two months
• 34:27
  ago. And so I actually didn't go out very much
• 34:30
  because I couldn't. I could barely breathe. So
• 34:33
  yeah, this is why there's still a little bit
• 34:35
  of phlegm and still a little bit of coughing.
• 34:37
  Not too much. Yeah. Yeah. Because when I used
• 34:39
  to work in commercial radio, I think there was
• 34:41
  the concept of a cough button in case you had
• 34:43
  to, you know, go off the air for a second, press
• 34:46
  that button and then cough so that it doesn't,
• 34:48
  you know, go over the air. They had that in call
• 34:53
  centers as well, didn't they? Call centers? Call
• 34:56
  centers. Oh, call centers. Like a customer service.
• 34:59
  Yeah, they had that too. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 35:01
  They do have a call button in call centers. Yeah.
• 35:04
  And I used to work in a call center, so I should
• 35:06
  know that. Shame on me. Oh my goodness. I did
• 35:08
  for a while too. Did you like it? It's okay.
• 35:15
  I loved the people that I worked with, but yeah,
• 35:18
  it was a very toxic culture dealing with the
• 35:21
  customers because they were angry at things that
• 35:23
  I had no responsibility in. I was just a poor
• 35:25
  middle man that had to take their screaming,
• 35:29
  you know? What was your experience like? Oh,
• 35:32
  same. Yeah, it was insurance. Yeah, horrible.
• 35:36
  Oh, yeah. I did like event ticket sales and support.
• 35:39
  So insurance by... I think insurance would be
• 35:42
  a lot worse because that's literally people's
• 35:45
  life. What type of insurance were you handling?
• 35:48
  I think it was holiday insurance and phone insurance,
• 35:50
  mobile phone insurance. What the hell is holiday
• 35:52
  insurance? Vacation insurance. Oh, like if you
• 35:56
  can't make the vacation then you have a... refund.
• 35:59
  Yeah, there's some sort of if there's cancellations,
• 36:01
  I don't know. It's so long ago. I don't remember.
• 36:03
  It was kind of a fill in job for like three months.
• 36:06
  Yeah. So wait, like, so if it's like, oh, I can't
• 36:09
  make it because of an accident or because my
• 36:10
  flight got canceled, then you should reimburse
• 36:12
  me. And I think maybe the complaints that you
• 36:15
  got were like people thinking that they could
• 36:17
  get money back for a certain situation, but they
• 36:19
  didn't qualify. Yes, it was horrible. Yeah. Yeah.
• 36:23
  You paid your dues, but here you are to tell
• 36:25
  the story as a successful Irish fiddle player.
• 36:29
  Who earns probably even less than I did in a
• 36:31
  call center back then. Hey, you know what, but
• 36:34
  you're happier. I'm happier. Absolutely. Better
• 36:37
  to be happy and broke than rich and miserable.
• 36:41
  Absolutely, yes. There you go. I'm not saying
• 36:43
  you're broke, I'm just saying like... I can tell
• 36:45
  you now I am. Look, I'm broke too. I'm broke.
• 36:50
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, we're... Podcasting
• 36:52
  does not pay, exactly. We're doing, like, it's...
• 36:55
  Yeah, you know, it pays a little bit here and
• 36:59
  there, depending on where you monetize from.
• 37:01
  But in terms of driving, like, yeah, I make a
• 37:05
  lot more than I did when I was in radio, but
• 37:07
  like... Okay. Yeah. My, you know, sitting on
• 37:10
  a thing of money and saying to my wife, like,
• 37:13
  Hey, let's go to the Bahamas like tomorrow. Like,
• 37:15
  no, no, no, no. It's, you know, it's, it's very
• 37:18
  expensive to be here in America these days. So
• 37:21
  money's tight. Money is tight. It's expensive
• 37:23
  everywhere. Oh yeah. Globally. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
• 37:27
  Totally. I think since COVID, since the pandemic,
• 37:29
  prices kind of increased. I was working in the
• 37:33
  building trade at that stage. You know, I'll
• 37:35
  just reinvent myself every. every now and again.
• 37:38
  My dad passed away in 2014 and I moved home and
• 37:42
  took over his, the family construction company.
• 37:44
  So yeah, I was the only female in Ireland to
• 37:47
  do so. But anyway, the only female in construction
• 37:50
  in Ireland, the only female running her own construction
• 37:54
  company without other family members. Yes. How
• 37:56
  was that? Because I would imagine that might
• 37:59
  be both brave and wonderful, but also maybe frightening.
• 38:03
  I love a challenge, especially when it's an underdog
• 38:07
  challenge. Yeah. Even when I was in, I think
• 38:11
  it started. I can pinpoint the day it started.
• 38:15
  I heard. because my dad also, he was a builder,
• 38:19
  but he also had a builder's providers like, you
• 38:22
  know, hardware DIY shop where people with other
• 38:24
  builders would come and buy some blocks and cement
• 38:28
  and things. So I remember when I was about six
• 38:30
  hearing somebody whistling, I was like, oh, what
• 38:34
  are you doing? And so I ran up to the guy. I
• 38:36
  don't even remember who it was. And I asked him,
• 38:38
  would he teach me how to whistle? So I came running
• 38:41
  into my granny. We lived with my grandparents.
• 38:45
  and came running into my granny and my mother
• 38:47
  and I was like, Oh my God, look, look what I
• 38:49
  can do. And I started going, you know, trying
• 38:51
  to blow in, suck in instead of blow out and started
• 38:54
  whistling. And my granny said, yours shouldn't
• 38:57
  whistle the Virgin Mary Christ. What? That's
• 39:01
  exactly what I said. And I was like, what do
• 39:04
  you mean? What difference does it make whether
• 39:06
  it's a girl? And how could she tell it's a girl?
• 39:09
  You know, as in, you know, there's the whole
• 39:11
  Catholic guilt here in Ireland. So Oh, I'm aware.
• 39:16
  I decided from day from that day onwards, I was
• 39:18
  going to whistle for the rest of my life every
• 39:20
  single day. And I do. I'm actually a really good
• 39:22
  whistler. You were going to whistle and you were
• 39:24
  going to lead a construction company. Those were
• 39:26
  your goals. Well, then I went to secondary school,
• 39:29
  high school at 12. And I decided, you know, that
• 39:32
  you were given the list of subjects and it was
• 39:34
  like, oh, woodwork. Yeah, I'm going to do woodwork.
• 39:37
  I'd be interested in that. Yeah. This was 1990.
• 39:41
  And so I was on the first day of my high school,
• 39:44
  I was called to the principal's office. Could
• 39:47
  Tara Gunahan please come to the principal's office?
• 39:50
  Yeah. And they were like, sorry, we see on your
• 39:53
  form you've decided to, you know, you've ticked
• 39:55
  the woodwork box. You're going to have to select
• 39:57
  something else. And I was like, why? Because
• 40:00
  that's not a girl's subject. I was like, that's
• 40:03
  not a reason why I was like, but, you know, can
• 40:05
  I not try it? And they're like, no. I said, but
• 40:07
  I want to. And they're like, but I'm sorry. And
• 40:08
  I was like, well, I'm going to be there. And
• 40:09
  they're like, no, you can't. And I was like,
• 40:10
  well, I am. So I did it. I was the first girl
• 40:14
  to do woodwork in this school. Good. So they
• 40:18
  didn't like forcibly remove you from the class.
• 40:21
  Like you remained steadfast that you were going
• 40:23
  to take it and you were able to take it. I really
• 40:25
  wanted to do it. Yeah. And how was that experience?
• 40:28
  Like, were you greeted well by your male classmates
• 40:30
  or was it like a tough ride? Well, here's the
• 40:34
  thing about girls. Sometimes girls are a little
• 40:37
  bit more detailed. I think they're a lot more
• 40:42
  detailed than men. Yes. So when my construction
• 40:45
  or when the it was also construction studies,
• 40:49
  but it was Woodworks, first of all. So Woodwork,
• 40:51
  the teacher would say, here's a line so you can
• 40:54
  cut down either the right side of the line. the
• 40:57
  left side of the line or the center of the line.
• 40:59
  I want you to cut on the center of the line.
• 41:00
  And so he said cut in the center of the line.
• 41:02
  So I cut on the center of the line and I took
• 41:04
  my time and I got it exactly right. And the boys
• 41:07
  were like, yeah, there's a line here. I'll go
• 41:09
  over there. Isn't that funny? Like construction
• 41:13
  is being shown or being given to you as like
• 41:16
  a thing that only men can do. And how do men
• 41:20
  handle it? They get all lackadaisical with it
• 41:23
  and probably, you know, fuck up and just don't
• 41:25
  do it the right way because they're like, eh,
• 41:27
  you know what, I'm a man, I could do this. So
• 41:29
  I can do it however I want. And it's like, no,
• 41:31
  and of course - They didn't have to prove themselves.
• 41:34
  Exactly. But you as a woman, the great thing
• 41:36
  about you being a girl wanting to do this is
• 41:38
  that like, all right, I'm being told that I can't
• 41:40
  do this. I'm going to show you and that inspires
• 41:44
  you to, to become actually very good at it. So.
• 41:47
  Yeah. So even the woodwork teacher who had absolutely
• 41:49
  steadfastly said, you are not coming to the class.
• 41:52
  And I said, I will see you on Monday. And he
• 41:55
  was like, right, boys get around here now and
• 41:57
  look at Tara's, you have to, you know, copy what
• 41:59
  Tara's doing. How about that? How about that?
• 42:04
  Yeah. So he, they loved me and I got a hundred
• 42:06
  percent in my final year project. I made a harp.
• 42:09
  A harp. Yeah. Out of wood. Yes. Oh, like, yeah,
• 42:13
  like one of the real harp that actually I still
• 42:15
  have it functions. Yes. That's here beside me,
• 42:18
  actually. Oh, my God. I just. Oh, well, it's
• 42:21
  a big car. I don't know if I've ever seen a wooden
• 42:24
  harp for all of you. Yeah, for all of you not
• 42:30
  watching on to the video, like you'll definitely
• 42:32
  need to do that right now because we need to
• 42:33
  see a wooden harp. Oh my goodness. That is so
• 42:36
  beautiful. Yeah. I mean, I know you're playing
• 42:38
  it, but I can't hear anything. Oh, sorry. Hold
• 42:41
  on. I'll put it closer to the mic. That is a
• 42:44
  big harp. How many pounds does that weigh? Oh,
• 42:47
  it's heavy. Yeah, it looks heavy. It looks, I
• 42:49
  mean, it can't even fit into your video frame.
• 42:51
  Oh no, it's huge. Wait, so how... Because I always
• 42:57
  think of a harp as like, oh, you play that at
• 42:59
  like some professional banquet or someone's wedding
• 43:01
  in a ballroom hall. Like, where do you play the
• 43:03
  wooden harp? Well, I don't actually play it very
• 43:05
  well, so I wouldn't play it anywhere. Why do
• 43:08
  you have it then? Because I made it. But OK,
• 43:12
  but if I wanted to hire you for like a function
• 43:15
  where the wooden harp was going to be the only
• 43:17
  instrument there, you'd be like, no, no, no,
• 43:19
  no, no, no, I can't. I would have to get somebody
• 43:21
  who actually plays it to play it. Yeah. Oh, come
• 43:23
  on. Have your woodwork determination and learn
• 43:27
  how to play the wood and harp in like two weeks.
• 43:30
  No, I mean, I'm too much of a perfectionist to
• 43:32
  play it. You know, especially when you can play
• 43:34
  one instrument pretty well. To play then another
• 43:37
  instrument poorly is like, no. It's awful. It's
• 43:41
  horrible. Oh, my God. But some people do play
• 43:44
  it. It's quite because it rings quite a lot.
• 43:46
  Then it's it's hard to play melody on it. But
• 43:49
  some people do play melody really well on it,
• 43:51
  like Leisha Kelly or Michael Rooney. Some people
• 43:55
  are beautiful. Oh, my God. Really good harpists.
• 43:58
  I have no idea who those people are. They well
• 43:59
  known harpists in Ireland. Yeah, they're well
• 44:02
  known that play the types of reels and jigs and
• 44:05
  things that I would play on the fiddle. And they
• 44:08
  play them on the harp. It's much harder to play
• 44:11
  them on the harp. It's a bigger instrument as
• 44:15
  well to bring into a session, whereas I can just
• 44:16
  bring a small fiddle case or a violin case into
• 44:20
  the session. How long does it take you to make
• 44:21
  that wooden harp? That looks like a project right
• 44:23
  there. Two years. Jeez! That is patience that
• 44:28
  I will never have. Well, it's like you're the
• 44:30
  the leaving service, which is your final year
• 44:33
  exam takes two years. It's a two year cycle.
• 44:36
  So nowadays I think it's a three year cycle,
• 44:37
  but it used to be a two year cycle. So took me
• 44:40
  two years. We turned my dad turned the bathroom
• 44:43
  into a construction room for me. So a woodwork
• 44:46
  room off my bedroom. So I had my again like a
• 44:52
  workaholic. At every moment of the day, I would
• 44:55
  be in it. So with your working class, you're
• 44:57
  saying that there's a final exam you have to
• 44:59
  take and it's expected that the final exam takes
• 45:01
  two or three years to make. Is that what I'm
• 45:03
  getting at or not? Well, it's kind of like an
• 45:04
  assessment that you present a project after two
• 45:09
  years. Oh, interesting. So you can work on it
• 45:13
  for two years. I don't know where to begin and
• 45:19
  end with you. I mean, woodworking and Irish fiddle
• 45:22
  playing. I mean, you have so much interesting
• 45:24
  things to your background here. This is wonderful.
• 45:28
  Just before I took over my dad's construction
• 45:30
  company, I was actually reversed three years
• 45:35
  before that. I was running an arts festival and
• 45:38
  then I had to... I left that arts festival. It
• 45:43
  was just too stressful. And I went and did a
• 45:46
  course. Well, it's stressful about it. Bored
• 45:48
  members. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, you
• 45:52
  know, board members are the worst and and that's
• 45:55
  for art stuff here in America. And my wife is
• 45:58
  president of a dog rescue. She's she certainly
• 46:00
  has have has had eye rolling moments with board
• 46:03
  members. Like what you're talking about, like
• 46:06
  in terms of like where to put money and what
• 46:09
  ideas to put out there for arts. And yeah, I
• 46:12
  mean, I was the festival director and arts program
• 46:15
  arts director arts. programmer as well. So, um,
• 46:19
  but I just seem to be tied down, bogged down
• 46:22
  completely in wanting, um, then wanting to have
• 46:25
  a monthly board meeting. A monthly board meeting
• 46:28
  is just too much. I mean, I spent way too much.
• 46:30
  I would think a weekly board meeting would be
• 46:32
  too much, but once a month is a lot. I mean,
• 46:35
  especially when you're trying to, um, I was,
• 46:38
  it was fair. I mean, that's, I was working three
• 46:41
  years of 20 hour days. Geez. That was a very
• 46:45
  stressful time. And at the end of it, I had I
• 46:50
  had lived in Finland for a year back in the late
• 46:53
  90s and had fallen in love. And I decided then
• 46:57
  it wasn't to be at that time. It was unrequited
• 47:00
  at the time. Yeah. And I said, right, you know,
• 47:04
  when you kind of you're starting to hit rock
• 47:06
  bottom, you go, right, what's what's the things
• 47:08
  that are important? What is the things that I've
• 47:09
  been putting off that I really, really, really
• 47:11
  want? And I said, right, I'm going to go back
• 47:14
  to Finland and meet up with this guy. And I did.
• 47:18
  And he was very sick and he died about five or
• 47:21
  six months later. And then I went back and I
• 47:24
  was still in the festival and I just thought,
• 47:26
  you know what, this is not what I want to do.
• 47:28
  I certainly do not want to be doing this festival
• 47:30
  thing. So it was just too much stress, too much.
• 47:33
  I needed to get out. So I got out and then I
• 47:36
  went home, slept for six months. I didn't move
• 47:38
  out of the bedroom for about six months. definitely
• 47:42
  had a probably a little bit of PTSD as well,
• 47:44
  because I think when you're. Your outlook or,
• 47:49
  you know, everything, your future has been a
• 47:53
  phase like somebody just pulled the carpet from
• 47:54
  underneath you and there's nothing in front of
• 47:56
  you and you just don't know what is there because
• 47:58
  what you've envisaged was going to be there cannot
• 48:01
  be there. Yeah. So, yeah, that was a little bit.
• 48:07
  Yeah, I like I couldn't plan ahead for more than
• 48:11
  an hour. It was just like, I can't make plans
• 48:15
  for more than an hour ahead of where I am right
• 48:17
  now, because I don't know what's happening in
• 48:19
  an hour's time. Yeah. And then after about six
• 48:26
  months of a good sleep, because I did need to
• 48:28
  sleep because I'd been working three years of
• 48:30
  20 hour days as well. Sleep deprivation. Somebody's
• 48:35
  mentioned there's a course in making Ellen pipes.
• 48:39
  No. So the Ellen pipes are like the Irish bagpipe.
• 48:41
  Okay. And they said, they phoned me up and they
• 48:43
  said, I don't know if you know anybody that's
• 48:45
  interested. Could you, would you mind passing
• 48:47
  on the details of this course? And I said, well,
• 48:50
  I'd be interested in that. Yeah. So that's what
• 48:53
  I did for three years. Wow. Okay. So I did that.
• 48:57
  And what, I don't know, I guess what's the difference
• 49:02
  in how someone approaches like the Irish bagpipe
• 49:05
  versus the Irish fiddle, I wonder. Oh, the bag.
• 49:09
  The Irish bagpipe is a very complicated instrument.
• 49:12
  It's like a it's like an octopus. So you strap
• 49:15
  it. You strap it on. So there's a bellows that
• 49:18
  you strap on. And so you're it's an elbow. So
• 49:22
  that the name Ellen Ellen pipes Ellen is the
• 49:25
  Irish for your elbow. And it's it pumps. You
• 49:29
  have a bellows in your right elbow. So you pump
• 49:32
  that up and it goes into a bag in your left elbow
• 49:34
  under your left elbow. And then you have a chanter,
• 49:37
  which is like like a flute or something. It sounds
• 49:40
  like some kind of like colostomy bag situation.
• 49:42
  Yes, yes. And then the air goes into this conical
• 49:46
  bore basically that has, you know, a certain
• 49:49
  amount of holes in it, a bit like a flute. And
• 49:52
  so you push the air, you keep pumping up the
• 49:54
  bellows so that there's air constantly in the
• 49:56
  other bag. And then you have a drone, which would
• 49:59
  be like, you know, Scottish pipes have a drone.
• 50:01
  They've actually several drones. So we have a
• 50:03
  drone, but then we have these. things called
• 50:05
  regulators, which are harmony notes. So you're
• 50:08
  playing both elbows. You're doing all your fingers.
• 50:11
  You're doing your tooth. The left thumb is at
• 50:15
  the back. There's a hole at the back. Then the
• 50:17
  right thumb actually turns on and off the drones.
• 50:19
  And then your wrist does all the harmony notes.
• 50:22
  It's like it is an octopus. It's wow. So anyway,
• 50:24
  yeah, I tried. That does sound like a lot to
• 50:26
  like retain for playing an instrument. Yeah,
• 50:30
  that's crazy. So I was trying to learn to make
• 50:33
  those. And then I had to finish that course just
• 50:36
  a couple of months early, the one my dad passed
• 50:38
  away. So I took over the instruction then. So,
• 50:41
  you know, kind of like, why not? Yeah. I don't
• 50:47
  know. I mean, you know, between your dad and
• 50:49
  the partner that you fell in love with in Finland,
• 50:53
  you definitely have gone through a fair share
• 50:56
  of loss. But show me somebody who hasn't. Right,
• 51:01
  exactly. That's true. I'm no different to anybody
• 51:03
  else. You know, so I don't think I'm any way
• 51:06
  special because of it. I think. Oh, no, no. Yeah,
• 51:08
  yeah, yeah. I know that. I just. Yeah, I don't
• 51:13
  know. I guess what just comes to mind is like
• 51:15
  how you deal with it is like just, you know,
• 51:19
  keep on going and keep working as hard as you
• 51:21
  can. Is that a way to to deal with it or? It
• 51:25
  does make me think about every every single day
• 51:28
  I'll. I will give the dogs on my own behalf as
• 51:33
  well some special attention and I'll let them
• 51:37
  know that I love them because who knows today
• 51:39
  could be the last day that we have together.
• 51:41
  None of us know that ever. So it does make me
• 51:45
  much more appreciate much more what I have. That's
• 51:49
  wonderful. I love that. You ready for some three
• 51:51
  delicious questions? Okay. All right. Hit me,
• 51:54
  hit me, hit me. You say that. They were all delicious
• 51:57
  already. Wait, what was that? All the questions
• 52:00
  were delicious already. Oh, thank you. I appreciate
• 52:02
  it. I appreciate it. Yeah, you're a fascinating
• 52:04
  person to get to know. So what is a delicious
• 52:08
  meal you've had lately, Tara? Oh, well, no. My
• 52:11
  other half is a really good cook. I am so spoiled.
• 52:14
  Yeah, that's good. What was he cooking that made
• 52:17
  you say, ah? Well, we just, I just ate it just
• 52:20
  before I came on air with you. Nice, nice. What
• 52:23
  is it? He made, now he'll know the name of it.
• 52:25
  It's Thai. I can't pronounce the Thai names.
• 52:28
  It was pork mince with chilies and we put a little
• 52:36
  bit of kale because we have lots of kale growing
• 52:38
  in the garden. We had, what else did we have
• 52:40
  in it? Our own onions, our own garlic. What else
• 52:46
  do we have? There was fish sauce, oyster sauce,
• 52:50
  light soy, dark soy, just little bits. And then
• 52:54
  we had our own cucumbers with it as a garnish.
• 53:00
  We had rice. We had lime over it. Absolutely
• 53:05
  spectacular. That sounds spectacular. Now, I
• 53:10
  mean, are we talking about a dish that is both
• 53:15
  delicious and will bloat your stomach up and
• 53:18
  make you full for all the day long? Or is it
• 53:20
  just a light thing that where the deliciousness
• 53:24
  of it is is more more, I don't know, what's the
• 53:29
  word I'm searching for? It's more there than
• 53:32
  just, you know, filling your stomach up and getting
• 53:35
  a food coma. Yeah, no, it's not the bloated kind.
• 53:39
  It's much more light. And I think as well part
• 53:41
  of it is because a lot of the ingredients are
• 53:45
  freshly grown and it's ruined us almost since
• 53:48
  we started growing our own food about four or
• 53:50
  five years ago. It's really hard to eat something
• 53:53
  in a restaurant or a takeaway or whatever, because
• 53:55
  they taste so dry and withered. You just like,
• 53:58
  I literally went out and grabbed all the, actually
• 54:00
  it was loads of basil leaves as well and Vietnamese
• 54:02
  mint and oh my God, we've seen loads of different
• 54:05
  types of basil. And so I went and harvested a
• 54:07
  load of that and we just put it in fresh and
• 54:09
  everything was fresh, you know, so it tastes
• 54:13
  so different. So is Ireland, is that, that that's
• 54:16
  part of Europe, right? Yes. Okay. So I occasionally
• 54:20
  romanticize the European countryside. Like I
• 54:23
  feel like there's a rural culture there that
• 54:26
  may be somewhat similar to the rural culture
• 54:28
  here in Vermont, but I just feel like it's 10
• 54:30
  times better. Um, so can you tell me about that?
• 54:36
  If that makes any sense? Because like I I know
• 54:40
  I have some friends who used to live, when I
• 54:43
  lived in the Midwest of the United States and
• 54:45
  the state of Iowa, she moved to England with
• 54:49
  her husband who was already living there and
• 54:51
  had a life there. And I don't know, I just hear
• 54:55
  about, you know, the countryside and I'm like,
• 54:57
  oh my God, that's like a very sound of music
• 55:00
  -esque life that I might want to live. So, you
• 55:03
  know, when you say all the beautiful stuff that
• 55:05
  is growing in your garden and stuff like that,
• 55:07
  Is there a nice scenic countryside view that
• 55:11
  comes with it? I'm trying to figure out the question
• 55:13
  that I want to ask. What is your front window
• 55:18
  look like from the outside? What are you looking
• 55:20
  at? Well, I'm looking out the window right now.
• 55:23
  And so you're going to be really jealous now,
• 55:26
  but the nearest neighbor is maybe one and a half
• 55:30
  miles that way and two miles that way. I'm so
• 55:33
  jealous. You're not living on top of each other.
• 55:36
  There's a lot of space. Yeah. So I'm looking
• 55:38
  at Green Hills. Now we are very green here because
• 55:40
  it does rain. I'm also looking at, it's kind
• 55:43
  of slightly misty. What are you on? Are you on
• 55:46
  your phone right now? Computer? Yeah. Yeah. Can
• 55:48
  you shift the view so I can see it? Well, I have
• 55:50
  dessert. You probably can't see it because it's
• 55:52
  out of window. Yeah. I can't even stretch it.
• 55:56
  I moved the curtain. Oh, beautiful. Yeah. Green
• 56:04
  country. Sorry. Green. I love that. Yep. That's
• 56:06
  exactly the kind of land that I want, but we
• 56:08
  have no money. So we have to. But you can see
• 56:10
  the rain as well. Yeah. Oh, that's beautiful.
• 56:13
  Yep. That's the life. That is the life. So yes,
• 56:16
  I'm jealous. And yes, if we could switch homes
• 56:18
  right now, that would be great. No, it does come
• 56:21
  with the caveat of the rain. You know, so we
• 56:24
  do have lots of rain because it can't be green
• 56:25
  without the rain. This is true. How much rain
• 56:28
  do you have, like, in comparison to the sunshiney
• 56:32
  kind of days? Is it like Seattle, Washington,
• 56:35
  and London, where the rain is just ridiculous?
• 56:38
  Yeah, London probably would be considered heat
• 56:40
  waves compared to here, so. Oh, you guys have
• 56:44
  that much rain, OK. We have a lot of rain, yeah.
• 56:48
  So does that make it, because like with the longer
• 56:51
  daylight, like if there's rain, is it still depressing
• 56:54
  looking or is it still like bright enough where
• 56:56
  you could make it happen? It can be sort of that
• 56:58
  kind of gray look frequently. Yeah. And also
• 57:02
  we're on the side of a mountain, so we get a
• 57:04
  lot of the wind coming up as well. But I wouldn't
• 57:07
  change it. change it for the world. Me neither.
• 57:10
  Does your house almost blow away with all the
• 57:13
  wind that's coming by you? Yeah, we've had to
• 57:15
  put some sand bags on the roof, on the tiles,
• 57:19
  yeah. We've had some crazy wind here in Richford,
• 57:21
  Vermont, where we are. It's insane. And we have
• 57:24
  a couple of dogs that are just not fans of the
• 57:26
  wind and we have to medicate them to calm them
• 57:29
  down. Wind, thunderstorms, fireworks. God forbid
• 57:33
  what happens when we're not hearing the dogs
• 57:36
  have to... Do that. So are your dogs also scared
• 57:39
  of the sounds of wind and all that stuff? No,
• 57:42
  I've got two golden retrievers. They're just
• 57:44
  the chilled out dogs. You know, they just lie
• 57:46
  there and they're. Yeah, that's my dream dog.
• 57:49
  But that's my dream dog. But my wife is like,
• 57:52
  yeah. Hair, hair. Oh, they shed a lot. Everywhere.
• 57:58
  Yeah. If you probably saw me, if you if you look
• 58:00
  closer, you'd see lots of golden hairs everywhere
• 58:03
  all over me. I mean, there's just golden hair
• 58:05
  everywhere, everywhere. But I knew that when
• 58:07
  I was getting them, so. All right. All right.
• 58:09
  Well, that's a that's a good thing to know. I
• 58:10
  mean, we have some shedding with our dogs, but
• 58:12
  I would imagine a golden retriever is like shedding
• 58:15
  on steroids. Yes, totally. But you did ask about
• 58:19
  the countryside. Yeah. So bear in mind, Ireland
• 58:21
  is an island. Yeah. So and also the UK. Well,
• 58:27
  England, Scotland and Wales is an island. What
• 58:31
  does it mean when a country is described as an
• 58:33
  island? Does it just mean there's a lot of body
• 58:34
  of water? So there's water all around it. So
• 58:38
  we're totally separate from all the other countries.
• 58:41
  So we are kind of a little bit removed from EU,
• 58:43
  even though we're part of it. We're kind of out
• 58:45
  here on the West Coast. We're kind of way out.
• 58:47
  Not way out, but like next stop is America. OK.
• 58:51
  Yeah. Or actually probably Newfoundland is the
• 58:53
  next stop. Yeah. So in Vermont, you have maple
• 58:58
  syrup, is that right? That's one of the things
• 59:00
  that we're known for. Do you like maple syrup?
• 59:03
  Did you have any of that in Ireland? We don't
• 59:05
  have good maple syrup here. No, no, no, no. I
• 59:07
  don't even think we make it here. I doubt we
• 59:09
  make it. But we don't have the, the stuff you
• 59:12
  get in the shops here is kind of like sugared,
• 59:14
  sweetened, syrupy stuff. It's not, I don't think
• 59:17
  it's real maple syrup. I was in New York recently
• 59:19
  and I took some. As you should, as you should.
• 59:22
  Because why not? You don't live here. So you
• 59:25
  can. Oh my God. I have a friend who brings, who
• 59:28
  comes over once a year and he brings like a quart
• 59:30
  of it. Yeah. Oh my god, I mean, it's to die for.
• 59:34
  It's great. It's great. And my idiot self, when
• 59:36
  I first moved to Vermont, like I thought like,
• 59:38
  oh, whatever, fake syrup, maple syrup, what they
• 59:40
  call fake syrup, like the Aunt Jemima and the
• 59:43
  Mrs. Butterworths of it all. I, you know, they
• 59:46
  were cheap and they tasted fine to me growing
• 59:48
  up in, you know, Connecticut, Iowa, Philly, all
• 59:50
  these other places besides Vermont. But then
• 59:53
  something happened where I decided to just buy
• 59:57
  maple syrup with like my French toast or pancakes
• 1:00:00
  or whatever. And I just had that day where I
• 1:00:04
  realized, oh, this actually tastes much more
• 1:00:07
  rich than I expected. And then I went back to
• 1:00:12
  the fake syrup because maple syrup is expensive
• 1:00:14
  here. And then it was like tasting trash. I was
• 1:00:18
  like, wow. Now I see it. I don't know why it
• 1:00:21
  took me so long, but now I see it. And now if
• 1:00:24
  I'm ever going to eat syrup, it's going to be
• 1:00:26
  like actual legit maple syrup. Yeah. Your taste
• 1:00:29
  buds were opened. Yeah, they were opened and
• 1:00:31
  they've never been closed again. I know it's
• 1:00:34
  it's it's like a curse sometimes because you're
• 1:00:36
  like, oh, my God, it was so good. And I can't
• 1:00:38
  eat anything. It's almost like you're going back
• 1:00:41
  for the first hit. Oh, yeah. It's a drug. It's
• 1:00:45
  a drug. But I had a period of time where my breakfast
• 1:00:49
  every day seemed to be like, you know, French
• 1:00:50
  toast and maple syrup. I mean, not lately anymore
• 1:00:53
  because my wife reminded me that I'm literally
• 1:00:56
  going to destroy my teeth if I eat maple syrup
• 1:00:58
  every day because of all the sugar that's in
• 1:01:00
  it. But yeah, no, every now and then when I get
• 1:01:02
  a chance, man, I just gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp,
• 1:01:05
  gulp, you know? It's yeah, I'll do them as a
• 1:01:08
  special occasion. Pancakes and maple syrup and
• 1:01:12
  bacon or what do you call it? Do you call it
• 1:01:14
  bacon? Yeah. Yeah. OK. The berries, the meat
• 1:01:19
  that comes from pigs. Yeah. Just because things
• 1:01:23
  can be called different. Like some people call
• 1:01:24
  them rashers here. Oh, OK, OK, OK. And other
• 1:01:28
  people call them something else, I think. Anyway.
• 1:01:30
  Yeah. So I'm always I'm always trying to be mindful
• 1:01:32
  of who the audience is that I. I have to say
• 1:01:36
  the right words. So not only maple syrup, but
• 1:01:38
  maple in general. So if you come here to Vermont
• 1:01:41
  during this time of year, you also can have a
• 1:01:43
  maple creamy. Have you had a maple creamy? No.
• 1:01:45
  What's that? It's basically maple flavored soft
• 1:01:47
  serve ice cream. Oh, that sounds delicious. Yep.
• 1:01:50
  So there's that. And then when I was in a theater
• 1:01:53
  production locally here in Vermont, Uh, one of
• 1:01:56
  our cast mates decided to, uh, you know, come
• 1:01:59
  in with his maple syrup that he had. And, uh,
• 1:02:03
  we had maple shots, which is literally just straight.
• 1:02:07
  Yeah. Just think of like a shot of tequila, but
• 1:02:09
  you're just drinking maple syrup instead. And
• 1:02:11
  I guess there's something in like the sugar or
• 1:02:13
  the electrolytes or whatever that just like gets
• 1:02:15
  you jazzed up and performing on stage. So, um,
• 1:02:20
  yeah. And then there's, uh, there's maple, I
• 1:02:22
  think there's maple popcorn. There's like maple.
• 1:02:25
  cookies, like maple. Yeah. Yeah. There's, there's
• 1:02:28
  all sorts of way you can eat maple here. We only
• 1:02:30
  do salted popcorn here in Ireland. We can't do
• 1:02:35
  butter. You can't do no butter. Yes, but no,
• 1:02:38
  no sweet popcorn. No, no, no. It's wrong. Why
• 1:02:42
  is it wrong? Yeah. It's just something that's
• 1:02:46
  always just been the butter or salted popcorn
• 1:02:48
  here. I think you can actually get more sugars,
• 1:02:53
  sugar popcorn now, but most people are like,
• 1:02:55
  no, no. All right. It's whatever you get used
• 1:02:59
  to. Okay. I will accept that with no judgments.
• 1:03:07
  What's a delicious pop culture obsession that
• 1:03:09
  you have? So what's something that you're watching
• 1:03:11
  or listening to? Well, I mean, you don't have
• 1:03:12
  a TV, so this might be a hard question for you
• 1:03:15
  to answer, but just anything you're watching
• 1:03:17
  or listening to in the culture could be Irish
• 1:03:20
  pop culture, American pop culture, whatever you
• 1:03:23
  consider pop culture, what are you digesting
• 1:03:27
  that you love and you want to share? I love those
• 1:03:32
  two. Can I have two? Yeah, absolutely. Go ahead.
• 1:03:35
  Two Irish bands, one of them is a solo singer,
• 1:03:39
  the other is a band. So the solo singer is Lisa
• 1:03:43
  O 'Neill. So Lisa is a singer from Cavern, which
• 1:03:47
  is in the Midlands of Ireland. And she was a
• 1:03:51
  big fan of Bob Dylan, huge fan of Bob Dylan.
• 1:03:54
  And she is the most unique. singer and has the
• 1:03:58
  most unique voice. Wow. And I remember meeting
• 1:04:00
  her in an Irish music session once and she sang
• 1:04:03
  and everybody just went. Oh, my God, what have
• 1:04:08
  we just we've just witnessed something, you know,
• 1:04:10
  just witnessed something really special. And
• 1:04:11
  you think, should I be here? You know, you're
• 1:04:15
  like, you know, I should be here to just to witness
• 1:04:19
  this. This is so special. Am I worthy? Yeah,
• 1:04:22
  yeah. She was, oh my God, she sings some traditional
• 1:04:26
  songs, but she also sings like Bob Dylan, or
• 1:04:30
  she actually is a songwriter as well. And she
• 1:04:32
  sang at Shane McGowan's funeral there, you know,
• 1:04:35
  from the Pogues. She's just a real throaty voice.
• 1:04:39
  Wow. Amazing singer. So if anybody gets a chance
• 1:04:42
  to listen to her, she'll just blow your mind.
• 1:04:46
  Her music was featured in, what's it called,
• 1:04:48
  Peaky Blinders? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I've
• 1:04:51
  been meaning to get back on that show. Yeah.
• 1:04:52
  I think it's the very final episode or something.
• 1:04:55
  Her music was, um, she, they got her to do a
• 1:04:57
  version of something dead horses or something,
• 1:05:00
  a Bob Dylan song or something. And that would,
• 1:05:03
  Oh my God. It's like there's a somebody pulling
• 1:05:07
  a knife through your chest. It's like, Jesus.
• 1:05:11
  Wow. And what's the name of the what's the name
• 1:05:14
  of the artist again? Lisa O 'Neill. OK, so can
• 1:05:16
  I like find her on Spotify? Oh, yeah. Yeah. She's
• 1:05:19
  a very big artist in Ireland now. But I remember
• 1:05:21
  seeing her before she got big in that session.
• 1:05:24
  It was like, oh, my God, she is going to just
• 1:05:26
  take off. She's amazing. And then the other band
• 1:05:30
  is called Lancom. OK, L, A, N, K, U, M, and they
• 1:05:36
  they play and sing traditional songs, but they
• 1:05:39
  sing it in a real kind of folky kind of almost
• 1:05:42
  like an English folk -y sort of way, like the
• 1:05:45
  Waterstones, you know, kind of that kind of 1970s,
• 1:05:49
  80s kind of English folk way. And the lead singer
• 1:05:53
  in that, her name is Raddy Pete and her, oh,
• 1:05:56
  she's got it. a voice. Well, my God, it's is
• 1:05:59
  it also throaty and delicious? Yes. Oh, my God.
• 1:06:03
  Yeah, it's brilliant. So if you get a chance
• 1:06:06
  to hear them as well, Rady P, not Rady P. Well,
• 1:06:09
  she has a solo solo career now as well. But Lancome,
• 1:06:13
  they it's really their music has taken a real
• 1:06:15
  dark kind of side to things now recently. It's
• 1:06:18
  fascinating. They were on the Jules Haaland show
• 1:06:21
  a couple of years back as well. What's what's
• 1:06:23
  the Jules Haaland show? Jules Holland is a Jules
• 1:06:27
  Holland. He's a UK kind of well -known celebrity
• 1:06:30
  that has a Christmas special. I think they're
• 1:06:35
  on his Christmas special. It's a big deal if
• 1:06:39
  you get onto the Jules Holland show. How do the
• 1:06:42
  Irish celebrate Christmas? Is it literally the
• 1:06:43
  same thing as Americans celebrate Christmas?
• 1:06:46
  How do Americans celebrate? I don't know how
• 1:06:48
  Americans celebrate it. Santa Claus and if you're
• 1:06:54
  Christian, Jesus Christ and the Christmas tree
• 1:06:57
  and the Christmas, the annoying Christmas songs
• 1:06:59
  that play on the same thing there. Do you guys
• 1:07:02
  have Irish versions of Christmas songs or is
• 1:07:04
  it like you just get the American stuff? A bit
• 1:07:06
  of both. Okay. Yeah, there wouldn't be a lot
• 1:07:09
  of Irish, but yeah, there would be some. Yeah.
• 1:07:11
  Yeah. But you know, we have the normal Christmas
• 1:07:14
  songs. Yeah, the same. And actually, I think
• 1:07:16
  I went, I did go to New York and spend for a
• 1:07:20
  Christmas shopping trip years and years and years
• 1:07:23
  ago, 20 years ago. I'm sorry about that, by the
• 1:07:25
  way. That must have been just terrible with all
• 1:07:27
  the tourists and stuff like that. It was a long,
• 1:07:30
  long time ago. Yeah, it's about 30 years ago
• 1:07:33
  or something, maybe. Yeah. Did you like it? Yeah,
• 1:07:35
  yeah. And I was in New York twice this year already.
• 1:07:38
  Oh, wow. For what reason? Just for performing
• 1:07:40
  or visiting? My podcast got... nominated and
• 1:07:44
  won awards, podcast awards. What? Oh my God,
• 1:07:47
  tell me more about that. What did it win? Congratulations.
• 1:07:51
  There was the New York podcaster or New York
• 1:07:54
  podcast awards in March, just before St. Patrick's
• 1:07:58
  Day. And then I had to come back because I was
• 1:07:59
  playing here on St. Patrick's Day. Yeah, so it
• 1:08:02
  won five awards at that. And then. I came back
• 1:08:06
  over in May for two more awards at the Shorty
• 1:08:09
  Awards, and I got a bronze honor and an audience
• 1:08:13
  honor at that one, so I'm pretty delighted. That's
• 1:08:15
  fantastic. So remind people what the title of
• 1:08:17
  your podcast is and what it's about, just so
• 1:08:19
  they know, to listen to this award -winning podcast.
• 1:08:22
  It's called In Tune with Tradition, and the tagline
• 1:08:27
  is Perspectives on Session Etiquette and Irish
• 1:08:29
  Traditional Music. So it's helping people understand
• 1:08:32
  those unspoken norms or the unspoken unspoken
• 1:08:37
  customs that happen inside a kind of a the session
• 1:08:41
  in the corner. But it's the same as any kind
• 1:08:44
  of communal thing, any sort of community. You
• 1:08:46
  know, once it's kind of built, it has a certain
• 1:08:49
  amount of customs. I always think of it like
• 1:08:51
  because every session is different because it's
• 1:08:54
  never the same twice. It doesn't have the same
• 1:08:56
  people. You know, it's always something different.
• 1:08:58
  It's about like when you're driving onto a motorway.
• 1:09:01
  I mean, there are customs in place then, you
• 1:09:03
  know, but it's never the same because it's never
• 1:09:06
  the same people at the exact same time. So you're
• 1:09:09
  coming onto a motorway and you're thinking, right,
• 1:09:11
  well, I need to adjust. I need to be aware of
• 1:09:13
  what's happening. And then I need to adjust to
• 1:09:15
  make sure that I don't crash into somebody or
• 1:09:17
  that they don't crash into me. And it's exactly
• 1:09:19
  the same in a session. All right. All right.
• 1:09:23
  Or the same going into a new job or going into
• 1:09:25
  anything where something has existed before you
• 1:09:28
  have. So that's kind of. Yeah, how I help people.
• 1:09:31
  I love how you gave that facial reaction when
• 1:09:32
  you were mentioning that you went to New York
• 1:09:34
  for accepting awards because you had that like
• 1:09:38
  sort of like cringy, uncomfortable thing like,
• 1:09:40
  oh no, I don't know. Should I like brag about
• 1:09:42
  myself for a moment? Should I hype myself up?
• 1:09:44
  I'm not really sure. I know it's awful. My podcast
• 1:09:47
  is kind of a big deal, but I don't want to let
• 1:09:49
  John know that. No, we're so, we're so full of
• 1:09:54
  humility and that is the problem with the session
• 1:09:57
  etiquette because nobody wants to. Say, you know,
• 1:09:59
  I'm really sorry. The session isn't for you maybe,
• 1:10:02
  or this isn't, you know, this is maybe a bit
• 1:10:04
  above your, your ability or, you know, so we're
• 1:10:09
  like, no, we just sit there and then we're going,
• 1:10:11
  Oh my God, this is awful. Oh, we just sit through
• 1:10:15
  it because nobody wants to offend anybody. Yeah.
• 1:10:18
  Well, sometimes you got to take a risk to get
• 1:10:20
  to where you want to be. So if it means offending
• 1:10:22
  everybody, then offend away. So that's what my
• 1:10:26
  podcast is about. There you go. There you go.
• 1:10:28
  And last question, what is a delicious thing
• 1:10:30
  that's happened in your life lately? Delicious
• 1:10:32
  thing happening in my life. Yeah, this could
• 1:10:34
  be just any positive life event that just makes
• 1:10:36
  you scream, Oh my God, that is, that was a delicious
• 1:10:39
  thing that happened. I think every day. Sorry,
• 1:10:44
  I don't mean to be cringing. You're going to
• 1:10:46
  give me something more specific than that. Well,
• 1:10:49
  I mean, look, I got. Beautiful food. Before I
• 1:10:51
  came on air here, I have that answered the first
• 1:10:54
  question. Yeah. I have hugs every day from the
• 1:10:58
  dogs on my other half. You know, I have beautiful
• 1:11:01
  everything. I'm just, I'm just delighted to be
• 1:11:03
  alive at the minute. So the delicious thing that's
• 1:11:06
  happening in your life lately is just your everyday
• 1:11:08
  life. I'm also aware that in six months time,
• 1:11:13
  I'm going to turn 50 and the longevity isn't
• 1:11:16
  in my genes. So I'm like, I need to make sure
• 1:11:19
  that I am grateful for every single day because,
• 1:11:22
  you know. Well, let's talk about that. Are you
• 1:11:24
  doing anything special for your 50th birthday?
• 1:11:25
  Do you want to? I don't really like the fact
• 1:11:28
  that I'm turning 50 at all. I think that is,
• 1:11:34
  I don't know. I mean, I'm embracing getting older.
• 1:11:38
  Maybe it's different for men than for women,
• 1:11:40
  but like, I, um, I just find that I'm getting
• 1:11:42
  like wiser and more mellow and more confident
• 1:11:45
  as I get older. I feel like I'm learning more
• 1:11:47
  about the world. Uh, and yes, I know time is
• 1:11:50
  ticking. Uh, as you get older, you know, maybe
• 1:11:53
  there's not much life left, but I don't know.
• 1:11:55
  I just, uh, I, I, I feel like, uh, life gets
• 1:11:59
  more precious as you get older. That's, that's
• 1:12:01
  just my idea. So, um, I would say, especially
• 1:12:05
  you. you know, with your award -winning podcast,
• 1:12:08
  your Irish fiddle player, Successful Self, I
• 1:12:10
  think you should do something big for your 50th
• 1:12:12
  birthday. I think you should, you should really
• 1:12:14
  bask in the glow of being this wise, successful
• 1:12:18
  person. Well, myself and another guy who were
• 1:12:21
  born on the exact same day, he's a guitar player,
• 1:12:23
  and we do play in this thing called the Irish
• 1:12:26
  Memory Orchestra, which is his, it's a vehicle
• 1:12:30
  for playing his compositions. And it's beautiful.
• 1:12:33
  It's brilliant. So we're thinking of doing a
• 1:12:38
  50th birthday sort of concert in possibly the
• 1:12:42
  National Concert Hall in Dublin. So we're like,
• 1:12:45
  there's no point in doing a small concert for
• 1:12:47
  your 50th. You're only 50 once. Do it in the
• 1:12:49
  main National Concert Hall. Now, can I ask, is
• 1:12:51
  National Concert Hall, is that sort of like the
• 1:12:53
  Irish version of Carnegie Hall, where it has
• 1:12:56
  this really prestige music reputation? Yeah.
• 1:13:01
  Wonderful. We have played in it a couple, oh,
• 1:13:03
  it's about five or six years ago. Um, so yeah,
• 1:13:06
  let's do it. And let's do it. We must. Yes. Yes.
• 1:13:10
  I think so. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's that classic
• 1:13:12
  saying just live every day. Like it's your last.
• 1:13:15
  And just, I mean, we, we all know that we don't
• 1:13:17
  have control over death. It's going to happen
• 1:13:19
  to all of us at some point. So just live the
• 1:13:22
  best life you can and, and, and celebrate it.
• 1:13:24
  Yeah. Yeah. This was beautiful, Tara. Oh my God.
• 1:13:28
  I'm so glad that you came on the podcast. Usually
• 1:13:32
  I sort of low key invite myself to other people's
• 1:13:36
  podcasts, but I have no idea what I would contribute
• 1:13:38
  because I'm not an Irish fiddle player. I know
• 1:13:42
  it is hard when I would like to have people back
• 1:13:45
  on. I'm like, what could you teach my audience
• 1:13:48
  about etiquette and sessions? I could teach you
• 1:13:51
  about the etiquette of being un -edicified. I
• 1:13:56
  could teach you naughty American etiquette, if
• 1:13:59
  that makes any sense. No, no, no. I mean, I don't
• 1:14:02
  know. I have no class in my genes whatsoever.
• 1:14:05
  So I will, I think all I could give you is like
• 1:14:08
  sort of an American perspective on how I receive
• 1:14:11
  Irish music. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Which is possibly
• 1:14:15
  a learning, you know. for us as well. But even
• 1:14:17
  the fact that you think that Irish music is just
• 1:14:20
  the Celtic women sort of thing. So, yeah. I didn't
• 1:14:23
  say that. I just said that that's like the first
• 1:14:25
  and maybe only thing that I think of because
• 1:14:27
  I don't know anything about Irish music. Yeah,
• 1:14:29
  yeah. But that's probably lots of people. So,
• 1:14:32
  yeah. Yeah. And that's very unfortunate because
• 1:14:35
  I look at the Celtic women and again, they seem
• 1:14:38
  like very, very beautiful talented people. But
• 1:14:41
  there is a sort of cheesiness about them where
• 1:14:44
  I kind of like had a feeling that like your response
• 1:14:47
  would be like, Oh God, that's why that Irish
• 1:14:50
  music is. You know what I mean? Like, it's a
• 1:14:55
  part of it. Yeah. Anyway, this was wonderful.
• 1:14:58
  You can just have to come to Ireland instead.
• 1:15:00
  Now, instead of being on the podcast, you just
• 1:15:02
  have to come and visit an Ireland. Yep. Please
• 1:15:04
  pay for my city. Please pay for my stay. Please
• 1:15:06
  financially cover my state. Me and my wife would
• 1:15:09
  love to come over to the countryside and just
• 1:15:13
  make friends with your geese and your chickens
• 1:15:15
  and your. Do you have pigs? No, not yet. Not
• 1:15:19
  yet. I've heard that pigs are very smart animals.
• 1:15:23
  Yes. Supposedly they're very smart and also they
• 1:15:26
  can orgasm for 20 minutes. They can orgasm for
• 1:15:30
  20 minutes. You didn't realize the podcast was
• 1:15:35
  heading this direction? No, no, no. I love to
• 1:15:39
  talk anything sexual and dirty. So my question
• 1:15:42
  is why the hell are we cooking them for bacon?
• 1:15:44
  Is it because we're jealous that they can orgasm
• 1:15:46
  for so long? I don't know, but I did have friends
• 1:15:49
  in Norway because I've played you know, played
• 1:15:52
  music all around. And I used to go to a festival
• 1:15:54
  in Norway. I think I was going to it for about
• 1:15:56
  20 years and every year. So we, we knew the people
• 1:15:58
  that were organizing it and their friends and
• 1:16:00
  we got really friendly. And some of them actually
• 1:16:03
  their jobs were pig wankers. Please tell me more
• 1:16:09
  pig wankers. I think they were artificial inseminators.
• 1:16:13
  So they had to, you know, wank the pigs to get
• 1:16:19
  the semen so that they could then artificially.
• 1:16:21
  inseminate the female pigs. That's where they
• 1:16:25
  worked. So they jerked pigs off so that they
• 1:16:27
  could impregnate the, okay, they jerked the male
• 1:16:30
  pigs off so that they could impregnate the female
• 1:16:33
  pigs because I guess, because I guess the, were
• 1:16:36
  the male pigs having an issue with intercourse?
• 1:16:39
  No, I think it's some, like there would be the
• 1:16:40
  same here. Sometimes you would get an artificial
• 1:16:43
  inseminator. Actually, this is the preview. The
• 1:16:46
  AI man used to be, used to be the artificial
• 1:16:49
  inseminator man, not the AI as an artificial
• 1:16:52
  intelligence. So they, yeah, sometimes you would
• 1:16:59
  just, instead of getting, buying a, like a, a
• 1:17:02
  male ram or a male pig or a male, whatever you
• 1:17:04
  would get, or a male cow or a bull, you would
• 1:17:07
  just get the artificial insemination person to
• 1:17:10
  come out and take the semen and just inject it
• 1:17:13
  in. And that would be tada, Bob's your uncle
• 1:17:17
  and Fanny's your aunt. I mean, I don't know.
• 1:17:24
  I just, I, I'm trying to put myself into the
• 1:17:26
  position of somebody who has to wank a pig off
• 1:17:28
  to get that. Uh, I mean, I, I'm sure they're
• 1:17:32
  used to it, but my first reaction is, Oh my God,
• 1:17:35
  that sounds very deeply uncomfortable. And I
• 1:17:37
  might want to like, vomit and just all the things
• 1:17:40
  because I don't even want to know what all the
• 1:17:42
  noises that comes out of a pig. Wow. Yeah, I
• 1:17:45
  didn't even ask that. I should have asked. Wait,
• 1:17:49
  wait. So can I ask like, oh, OK, so this leads
• 1:17:52
  me to ask, like any time that you talk about
• 1:17:54
  pigs with somebody, is that like the one of the
• 1:17:56
  first fun facts? Totally. Like, hey, you know,
• 1:17:59
  you know, you know, they can orgasm for 20 minutes
• 1:18:00
  and I don't normally tell people that. But it's
• 1:18:05
  the first thing that's going through my mind.
• 1:18:06
  I'm like, should I say it? Should I say it? Should
• 1:18:08
  I say it? Should I say it? I'm glad you did say
• 1:18:10
  it because now I'm wondering like, wait, how
• 1:18:12
  does that even? So I have to go and double check
• 1:18:16
  this. Maybe this maybe they were telling me false
• 1:18:18
  information the whole time. Maybe because like
• 1:18:20
  that would just be a lot of like I'd be so upset.
• 1:18:24
  You'd be so upset if you could have orgasm for
• 1:18:26
  that long, is that what you're saying? No, I'd
• 1:18:27
  be so upset if they told me this was just a big
• 1:18:30
  lie all along. All right. Well, the internet
• 1:18:32
  is right here. So let me ask, can pigs orgasm
• 1:18:37
  for 20 minutes? Your person might be wrong. Scientific
• 1:18:42
  evidence does not support the claim that pigs
• 1:18:44
  orgasm for 20 minutes. Most research shows the
• 1:18:47
  actual orgasm lasts only about 30 seconds, though
• 1:18:49
  the mating process can extend for several minutes.
• 1:18:53
  What the research says, multiple peer reviewed
• 1:18:55
  animal reproduction studies and livestock science
• 1:18:57
  sources indicate that the pig's orgasm itself
• 1:19:00
  is brief, typically around 30 seconds. This is
• 1:19:02
  still longer than many mammals, but far shorter
• 1:19:04
  than the viral 30 minute orgasm myth. The mating
• 1:19:07
  process in boars Male pigs can last 5 -20 minutes
• 1:19:11
  because of the corkscrew -shaped penis that locks
• 1:19:14
  in the sow's cervix, the large ejaculate volume
• 1:19:17
  and sustained rhythmic contractions. This extended
• 1:19:20
  copulation is part of pig reproductive strategy,
• 1:19:23
  not the orgasm itself. Some older or anecdotal
• 1:19:27
  sources, including a Guinness World Records entry,
• 1:19:29
  claim pigs have 30 -minute orgasms, but these
• 1:19:32
  are not supported by modern, peer -reviewed studies.
• 1:19:34
  The Guinness figure appears to be based on outdated
• 1:19:37
  or unverified data. And the livestock expert
• 1:19:39
  and other veterinary science outlets explicitly,
• 1:19:43
  explicitly debunk it. And this is from the livestock
• 1:19:46
  expert. That's where I got this information from.
• 1:19:49
  So, um, males can anywhere from five to 20 minutes
• 1:19:54
  ejaculate. Uh, but, uh, that's yeah. So I guess
• 1:19:58
  it's a varying degree. It's not, it's not, it's
• 1:20:00
  not, it's not the common situation for all, uh,
• 1:20:03
  male pigs. Sorry, male pigs. I feel like that
• 1:20:08
  would hurt though. I feel like that would hurt.
• 1:20:10
  I feel like, you know, looking at like, you know,
• 1:20:12
  just, I guess I'll just go from personal experience.
• 1:20:15
  Like I definitely, definitely would not. I'm
• 1:20:19
  so sorry. No, no, I just, I just, I feel like
• 1:20:22
  that would go from like pleasurable to very painful
• 1:20:26
  and exhausting very quickly. So I think, yeah,
• 1:20:28
  the exhaust, I could definitely think of the
• 1:20:30
  exhausting is like, oh, Can we stop now? Yeah,
• 1:20:33
  exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Oh my god. Too much
• 1:20:36
  of a good thing. Too much of a good thing. I
• 1:20:38
  dare you the next podcast appearance, just open
• 1:20:41
  the conversation with, hey, do you know that
• 1:20:43
  pigs could orgasm for 20 minutes? I dare you
• 1:20:46
  back. And I could do that. I could do that. I
• 1:20:51
  just have to like, because you have to read a
• 1:20:55
  person to make sure that like they would be okay
• 1:20:57
  with that. Um, and if it's a fun type of person
• 1:21:01
  like you are, then yes, I would be more than
• 1:21:04
  happy to open the conversation with that. So,
• 1:21:06
  um, yeah. You can even slip it in somewhere throughout
• 1:21:09
  the conversation. It doesn't have to be opening.
• 1:21:11
  Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Opening, closing, or slip
• 1:21:14
  it in, in the middle of the conversation. That's
• 1:21:16
  the dare. And if you could send, if you could
• 1:21:19
  either message me or send me the audio file as
• 1:21:22
  proof that you have either open closed or slipped
• 1:21:25
  it in the middle of the conversation, that would
• 1:21:27
  be. That would be fantastic. Yeah, likewise.
• 1:21:31
  Just imagine how even more popular your podcast
• 1:21:33
  would be if you just... Slip it in all over the
• 1:21:36
  place. Every different guest you have, hey, did
• 1:21:39
  you know that pigs could orgasm up to 20 minutes?
• 1:21:42
  And then go into Irish fiddle music and... Yeah,
• 1:21:45
  and they're like, what just happened there? They
• 1:21:49
  don't know where to go. They don't know what
• 1:21:50
  to do. They don't know what to say. But you know
• 1:21:53
  that it's going to be an unforgettable experience
• 1:21:55
  for them. Yes. Likewise with your audience. I'm
• 1:21:58
  sorry, audience. Hey, look, I think this is because,
• 1:22:02
  you know, I've said crazy, stupid stuff on this
• 1:22:05
  podcast all the time, so this is right in line
• 1:22:07
  with it. I mean, this is valuable information,
• 1:22:10
  I think, but like... Just no, not even true.
• 1:22:13
  I'm so upset. So the research says that they
• 1:22:19
  could last up to 20 minutes. It's just not a
• 1:22:22
  guaranteed thing. Yes. And that the the transaction
• 1:22:25
  can last up to 20 minutes in the lead up to that
• 1:22:28
  due to the corkscrew thing or something. Yeah.
• 1:22:31
  Yeah. But anyway, what's the message here? Do
• 1:22:37
  not think that pigs are only good for bacon.
• 1:22:39
  They're good for so many other things. Yeah.
• 1:22:41
  Never judge a book by its leather cover. Exactly.
• 1:22:45
  By its leather. Yeah, exactly. That was great.
• 1:22:51
  That gave me a good laugh. That was wonderful.
• 1:22:55
  I mean, I didn't know how we could top our conversation,
• 1:22:58
  but I think you could easily say that long pig
• 1:23:02
  orgasms is a way to sign off. I think my cheeks
• 1:23:05
  are sore from laughing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I could
• 1:23:07
  feel you like rubbing your cheeks and everything.
• 1:23:11
  Oh, my God. It tends to happen in the back of
• 1:23:13
  my head. Like when I laugh so much, like I get
• 1:23:15
  like very like, you know, tense in the back of
• 1:23:17
  my head for some reason. Like it just like it
• 1:23:19
  hurts back there for some reason. I laugh with
• 1:23:22
  the back of my head more than my cheeks. That's
• 1:23:23
  so weird. That's mad. Oh, that's probably your
• 1:23:26
  head. It's probably because the head is the heaviest.
• 1:23:31
  Is the heaviest part of the body, isn't it? Seems
• 1:23:34
  like it could be. Yeah. Yeah. So maybe those
• 1:23:37
  the neck is probably the part where it's kind
• 1:23:39
  of trying to hold it and you're kind of laughing
• 1:23:41
  and like, this is kind of tiresome. Oh, man.
• 1:23:47
  OK, so plug all your stuff, Tara. Like, how can
• 1:23:49
  people find you in terms of websites, social
• 1:23:51
  media, your podcast? Like, just give us everything.
• 1:23:54
  Yeah. So my website is www .sessionetiquette
• 1:23:58
  .com or irishmusicsessions .com and they can
• 1:24:06
  find the website or the the podcast on any podcast
• 1:24:09
  platform and it's called In Tune With Tradition
• 1:24:11
  or they can just search for Session Etiquette
• 1:24:13
  as well. That will be the only Session Etiquette
• 1:24:16
  podcast there is. So it is going great. gone.
• 1:24:21
  Like, people are going crazy. Not crazy about
• 1:24:23
  it, but they're just... Oh, stop it. Yeah, they
• 1:24:24
  are going crazy. Yeah, you get to go to New York
• 1:24:26
  to receive an award. They're going crazy. No,
• 1:24:28
  but they're excited because it's, or maybe not
• 1:24:30
  excited, but they're relieved that there's such
• 1:24:36
  a thing that exists because it was a taboo subject
• 1:24:38
  before that. Nobody wanted to talk about it.
• 1:24:40
  And even when, like, I was thinking of writing
• 1:24:44
  a book on music performance anxiety because I...
• 1:24:47
  I mostly teach adult fiddle players and I didn't
• 1:24:49
  want, I always wanted to help them. I thought
• 1:24:52
  that's what I was helping them with was always
• 1:24:54
  their music performance anxiety. So I asked one
• 1:24:56
  of my music students who's a retired doctor,
• 1:25:00
  if he'd be my medical advisor, if I did write
• 1:25:02
  a book on it. And he said, absolutely. He said,
• 1:25:05
  but you know, the reason we have the music performance
• 1:25:09
  anxiety is because we don't know the etiquette,
• 1:25:12
  you know, that we're supposed to. how we're supposed
• 1:25:14
  to behave in Irish music sessions. So he said,
• 1:25:17
  it would be really helpful if you'd write a book
• 1:25:19
  on that instead on the session etiquette. And
• 1:25:21
  I was like, oh boy, that's a vile subject. No
• 1:25:25
  way. I'll never write. And it was like, yuck.
• 1:25:29
  And he's like, well, that is the reason why we
• 1:25:32
  have the music performance anxiety. So he kind
• 1:25:35
  of talked me around it. So I think of him as
• 1:25:37
  my muse every time I'm interviewing somebody.
• 1:25:39
  for the podcast. If he wouldn't understand what
• 1:25:42
  they're saying, then I will go in and dig a bit
• 1:25:44
  deeper because I might hear it and go, oh yeah,
• 1:25:47
  that's that. But I have to question that because
• 1:25:49
  I have to question almost everything people say
• 1:25:52
  because he might not understand it. So he's my
• 1:25:55
  muse. There you go. I love that. That's wonderful.
• 1:25:59
  Thank you. Thank you. And I'm so glad that you
• 1:26:02
  have this. because there is a lot of value in
• 1:26:05
  this education that you provide with session
• 1:26:07
  etiquette. And for our audience, as usual, The
• 1:26:11
  Delicious Culture with John Francois, please
• 1:26:13
  find it wherever you get your podcasts. Apple,
• 1:26:16
  Spotify, SiriusXM, iHeart, Amazon, et cetera.
• 1:26:19
  If you like the podcast, please rate and review
• 1:26:20
  on Apple and Spotify. Email with any questions,
• 1:26:23
  concerns, comments, or feedback. Sure, if you
• 1:26:26
  want to criticize us for our pig orgasm conversation,
• 1:26:31
  thedeliciousculture .gmail .com. I would love
• 1:26:34
  to tell you that it was all Tara's fault, and
• 1:26:37
  I had nothing to do with it. She led me down
• 1:26:39
  that direction. Follow us on Instagram and TikTok
• 1:26:43
  at The Delicious Culture and subscribe to YouTube
• 1:26:45
  at The Delicious Culture, John Francois. John
• 1:26:48
  Francois was spelled J -O -N -F -R -A -N -C -O
• 1:26:53
  -I -S. We have to do this again, Tara. This was
• 1:26:56
  so great. Yeah, we have to continue our pig wanking
• 1:27:00
  stories. Uh, I mean, if there's more to say,
• 1:27:05
  sure. Uh, if, if, if you want to start a pig
• 1:27:08
  wanking podcasts and that's, that's definitely
• 1:27:10
  more taboo than fiddle playing for Ireland people.
• 1:27:14
  Um, but I'd be more than happy to, um, but we
• 1:27:18
  could just like. We could, we could get in trouble
• 1:27:21
  with PETA by just having like a general, like,
• 1:27:24
  you know, animal wanking fun facts podcast, you
• 1:27:26
  know? That's not a bad idea. Oh, hey, I just,
• 1:27:31
  I just will always put the disclaimer that this
• 1:27:33
  was you that suggested this and I'm just along
• 1:27:36
  for the ride. There's a saying at sessions, we'll
• 1:27:43
  play one tune for the road. OK, you know, you
• 1:27:46
  do one for the road or, you know, we'll have
• 1:27:47
  one for the road as and if you're going to have
• 1:27:49
  a drink, you know, to finish off the night. So
• 1:27:51
  we'll say we'll normally the session will say
• 1:27:52
  we'll have one. We'll play one for the road.
• 1:27:55
  And my response is always and we should play
• 1:27:57
  one for those who were never. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
• 1:28:02
  What does that mean? Tell me what that means.
• 1:28:04
  I have to explain it to everybody. It's under
• 1:28:07
  a certain age. It's hilarious. We like. uh, like
• 1:28:11
  the people that tried to make it home, but couldn't
• 1:28:13
  because they were drinking and driving. Wait,
• 1:28:14
  what? What? I'm so confused. Okay. This may,
• 1:28:18
  this may know your listeners. We go now she's
• 1:28:20
  getting a bit too, too, uh, too far. No, um,
• 1:28:25
  no, there's no, there's no sectioning as too
• 1:28:26
  far on this part. Okay. One for the, one for
• 1:28:29
  those, one for the road. Okay. As in we're going
• 1:28:32
  to R O D E not R O A D R O D E. We'll have one
• 1:28:39
  for the road. I'm one for those who were never
• 1:28:42
  R -O -D -E. Oh! Oh! Wait, wait, wait. Okay. All
• 1:28:47
  right, all right. Let me see if I can understand
• 1:28:49
  what you're trying to say here. So we have a
• 1:28:51
  drink for the road, R -O -A -D. The ones who
• 1:28:55
  have been road. And then we're going to have
• 1:28:59
  a drink for those who have never been road. Oh
• 1:29:03
  my God. No, no, no, no, no. No, I think I'm getting
• 1:29:06
  it. So, so are we never spelling R -O -A -D in
• 1:29:09
  this entire saying at all? Yes. Yes. Never say
• 1:29:13
  it. We're, we're replicator replace R -O -A -D
• 1:29:18
  even the thought of R -O -A -D with sex. Oh,
• 1:29:22
  okay. Okay. Gotcha. So we're having a drink for
• 1:29:24
  those who have had sex and then a drink for those
• 1:29:27
  who have never. Because we feel sorry for them.
• 1:29:31
  Yes. Yeah, no to go back to like the cleaner
• 1:29:36
  version of one for the road like that is because
• 1:29:39
  like literally I had this last night at a at
• 1:29:41
  a friend's party that I went to where this old
• 1:29:43
  lady who liked to call herself Nana she was like
• 1:29:46
  oh hey like you want to like a shot of tequila
• 1:29:48
  before you head off and I'm like you know that's
• 1:29:50
  interesting that someone would offer me that
• 1:29:51
  because like you would think that like oh I gotta
• 1:29:54
  I gotta drive home and offering me a drink for
• 1:29:57
  the road isn't that kind of like illegal isn't
• 1:29:59
  that kind of risky but um but that's but does
• 1:30:02
  that come from European culture? Like just, Hey,
• 1:30:05
  like one more for the road or like, where does
• 1:30:06
  that come from? No idea. But we say it a lot
• 1:30:09
  here. Yeah. All right. Here's my next search.
• 1:30:12
  Yeah. My internet search for a series. Like,
• 1:30:13
  wait, we are going from pig orgasms to one for
• 1:30:16
  the road. Meaning like, what, what is this search?
• 1:30:19
  Where does one drink for the road saying come
• 1:30:25
  from? So in the sessions we say one tune for
• 1:30:27
  the road, one tune for the road. And for that
• 1:30:31
  one, is it R -O -A -D or is it R -O -D -E? We're
• 1:30:35
  usually meaning it as, well, actually people
• 1:30:36
  of a certain age, over a certain age, usually
• 1:30:38
  mean it as R -O -D -E. Y 'all are dirty over
• 1:30:43
  there. I know. Y 'all are dirty. All right, phrase
• 1:30:48
  one for the road, meaning a final alcoholic drink
• 1:30:50
  before leaving a place or starting your journey
• 1:30:51
  is a British expression that became widely used
• 1:30:54
  in the English speaking world in the 20th century.
• 1:30:57
  So once again, the Brits. Blame the Brits. Exactly.
• 1:31:01
  Hey, look, you know what? The Brits used to control
• 1:31:05
  America before we became independent from them.
• 1:31:07
  So in a way, we sort of have something in common
• 1:31:09
  by not liking the Brits. I don't know. I don't
• 1:31:12
  not like them. I mean, it's just I mean, the
• 1:31:15
  people that are there now haven't done anything.
• 1:31:18
  You know, it's not their fault. So I don't blame
• 1:31:21
  them at all. It's just they're getting taboo
• 1:31:24
  with politics right now. Be careful. It's those
• 1:31:26
  who, you know, came beforehand that, you know,
• 1:31:29
  800 years ago, it's not there. So it's not nowadays.
• 1:31:32
  It's not at all. Yeah. Oh, this was such a good
• 1:31:37
  time. All right. Thank you. Thank you. This definitely
• 1:31:40
  made all the technical issues in the beginning
• 1:31:42
  worth it. It was so much fun to think that we
• 1:31:45
  might've had to abort the whole project. I was
• 1:31:49
  almost going to say like, oh crap, we might have
• 1:31:51
  to cancel this because of technical issues. But
• 1:31:52
  like, thankfully we found a way to make it work.
• 1:31:54
  And literally, can I tell you, I told you that
• 1:31:58
  I no longer had a Zoom subscription. So, but
• 1:32:01
  I wasn't able to like record. So I was like,
• 1:32:03
  okay, maybe I could like finally record for free.
• 1:32:06
  And what happens in the middle of our session,
• 1:32:09
  it said, oh, this meeting has 10 minutes left.
• 1:32:12
  And I was like, oh, so literally while you were
• 1:32:13
  in the middle of the story, I was like, oh crap,
• 1:32:15
  I guess I have to sign up for a zoom subscription
• 1:32:17
  so that we don't get cut off after 10 minutes.
• 1:32:20
  I did see it came up saying the host has upgraded
• 1:32:23
  the session, something like that. Yeah. Why would
• 1:32:26
  they let you know that that's not relevant to
• 1:32:27
  you? I know, but it did say the host has upgraded
• 1:32:30
  the session for some reason. Yeah. So I guess
• 1:32:32
  I'm temporarily paying zoom again. It's just
• 1:32:34
  so sorry. No, no, no, don't apologize. It's not
• 1:32:37
  your fault. It is not your fault that Riverside
• 1:32:40
  was a piece of crap today. Like, totally not
• 1:32:42
  your fault. On Riverside normally, I must say
• 1:32:44
  I use Riverside. It's great. So I don't know.
• 1:32:47
  It must work better in Ireland than it does in
• 1:32:49
  America because I have a very complicated relationship
• 1:32:52
  with Riverside. Oh, what happened? There's good
• 1:32:59
  days and then there's bad days and I just and
• 1:33:01
  I've learned to be accepting of whatever day
• 1:33:04
  Riverside wants to be at. Right. Okay. Maybe
• 1:33:08
  I just don't be on it every day. Oh, I'm not
• 1:33:11
  on it every day. I produce and edit all my stuff,
• 1:33:14
  like, once a week. It's just that, you know,
• 1:33:17
  even though lately it's been great for the most
• 1:33:19
  part, having the internet issues that have happened
• 1:33:22
  today where we had to switch over to Zoom as
• 1:33:24
  a reminder that, like, oh, no, even if Riverside
• 1:33:26
  made a big deal about updating to their new editing
• 1:33:28
  feature, blah, blah, blah, like, it's still classic
• 1:33:31
  Riverside, not being absolutely perfect. I don't
• 1:33:36
  edit now in Riverside. I don't like their editing.
• 1:33:38
  I don't think they're... editing is, is, is brilliant.
• 1:33:42
  So I just record only. And I don't blame you.
• 1:33:44
  I don't, is it because, uh, so, uh, I found,
• 1:33:48
  yeah, I agree. I can understand that. Um, it
• 1:33:51
  is so interesting how like they'll give you the
• 1:33:55
  AI tools and they'll make it seem like, oh yeah,
• 1:33:57
  you could like wipe out the pauses and the filler
• 1:33:59
  words at once and make it easy. But no, like
• 1:34:02
  I have to literally listen back and correct a
• 1:34:05
  lot of their mistakes because a lot of it just
• 1:34:07
  sounds very choppy. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm also so
• 1:34:11
  you use it just for recording. And I actually
• 1:34:14
  only have an audio podcast, even though I do
• 1:34:16
  record video. So I only use some of the videos
• 1:34:18
  as little clips like so. Yeah. One to five minutes,
• 1:34:21
  whatever. So I don't release the whole episode,
• 1:34:23
  but I have done a live recording from Riverside
• 1:34:27
  and that has worked pretty well as well. Oh,
• 1:34:29
  like live stream on YouTube or something like
• 1:34:32
  that? Yes, yeah. I've been curious about that.
• 1:34:34
  I've been curious about the value of that. But
• 1:34:36
  my thing is, because I like you, I'm kind of
• 1:34:39
  a perfectionist and I'm kind of a control freak.
• 1:34:43
  So for me, it's like, oh, well, what if there's
• 1:34:47
  too much pausing or a story that the guest might
• 1:34:51
  want to take back because it's too inappropriate?
• 1:34:53
  And I just kind of go off of many other podcasts
• 1:34:56
  who tend to just record and edit and then release
• 1:34:59
  it. So that's why I'm like, I don't know about
• 1:35:02
  live streaming, but you're saying live streaming
• 1:35:03
  is worth it. I did a birthday podcast. The podcast
• 1:35:07
  was one about two weeks ago, two or three weeks
• 1:35:10
  ago. So I did a birthday live episode with a
• 1:35:13
  couple of guests, a panel of guests and it worked
• 1:35:15
  really well. Yeah. Yeah. Great audience response,
• 1:35:19
  I hope. Yeah. And then I put, I then I downloaded
• 1:35:23
  the audio and put it into I use Logic Pro, although
• 1:35:26
  I don't do most of my editing anymore. I just
• 1:35:30
  got too much. So I but I did edit this one. So
• 1:35:33
  I just added the intro music and I because it
• 1:35:35
  didn't it didn't do the intro music thing. It
• 1:35:38
  wouldn't do that very well. So can't. Yeah, I
• 1:35:42
  couldn't do that to it on live. So, yeah. But
• 1:35:46
  I did put it up then as a live one or just as
• 1:35:50
  a recorded version to the audio then with the
• 1:35:54
  intros and stuff. Wonderful. Well, damn, we got
• 1:35:58
  into shop talk just as I was about to wrap up
• 1:36:01
  the podcast. But no, no, this is an indication
• 1:36:03
  that it's such a great natural conversation,
• 1:36:06
  a great good time talking to you. Yeah, we'll
• 1:36:08
  definitely have to do this again. This has definitely
• 1:36:11
  been one of my best pod matches. Yeah, without
• 1:36:16
  a doubt. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, that's
• 1:36:19
  so awesome. Yeah. So let me do the sign off before
• 1:36:23
  we talk for another two hours about pig wanking.
• 1:36:28
  Or podcasting. Yeah, or podcasting. Right, exactly.
• 1:36:31
  Two topics that are so similar to each other,
• 1:36:34
  right? Because in a way, podcasting is like wanking
• 1:36:38
  yourself off because you're just talking. Yeah.
• 1:36:41
  And enjoying the way you sound. Kind of. All
• 1:36:45
  right. For all of those listening and watching,
• 1:36:47
  let's deliciousness ring.