Canada is a great place. I never quite realised how big it was, ye couldn’t walk it. We had great craic at the Stan Rogers festival, the Winnipeg Folk Fest, Harrison Hot Springs and Folk on the rocks in the Northwest Territories. We got destroyed by mosquitoes who were loving a bit of Irish the dirty things. All in all though we had a blast, meeting lovely people and beating out tunes with some of the best musicians ever- our good friends ‘Caladh Nua’, ‘The Once’ and JP Cormier to name a few.

I did notice however that most Canadians can’t say my name. When I introduce myself to someone over there they generally look at me like I’ve got some sort of affliction. Conversations generally go something like this-

Canadian person- ‘What’s your name?’

Me- ‘Eamon’

1. *long awkward silence *
   

Canadian person- ‘What is it?’

Me- ‘Ahh.... my name’s Eamon’

Canadian person (nodding)- Nice to meet you Edam.

I’m considering changing my name to Chuck for the next Canadian expedition, just for handiness. I think being called chuck is better than a type of cheese.

I got my hands on a few new drums too. I got the brand new design from Christian Hedwitschak to try out. The compressor tuning system. It’s a lovely drum and the tuning system is going to be great for the pro’s. Check it out at www.bodhranmaker.de. I also got a lovely drum from Ben March www.benmarchbodhrans.com Ben is a good friend and the drums a lovely. Check ‘em out. The cream of the crop however is my new baby. Check out the pic, from Rob Forkner, www.metloef.com. Rob built me a 13’’ and a 1/3 with the cover design from the new Beoga album. We are a marketing machine! Take that Justin Bieber! It looks and plays awesome.

So that’s the craic jack. See ye soon.x