Meeting And Interviewing Black 47's Larry Kirwan And The Story Of How Bloggerhythms Began
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| Larry Kirwn in concert |
Most people do not get to meet the musicians they love the most. However, on
the night of March 1, 2001 I got lucky. I met, shook hands, and interviewed
Larry Kirwan, the former leader and co-founder of the since disbanded,
Irish-American rock band,
Black 47, before a concert in Philadelphia.
This all came about in a rather odd way. After discovering the New York City
sextet at a listening booth at a local Borders store (R.I.P.) I fell
completely in love with their 2000 release
Trouble in the Land. Prior to that January day I only knew the band by their name. I knew
nothing else about them.
Later that year I was writing CD reviews for a local news website that my brother-in-law, Steve, launched with some friends. At year's end he asked me to submit reviews for my top five CDs of the year. Trouble in the Land was number one. He also asked me if I would be willing to interview the star of my favorite current band.
Steve decided to try and get some publicity for his website so he emailed my review to Kirwan. While the review was highly complimentary of the disc, the band, and Kirwan's songs, there was one "small" criticism. In a very ungraceful way I wrote that Kirwan's lead vocals could be problematic. Unfortunately, Steve emailed the link to Kirwan who shot an email back to him with the following response: "Thanks, although I'm less enthused regarding his review about my voice. Tell the ****** to meet me on 42nd Street and choose his weapons." Trying not to act too offended he immediately sent a second email saying he was only kidding. (For what it's worth, I've since removed the poorly worded criticism from the original review).
When I received the email chain back from Steve I still had enough gall to send Kirwan an email asking him for an interview when the band came to Finnegan's Wake in Philadelphia on March 1, 2001. To my surprise he agreed, but he also wrote, "Nice to hear from you, even if you are the ****** who says I can't sing." Kirwan was very gracious all during the interview and he even offered to buy me a drink. You can read the full interview here.
The months went by. Steve's online news site never survived its infancy and he removed it from the web. I still had the interview and a handful of orphaned CD reviews so I started this blog to give them all a home.
In 2003, Kirwan, who is also a playwright, adapted one of his works, Liverpool Fantasy, into a novel. It's an interesting tale about what may have happened to The Beatles if they hadn't become famous. Once again I wrote to Kirwan and asked if he would be willing to do an email interview about the book. Again, he agreed. I sent him ten questions and within forty-eight hours the author replied with great answers to all of them. Here is my article and review of the book. Since then, I've posted additional conversations with the writer and musician about his work.
Granted, Larry Kirwan is not a superstar. While he's quite prominent within the Irish music community he is not well known outside of it. But, Black 47 - who has gigged on major, late night TV talk shows hosted by Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and David Letterman - was a big enough act that he still could have pulled the prima donna routine and not fulfilled my request. So kudos to you Mr. Kirwan. I thank you for your great music, and to my late brother-in-law, Steve, I thank you for inspiring this fun hobby known as Bloggerhythms. It would never have seen the light of day without the entire series of events chronicled here.
Later that year I was writing CD reviews for a local news website that my brother-in-law, Steve, launched with some friends. At year's end he asked me to submit reviews for my top five CDs of the year. Trouble in the Land was number one. He also asked me if I would be willing to interview the star of my favorite current band.
Steve decided to try and get some publicity for his website so he emailed my review to Kirwan. While the review was highly complimentary of the disc, the band, and Kirwan's songs, there was one "small" criticism. In a very ungraceful way I wrote that Kirwan's lead vocals could be problematic. Unfortunately, Steve emailed the link to Kirwan who shot an email back to him with the following response: "Thanks, although I'm less enthused regarding his review about my voice. Tell the ****** to meet me on 42nd Street and choose his weapons." Trying not to act too offended he immediately sent a second email saying he was only kidding. (For what it's worth, I've since removed the poorly worded criticism from the original review).
When I received the email chain back from Steve I still had enough gall to send Kirwan an email asking him for an interview when the band came to Finnegan's Wake in Philadelphia on March 1, 2001. To my surprise he agreed, but he also wrote, "Nice to hear from you, even if you are the ****** who says I can't sing." Kirwan was very gracious all during the interview and he even offered to buy me a drink. You can read the full interview here.
The months went by. Steve's online news site never survived its infancy and he removed it from the web. I still had the interview and a handful of orphaned CD reviews so I started this blog to give them all a home.
In 2003, Kirwan, who is also a playwright, adapted one of his works, Liverpool Fantasy, into a novel. It's an interesting tale about what may have happened to The Beatles if they hadn't become famous. Once again I wrote to Kirwan and asked if he would be willing to do an email interview about the book. Again, he agreed. I sent him ten questions and within forty-eight hours the author replied with great answers to all of them. Here is my article and review of the book. Since then, I've posted additional conversations with the writer and musician about his work.
Granted, Larry Kirwan is not a superstar. While he's quite prominent within the Irish music community he is not well known outside of it. But, Black 47 - who has gigged on major, late night TV talk shows hosted by Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and David Letterman - was a big enough act that he still could have pulled the prima donna routine and not fulfilled my request. So kudos to you Mr. Kirwan. I thank you for your great music, and to my late brother-in-law, Steve, I thank you for inspiring this fun hobby known as Bloggerhythms. It would never have seen the light of day without the entire series of events chronicled here.
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