This past weekend Pops, Fats, and I played the Grand Ole Opry.   We played a song on the early show, and another on the late show.  In between we did a set at the Opry Plaza (which is a stage that is set up in front of the Opry House).  All in all it went pretty well.  There was a good crowd at both of the Opry shows and the reception was quite enthusiastic.  Since we only played one song on each show, it all seem like kind of a blur - in that it goes by really, really fast.  The plaza show was good too, but it was ridiculously humid out.  Here’s a shot of three people who you would think were caught off guard by the camera, but were actually aware that a photo was about to be taken:

This evening Fats, Pops, and I played a show at the Bluebird. I thought it went well, but I have to get used to filling in some of the room that Kevin usually occupies. We’re playing the Opry this Saturday, so this is helpful for preparing for that. We’ll be back as a foursome in a couple of weeks when we head to Colorado.

If I have any worthwhile pics from last week, I’ll post them later. At the moment I’m out of harddrive space to store the pics from my camera, and I’m really tired and need to go to sleep.

Once again outside forces conspired against me to keep me from my favorite Vietnamese restaurant (last time I was there I had a really bad flu). Perhaps it’s not as good as I remember, and this is fate’s way of keeping that memory in a positive light. Anyway, we played our opening slot that night, which despite a few technical glitches, was received very positively. We got a lot of comments from people buying cds that they had never heard of us before. As we drove to Little Rock the next day, we passed by an absurd number of wrecked tractor trailers on the side of the road (people who just kept on going through the “blizzard”). That night’s show went off without a hitch. We did our thing once again, and once again people dug it. It’s always nice to get a good response from a large room full of people who don’t know who you are (i am speaking for the group here; they never know who I am).

We’re off for April, but we’ve got a few shows coming up in May and June. All of our tour dates can be found at our myspace page. I put up a couple of videos from some of the earlier Dead Reckoning releases from Kevin and Kieran not too long ago. I’ll be putting a couple more up soon, so keep an eye out.

By the way, this post is in no way related to April Fool’s Day.

We went to West Virginia and did a taping for “Mountain Stage” on Super Bowl Sunday (We win!! New York Represent!!), which, I think, they said will air sometime in April or May. If I find out specifically, I’ll let you all know. Shortly after that we went to Chicago and Columbus for a couple of shows (If you’re ever in Oak Park, IL, definitely check out “The Pasta Shoppe” - and if you’re in Columbus, go to “Katzinger’s”). This weekend we’re heading to Memphis and Little Rock for a couple of shows opening for John Prine. Specifics on the shows can be found at myspace.com/kanewelchkaplin.

Also, check out youtube.com/kanewelchkaplin for some classic Dead Reckoning Records music videos from Kevin and Kieran. I’ll report back after the Prine dates, hopefully with some pictures and stuff.

We started out in Glasgow, Scotland for the opening ceremony of the Celtic Connections festival. We had a couple of really close connecting flights (one of them was just about ready to leave without us), but we made it. The first performance we did was very brief. We just played one song with the four of us bunched up around a couple of microphones. There was so much chaos with the number of performers that were sharing the stage throughout the night, that we decided that this would be the simplest solution for us and the sound guys.

The next day we flew into Northern Ireland. We played shows in Belfast, Portstewart, The Bronte Center near Rathfriland, and one other place that I can’t remember the name of. We played at all of those places (except for the one that I can’t remember) last time we were here. We also stayed at the same apartments. It’s just recently that i’m repeating cities on tour - it’s nice to return to a familiar place.

After a few days in Ireland we flew to England. We made the genius decision to rent a van and drive into central London. . .during rush hour. . .in the dark. . .in the rain. If any of you out there have the opportunity to do such a thing - don’t. It is quite a nightmare. There is no pattern to the street layout, and all our directions failed us after about 3 blocks. We finally resorted to Kevin getting into a cab and following it to the hotel. After London, we drove to Bristol, which was still bad for driving, but not as bad as London.

We flew back to Glasgow for one more show before heading home. It was our actual Celtic Connections Festival show - it was fine. Overall it seemed like a pretty good trip - exhausting, but good. I didn’t get enough sleep and i got rained on pretty much everyday, so i got sick the day before we left. I’m still sick now, but i’m feeling a little better.