I was clicking through Mr. Grasso's website and I stumbled upon a diary page which relays a story where he was visiting Robbie Hannon's house in Belfast.
He tells how he was playing the pipes for Hannon and another of Hannon's guests, then goes on to describe the whole conversation that took place. In detail he tells how the guest asked Hannon what the difference was between Mr. Grasso and the great Seamus Ennis, where upon Hannon says that they are equals.
Maybe Hannon was being polite, and Mr.Grasso shouldn't have taken this conversation to the public. Or maybe Mr.Grasso is as good as the great Seamus Ennis was, R.I.P.
Séamus holds up a recording of Ennis’s Return from Fingal. “What’s the difference, Robbie, between what we’re hearing Eliot play and the music of this recording?” “Absolutely nothing,” Robbie replies. “He knows this music deeply.”
And he doesn't say they are equals by the way. He says this:
Séamus holds up a recording of Ennis’s Return from Fingal. “What’s the difference, Robbie, between what we’re hearing Eliot play and the music of this recording?” “Absolutely nothing,” Robbie replies. “He knows this music deeply.” We play until 1:00am and Robbie drives me back to my hotel.
Which is slightly different. I don't think Eliot would for a moment think that he (or other contemporary pipers) could be lazily compared to Ennis like this.
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd5fNLe-aa0
brilliant! very reminiscent of Hannon's style. Not much like Ennis from a stylistic point of view. clearly he knows the music...
Eliot is one of the most un-megalomaniacal (is that a word?) guys you'd ever meet. The paragraph in question seems to be more about playing the Kenna set than taking over the world.
Here is the dictionary definition of megalomania: 1. A psychopathological condition in which delusional fantasies of wealth, power, or omnipotence predominate.
2. An obsession with grandiose or extravagant things or actions.
In what way does Eliot's journal fit this definition? I mean, come on, it's about piping.
Ha, this site's very funny, if a little hard to read at times. In that kind of way that the office is hard to watch.
"Kate kept insisting that the concert went well, but I had a hard time believing her. She played a few video clips for me that she had shot with the camera and they sounded better than expected. I was amazed at the disparity between my experience of the concert as a performer and the audience’s experience of my playing. The playing in the clip I viewed on the camera was even, poised, technically superlative, and musical."
Maybe he's right, and that is a accurate account of his playing, but just a little weird to write that about yourself on your own website for all to view.
“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.”
- St. Augustine
I did enjoy his album though, thought it sounded great.
Silverspear,
I'm just going by what I've read, the overall tone of what he's written about himself, the fact that he's even written a journal for everyone to read. Skip canlon has found something else in his journal that's a flirting with self amazement. I'm not disputing his abilities as a piper.
I've never met the kid but he seems delusional about his own significance.
I think that this is a cultural/personal difference - some people like to blog more, and some don't. American blogs in general seem to be more open and revealing also than others.
So what? Lots of people have blogs, although I think continuo is onto something in saying that it is more of an American thing to keep one. It may be a bit weird to write about how technically superb your own playing is, but that is one of those etiquette things. Players of Eliot's calibre know they're good but it is seen as rude and egotistic to be like, "Yeah, I am hot sh*t." On the other hand it is socially acceptable to have other people saying you are hot sh*t on your album, website, or whatever. In any case claiming they are "just okay," or mediocre is lying (and should be reserved for those of us who actually are). I suppose the "polite" thing to do is not address it either way but maybe that quiet humility is learned or achieved when you're older. How many completely humble twenty-something year old guys have you met?
Not sure what you mean about "delusional about his own significance." I agree that the blog comes off as a little self-important at times -- he doesn't hold back in giving his piping positive reviews -- but I don't see the delusions. It's not like he is saying he will singlehandedly alter the way uilleann pipes are played or that he is the greatest thing in piping since Seamus Ennis and Johnny Doran. I see him being respectful towards the players who have been around a lot longer than him, i.e. saying he was happy he played before, rather than after, Liam O'Flynn at a gig.
Personally I think I am very humble about my own genius and awe-inspiring talent and I was a twenty-something year old guy until very recently - technically I still am!
He must be good if he's been invited to teach pipes at Irish summer schools or whatever. He seems to have idolised the masters of the Irish pipes at age 13, maybe a bit younger - it's a *very* significant age for boys, when they can be deeply impressed by the glamour of one "grown-up" activity or other and set their path in its direction. He seems still to be starstruck - a bit like George Harrison with Ravi Shankar, maybe, or the young Clapton meeting blues legends (I assume he did).
Face it, who wouldn't like to see his / her best efforts praised by an imaginary reviewer - even if he / she wouldn't dare go as far as write and publicise the review?
I've seen a few blogs by American musicians and artists, and they tend to praise their own efforts and achievements quite liberally. The first time or two I thought, "What a bighead!", but now I realise (unless / until someone strongly denies this) that it's really part of the culture, and runs right through the art / music world and no doubt others over there. If (as I suspect) many Americans have a capacity to be genuinely glad in another's success and interested in accounts of it, that is hardly a bad thing. Brits and Irish tend to be more cagey and oblique: this does not necessarily have to do much with modesty.
But now, to the main point raised in the blog:
WHAT A HELLUVAFECK BUS SERVICE TAKES SEVEN HOURS TO GET FROM DUBLIN TO BELFAST...?????!!!!!
Does it go via Wexford, Cork, Galway and Derry?
It *might* take that long by coach from Durham to London in Bank Holiday traffic when the M1 is being comprehensively dug up - but that's three times the distance! (A clean run is c. 5 hours.)
Or maybe the Dublin - Belfast road really is very badly gridlocked.
I've read it again, and the obvious conclusion to draw is that he took a bus from Limerick to Dublin and there boarded *another* bus to Belfast, which took seven hours to get there from Dublin.
Whether this account is true, of course, is another matter.
I can tell you that it takes 6-7 hours, depending on traffic on the M50, to drive from Belfast to Limerick.
I of course, never, ever, ever exaggerate (except it really did take me 7 hours, but it may have been closer to 5-6 if M50 traffic hadn't completely sucked).
It's even harder to drive from London to Dublin. The tunnel is always jam-packed with juggernauts carrying live pigs and llamas. And of course it doesn't help that the Tunnel is made of glass so you can see all the sewage pipes and their effluent, and all the hijacked cars in Liverpool Bay. Madness, I tell you. And how are they going to harmonise the VAT on the toll, once the UK VAT goes down to 18.9% and Ireland is still at 47.7%? The mind boggles. Hopefully Barrack Obama will sort it all out, if he hasn't already done so.
It must be them mushrooms.
Must get my head together and back to doing a good bit of healthy outdoor glue-sniffing like wot you unemployed Norverners all do.
Bloomin' ada!
I bets Alf Tupper didn't have to suffer none of this malarkey when 'e wos winning races in the Victor! Fish and bleedin' chips beforehand de rigeur
Bleedin' Alf - Wot a man, ey?
I wonder, has anyone here (accepting myself) had any personal dealings with "Mr. Grasso"? I'm sure if you had, you would be first struck by his prodigious ability and then by his personality, which is a FAR CRY from arrogant or ego-driven and whatever other terms have been bandied about here. Cursory readings from excerpts of the man's blog are no substitute for personal encounters. Here in Baltimore, Maryland we all think very highly of Eliot and are proud of his outstanding achievements. Through my own playing with Eliot I have found him to be a vessel of the timeless energy of this music that is without 'ego'. Again I wonder how many of the above posters have ever actually made Eliot's acquaintance. It's one thing if you take issue with his playing or his demeanor in a live intimate environment, but it is another matter entirely to react to an impersonal line of text staring at you from across cyberspace on a blog. How would you feel if you were in the company of Mr. Hannon, Mr. O'Brien, your heroes? Who can say what state of mind Eliot was in at the time if writing...
I urge you all to go out and SEE Eliot play, LISTEN to him, meet him. I think you will find that his playing speaks for itself.
I met Eliot in Sandy Bell's in Edinburgh coming up for 2 years ago. There were another 6 members of the "Session" there, including some very frequent posters on this site. I agree with DADGADLad's statements above 100%.
I haven't read Eliot's blog, but I've spent a fair bit of time in his company, and heard him play. If anything - in real life - he's too modest about his abilities. He's an awesome piper, and that's just one of his instruments. He's also done some very interesting, detailed and painstaking work on variation in Irish music. He's so talented it's sickening. Though like most "talented" people he's put in a lot of hard work to get there, and is already "paying back" to the tradition. So I'm fine with cutting him any amount of slack on his blog
Nice guy. Awesome piper. I don't understand the fuss. It's not diminishing the memory/talent of Seamus Ennis, and at the end of the day it's simply a wonderful endorsement from Robbie Hannan. Why wouldn't he share it?
Eliot Grasso's web page.
Eliot Grasso's web page.
I was clicking through Mr. Grasso's website and I stumbled upon a diary page which relays a story where he was visiting Robbie Hannon's house in Belfast.
He tells how he was playing the pipes for Hannon and another of Hannon's guests, then goes on to describe the whole conversation that took place. In detail he tells how the guest asked Hannon what the difference was between Mr. Grasso and the great Seamus Ennis, where upon Hannon says that they are equals.
Maybe Hannon was being polite, and Mr.Grasso shouldn't have taken this conversation to the public. Or maybe Mr.Grasso is as good as the great Seamus Ennis was, R.I.P.
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by evolve as addict
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
ha! Seán Ó Riada meets Adrian Mole!
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by skip canlon
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
Grasso's piping has more to to with Hannon than Ennis
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by pipewatcher
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
Link?
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by continuo
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
http://www.eliotgrasso.com/Journal/C28F20F0-5AF8-4F21-A389-FE836B5BCC27.html
My Favourite bit. Written by Mr.Grasso
“He’s amazing.” Robbie says to Séamus.
Séamus holds up a recording of Ennis’s Return from Fingal. “What’s the difference, Robbie, between what we’re hearing Eliot play and the music of this recording?” “Absolutely nothing,” Robbie replies. “He knows this music deeply.”
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by evolve as addict
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
Sorry, being lazy.
http://www.eliotgrasso.com/Journal/C28F20F0-5AF8-4F21-A389-FE836B5BCC27.html
And he doesn't say they are equals by the way. He says this:
Séamus holds up a recording of Ennis’s Return from Fingal. “What’s the difference, Robbie, between what we’re hearing Eliot play and the music of this recording?” “Absolutely nothing,” Robbie replies. “He knows this music deeply.” We play until 1:00am and Robbie drives me back to my hotel.
Which is slightly different. I don't think Eliot would for a moment think that he (or other contemporary pipers) could be lazily compared to Ennis like this.
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by continuo
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
You're right continuo it is "slightly different".
SLIGHTLY : |ˈslītlē| adverb: 1 to a small degree; inconsiderably.
It was while reading this that I first heard of any comparison between the two, and he wrote it. His Journal is a megalomania masterpiece.
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by evolve as addict
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd5fNLe-aa0
brilliant! very reminiscent of Hannon's style. Not much like Ennis from a stylistic point of view. clearly he knows the music...
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by pipewatcher
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
Eliot is one of the most un-megalomaniacal (is that a word?) guys you'd ever meet. The paragraph in question seems to be more about playing the Kenna set than taking over the world.
Here is the dictionary definition of megalomania: 1. A psychopathological condition in which delusional fantasies of wealth, power, or omnipotence predominate.
2. An obsession with grandiose or extravagant things or actions.
In what way does Eliot's journal fit this definition? I mean, come on, it's about piping.
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by TheSilverSpear
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
Ha, this site's very funny, if a little hard to read at times. In that kind of way that the office is hard to watch.
"Kate kept insisting that the concert went well, but I had a hard time believing her. She played a few video clips for me that she had shot with the camera and they sounded better than expected. I was amazed at the disparity between my experience of the concert as a performer and the audience’s experience of my playing. The playing in the clip I viewed on the camera was even, poised, technically superlative, and musical."
Maybe he's right, and that is a accurate account of his playing, but just a little weird to write that about yourself on your own website for all to view.
“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.”
- St. Augustine
I did enjoy his album though, thought it sounded great.
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by skip canlon
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
Silverspear,
I'm just going by what I've read, the overall tone of what he's written about himself, the fact that he's even written a journal for everyone to read. Skip canlon has found something else in his journal that's a flirting with self amazement. I'm not disputing his abilities as a piper.
I've never met the kid but he seems delusional about his own significance.
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by evolve as addict
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
I think that this is a cultural/personal difference - some people like to blog more, and some don't. American blogs in general seem to be more open and revealing also than others.
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by continuo
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
So what? Lots of people have blogs, although I think continuo is onto something in saying that it is more of an American thing to keep one. It may be a bit weird to write about how technically superb your own playing is, but that is one of those etiquette things. Players of Eliot's calibre know they're good but it is seen as rude and egotistic to be like, "Yeah, I am hot sh*t." On the other hand it is socially acceptable to have other people saying you are hot sh*t on your album, website, or whatever. In any case claiming they are "just okay," or mediocre is lying (and should be reserved for those of us who actually are). I suppose the "polite" thing to do is not address it either way but maybe that quiet humility is learned or achieved when you're older. How many completely humble twenty-something year old guys have you met?
Not sure what you mean about "delusional about his own significance." I agree that the blog comes off as a little self-important at times -- he doesn't hold back in giving his piping positive reviews -- but I don't see the delusions. It's not like he is saying he will singlehandedly alter the way uilleann pipes are played or that he is the greatest thing in piping since Seamus Ennis and Johnny Doran. I see him being respectful towards the players who have been around a lot longer than him, i.e. saying he was happy he played before, rather than after, Liam O'Flynn at a gig.
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by TheSilverSpear
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
Personally I think I am very humble about my own genius and awe-inspiring talent and I was a twenty-something year old guy until very recently - technically I still am!
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
See, evidence that I am right. Cheers!
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by TheSilverSpear
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
Wait, are you still twenty-something or still an awe-inspiring genius?
Either way, ample evidence of delusion
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by TheSilverSpear
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
Eliot Grasso is absolutely rubbish.
Just joking, of course...evolve as addict, are you sure you're not him in the disguise of a bad anagram?
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by Cosmic Ray
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
I am both frankly!
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
Haha. That's why you hang out and have sessions with musicians who are so famous they would put Mick Jagger to shame.
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by TheSilverSpear
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
aha, I get it! "evolve as addict" = "devil's advocate"... HA!
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by Reverend
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
He must be good if he's been invited to teach pipes at Irish summer schools or whatever. He seems to have idolised the masters of the Irish pipes at age 13, maybe a bit younger - it's a *very* significant age for boys, when they can be deeply impressed by the glamour of one "grown-up" activity or other and set their path in its direction. He seems still to be starstruck - a bit like George Harrison with Ravi Shankar, maybe, or the young Clapton meeting blues legends (I assume he did).
Face it, who wouldn't like to see his / her best efforts praised by an imaginary reviewer - even if he / she wouldn't dare go as far as write and publicise the review?
I've seen a few blogs by American musicians and artists, and they tend to praise their own efforts and achievements quite liberally. The first time or two I thought, "What a bighead!", but now I realise (unless / until someone strongly denies this) that it's really part of the culture, and runs right through the art / music world and no doubt others over there. If (as I suspect) many Americans have a capacity to be genuinely glad in another's success and interested in accounts of it, that is hardly a bad thing. Brits and Irish tend to be more cagey and oblique: this does not necessarily have to do much with modesty.
But now, to the main point raised in the blog:
WHAT A HELLUVAFECK BUS SERVICE TAKES SEVEN HOURS TO GET FROM DUBLIN TO BELFAST...?????!!!!!
Does it go via Wexford, Cork, Galway and Derry?
It *might* take that long by coach from Durham to London in Bank Holiday traffic when the M1 is being comprehensively dug up - but that's three times the distance! (A clean run is c. 5 hours.)
Or maybe the Dublin - Belfast road really is very badly gridlocked.
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by nicholas
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
read more carefully. limerick to dublin, then dublin to belfast.
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by skip canlon
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
Mr. Grasso is a very good piper. Maybe not so great as a writer, but I'm willing to forgive him for that.
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by Batlady
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
Well there is the proof - TheSilverSpear is American and quite clearly prone to exaggeration and I know she has a blog!
It is obviously a 'cultural' matter (I use that term very loosely of course!)
# Posted on December 1st 2008 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
@skip canlon:
I've read it again, and the obvious conclusion to draw is that he took a bus from Limerick to Dublin and there boarded *another* bus to Belfast, which took seven hours to get there from Dublin.
Whether this account is true, of course, is another matter.
# Posted on December 2nd 2008 by nicholas
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
I can tell you that it takes 6-7 hours, depending on traffic on the M50, to drive from Belfast to Limerick.
I of course, never, ever, ever exaggerate (except it really did take me 7 hours, but it may have been closer to 5-6 if M50 traffic hadn't completely sucked).
# Posted on December 2nd 2008 by TheSilverSpear
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
It's even harder to drive from London to Dublin. The tunnel is always jam-packed with juggernauts carrying live pigs and llamas. And of course it doesn't help that the Tunnel is made of glass so you can see all the sewage pipes and their effluent, and all the hijacked cars in Liverpool Bay. Madness, I tell you. And how are they going to harmonise the VAT on the toll, once the UK VAT goes down to 18.9% and Ireland is still at 47.7%? The mind boggles. Hopefully Barrack Obama will sort it all out, if he hasn't already done so.
# Posted on December 2nd 2008 by Alf Tupper
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
I think that vision has been created by all the dodgy ethnic food you've been eating down there...
# Posted on December 2nd 2008 by nicholas
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
It must be them mushrooms.
Must get my head together and back to doing a good bit of healthy outdoor glue-sniffing like wot you unemployed Norverners all do.
# Posted on December 2nd 2008 by Alf Tupper
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
...and GET back to doing...
Bloomin' ada!
I bets Alf Tupper didn't have to suffer none of this malarkey when 'e wos winning races in the Victor! Fish and bleedin' chips beforehand de rigeur
Bleedin' Alf - Wot a man, ey?
# Posted on December 2nd 2008 by Alf Tupper
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
Hey, can I have some of whatever you're smoking?
# Posted on December 2nd 2008 by TheSilverSpear
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
I wonder, has anyone here (accepting myself) had any personal dealings with "Mr. Grasso"? I'm sure if you had, you would be first struck by his prodigious ability and then by his personality, which is a FAR CRY from arrogant or ego-driven and whatever other terms have been bandied about here. Cursory readings from excerpts of the man's blog are no substitute for personal encounters. Here in Baltimore, Maryland we all think very highly of Eliot and are proud of his outstanding achievements. Through my own playing with Eliot I have found him to be a vessel of the timeless energy of this music that is without 'ego'. Again I wonder how many of the above posters have ever actually made Eliot's acquaintance. It's one thing if you take issue with his playing or his demeanor in a live intimate environment, but it is another matter entirely to react to an impersonal line of text staring at you from across cyberspace on a blog. How would you feel if you were in the company of Mr. Hannon, Mr. O'Brien, your heroes? Who can say what state of mind Eliot was in at the time if writing...
I urge you all to go out and SEE Eliot play, LISTEN to him, meet him. I think you will find that his playing speaks for itself.
# Posted on December 4th 2008 by DADGADLad
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
I met Eliot in Sandy Bell's in Edinburgh coming up for 2 years ago. There were another 6 members of the "Session" there, including some very frequent posters on this site. I agree with DADGADLad's statements above 100%.
# Posted on December 4th 2008 by Kenny
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
Being one of the other 6 session.org members in the session Kenny mentions above, I also agree with DADGADLad's statements.
# Posted on December 4th 2008 by Ron P
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
I believe I was one of the first posters to respond and write that Eliot is an absolutely lovely, sound guy. I have met him on more than one occasion.
I alluded to it earlier but who *wouldn't* be totally thrilled (and confident in their abilities) to be hanging out with their heroes.
# Posted on December 4th 2008 by TheSilverSpear
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
I haven't read Eliot's blog, but I've spent a fair bit of time in his company, and heard him play. If anything - in real life - he's too modest about his abilities. He's an awesome piper, and that's just one of his instruments. He's also done some very interesting, detailed and painstaking work on variation in Irish music. He's so talented it's sickening. Though like most "talented" people he's put in a lot of hard work to get there, and is already "paying back" to the tradition. So I'm fine with cutting him any amount of slack on his blog
# Posted on December 5th 2008 by Just a person
Re: Eliot Grasso's web page.
Nice guy. Awesome piper. I don't understand the fuss. It's not diminishing the memory/talent of Seamus Ennis, and at the end of the day it's simply a wonderful endorsement from Robbie Hannan. Why wouldn't he share it?
# Posted on December 6th 2008 by bdh