Day: November 1, 2016

And the Making of UNI by Melissa LaScaleia Dan O’Reilly is a musician with the jazz band UNI. He’s been living in Myrtle Beach and playing music here for over twenty years; and he has a wonderful story to tell about how he started and what he offers the Market Common crowd. “I’ve always been interested in music as far back as I can remember,” Dan says. “I had a toy saxophone before I had a real one. Music has never not been part of my life.” Saxophone is one of a few different instruments he plays, but it’s the one he plays the best. “It’s sort of like my first love,” he explains. “I always loved the sound of it. When I was in middle school, I was in my bedroom and a song came through on the radio— it was about 1978. I heard Clarence Clemons, he was the saxophone player in Bruce Springsteen’s band. That sound just grabbed me and touched something inside of me. And I knew: that’s what I need to do, that thing.” Dan began listening to as many saxophone players as he could. The more he learned about Clarence Clemons, the more musicians he found that influenced Clarence’s style. So he started listening to them. He worked his way backwards, and started listening to musicians from the ’60s, ’50s and ’40s. In his quest to find “who influenced who,” he started to find wonderful, amazing musicians. As a young adult, Dan attended college for music, where he received a primarily classical education. “I’m very fortunate that this particular band locks so well together. I think a big part of it is that we genuinely like each other.”— Dan O’Reilly (Photo Meganpixels Parker) “It was the early ’80s, and they didn’t teach jazz and rock and roll in school at that time,” he says. “There were some schools that had jazz programs, but not mine. So I didn’t explore it at that time.” Dan organically found his way into playing in a professional capacity. “A friend of mine at school played classical in the classroom and rock and roll in the clubs,” he says. “He mentioned he had a friend who had a band that needed a saxophone player, and I connected with them, and that was the beginning of it all. I started playing in bars, and I still play in bars now.” “My entire life, I’ve either made my full income or a significant portion of it from playing music,” he adds. “I just followed what I was passionate about and kept finding opportunities to do it. One door leads to another door— one band leads to another.” Lisa O’Reilly on vocals for the band at the Market Common. (Photo Meganpixels Parker) Dan grew up on Long Island, New York, and played blues and rock and roll in New York City and in the Hamptons in the early ’80s and ’90s. But after some years, he got tired of New York and the snow and cold. He moved to Myrtle Beach in September of 1994, and met several musicians right away. He joined their blues band and was having a great time playing at the House of Blues, Broadway at the Beach, and pretty much every other venue there was in town. Then the band he was in dissolved. Dan was looking for a new challenge musically, so used the opportunity of the band’s break-up to teach himself jazz music. “It was an entirely new language and vocabulary I had to learn,” he says in speaking of his experience stepping into the genre. “The thing about music, is that if you want to be able to play something well, you have to listen to a lot of it before you’re really going to be comfortable in it.” He began listening to a lot of great players and copied what he heard. Dan and Lisa strut their stuff on the streets of Market Common. “Music has never not been a part of my life.” — Dan O’Reilly (Photo Meganpixels Parker) “The best way to figure out how to do it is to listen a lot and then try,” he says. One day, Dan found a piano player and suggested they play songs together at a local restaurant. And that’s what they did. After awhile, Dan found a bass player and then, a drummer. Shortly after he married his wife, she joined their ranks as vocalist. His wife’s parents were from an earlier generation, so the music she listened to growing up was a lot of Frank Sinatra. Her natural affinity to sing that type of music was a perfect fit with the band. His group was born. Dan attributes the successful flow and cohesiveness of his band to several factors. “Musically we listen to each other, we give each other space,” Dan says. “Jazz is a very improvised music. If you hear it once, you’ll hear it differently the next time. Very spontaneous creation is happening. But I like to think we do it in a way that serves the song rather than serves the person’s ego. A lot of times, you see a musician and think, that guy’s doing it all about himself. And other times you hear someone and you think, ‘Wow, they’re really playing the song.’ I want it to be about the song, not about me.” Other aspects Dan attributes to their success are that they genuinely like each other; and they all share a common goal when playing together. “We’re not an experimental band, a band that’s pushing boundaries or anything like that,” he says. “We’re more traditional. I try to play songs with strong melodies and pretty harmonies, and a good beat you can dance to if you want, that people can connect with easily.  “We’re not in a place like New Orleans or New York, where people know a lot about jazz— so we want to make it accessible to people. For some people who … Read more

And Has a Good Time to Boot… by Melissa LaScaleia There are Gordon Biersch restaurants located all across the U.S. and as far away as Taiwan. Each restaurant has an extended community that all the others are a part of— and they extend that reach beyond their walls, creating a community-oriented presence in each neighborhood they inhabit. Gordon Biersch releases new beers seasonally throughout the year, all brewed in-house by the brewmaster at their on-site brewery. Each release is cause for a celebration called a tapping party; the proceeds from which benefit a designated charity. Every party is unique in its theme; and it’s up to the management team to decide who receives the proceeds, as there are countless patrons and groups who would like to be selected for the honor. Jessi Leeson-McClure, Gordon Biersch’s general manager for the Market Common location, wanted to focus on supporting smaller, and if possible, local charities for her parties. “We get together as a management group and speak about the options, and figure out what the best one is in that moment,” she says. This year, they divided donations amongst Grand Strand Miracle Leagues, Red Cross, Children’s Recovery Center, Making Strides, Military Officers Association of America, and Neighbor to Neighbor. Major tapping parties occur predictably throughout the year, when they showcase what’s on-tap for the season— but they also host various minor ones that can change year- to-year. Barristers Dynesha Davis and Ernestine Wilson, September 14, 2016 get into the spirit of things with traditional German costume at the Oktoberfest beer tapping party. That’s the case for this past October’s minor tapping party, in which the restaurant is teaming up with eight other Gordon Biersch locations along the east coast to support Making Strides, in Washington, D.C., a charity which funds breast cancer research. “This is our first time having a tapping party in October,” Jessi says. “And as soon as we heard it was an option, we all felt strongly that we wanted to do something to be a part of this cause.” Some of their regular tapping parties pay homage to ancient festivals from around the world. Oktoberfest, held in September, is a German-themed party, complete with those who dress up in traditional German outfits. Maibock is held in April, and the theme varies every year— sometimes it’s a summer theme, and sometimes a take-me-out-to-the-ball-game theme. Summerbrau, in June, is always the same— a luau and pig roast, which Jessi describes in one word— “awesome.” And in December, they host Winterbock, which has a winter white-out theme bedecking the restaurant. “When we have a tapping party, each person’s donation goes directly to the charity, we don’t take any proceeds,” Jessi says. “We donate the food and the beer for the event, and patrons get the new beer on tap and access to the buffet. People come to support a great cause and to be a part of our culture and the community.” Halfway through the party, the managers and the brewmaster all get together and stand on top of the bar to announce the new brew release, the charity being benefitted, and whatever other conviviality is most befitting the moment. In keeping with German tradition, the brewmaster takes the first drink of the season’s beer from a big glass boot, and passes it around until it’s empty. Surprisingly, no one has ever dropped the boot. “Although, it was stolen once,” Jessi says. “But amazingly, we found it without a scratch behind a bush, around the corner from here.” Good news for all. Several years ago, a group of regular patrons, who live in the Highland Meadow Community off of Farrow Parkway, decided to add their own celebration to the December mix. They took the initiative to collect toys for underprivileged children and fill the mostly empty box that Toys for Tots dropped off to the restaurant. One day, they surprised Gordon Biersch staff by descending upon them like Santa Claus and his elves, their festively decorated golf carts filled to over-brimming with toys as they paraded from their community to the Market Common. Santa’s Little Helpers from the Highland Meadow Community gather at Gordon Biersch to spread magic at the holidays. Dressed as carolers and passing out candy canes, they delivered their gifts to Gordon Biersch and filled twelve giant Toys for Tots boxes for them. Last year they increased the amount; and this year, they want to make it even bigger. Come out to the Market Common to see the parade this year on Saturday, December 3— they usually arrive in the morning before noon, bedecked in holiday attire and full of merriment. “They are a great group of people who wanted to do a great thing,” says Jessi. “It just snowballed from there.” Gordon Biersch Open Su-Th 11am-11pm, Fr & Sa 11-12am Envelope Facebook Phone Internet-explorer