The Magic Circle

A chief delight of traveling is watching the synergies unfold.  

Looking for books in Cows Against Violence (scroll down to see their t-shirt) thrift store in Taos, I struck up a conversation with Katherine. She commended Jay's Unique Thrift in Questa saying she'd found some good things there.

A few days later, taking the magic circle through Eagle Nest, Angel Fire and Questa, I found, at Jay's, six books for $4.00 including Last Night's Fun by Ciaran Carson. The price for a new copy of Last Night's Fun is $877.95. I love the ninety-five cents. 

I too sold things that were arbitrarily priced. But anybody can put a price; it's another to find a buyer. 

Published in 1996, my copy is like new, but is marred by a dedication. In March of '97, Ephraim, with love, exhorted someone to enjoy Spring Break.

In the first few pages Carson mentions Joe Cooley (link is to bio on Allmusic.com) and how MacMahon (link is to Wiki) riffed on Cooley. I had good signal this evening and looked 'em up. One thing led to another...you know how it is with surfing. Herewith is the trail.

Last Night's Fun

Carson writes about how Tony MacMahon (Carson's spelling) was influenced by Cooley and how Tony developed his style partly based on his admiration for Cooley.

My first finding of MacMahon was 

Two Reels

(for some reason I can't get the video to embed, thus the link instead.)

One of the reels sounds like Last Night's fun.

A bit farther on was this...

 

Searching for more about McMahon, I came upon this 30-minute video. 

In it I was impressed, at 13:17, with Piadar O Riarda's playing. If you listen to the tune in the Dublin video, I think it's the same as the one below. 

Here's a link to a translation of the lyrics.

And now I'm starting a new circle; with almost a full moon, a bright star and some beautiful clouds and the most verdant hills I've ever seen in this part of the world; it's obviously been raining.

It's Ireland!