Musical memories of JFK Hall
Your article on the JFK Hall sparked a spate of memories to yours truly over here in Germany, writes Paul Durney. Together with Micheal Landers (drums) and Seamus Harris (guitar) & Tony Kelly (bass ... who later went on to play guitar in La Toyahs band) we ‘practised’ a few times in the JFK. Not on the stage because of the boxing ring ropes.
It was here that I unpacked and tried my first electic guitar and my first amplifier. It’s also where I got my first electic shock from pushing a plug into the wall without its lid on. I think the fact that I was wearing sneakers on the day saved me from real damage although I shook for a while after it.
It always took a complete day to organise a session and setting up the equipment etc. and we never knew until the last minute if we were going to ‘get the key’ at all. There were numerous factors against this. Among others there was Irish dancing, boxing or fleadhs or whatever.
Tony’s Dad brought him over from Newbridge and I can still recall admiring Micheal’s shiny pearly drums which we had to carry up and down the lane. The acoustic in the hall was awful because of the building itself and when the amps were turned up you could hardly hear yourself think. But that was the thrill of it.
Funnily enough it was Pat Lynch who later supplied myself and some other budding musicians from Newbridge with the key to the tennis club for similar but more advanced and experimental sessions. The Lord of the Keys so to speak. Greetings to Pat from here. Fond memories indeed, Slán from Germany.
