Dothoppers have a new blog!

The dothoppers, the folk band I am slightly acquainted to, have a new blog.

They make some homemade and very likeable music, and it shows that they have a lot of fun doing it.

Here they come

The Dothopper´s live in concert at Molly Malone´s Irish Pub in Marburg on Saturday, the 21st of January2012

Enjoy... sorry for the lousy quality, but it´s a bootleg after all;-)... more might come, who knows*ggg*?

The "Dothoppers" live in concert at Molly Malone´s Irish Pub in Marburg

On Saturday the magic troll was being on air with her folk band in her living room, "Molly Malone´s Irish Pub" in Marburg, and, what can I say, duty called, so what could I do? It is a hard job, but someone´s got to do it: Drink all that beer and have all that fun... Now Molly Malone´s is a very great and special place indeed, and not only for the lovely Guiness and whiskeees, but for the music and the people. Alfred, who´s the lord of that place, certainly is a very impressive personality. We did not talk much, but he simply has that air about him not many people have. Hard to explain, but I felt he took my full measure with one look - at least he tried to;-).

 And this person certainly is one of the very few people in my life really knowing me, and being a true friend for me I will not want to miss anymore. You might know her, for she´s the one with that blog here. I guess we keep learning from each other, and that´s a great thing for sure, and we already walked through some very beautiful adventures.

 ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! Time´s closing in;-). We were there rather in time, and there was some time left for a beer and some weird jokes.

 

That´s Alfred, the innkeeper. Wasn´t too fond of me shooting all those pics at first, but I guess he warmed up to it;-). If you ever are in Marburg, visit that place, it´s well worth it, and NO, noone paid me to say so;-). There are many great musicians playing there. Just take a look at their homepage!

Then it was some setting up the stage, some tiny practice and  the soundcheck.

And then it commenced... I had a great time with all the music, really played with heart and soul.

They are certainly having a head start. Their music´s simply got that little charming piece of personality, and they simply have a great way of playing. They do it for fun, and it shows in their music and how they act with the audience. Good music, good humour, and it seems I am getting involved into that arse over tit;-) as the saying goes.

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,,,soundcheck...

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 Mind you, we even had a beer!

 ...or two..

 ...or three...











Andy and Daisy Reilly...erm the magic troll havin´a beer...*ggg*

 Havin´fun!

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 ...ummm...I lost cound, it was five, was it?*ggg*

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It was a very great evening, and we went to the magic troll´s place with quite a feeling of satisfaction and a good fill. Great people again, and oh, if you read this, Erika, Andy, Roland, Hans-Jürgen and Peter, Alfred, Beate and all those others, guests and fans and passers-by on board that evening: Feel free to copy the photos for your own use, provided you give a bit of credit to the Dothoppers, Molly Malone´s and this weirdo here, if you use them in public. 

A vid will come soon...

Busy weekend...Kornmarkt in Witten

 Last weekend was somewhat busy for me. On Friday I went to the smithy to prepare some tools for the weekend and do some knifework. Top to bottom:

Celtac design, ball bearing steel, rather thin at 3 mm x 115mm length

EDC En-Nep, 3 mm x 85 mm, laminate wrought iron / tank bearing steel

Integral En-Nep, spring steel

Two "Birka" pumpkin carving and  kitchen knives made from spring steel in autumn:-). Great for stuffing zucchini and cucumbers and the like, too, and work like a cinch on pumpkins.

And another friction folder blade. Spring steel, and yap, I shortened the tang;-). And cleaned up the surface, too, for it was bit of... erm ... scrawny?;-)

On Saturday Volker and myself set up the forge in Witten city, and it was mayhem from the beginning on. My task was pumpkin carving AND smithing AND filing AND cleaning up the works of the kids, all at once. 10 hours full tilt, no food, no drink except for a brief excursion to the toilet and a bite or too around lunchtime. At around 5 pm I had severe cramps and bonked hard.

 The pumpkin carver up close. I worked some 300 pumpkins with it and do not have to sharpen it, seems I got the tempering right:;-).

 Was a nice and friendly atmosphere on both days, with a crowd of reenactors, craftsmen, French grocers and good-natured visitors. It was one ofr the hardest weekends I have ever done, but it was simply a joy and it felt good except for some oversize uillean pipes next to my ear on Saturday for hours on end (KAMPFTRÖTEN!!!!!;-))

 Enter the witch...:-)

 Those guys really rocked the house. With a drum, a lute and some singing. No microphone. No lightshow, just two musicians. Great job, bros!:-)

 This is Susanne, the traditional onion witch...

 A carousel which the kids really enjoyed. Powered by a brute pushing:-).

 The woodturner´s booth. My favourite place.

 Shavehorse...

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This is Johannes from www.alte-drechselkunst.de. He offered courses for kids and adults alike and is another friendly guy I had the privilege to meet.

 The location in Witten city near the Jhannis church.

 Kids really had fun with the pumpkins, and I had enough work to do not to get bored:-).The kids just carved the pumpkin, I hollowed it out on Saturday. On Sunday people had to buy the pumpkin and I did all the carving. Mind you, I can carve a pumpkin now:-). Kidding aside, it was a great practice, and taught me a lot!

 I also explained a lot what the real meaning of Samhain was, and why people carve pumpkins to put outside their doors. Many people were there and I daresay some of them will want to know more about the feasts of the year and the traditions linked to them, either Pagan and Christian ones. I sincerely hope they use that grey matter inside of their heads for something more than and aside from shitting, eating, and hating.

 This little guy always came back for more and really enjoyed carving. He will visit the Bethaus soon, we´ll make a knife and a handle. Plus, I talked his Da´into buying him a Mora;-). That´s fun...:-)

 On Saturday night and Sunday morning I had some time to spare and made this folder assembly. Turned out a bit different, but  okay still. I´ll keep the progress shots coming!

 Made the tang sort of leaf-handled.:-)

 Whoooooooooooooo-TRICK OR TREAT!!!;-)

 Quizzical question: Where´s the pumpkin;-)?

 Booo!

 There also was some theatre play going on...

And that was some great, great music aside from oversized uillean pipes. Wibke played some really nice Scottish and Irish folk and own songs on her first solo tournée. You can contact her via www.celticnight.de.

Made working next to the stage a real cinch. Thanks for those really nice and gentle songs!

I came home on Sunday night a wreck, but I was deeply contented by the thought of having done a great job with great people and getting to know interesting people who love what they do, too. I bonked hard at the end of both days, but it gave me more energy than it all cost me. It was simply a great experience being there, having fun with the kids. Volker is simply a great guy to work with, too. And I am right grateful for the course my life is taking these days.