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Folk music 'Rains' on lunch crowd
Despite missing members, Ceili Rain played Live at Lunch
 Media Credit: Leslie Andres/News Editor Patrick Ross, of the band Ceili Rain, concentrates as he plays his fiddle Wednesday at the Atwood Quarry, while the band�s lead vocalist, acoustic guitarist and songwriter, Bob Halligan, Jr., sings in the background. Ceili Rain is a seven-member band, but only Halligan and Ross made it for the show, which was part of the �Live at Lunch� series organized by the University Program Board�s Spotlight Committee.
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Singing songs and telling stories.
That was Ceili Rain performing in the Quarry at lunch time Wednesday.
Ceili Rain was brought to SCSU by the Spotlight Committee of UPB. Janet Peterson, coordinator of Spotlight, said the group was chosen for its festive songs and unique instruments.
"Saint Cloud," said Bob Halligan, lead vocals with acoustic guitar, "May I say Saint Cloud?"
Halligan then prepared the audience for the song, "Big Snow" �appropriate for this area that seems to be getting more snow in the last two weeks than the entire season.
"It was in '76, I think," Halligan said. "We got stuck in Watertown. The snow came up to the roofs of the houses. All of our shows were cancelled.
"Roots was playing that week. So, we got to see Roots.
And like the song, "it (the snow) came like rain, 7 feet high."
The songs might feel like folk and have folk elements to them because of the two instruments playing (acoustic guitar and fiddle) said Halligan. However, Halligan is a "rock 'n' roll guy" who writes and plays pop and rock music.
Besides singing and writing the songs for their own band, Ceili Rain, Halligan also writes songs for other bands: KISS, Blue Oyster Cult, Ted Nugent and Joan Jett are just a few. Halligan has been a song writer for 22 years.
Before playing "That's All the Lumber You Sent," Halligan introduced the song:
"A man dies and ends up at the gates of heaven. He meets St. Peter.
"'Did you see Ceili Rain?' asks St. Peter. 'They're the cover band in heaven. Do you want to go to heaven?'
"If you don't know what the band sounds like, you can buy a CD here," Halligan tells the audience of the opportunity they have of buying a CD of Ceili Rain.
Halligan constantly talked to the audience. He forewarned the audience of another song: "This is that ride we're all going to take some day �this is that ride. It's coming. Might as well get ready for it."
"Long Black Cadillac" is a song appropriate for death.
Halligan said there are a lot of songs in this world. He tries to make them "unique in my own humble way of life on this planet."
Bands can't get enough of Halligan's talent. "There are nine different recorded versions of 'I Wanna Be Different.' I'm going to play you Andy Cooney's."
Another famous song written by Halligan is "Love Travels."
Halligan said it is a song for students. "You can send this song to your mom, dad, or friends left behind."
For any long distance relationship, students can think of these people and the love will travel to them Halligan said.
Does that sound venerable, passionate or affectionate?
Halligan sees his songs as prayers.
Patrick Ross, violinist, was the other band member performing Wednesday.
Ross said when the entire band is together, the group "jams with tons of distortion."
Ross learned at the age of 8 to play the violin. For three years he learned from his father. If he wanted to know something, "he was there." When his father died, Ross taught himself, and since age 11 continues to teach himself.
Ross remembers the fiddle contests he competed in as a young boy. "Four minutes of competition before a judge," Ross said.
The winner received $75.
But at 14, he left the junior division to fight among the adults for contest money � "Winner sometimes took $150 to $200. That's $50 a minute. As a teenager, that was plenty. I'd buy a bike and go swimming.
"It's in my blood," Ross said. For five generations the Ross family has played violin. The violin Ross played is the same one his father used.
"It's about 142 years old," Ross said.
But who's to say it's not further than five generations?
"That's as far as we're able to trace it," Ross said.
After his father's death, "Mother thought, He'll either quit or play his heart out."
To feed the child prodigy's inspiration, the Ross family held fundraisers so Ross could go to Mark O'Connor fiddle camp � "the best in the world."
Over 250 fiddlers attend from all over the world: Czechoslovakia, Sweden, China. For one week Ross "fueled up." He went there when he was 11, 12, 13 and 14.
Age 14 was not his last year, though. He went to Fiddle Camp again in September 2001.
To keep a long story short, one of the teachers at Mark O'Connor camp is Ceili Rain band member, Gretchen Priest.
Priest offered Ross a job in the band.
Ross moved to Nashville, and that's why students saw the college age 'kid' perform yesterday.
Ross is saving up money to buy another violin. Traveling with an instrument really takes its toll on an instrument Ross said.
Ross has been in Ohio, New York, Illinois and Minnesota in the last month � places with different temperatures.
On his way to St. Cloud, Ross stopped in O'Hare International Airport.
With nine hours of overlay, he listened to street bum musicians. "I respect all music. I form my own opinions and usually they're very generous," Ross said.
With the droning, rhythmic chopping, and a little bit of pizzicato, Ross amused the audience while Halligan sang his songs as Ceili Rain.
After spring break, hear Stoney Savanna's Caribbean music April 10 and Triplicate's jazz April 24 during Live at Lunch in the Quarry.
Tom Meyer can be reached at: [email protected]
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