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Gaelic Storm headlines July Jamm
By JOEL GEHRINGER / Lincoln Journal Star
Friday, Jul 22, 2005 - 02:06:00 am CDT
Steve Twigger likes to recall the pub where he met Patrick Murphy and Steve Wehmeyer.
"Patrick was actually the bartender, managing the place as well," Twigger said on the phone, hours before a gig at the House of Blues in Las Vegas. His band, Gaelic Storm, is currently on a national tour that brings it through Lincoln tonight to headline this year's July Jamm.
The bar, O'Brien's in Los Angeles, was an intimate place, just big enough for a small crowd and a fledgling Irish folk band.
Twigger laughed as he described the band he watched while sipping Guiness.
"They sort of had the band thing going but they really didn't do that much," he said.
Twigger, an English born graphic artist, occasionally stopped by for a drink and to see the band, which he really wasn't that impressed with.
He knew a little about performing in taverns. As a teenager, he played guitar in a few bands frequenting the pubs of Coventry, England. He quit playing for a while to finish his degree and, as an art director and illustrator in London, he didn't have time for "hobbies" like music.
"When I started with the art, everything else just got pushed aside," he said.
After three years in London, Twigger felt America might offer him better job opportunities, so he moved to California to be around Hollywood, which was brimming with opportunities for talented young artists.
"I came over to see what it was all about," he said. "I kind of had that Beach Boy idea about California."
And it was exactly as the Beach Boys described, Twigger said jokingly.
After landing a few jobs designing movie posters and winning national and international design awards, he felt the time was right to again pick up the guitar.
But Los Angeles bands weren't his style. He couldn't find the right group of guys, and none of the bands he tried playing with interested him.
Without a group to play with, Twigger sat at O'Brien's early in 1996 listening to the house band play instead of performing his own set onstage.
They weren't all that bad, Twigger admitted. The frontman, Murphy, hailed from Ireland, and his partner and percussionist, Wehmeyer, came from Olean, N.Y. They played traditional Celtic folk and had a knack for storytelling and folklore.
As St. Patrick's Day approached, Murphy still didn't have an act to play on the biggest Irish bar night of the year, so he booked himself
again.
But he decided to try something different for St. Patty's. Looking for a new spin on his act, Murphy asked Twigger to play guitar with the group he called Gaelic Storm.
Twigger said he had no idea how it was all going to work. He was a rock musician, and Murphy's band played folk. But he agreed to try it anyway, just for the fun of it.
As Gaelic Storm and Twigger played together that March, the luck of the Irish kicked in.
"We just gelled," he said. "The combination of elements just fell into place. The crowd went crazy. We never looked back, really."
Twigger said his energy as a performer played the perfect foil to Gaelic Storm's folk/storytelling style.
"We were kind of bringing these two worlds together, folk and rock," he said. "We float in and out of those worlds. We can play all kinds of venues, like the House of Blues here in Las Vegas, to sit-down theaters in symphony circuits."
In the beginning, O'Brien's was the only place Gaelic Storm wanted to play. The band performed at the bar every Sunday night for two years, building a local following as word began to spread.
Then, representatives from movie director James Cameron contacted the band. Cameron liked their folk-rock sound and thought the band would be perfect for his next project, a modest film called "Titanic."
"(Cameron) wanted real, traditional music, very authentic," Twigger said. "They wanted the combination of real, heavy rhythm and spirit we invoked."
Cameron used the group to create one of the classic "Titanic" scenes. While the wealthy, upper-class passengers dined in style in the fated vessel's luxury ballroom, the stowaways reveled down below, dancing and carousing to the music of Gaelic Storm.
As the steamship sank on screens across America, Gaelic Storm soared. But even as the band became an instant sensation, all they wanted was to play back home at O'Brien's.
"We didn't want to go out on tour because we thought it was going to ruin those Sunday nights at the pub," Twigger said. "We even had a clause in our movie contract that said they would transport us back to the pub every Sunday night, all on the movie budget."
As the band reluctantly began touring, they learned to recreate the pub environment using storytelling and crowd interaction with packed auditoriums and stadiums.
"It was a surprise to us we could take the intimate pub setting to thousands of people and make it work," Twigger said. "But that energy is just so addictive. We'll always play the pubs. Always. But when you hear 10,000 screaming as you play, it's a thrill."
Tonight, Gaelic Storm joins Dust Rhino and The Young Dubliners for a Celtic-themed July Jamm that Communications Chair Molly Nance said is sure to please the crowd.
"Every time we've had a Celtic rock band play, the crowd response is really phenomenal," she said. "It's really danceable, enjoyable music."
Twigger said he's looking forward to playing in Lincoln again. When Gaelic Storm played at the Lied Center for Performing Arts on St. Patrick's Day in 2004, he loved feeding off the audience's energy.
"The crowd there was great, so afterwards we invited everyone to the bars," he said. "We always ask the crowd where the good bars are, and then we just invited them all along."
It was like being back at O'Brien's, Twigger said, and he hopes he gets that same response tonight.
"Bring the kids, bring the grandparents and the dancing shoes," he said. "We'll have a smile on our faces and I hope to put a smile on theirs."
Reach Joel Gehringer at 473-7254 or jgehringer@journalstar.com.
Revitalizing July Jamm
July Jamm, the annual festival, organized by the Updowntowners, invades the intersection of 12th and N streets for its 14th year today and tomorrow and brings along with it all the food, art and music downtown Lincoln can handle.
"The guiding committee really worked hard this year to revitalize July Jamm," said Communications Chairwoman Molly Nance. "We felt the need to re-energize it."
That included making July Jamm more family-oriented by adding inflatable slides and obstacle courses and hiring a face painter to create "murals" on children's faces.
"We're hoping to add a lot of color and excitement," Nance said.
The festival also has attracted the largest lineup of fine artists in July Jamm history. Local and regional artists from Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri will offer blown glass vases, watercolor paintings, jewelry and other mediums in the art plaza from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. both days.
No festival would be complete without food, and July Jamm will feature a slate of local vendors selling pizza, pasta, burgers, bratwurst, barbequed ribs, Asian and Greek dishes and beverages from Pepsi and Budweiser.
And, of course, the Updowntowners have booked favorite local, national and international acts for two nights of blues, soul and rock and roll.
An Irish invasion begins tonight with the Lincoln Irish Dancers, the Dust Rhinos and headliners Gaelic Storm. Music takes a quick break for fireworks by Wald's All America Display Fireworks at 9:50 p.m., then the Young Dubliners will close the night.
Saturday's acts offer more variety with Australian blues artist Harper, local favorites The Tijuana Gigolos and world beat group Shaking Tree.
Nance said July Jamm's new additions as well as the traditional art, food and music will give everyone a reason to come downtown this weekend.
"Everything is just polished and expanded as much as we possibly could," she said.
July Jamm schedule
All events are at 12th and N streets in downtown Lincoln. Admission is free until 3 p.m., then $7 per person ages 13 and older.
Friday
11 a.m. Art Plaza opens
11:30 a.m. Big Daddy and Authorized Personnel
1:30 p.m. Buffalo Alice
2:45 p.m. Oranjesta
4 p.m. Electric Soul Method
5:30 p.m. Lincoln Irish Dancers
6 p.m. Dust Rhinos
8 p.m. Gaelic Storm
9:50 p.m. Wald's All American Display Fireworks show
10 p.m. Young Dubliners
Saturday
11 a.m. Art Plaza opens
11:30 a.m. Von Kampen Trio
1:15 p.m. Capitol City Cloggers
2 p.m. Harper
4 p.m. Tijuana Gigolos
5:30 p.m. Tradewind Dancers
6 p.m. Scottie Miller
7:30 p.m. Athenian Dancers
8 p.m. Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience
9:30 p.m. Whorlwinds Belly Dancers
10 p.m. Shaking Tree
Food vendors
The Parthenon
Made2Grill
Valentino's
Pastabilities
Margarita Man
Chan's Concessions
Old Chicago
Samurai Sam's Teriyaki Grill
Famous Dave's
Cold Stone Creamery
Empyrean Ales
Bud Light
Pepsi
M&M Frozen Fiesta Slushies
Artists
Brad and Liz Egger Jewelry
Klaus Kuntscher Watercolors
Sean Corner Sculpture
Glenda Dietrich Moore Watercolor
Linda Mayes Photography
Larry Pelter Ceramics
Franz Donelson Blown Glass
Jim and Judith Miller Ceramics
Jerry Brown Pastel/Drawing
Peter Smokorowski Oil Painting
Teresa Brown Photography
Randal Spangler Colored Pencil
Steve Kammerer Clay
J. Berndt Clay
Dean Van Langen Glass
LuAnn Van Langen Mixed Media
Genevieve Echols Jewelry
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