Dark Renewal

These pictures to the left, taken at Bakersfield's 2002 Samhain concert (by Kip Tulin), show me proposing that Samhain is a good time to assert that it is Bakersfield's turn to be the next Big Nowhere; great things seem to come from unlikely places.

Samhain (usually pronounced SEWon) was the Celtic New Year before the church disguised it as All Hallows E'en or Halloween. For me, the festival links to the underworld voyages of Celtic and other much older mythology. It coincides with Dia del Muerte to which it is obviosly related. Glossing over the fact that I don't know what Samhain actually was, I call it a day of Dark Renewal. I had always been invited to perform at the Celtic Arts Center's yearly Samhain event in Los Angeles. I had hoped to start something like it where I now live in Bakersfield, California. Doing so involved a knowledge of the Celtic music scene of Kern, the California county of which Bakersfield is the seat. The essay below does that by chronicling other Celtic music events held here.

The Notion of County Kern

I think it was during "the Wearing of the Green," Bakersfield's 2001 Saint Patrick's Day Celebration, when Brenda Hunter uttered the phrase County Kern. Ruminating on the phrase not long thereafter, it seemed to me that County Kern was a good name for vast Kern County's miniscule Celtic community. Brenda was at the time a member of the now defunct Blarney Rubble, a trio which included fiddle player Carla Brown and guitarist Dave Ogden. Dave had produced the show. The other performers were the all-women Celtic quartet, Mamas Midlife Crisis and then myself. In the lobby, a great group of mostly teenaged students called Kindred Sprouts warmed up the audience before the main entertainment.

The soundman for the event, Peter Wonderley, produced a 2002 St. Pat's event staring the piper Kevin Briley's band Whiskey Galore. With a superficial resemblance to the Wicked Tinkers, Whiskey Galore claim Seamus Ennis, The Chieftains, Runrig, Jethro Tull and the "Great Bard," John Powers as influences. Kindred Sprouts where there as were the still somewhat tentative trio Banshee in the Kitchen. It poured with rain.

Whiskey Galore's website

For St. Pat's 2003, I produced the first and perhaps only Celtic music festival in Bakersfield. With Ireland's Karan Casey as a headliner, I tried to include the entire local Celtic music scene. However, Mamas Midlife Crisis were unavailable as were Whiskey Galore. I was however able to get Kevin Briley's student Mike Walley. So the remaining lineup was Banshee in the Kitchen, David Nigel Lloyd and Dave Ogden, Dave Ogden, Kindred Sprouts (students) and (between band changes) the hilarious Empty Space players and the Comedy Sports team. It poured with rain. We had to move the festival into an underground parking structure which was not as bad as it might seem. It was brilliant, in fact. I called the event 'County Kern.'

Karan Casey's website

The Empty Space Theater in Bakersfield, California

Above: Transportation poster. Right: Samhain Poster. Far right: Maestri owner Robert Spinzo listens.

The Samhain 2002 concert three months earlier was a trial run with my best Celtic friends: Banshee in the Kitchen and Dave Ogden. It was held at the Maestri Gallery on Chester Blvd. which, a hundred years earlier, had been a vaudeville theater called the Orpheum. The paintings in the background were part of a show on the theme of transportation. I had been the entertainment at the show's opening the night before. Here are some pictures Kip Tulin took of that event.

Dave Ogden

A fluid and adept finger-style guitarist, Dave Ogden is one of those rarer players who won't let his technical prowess overshadow soul. Despite the fact he has chops galore, there is a very human and vulnerable aspect to his interpretations. Dave went on first and performed mostly a selection of Irish instrumental pieces. He played his wooden Irish flute but only outside the gallery on Chester. Dave is owner/engineer of Clearcreek Recording Studios where I am currently recording.

DNL

Dark Renewal? I sang of vengeful harps, prophetic apples, werefoxes. Somewhere in there, was my bardic curse on someone I call Kevin MacDermott. It resulted from an earlier Samhain concert which never happened. (Entitled "My Rage at Another Who Silenced Me" I plan to release it on my next CD)

Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen, please welcome...

Banshee in the Kitchen were at that time recording their first CD, "If We Were Us," and booking their first tour of New York. There was no longer anything tentative about them. They had found themselves as a band and it was quite evident that their options were many. Momentum and promise were obviously gathering. Bright renewal.

Banshee in the Kitchen's website

Enter content here

Enter content here

Enter content here