Gerry Carthy Weblog

Hello to you all ….the first few friends to add a comment on my ‘halting site’ as my father would probably call it. Thanks for taking the time. It’s hard to pick the first few words to write here but it’s easy to know what they should be about.
And that is to thank Marge Helzer lovely wife of Pete Helzer my sculpting friend who came into the Crane Bar in Galway one night in 1982 when I was gigging with Mickey(Finn).
Marge put this whole thing together and when I saw it come up in front of me I nearly cried. And I think that is because over here in America as the years pass on the ould nostalgia begins to bite a little deeper as every day passes. And as the photos of myself in younger days appeared the memories came flooding back and then the wonderful musicians I played and drank with came into view and the memories overflowed. And with these few focail I realise now that this site is not really mine(as Pete Helzer keeps telling me it is) but a tribute to all those beautiful people - musicians and characters I knew and spent part of my life with in Galway and Mayo and Dublin and God knows where else. So maybe now I can carry on the connection to the old friends and make new ones all because of the beautiful traditional music that was passed on to us. I know Mickey is rolling his eyes up to Heaven at all this but then again, sure that’s where he is anyway hopefully playing a tune for my
father as he did in our kitchen in Mayo in front of the ould jubilee many years ago.
Fair play to you Marge and Pete agus go mBeannai Dia Thu!