It will be a special night for Seán McGuinness from the Dublin City Ramblers when the band returns to Cork on January 3rd to play at Paddy Mac’s in Coachford.
Last December, as the band was gearing up to perform at three sold-out Christmas gigs, Seán’s GP heard something he didn’t like while listening to his breathing and dispatched him straight off to hospital. A decade earlier, the 77-year-old had had seven stents put in, and now tests were showing that three of the arteries of Seán’s heart were badly blocked.
He was admitted a few days later for a triple bypass, but insisted on doing one of the gigs first. “I found out afterwards that members of my family were in the audience in case I keeled over,” he laughs.
A year later, he is thankfully doing great and is looking forward to playing Christmas gigs around the country.
The Dublin City Ramblers are celebrating over 50 years in the music industry, and Seán has great memories of performing in Cork, especially in places like Cork Opera House and at the Cork Jazz Festival.
“We’ve played lots of gigs around Cork,” he says. “I don’t think there’s a part of the county that we haven’t played and we never had a bad night. We played for years in The Munster Arms hotel in Bandon, which was run by the O’Mahony family, who are super people. We had great times down there and all the bands played at Cleo’s nightclub there, mostly on a Sunday. It was our home-from-home really – a fantastic place.”
When asked about his favourite thing about Cork, Seán doesn’t hesitate with his response, “The people,” he says. “I love the Cork accent and I love the camaraderie. Cork people are lovely and they’re always very welcoming – well, except in September for the All-Ireland!”
“With all the friends we have in Cork, there would always be a session after the gigs, and we had great sessions that went on until all hours of morning. The musicians are great too, and we have a friend from Cork, Roy Buckley, who is a lovely guy and a great singer. He has performed with us and he’s fantastic.
“Jimmy Crowley is great too, and although I was never really a showband person, I loved Joe McCarthy (Joe Mac) of The Dixies. I thought they were great. I met Joe quite a few time and he’s the funniest guy.”
Seán liked to visit Cork on holidays too and the band often played during the Cork Jazz Festival, even though they’re not a jazz group. “We used to make a holiday of it for a week and our families would come down, and we’d get to see the whole of Cork,” he says.
The musician thinks that Cork is similar to Dublin in culture, but feels it isn’t as commercial, which he likes. He has always felt safe wandering around the city and enjoys popping into the city’s art galleries. when he’s there “As you can see on the news, a lot of people are not going into Dublin any more because of all the heavy stuff that’s going on,” he says. “I’ve never had any problems in Cork and have always enjoyed roaming around. It’s a beautiful city. I love passing a couple of hours rambling around its bookshops and art galleries.”
Join the Dublin City Ramblers at Paddy Mac’s, Coachford, on Saturday January 3rd for a night filled with live music, great company and unforgettable memories. Tickets (€25) here.
