Olympia’s Pinniped will lend its Celtic sound to global Play Music on the Porch Day
Although it was launched in 2014, Play Music on the Porch Day seems made for life during a pandemic. After all, where else are musicians going to get together to play these days?
Indeed, the international event is bigger than ever this year, said organizer Brian Mallman, a Wisconsin native who now lives in Los Angeles. Musicians from all 50 states and 72 countries have signed up to play Saturday.
“This is the biggest one so far,” Mallman told The Olympian. “Musicians miss the audience and miss playing. They’re really excited to have an opportunity to play and be part of something that’s almost like a festival.
“This year, people understand it a little bit better,” he added. “You have these viral videos of people outside on balconies all singing together.”
In Washington, though, even a public porch performance is off limits. Live entertainment is allowed only for members of a single household.
That’s why the Celtic music trio Pinniped, participating for the second consecutive year, plans to live-stream its porch concert on Facebook instead of inviting people to watch and play along.
Last year’s Play Music on the Porch Day show was a special one, said Bill Kellington of Olympia, who plays guitar and bodhran in the band, which also includes Sarah Kellington, his daughter, on fiddle and Erik Correia on guitar.
“It was really fun,” Bill Kellington told The Olympian about last year. “We met several neighbors whom we hadn’t known before, and we are well on our way to building some delightful friendships.
“And several musician friends, including some we hadn’t seen for quite a while, joined us. We had an all-afternoon jam session, and it was delightful.”
The group had hoped to repeat that experience this year, he said. He envisions lots more local bands joining in the future to create a bigger event similar to Spokane’s Porchfest, in which homeowners with porches host musicians and poets for an organized afternoon of music.
Kellington found Play Music on the Porch Day last year after his wife attended Porchfest and told him about it.
“We would love to see something like that build in Olympia,” Kellington said. “It would be wonderful to have people be able to go house to house and experience the music we have here.”
Play Music on the Porch Day began as a local event, too, Mallman said, but he wanted it to be a worldwide event, and even the first year, he had participants from other states.
To help it grow further, he began to research traditional instruments and reach out through social media to musicians who played them.
“I had to come up with a way to find people in other countries,” he said. “I wanted to build a sense of community and connection and show that people can work together on something that can inspire the world.”
This year, Play Music on the Porch Day still involves working together, even if it looks a little different, given the pandemic and the fires in California.
The event website sets out the rules for participation: Be safe, go outside (if you can) and play music.
“If you want to hum in your kitchen and that’s how you feel safe, do it,” Mallman said. “The important part is making music on the same day together.”
Pinniped on the (virtual) Porch
- What: The Olympia Celtic trio will be live-streaming a porch concert in honor of Play Music on the Porch Day, held each year on the last Saturday in August.
- When: From 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 29
- Where: Pinniped’s Facebook page
- More information: http://playmusicontheporchday.com/