The Shannon Rovers Play For the President on St. Patrick's Day at the White House
Shannon Rovers drummer Joe Shevlin was kind enough to share his experience in Washington, playing for the President on St. Patrick's Day.
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I've had so many inquiries about my trip to the White House!! To sum it all up... it was AMAZING!
It all started last week with a phone call from our band manager - "What's your social security number?" to which I replied, "What the [heck] do you need my social security number for??" He replied, "We're playing the White House on the 17th!" After I picked myself up off the floor, I gave him MY SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER!!!
I really didn't have any idea what we would be doing until Monday. When I received the schedule, I read that we would be playing in the East Room and the State Dining Room for the President's St. Patrick's Day cocktail reception!! After I picked myself up off the floor again, I began to shine my shoes ensuring I was getting all of the South Side Irish Parade funk off of them.
The 17th came and 9 of us boarded the plane in the morning for DC. When we arrived, there were 2 government vans to scoop us up and off to the Hay-Adams Hotel directly across from Lafayette Park which is across the street from the Whtie House. Everyone was so tense..... we needed a drink so, by God, we had one at the Off the Record bar in the hotel.
At that point, the band manager and the pipe major went over to the White House to be briefed on what to expect. It was made pretty clear to them that we would play for the reception, have a photo op with the President and First Lady, and then leave.
Cool! Sounds great so we put our uniforms on, grabbed our instruments, and walked the short distance to the North East Visitor Entrance. We walked down East Executive Avenue and entered the East Wing via the East Appointment Gate. We were in complete awe. We were escorted down the hall from the East Wing to our holding room in the basement of the Executive Mansion. At every corner there were military officers from every branch of service in their dress uniforms. These were Presidential Social Aides with an aiguillette (gold cord) on their right shoulder to distinguish them.
So we waited 20 minutes or so until a man popped his head in and said, "Can you be ready for a photo with the President in 30 seconds?" We all jumped and in unison replied, "YES!" We were quickly escorted down the hall and into a room that led to another room. It was anguishing because we were trying to take it all in! Next thing ya know we were meeting the President and First Lady, posing for a band picture, and then back down to our holding room. It was so quick but he was very pleasant and receptive. Each of us did get to shake his hand.
Then came time to play. We were escorted up the stairs to the entrance to the Entrance Hall . We marched into Entrance Hall (where the stairs that lead to the second floor, the private residence) to Sean South. We played a 5 minute set in Entrance Hall and then marched via the Cross Hall into the State Dining Room. We played a 7 minute set there and marched into the Red Room. We walked directly through the Red Room, the Blue Room, into the Green Room.
It was in the Green Room where it started to really sink in. It is a small, beautiful room and when I took a moment to breath, I put my drum down and looked out the window - I realized I was looking out through the wonderful pillars of the South Portico at the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial! I nearly dropped when a waiter came in with green champagne for each of us. After holding in this small room for 20-30 minutes, the Vice President and Dr. Biden walked through followed by the President and the First Lady, closely followed by the Prime Minister of Ireland and Mrs. Cowen.
Mind you, they didn't come in to talk to us, they were cutting through from the East Room to go to the State Dining Room to address the crowd there. We were told that we weren't going to play the East Room and we weren't dissappointed (just happy to be here!). We were then waiting for the inevitable cue to leave the White House.
It was at this point that the most significant schedule change occurred: we were told, "Please go down, put your instruments away, and we'd love it if you'd join the reception." We were blown away.... completely blown away!
So we quickly shed the instruments, reentered the reception via the Entrance Hall, grabbed a cocktail, and mingled for the next hour and a half in the State Dining Room, the Blue Room, the East Room, the Cross Hall.... essentially the entire State Floor. Some of the people we bumped into were: Sen. John Kerry, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen Dick Durbin, Mayor Daley and Mrs. Daley, and several others that I probably wouldn't know anyway!
The other performers for the night were Celtic Thunder, Maggie McCarthy, and the United States Marine Band Irish Ensemble (I truly never thought the Shannon Rovers would ever be on the same bill as the Marine Band!).
At the end of the evening, we all walked out of there in a daze - it was an amazing experience! One I'll never forget. I just hope I didn't blink during the photos!
Anyways, that's my story - I'm sticking to it
- Joe
**************************************************************************
I've had so many inquiries about my trip to the White House!! To sum it all up... it was AMAZING!
It all started last week with a phone call from our band manager - "What's your social security number?" to which I replied, "What the [heck] do you need my social security number for??" He replied, "We're playing the White House on the 17th!" After I picked myself up off the floor, I gave him MY SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER!!!
I really didn't have any idea what we would be doing until Monday. When I received the schedule, I read that we would be playing in the East Room and the State Dining Room for the President's St. Patrick's Day cocktail reception!! After I picked myself up off the floor again, I began to shine my shoes ensuring I was getting all of the South Side Irish Parade funk off of them.
The 17th came and 9 of us boarded the plane in the morning for DC. When we arrived, there were 2 government vans to scoop us up and off to the Hay-Adams Hotel directly across from Lafayette Park which is across the street from the Whtie House. Everyone was so tense..... we needed a drink so, by God, we had one at the Off the Record bar in the hotel.
At that point, the band manager and the pipe major went over to the White House to be briefed on what to expect. It was made pretty clear to them that we would play for the reception, have a photo op with the President and First Lady, and then leave.
Cool! Sounds great so we put our uniforms on, grabbed our instruments, and walked the short distance to the North East Visitor Entrance. We walked down East Executive Avenue and entered the East Wing via the East Appointment Gate. We were in complete awe. We were escorted down the hall from the East Wing to our holding room in the basement of the Executive Mansion. At every corner there were military officers from every branch of service in their dress uniforms. These were Presidential Social Aides with an aiguillette (gold cord) on their right shoulder to distinguish them.
So we waited 20 minutes or so until a man popped his head in and said, "Can you be ready for a photo with the President in 30 seconds?" We all jumped and in unison replied, "YES!" We were quickly escorted down the hall and into a room that led to another room. It was anguishing because we were trying to take it all in! Next thing ya know we were meeting the President and First Lady, posing for a band picture, and then back down to our holding room. It was so quick but he was very pleasant and receptive. Each of us did get to shake his hand.
Then came time to play. We were escorted up the stairs to the entrance to the Entrance Hall . We marched into Entrance Hall (where the stairs that lead to the second floor, the private residence) to Sean South. We played a 5 minute set in Entrance Hall and then marched via the Cross Hall into the State Dining Room. We played a 7 minute set there and marched into the Red Room. We walked directly through the Red Room, the Blue Room, into the Green Room.
It was in the Green Room where it started to really sink in. It is a small, beautiful room and when I took a moment to breath, I put my drum down and looked out the window - I realized I was looking out through the wonderful pillars of the South Portico at the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial! I nearly dropped when a waiter came in with green champagne for each of us. After holding in this small room for 20-30 minutes, the Vice President and Dr. Biden walked through followed by the President and the First Lady, closely followed by the Prime Minister of Ireland and Mrs. Cowen.
Mind you, they didn't come in to talk to us, they were cutting through from the East Room to go to the State Dining Room to address the crowd there. We were told that we weren't going to play the East Room and we weren't dissappointed (just happy to be here!). We were then waiting for the inevitable cue to leave the White House.
It was at this point that the most significant schedule change occurred: we were told, "Please go down, put your instruments away, and we'd love it if you'd join the reception." We were blown away.... completely blown away!
So we quickly shed the instruments, reentered the reception via the Entrance Hall, grabbed a cocktail, and mingled for the next hour and a half in the State Dining Room, the Blue Room, the East Room, the Cross Hall.... essentially the entire State Floor. Some of the people we bumped into were: Sen. John Kerry, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen Dick Durbin, Mayor Daley and Mrs. Daley, and several others that I probably wouldn't know anyway!
The other performers for the night were Celtic Thunder, Maggie McCarthy, and the United States Marine Band Irish Ensemble (I truly never thought the Shannon Rovers would ever be on the same bill as the Marine Band!).
At the end of the evening, we all walked out of there in a daze - it was an amazing experience! One I'll never forget. I just hope I didn't blink during the photos!
Anyways, that's my story - I'm sticking to it
- Joe
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