As we come to the end of 2014, chill in the air but (thankfully) no hurricane or blizzard, December brings about a favoured sense of holiday, the warmth of a pub, and cheer!  Cliff’s birthday is coming (6 Dec – but we’ll celebrate it on Monday the 8th)… Each Monday in the month we will start just a little bit later than normal as the delightful wandering Carolers will be doing their thing in the Gris… and on Monday the 1st the Coast Guard Idlers will also be performing within the establishment between 6 and 8:30p. – Some podcasts of the group.

Woody Guthrie singing at McSorley’s Bar, NYC, 1943 – the sign on his guitar reads “This Machine Kills Fascists”.

I have come to learn that our dear friend and fellow musician Danny Quinn passed away peacefully last night – 30 Oct 2014 – at 9:30p give or take.   We’ve set up a memorial page –   Heaven knows that we’ve lost a fine human being and generous musician, and a better man that we all could aspire to emulate.

TREMENDOUS Halloween night at the Gris!  Photos are coming in and if you have any you might like to add to the page, doooo let me know!   Happy and Safe Halloween!

Monday – 27 October, 2014

– Let us celebrate our Halloween at the Gris!  Come attired in your best costume!  Take photos from which we can post some of the best on this site!  Come imbibe spirits in our historic setting!  Let’s enjoy one of our most beloved secular holidays in grand style!

Another good reason to come on down tonight!  Rick’s birthday is tomorrow and we can herald it this evening with good beer, good song, and busting his gonads!

This morning I received word that a dear man and superb musician Danny Quinn has been overwhelmed with a medical issue and insurance is leaving his family with a hefty tab.  Heidi sent in this clip from Danny’s Facebook Page – “Just a note to Danny’s friends & fans: Danny is dealing with a medical challenge right now, and will not be performing (or Facebooking) for the next few months. His family thanks you in advance for respecting Danny’s need for privacy during this challenging time: what he needs most right now is healing rest. We know Danny has touched so many lives, and many will want to help. The best way to do this is to support one of the many benefit concerts that will be held (Details will be posted here and on his website), and/or to contribute to his GoFundMe campaign (a post about this will be up soon). Thank you in advance for your positive thoughts, prayers, and well wishes. PLEASE – NO RESPONSE POSTS – JUST LIKES AND SHARES. THEY WILL NOT BE READ BY DANNY.”

Spread the word and help one our own out with this during his trying time?

Danny Quinn

That was a tremendous show at the GPSCY – thank you to everyone who made it out!  There seems to be a growing following for us in the New Haven area as well – people we rarely see at the Gris but who seem to know our songs and banter!

And on Saturday the 18th, we’ll be back at the Gris for a special performance in the tap room for part of the continuing observance of the events in 1814 Essex – 8:30 ’till 11p.  Come down and join us, especially as it’ll be a weekend!

Welcome to my favourite month and a less sweaty season!  Pirate Monday is behind us and now we look forward to our Halloween on Monday the 27th… More on that as we get closer.

Meanwhile – Cliff is back!  He’ll return to regular Monday nights although he’s still be careful.  Also this coming Monday I understand will be a homecoming for two important peoples of our followers and promises to be a hopping night!  Then, the Wednesday after – 8 Oct – we’ll be at our favourite New Haven haunt The Gryphon Pub at GPSCY!!  2 for 1 beer night and quite the scene!  Come join us, especially those of you who complain of the travel from that area!  9 until midnight, a modest cover charge (helps pay us!), and plenty of song!

Photo by Gene Cartagena

Thank you for all the participation on our Pirate Monday – although there was no sight of Jack Sparrow this year.  We have photos up – Cliff came on down for a little while and sang a song but he’s pacing himself.  And it was a memorable night all ’round!

Photo by Gene Cartagena

Some of you may have noted that there is not longer a subscription option.  Our regrets, however part of what is suspected of having crashed our site was the sheer number of subscription “bots” that had been hammering away trying to break into the site.  The point of the subscription option was to automatically send you a memo whenever we posted a new page or such and I understand that this simply was not happening.  This makes the option superfluous as well as tempting to trolls trying to screw things up.  If you wish to continue receiving the monthly-odd updates and notifications, please send me your e-mail address and I will put it in our secret address locker, sending the updates via blind copy as has been done in the past.

Don’t forget that the Monday of 22 Sept. will be our “Pirate Night” by request, in acknowledgement of the annual Talk like A Pirate day.  Come down attired in appropriate pirate and wench costume as sing the night away!  And Cliff may stick his head in for a little while, too!

PLEASE DO visit our Facebook page

and we’ve new songs posted on our site –

• Heave Away My Johnny.
• We were Drunk Last Night