Last Tuesday, The Sandcarvers opened for The Young Dubliners at Northern Lights Theater in Milwaukee WI. This was yet one more stop on The Sandcarvers “Miles Ahead” St. Pat’s 2008 concert schedule. As I do every year at this time, I like to refer to this time of year as “March Madness!”
It’s a gruelling few weeks but hey, somebody’s gotta do it.
Anyway, I’ve finished processing the photos from The Dubs portion of the show and you can view the gallery of said by clicking on the photo above.
A quick story about The Dubs:
Back in 2002, we went to see The Dubs at the Goose Island OysterFest in Chicago. It was our first time seeing them live and we were all very impressed, especially Raven’s son, Nolan. He was particularly taken with a song called “Scream,” from their album “Absolutely,” a copy of which we purchased at the show, not only because we were becoming fans of The Dubs, but mostly so Nolan could hear “Scream” again, so taken was he by this song.
We knew that the song made a mighty big impression on him, but, little did we realize how big. As it turns out, a little over a week later, Nolan presented us with an essay he wrote about “Scream” and all that it meant to him. This was from a nine year old kid, so we were rather taken aback.
On a whim, I wrote to the lead singer and principle songwriter for The Dubs, Keith Roberts, telling him what a profound effect the song had on my stepson, thanking him for writing it and informing him of the essay.
Keith actually wrote back, amazed and gratified that he’d made such a profound impact on such a little lad. So much so, that he asked if we’d forward him a copy of what Nolan wrote., to which we agreed.
A little while later, Keith wrote back again…he was stunned! Not only that such a wee lad could, or would, write such a well composed essay, but that his words and art had such a profound effect on him. He told us, in no uncertain terms, that we had to bring Nolan with us to a show next time they were in our area and that we must bring him up after the show so he could meet him.
So, it was about a year later when The Dubs played the Irish-American Heritage Center in Chicago. We went to check it out, Nolan and his brother in tow. It was another fabulous show by The Dubs, of course, and afterward we drifted up to the front of the stage, thinking, “He’s not even gonna remember the essay.”
Not only did Keith remember all of our names and the essay, but he spent 30 minutes with Nolan, just chatting.
Quite a guy, as are the rest of the band, as well. A finer groups of blokes you’re not likely to meet.
To make a long story short, correspondence between us and Keith continued and one thing lead to another; they met The Sandcarvers, who’ve now opened for them numerous times over the years; we’ve all become grand friends and had many a wonderful time together, both on stage and off.
All this being nothing more then a roundabout way of saying that if you’re in the mood for an arse-kickin‘ evening of Celtic-rock, do try to catch a Young Dubs show sometime soon and stop and say hi to them afterward. If you don’t have a good time, well, it’s your own damn fault! 
Their show last week was really a gas and such a joy to shoot, with all the pretty lights and all. An extra bonus, for me, was getting a chance to meet Eric Rigler, piper extraordinaire, who has joined the Dubs for this tour.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to thank, once again, The Dubs: Keith, Chaz, Eric, Brendan, Dave and Bob…you are all jolly and gracious souls, indeed!
Enjoy the photos!
Next stop for The Sandcarvers? Tomorrow night at Shank Hall in Milwaukee with Hothouse Flowers!
Slainte
Gareth—The Celtic Camera Photography
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