Archive for category music
dublin irish fest 2011
what an AMAZING weekend! you cannot go wrong when you get down to dublin and the young dubliners are playing. add to that a phone call to beverly while they were playing (and it turns out her FIRST phone call on her BRAND NEW IPHONE being set up in the apple store) and it made their the all the more interesting. next up were the elders (the PRIDE of kansas city) in their FIRST showing at dublin. let’s just say, they WILL be asked back! finally, the band that is crazy enough (and well liked enough) to play friday night in dublin before driving to waterloo, iowa for another show, the ALWAYS entertaining gaelic storm. even with a few audio glitches, the boys (and girl) never fail to disappoint and put on a set that rocked the house. after having been busy all day before getting down to dublin, i turned in early (around 3AM) and did not really stay around for the seisuns. for friday’s photos, look HERE
saturday started off by heading to the band homeland. although they are local, i will stack them up against any of the bands that come in for the fest from around the world. led by scott mcgillvray, homeland just ROCKED the house. then it was time to chase all the way over to the other side of the festival. after catching what was my most memorable golf cart ride ever (thank you to a certain someone who knows who they are) we caught a set by the incomparable moya brennan (of her own and clannad fame) whose band included the amazing cormac des barra on harp, sinead madden on fiddle, and her daughter aisling on guitar. AMAZING, just AMAZING! next up, the multi-talented step crew. combining irish step dance, master fiddle playing and a bit of humor, cara butler, jon pilatzke, dan stacey, and the rest of the gang are a whirlwind of both dance and music. if you ever get to see them, i HIGHLY recommend it!
working my way back to the main stage, i caught the ALWAYS entertaining mossy moran, and the absolutely hysterical tartan terrors. i got back in time to catch another incredible group, barleyjuice. led by kyf brewer, these guys come at you with an incredible sound that will leave you musically satisfied even if you saw NO OTHER band that weekend. deciding to stay at that stage for the rest of the night (great music and a chocolate banana also helped keep me there). next up, were the tossers from chicago. these guys (and woman) can rock your face off! they are also very interesting golf cart drivers (see the photos in the zenfolio gallery!). so, how do you top all of this? with the young dubs, of course! fantastic as usual, one had to feel a little bad for the band as once their set ended, they had to drive straight to waterloo iowa to perform at a festival on sunday.
but the festival doesn’t REALLY end at 11:00. heading back to the host hotel for the bar, a seisun led by cathy jordan (of dervish) and john doyle broke out at our little table in the corner of the bar. it eventually grew to about 12 players before the bar manager almost had a heart attack while trying to shut everything down at 2:20 AM, and then it moved out into the hallway where i decided to call it a night at about 5am with the music still playing.
for the rest of the photos from saturday, look in THIS gallery.
sunday! day 3 of trying to kill my liver while listening to great music! no, i did not get up early enough to see the druid service, but i did catch up with the always entertaining roger drawdy and the firestarters. next up, was barleyjuice again, followed by another great performance of step crew.
i was on my way back to the main stage at 4:30, when the weather decided it was not going to cooperate on this day. with big storms in the area, all of the stages were shut down and people ordered to take cover in the rec center. a lot of the musicians made it back to the operations office, and of course, a seisun broke out there! at 5:30 ALL of the stages except the finale were closed down for the night (denying scythian a whole set after driving from iowa, poor guys) and then at 6 it was decided there would be an extra long finale. led by cathy jordan of dervish, the finale was a great send-off to a great weekend!
for pictures from sunday, look HERE
cleveland irish fest 2011
what would a cleveland irish fest be without rain? once again, we will not know. sporting a VERY good lineup this year, the cleveland irish fest was once again hot as could be, but a very enjoyable time nonetheless. regulars like seven nations (performing for the 12th consecutive time at CCIF) and the INCREDIBLE eileen ivers & immigrant soul featuring tommy mcdonnell wowed the crowds, along with recent adds to the regular schedule such as the incredible diver sisters known as the screaming orphans, and the always energetic band, scythian!
new to the cleveland festivities this year were the band slide, fronted by the whirlwind known as daire bracken, the fantastic mickey finns out of new york city, and the kreelers, a great band from the motor city!
for the rest of the photos, click HERE
polina k rocks mike’s barn
polina, eve and i went out to meet my business partner (and most excellent bass and harmonica player) rob winwood out at mike’s barn to check out an AMAZING jazz guitarist named conrad reeves. well, he lived up to his reputation that has preceeded him (and this was BEFORE the tullamore dew)!
after introducing polina to mike, he convinced her to play a few songs with a set of musicians she had never played with. after 5-10 minutes of showing the guys the structures of HER songs (NOT covers), they did a GREAT job! (I am telling you that after having gone to the barn for a few years, i have NEVER seen a bad musician there!)
WHAT A NIGHT! HERE is some of the visual proof!
luau @ whiskey island
More than 50 people turned out for 4 different Meetup groups luau down at Whiskey Island. Apparently, Carmelina and Alice seemed to be having the best of times, as is evidenced by the pictures that can be found HERE.
cuyahoga falls irish fest 2011
festival season is here again! it all starts around here down in cuyahoga falls. this is actually a nice little festival that is one of the only free ones left. this year the festival featured seven nations and the glengary bhoys, two staples of the festival circut. everybody was having fun as wendy and laura danced to the bhoys, rebecca got to be a judge for best kilt, which dave decorated his knees in an attempt to win.
for the rest of the photos, see them HERE
hessler street fair 2011
hessler 2011 provide to be both fun and bittersweet as getting to see the always fun carlos jones & the P.L.U.S. band work their magic over the crowd, and seeing the band mifune perform their LAST performance as a unit.
for the rest of the photos, you can find them HERE
photo shoot with polina k
did a couple of quick photo shoots with an amazing musician named polina kourakina! first, we did some at a coffee shop in lakewood, then at a mini-concert at a an old school that is now home to a few artists.
you check out her music @ www.polinakmusic.com
for more pictures from the coffee shop shoot, go here. for the school concert, check here.
pittsburgh irish fest 2010
pittsburgh irish fest 2010 featured an absolutely god-awful traffic jam, and some serious rain on saturday night, but when it cam to the music, that was well worth the effort of getting to this festival. getting to see gaelic storm, scythina, the screaming orphans, and the makem and spain brothers are ALWAYS goo.
to see the rest of the photos, here is the link
milwaukee irish fest 2010
after having been to the dublin irish fest in dublin, ohio (which gets over 105,000 people over 3 days) one would have THOUGHT i would have bee semi-prepared for the size and scope of the milwaukee irish fest! guess again! this festival is THE largest irish fest in the WORLD, reaching numbers of 200,000 over 4 days!
the festival is very nice as all of the stages are isolated from each other (so music doesn’t spill over) and very weel organized! but those are not what draw so many to this event. it is THE AMAZING lineup of musicians! this year the line-up ran from the different drums of ireland (which i missed and regretted having done soafter what i heard!), gaelic storm (who ALWAYS pake the stage they play), scythian (who RETIRED the famous pink sweater), the screaming orphans (ALWAYS great fun to see), the amazing band slide, along with some new ones to me including the red hot chili pipers (yes, you read that right – NOT peppers).
the hotel party was especially good, and can’t wait for the 2011 version! for more of the photos, look HERE
cleveland irish fest 2010
why is is ALWAYS so hot when this fest rolls around every year? not only is the temperature hot, but so is the music. this year saw the screaming orphans, seven nations, and eileen ivers & immigrant soul return, but scythian made it’s cleveland irish fest debut.
all seemed to be going well until mother nature decided we needed a little liquid cooling off (okay, a lot of liquid cooling off). this did create one of the coolest things to happen at one of these festivals when the sisters from donegal, the screaming orphans, being unable to perform on the rock stage due to the wetness and electricity (never a good combo), decided to do an impromptu acoustic set underneath the grandstand.