Saturday evening Mandolin Solos
by Flaming Seamus (shay’-muss) aka David Sparer, age 15
[transcribed ]
Songs he played:
-"Old Joe Clark"
-"Growling Men and (something) Women," a French-Canadian tune
-Excerpt from "Paper and Pins" – a wedding song
-A dance number, possibly Slovakian

David: Over the summer, for kicks – the group was sponsored by a guy who owns a small music repair shop, to play right in front of that, and got about $40 a day. That’s pretty good.
That’s from people dropping dollar bills in the mandolin case!

Q: How many in the group?
A: It’s four of us. Guitar, violin, boweron (which is the Irish drum) and mandolin.

Q: Where did the interest in the Irish come from? Was that from the very beginning?
A: Yeah. Tony, our violin player, is 80% Irish, so he loves it.

Q: How long have you been interested in music?
A: I started learning music in 6th grade when the school pretty much forced all of us to … (laughter). My interest in it really only started in the eighth grade.
[end of transcript]
 

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