‘LPG’ Trio, Jazz festival, Limerick,  ‘LPG’ is Eddie Lee on the double bass, Fintan Gilligan on guitars/vocals (and being a smart ass), and me on the violin. We are playing for dedicated Limerick Jazz aficionados. The place is full, everyone is attentive, supportive and quiet, which is usually a good thing. Not in this case …

Here’s a part of the pre-wedding ritual which I find somewhat difficult to understand. It is called a ‘Stag/Hen party’ and it goes like this – you are saying ‘good-bye’ to your freedom. You do it by getting together with your mates, by drinking like there’s no tomorrow, by shouting a lot, by getting into …

A bit of drama, this. Our lovely Laura came to the kitchen. She looked upset. She said she got invited to attend her friend’s wedding. ‘There are worse things to go to’, I said. ‘You’ll survive’. ‘No’, she replied. ‘You don’t understand.. She wants me to be her BRIDESMAID!!!’.  I didn’t know what to say. …

Oslo, Norway. 1999 ‘Russian Gypsy trio LOYKO’- one guitar, two violins, three vocals, long hair and leather pants – fast, loud, overly dramatic and therefore highly successful. That’s us. We were sitting in a dressing room and arguing about the set list. Our stage manager just gave us a 5 minute call, so I grabbed …

Irish police. Unbeatable… Year 1991, Dublin. My first contact with Garda. I drive through the red light. There was no traffic and I thought it was safe. I’m flagged down by the grandfatherly figure in the uniform.  Garda – ‘What’s your hurry, son?’ Me, hurt by unfair allegations – ‘What is it. Officer??’ Garda – …

Luka likes to organise things. Concerts, recordings, festivals, tours. I did survive most of them. Some I didn’t. Sometimes I want to kill him, but he knows I won’t. He’s one of those people you love regardless, even when you feel like getting a baseball bat out. A phone call. I look at the display. …

‘Hey you, dirty Gypsy bum…!’. That’s my friend Fino saying ‘Hi’.  I remember coming to my house to see builders who were wrecking my sitting room. My objective was to minimise the damage. I had to be very polite but firm, because they had a tendency to get slightly overenthusiastic. It was a good timing. …

Luka is on a tour in Italy. The first date is Rome. After the breakfast one of the musicians (a drummer) asks – ‘Guys, anything here to see? Where do you think I should go? Any ideas?’ 

Luka – ‘When in Rome, do as Romans do. Go and see…..Eiffel Tower’

So our friend the drummer went outside, flagged a taxi and said – ‘Eiffel Tower please..’ He came back to the hotel in 15 minutes and went straight to his room. I don’t think he did anymore sightseeing on that day.

Here’s my Croatian friend Luka (the name is fake, obviously). He is a guitar player. Most of the time anyway. Sometimes he sings and sometimes he writes music. Luka has way too much energy. If you connect him to a generator, he will produce enough electricity to power up a house. He can party for …

I put this post in the ‘Teachers corner’ category for one simple reason. Most of us ARE teachers. If we have kids, that is. We teach them and they teach us. The best case scenario, both sides learn something. Sometimes they don’t. We have a saying in Russia – ‘A smart one learns by someone’s mistakes. …

My grandmother was born in 1917. Her grandfather was a nobleman from Georgia, her grandmother was a wealthy landowner and one of her uncles was a high-ranking officer in the Tsarist Army. He was killed in Port Arthur in 1904 during the Russian – Japanese war. My grandmother had a French nanny. She studied etiquette, …

My friend Fin gets carried away sometimes. During the gig, when audience starts clapping after his guitar solo (it does happen – he is a brilliant guitarist), he bows and starts shouting – ‘Merci, merci beaucoup!!!’, and suchlike.

On our last gig I asked – ‘Fin, what would you do if somebody actually starts talking to you?’. 

His reply was priceless – ‘Don’t you worry, my Italian in perfect’.

Jade is one of my students. She is Chinese, she is 12 years old, she is full of joy, always smiling, homework is always done, one of my best students. Her mum Mia is mad. In a good way though. Her jokes can start a war, but I was born near China. I know where …

25th of December, 2016. My son’s birthday…  I’m dropping Vasya off to his girlfriend’s and the rest of the world is driving to their Christmas dinners, so obviously everyone is miserable, irritated and angry. Not us though, we are happy. Vasya got us a massive box of Swiss Truffles, so we’re having pretty good time. …

My son’s command of English is way better than mine. I come home after roller skating in the park. The day is hot and I’m drenched in sweat. Vasya sits on the couch playing his X-box. I crash on the coach. Vas looks at me, makes a face and says – ‘Dad, you smell…..organic!’. At …

‘Pizza-Tzigana’ – one of the tunes which wasn’t supposed to be a tune at all. I was warming up before the KOSHKA concert, plucking strings and playing whatever came to my mind. A melody came in. Lev, who was sitting across the room looked at me and said – ‘Sounds good, write it down…’. ‘Come …

Mama-J is what Johannes Vermeer had in mind when he created his ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’. Mama-J wasn’t around at the time, so he found someone else instead… A beautiful, talented and proud woman she is. Also she is the one of only two people I know who can have a full-scale, heated argument …

You look at someone, you shake your head and say ‘How are you!’, ‘’How’s things?’, ‘Alright?’ and so on. It’s an Irish thing. Here, you always greet everyone you see. On the street, in the restaurant, at the concert, everywhere. It felt very strange at first. Somebody would nod and I would think: ’Do I …

There was a smell coming from the kitchen, so I went to investigate. My housemate Laura was cooking. I limped in to make an espresso and to get a bit of sympathy for my torn ligament. There’s nothing good about the injury, except of the fact that people feel obliged to make a sympathetic face, …

2010. M50 motorway, Dublin, the bike is BMW1200GS. There are blue lights in my mirror, which means the game is over. I indicate, change the lane, brake, kill the engine, take the helmet off and make myself small and guilty. The victim of the circumstances, that’s me. All by the book. I observe a little …

Only five minutes ago I was trying to write a story about Gypsies, Native Americans, Bible and meeting someone for a coffee. In America.  I couldn’t mention ‘coffee’ and ‘America’ in one sentence without having a little drama, so I decided to stop and write a different story. The story of coffee and cats. And …

Welcome to the ‘World According to Gemini’. If you’re the one – you came to the right place. If you know one – you came to the right place. If you’re in a relationship with one (God help you!) – you came to the right place. If you’re trying to figure out how Gemini operate …