Got
any newsy tidbits?
Let us know. E-mail them to: bernadette@celticcafe.comWe
started the "Buzz" section here at the Celtic Cafe as a means
of sharing some of the news and information posted to our associated mail lists,
which are devoted mostly (but not exclusively) to Irish dance and Celtic music.
For more detailed information, and to join in the discussion about "anything
Celtic," please sign up for our main list, large and very international.
Click on the following: Celtic
Cafe Yahoo Group • • •
Please
note:
A new page for Cafe Buzz items will appear approximately
every two weeks. To go to our current Cafe
Buzz items via our main page, click here. To
see our Buzz for May 11-24, click here.
To
see our first page of "newsy tidbits," click
here. • • • June
7 BLOOMSDAY CELEBRATIONS on
June 16th Have you read James Joyce's masterpiece
Ulysses yet? The novel recounts the hour-by-hour events of one day
in Dublin—June 16, 1904, as the protaganist Leopold Bloom "wends
his way through the urban landscape, the odyssey of a modern-day Ulysses."
James Joyce fans in at least sixty countries celebrate the day, but of course
the best place is in Dublin. Streets, shops, pubs, churches, bridges -- something
of Dublin pops up on nearly every page of the book. There the events of Leopold
Bloom's day are re-enacted by anyone who cares to participate, and his itinerary
is followed all across Dublin. Next year marks the centenary of Bloomsday, and
big plans are in the works by the James
Joyce Centre there. Bloomsday
100 will be the biggest one-off event of its kind in Ireland -- a broad-based,
multidisciplinary festival. Click
here to learn more. We learn from the followng press
release that the Fadó Irish Pub
and Restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia, will celebrate by offering a week's
worth of menu specials, a limerick contest and a day-long Bloomsday event on Saturday,
June 14th, that will celebrate the life of James Joyce and give patrons a feel
for "A Day in Dublin." Starting on Monday, June 9th, Fadó will
offer a special menu commemorating Leopold Bloom's walk through Dublin, including:
steak and kidney pie, liver and onions and a bacon-wrapped filet. In conjunction
with the weeklong lead-up to the Saturday Bloomsday celebration, Fadó will
also conduct a limerick contest throughout the week. The grand prizewinner will
be announced at the Bloomsday event on Saturday, June 14th at midnight. The grand
prize is a $500 party at Fadó for the winner. The grand prizewinner will
also have his/her limerick printed on Fadó placemats throughout the country.
From noon to 10 p.m. on Saturday, June 14, Fadó will offer a taste
of Dublin platter complete with one miniature trinity steak boxty (a traditional
Irish dish), one miniature seafood boxty, one miniature vegetable boxty, a shepherd's
pie sample, a corned beef and cabbage portion, traditional brown bread and five
samplings of Irish beverages including Guinness, Black and Tan, Harp, a Shandy
and a Snakebite. Limericks will be read every hour on the hour until a distinguished
panel of judges decides the winner at midnight. All limerick contestants must
be present to win and classical garb is encouraged for the day. Zach Brown will
provide musical entertainment beginning at 10 p.m. In keeping with the controversial
nature of Joyce's "Ulysses," Fadó thongs and boxer shorts will
be sold throughout the day. They will also be given away as prizes. "Beer,
food, limericks and thongs - James Joyce would have had it no other way." Fadó
is located at 3035 Peachtree Road in Atlanta (across from the ESPN Sports Zone).
Telephone: 404 841-0066. Remember, no one throws a bash like the Irish! See the
website at: fadoirishpub.com The
James Joyce Centre in Dublin: JamesJoyce.ie
•
• • June 6 WGBH'S
"A CELTIC SOJOURN" EXPANDS TO THREE HOURS Brian
O'Donovan has hosted the Celtic Sojourn
radio program on WGBH in Boston for a
very long time, and we are fortunate that with the advent of Internet broadcasting,
we can tune in from anywhere in the world! The show is "available on demand"
-- so listen whenever it's most convenient during the week, not just the live
broadcast, and you'll hear the best in Celtic music programming! To
celebrate the expansion of the program to three hours, they will have a
live in-studio concert this Saturday by Randal Bays and Daithi Sproule.
Randal is an internationally recognized fiddler and guitarist in the Irish tradition,
and Daithi, a native of Derry, is one of the premier guitarists and singers --
and a member of the renowned Donegal group Altan.
Later this summer, Eileen
Ivers and Immigrant Soul will join Brian in the studio. Live concerts
by Lunasa and Tony
McManus are already available on the Web through the Celtic
Sojourn website. Tomorrow, June 7, Brian begins the show
with an American waltz - Midnight on the Water - played on the Uilleann Pipes
by Michael Cooney. Sean Tyrrell, Cathy Custy, Teada, and Kevin MacLeod
and Alec Finn's new CD, From Polbain to Oranmore, are featured,
as well as gifted singer Lasairfhíona
Ní Chonaola. Lasairfhíona alone would
be worth tuning in for! See our focus on her and her new solo CD “An Raicín
Álainn” (A Beautiful Comb) via the current CD review in Paul
Carr's section at the Celtic Cafe -- click
here. The full playlist for A
Celtic Sojourn is available at wgbh.org/celtic
or directly by clicking
here. Thanks so much to Brian and WGBH for that extra hour of pure listening
enjoyment! • • • June
5 CAPE BRETON FIDDLE RECORDING
INDEX Alan Snyder has a very cool and useful
website. Some of the best Celtic music comes from the Cape Breton region of Nova
Scotia, and we love especially the sound of Cape Breton fiddle! Favorite musicians
around here include Natalie MacMaster
and Ashley MacIsaac, and we
are proud to have a very special Celtic Cafe interview with the "Father of
Cape Breton Fiddle," Buddy MacMaster. Click
here to read that and listen to some samples of tunes he played especially
for the Celtic Cafe community. Alan's CBfiddle.com
website contains a comprehensive index of commercial recordings of Cape Breton
fiddle tunes! Use this site to identify the tunes contained on a recording, and
to locate recordings on which a tune is played. His goal is to provide the most
complete and accurate listing of the contents of Cape Breton fiddle recordings.
The need for this "Fiddle Recording Index" is motivated by the unfortunate
fact that the liner notes of most Cape Breton fiddle records contain errors or
omissions. CBfiddle.com provides
a central place where corrections can be made and found, and we encourage and
applaud this endeavor. In addition to that most valuable resource,
Alan also has a gallery of photos from the Celtic
Colours International Festival held each autumn, and he includes not only
the legendary and upcoming Cape Breton artists, but the scenery! What a great
way to get good glimpses of this famous part of Canada! In
his "Miscellaneous" category, he even has photos of the "infamous"
places we've heard about, but not actually seen until now, such as the "Curl
Up and Dye" and "Lick-a-Chick" establishments. Kudos to Alan for
such a useful and fun site! To see for yourself, go to www.CBfiddle.com •
• • June 4 KATE
GOURLEY WEDS MICHAEL BRIDGES One thing we never expected
to mention here at the Celtic Cafe is the topic of sports -- not even the
Boston CELTICS. Well,
it's happened, and in such a nice context! Many in the Celtic Cafe community had
the privilege of watching the lovely Kate Gourley dance the lead when she
was with Lord of the Dance and Feet of Flames, and she has now married
Michael Bridges, the Leeds United
football striker -- who has obviously made a perfect match! They are honeymooning
in the Maldives, and will live in Harrogate. We congratulate
the happy couple, and wish them a lifetime of happiness! •
• • June 3 LARRY
KIRWAN'S LIVERPOOL FANTASY Larry
Kirwan of Black 47 is such
an interesting and multi-talented individual that we could run a Cafe
Buzz item on him and his projects every other day! Today we'll focus on his
just-released novel "Liverpool Fantasy." Here is the Entertainment
Weekly review:
"A world without the Beatles is a grim place,
especially if your name is John Lennon. In the alternate universe of Larry
Kirwan's novel Liverpool Fantasy, the band disintegrates in 1962, and,
a quarter of a century later, John is Liverpool's town drunk, bitter both about
his hangovers --"dawn snuck through a tear in the curtain and threw up all
over the ducks on the wall" -- and his former writing partner's success under
the nom de schmaltz Paul Montana. Meanwhile, Father George Harrison,
S.J., has some grave doubts about his career, and only Ringo has much
dignity--if the word is not too grandiose to apply to the drummer for Gerry
and the Pacemakers. Oh, and the U.K. is overrun by the right-wing National
Front. Perhaps you have an inkling that the band will reunite for a misty-eyed
gig in an endearingly dank pub. Perhaps you sense that some speculative musings
preceded the climax (John: I know this is way beyond you, but we could have changed
the bloody world"). You're right, and if this novel were merely about the
Four, then it would be far from fab. But Kirwan, a playwright and the frontman
for the band Black 47, spins it as a realist tale of friendships neglected
and dreams deferred, featuring shockingly credible versions of personas you know
and love. Only Mean Mr. Mustard would sneer. B+ Entertainment Weekly" You
can actually read a chapter of this intriguing new book at the
Black47.com website! See our feature on Larry Kirwan at the Celtic
Cafe by clicking here. We
have so much more to share in the way of "newsy tidbits" about Larry,
that you'll see other items here very soon, as well as on our main page at celticcafe.com
-- particularly information about his brainchild, the American
Fleadh, which will hit 9 American cities this summer! Did
you miss Earle Hitchner's
Irish Echo column about the Re-Imagining
Ireland conference, with Larry on a "Celtic Music and Dance"
panel moderated by Mick Moloney? Click
here. The other luminaries included Jean
Butler, Micheál O'Súilleabháin
and Nicholas Carolan,
co-founder and director of Dublin's Irish
Traditional Music Archive. Wish we could have been there! •
• • June 2 ELLAVATION
CD PHOTO SHOOT Wonder if the Spider-Man
film folks had seen the pic of fiddler Ella
Haluk on the right, if they would have asked her to appear in the movie?!
That scintillating attire was part of the photo shoot for Ella's upcoming CD "Ellavation."
We've had a fair amount of focus on this amazingly talented violinist through
her work with Gaelforce Dance
and currently as a guest musician in the terrific new Irish dance show, Dance
of Desire, playing at the Ambassador Theater in Dublin throughout the next
few months. Having heard some preview tracks from "Ellavation," we think
that many outside of the Irish dance/Celtic music community here will soon be
very aware of this young woman! We will be keeping
you updated on "The Making of Ellavation," as we have been following
the process not just as a fan of Ella's, but out of curiosity -- what's involved,
anyway? How do talented musicians get their music on that little round disk and
out to fans and would-be fans? Click
here to see our Celtic Cafe feature on Ella (with more amazing photos)
and Alan Whelan of Solitaire
Studio about the start of it all, and rest assured that we will be keeping
the Buzz on Ella throughout the rest of the process. See EllaHaluk.com
for more on the CD's recent photo shoot. • • • June
1 MICHAEL FLATLEY IN ST.
PETERSBURG Our first Buzz item on this page (scroll
to bottom) was about the exciting news that Michael
Flatley would be returning to the stage after not having performed publicly
for two years. He couldn't resist the invitation to dance before world leaders
meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia,
for the 300th Anniversary celebrations - who could?! By all
accounts, yesterday's performance went exceedingly well, although the Irish tabloids
are trying to sell a few extra copies of their papers by claiming that Michael's
choice to perform the thrilling and powerful "Warlords" with
some of his best dancers from "Lord
of the Dance" ruffled a few feathers. Does President Vladimir
Putin in the photo on the right look anything but pleased with the performance?! Click
here for the scan of an article about how some humorous banter can lead
to just plain silly headlines. If you'd like to join us in letting those
folks know how you feel about this, click on the following to send a letter to
the Editor at the: Irish
Independent Here's an additional example of "Tabloid-Mania"
- click here for The Sun
article of June 2, entitled "Warlord of the Dance." Click
here to send them a letter to express your opinion, won't you? •
• • May 31 EDDIE
STACK'S "THE WEST" We're exposed to many wonderful
CDs here at the Celtic Cafe, but The
West is the first "spoken word" one we're highlighting. Eddie
Stack was born in West Clare and learned traditional music on the mandolin
from his grandmother. Later he played with the Russell Brothers and the
Killougherys and received a grant from the Irish Arts Council to
research traditional music and storytelling in the Doolin region of Clare. In
the early 1980s he toured the U.S. with Tommy Peoples, Paddy
Keenan and Johnny Moynihan as the group Last Night's Fun.
He emigrated to the United States in 1986. In San Francisco he founded The
Island, an Irish journal and also set up a small press to publish Irish writers.
Stack received the ALA Small Press Publisher of the Year Award in 1989. In 1991
he received a Top 100 Irish American Award in response to his first book
of short fiction, The West: Stories
from Ireland. Eddie Stack is co-founder of the Irish
Arts Foundation, a San Francisco-based organization whose mission is to
foster and further Irish art and culture in California. From 1991 to 2000 he was
artistic director of the IAF and produced the annual S.F. Celtic Music and Arts
Festival, the San Francisco Film Fleadh, Finnigans Awake (Irish Writers Festival)
and Cruinniú Music Festival. In 2000 he returned to
Ireland. His first collection of short stories, The West, is now available
as an eBook from www.tintaun.com.
A spoken word CD of four stories from the book read by Stack, features music by
Martin Hayes and Dennis
Cahill. A second collection of his short stories, Out of The Blue,
is due to be published this summer. His book on the tradition-bearers of Doolin,
which features interviews with Micho Russell, Paddy Shannon and others,
is due to be published in 2004. For a taste of this celebrated story teller,
read Limbo online: tintaun.com/limbo.html •
• • May 30 THE
CHIEFTAINS "DOWN THE OLD PLANK ROAD" PBS,
the Public Broadcasting System in the U.S., does it again! We appreciate them
for all the great Irish/Celtic-related programming they offer, and indeed, it
was the PBS showings of Riverdance
and Lord of the Dance that
first sparked in us an interest in "Celtic culture" -- and that led
to the formation of the Celtic Cafe website and discussion groups! During June,
many PBS stations will broadcast The Chieftains: Down the Old Plank Road.
In September 2002, top country and bluegrass stars joined this legendary Irish
band to celebrate the ties that bind Ireland's enduring musical heritage to the
heartland of America. This once-in-a-lifetime concert, filmed
at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium, featured Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss,
Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Patty Griffin, the Del McCoury Band, Gillian Welch,
David Rawlings, Jeff White, Tim O'Brien, and John Hiatt. The concert
was also the final performance of Chieftain Derek Bell, who had been with
the band for nearly 30 years and passed on shortly after the concert. Author Frank
McCourt (Angela's Ashes) hosts. It happens to premiere
on WLIW21, New York Public Television,
on Tuesday, June 10th, at 9 p.m. but you can check your local PBS stations
to see when it's showing in your area. Go to the PBS home page and enter your
zip code: www.pbs.org •
• • May 29 DANCE
OF DESIRE IN KILLARNEY - Friday, May 30 We are very excited
about the new Irish dance show, Dance of Desire, which premiered recently
in Dublin and Paris. Tomorrow, Friday, marks the World Premiere in Killarney,
at Ireland's National Event Centre!
Set in a land of ancient Gods, High Kings and Warrior Queens,
Dance of Desire tells a story based on the power and passion of the Celtic legends
of Erin. This is a newly conceived show spectacular produced in Ireland, which
comprises lines of tantalising World and All-Ireland champion Irish step dancers
coupled with a selection of Ireland’s most celebrated musical and vocal virtuosos.
Our full feature about this wonderful production is almost ready, so please check
back soon -- meanwhile, browse our earlier Cafe
Buzz items about Dance of Desire to learn more. After
the special "one-off" performance in Killarney, Dance of Desire resumes
its run at the Ambassador
Theatre in Dublin through 2nd October, 2003. Showtimes at 8:30 nightly,
Sunday - Thursday (inclusive.) We can hardly wait for the World
Tour! • • • May 28 THE
BOYS FROM COUNTY CLARE Celtic music festivals are very
popular among fans here in the Celtic Cafe community, and now we are fortunate
to actually get a major film showcasing the "All-Ireland" traditional
music finals! Originally entitled "The
Great Ceili War," the film, directed by John
Irvin, produced by Evzen
Kolar, and starring Andrea
Corr, has a new name: "The Boys From County Clare." Andrea
(tin whistle, lead vocals) and her siblings form the hugely popular group The
Corrs, who are set to join Riverdance
in the Special Olympics
Opening Ceremony in Dublin on June 21st. Click
here for an earlier Cafe Buzz item about that. "Set
against a backdrop of traditional Irish music in 1970s rural Ireland, this ensemble
comedy drama centres around two brothers, both fiddle players, who meet up again
for the first time in twenty-five years as band leaders and arch rivals in the
finals of the All Ireland Ceili Band Competition, the strict time music
of jigs, reels and hornpipes played for set dancers. Now both in their fifties,
and with an old score to settle concerning their estrangement, their story --
and that of those around them -- is a story of music, sabotage, love and eventual
forgiveness, of Montagues versus Capulets, and a pair of young star-crossed lovers,
both musicians in the rival bands." The "fiddle player"
character of Anne is Andrea Corr's first time as a lead in a film, although we
admire her work in previous, and much smaller roles, such as in "The
Commitments" (which also featured Ronan
Hardiman in a bit part with very long hair!) and opposite Madonna
in "Evita." Other
leads in The Boys From County Clare
include Jim Broadbent (Gangs
of New York, Iris), Colm
Meaney (Star Trek),
Eamonn Owens
(Angela's Ashes, Magdalene Sisters, Butcher Boy) and Bernard
Hill (Lord of the Rings).
The Boys From
County Clare is a presentation of First
Look Media and Studio Hamburg WWP in association with the Isle
Of Man Film Commission and TPC Film Productions. Now a division of
First Look Media, Overseas Filmgroup will handle worldwide licensing for the film,
and is one of the few truly independent worldwide film distribution companies
specializing in the acquisition, financing, packaging and distribution of independently-produced
feature films of all genres. One of their past films of special interest to the
Celtic Cafe is the very entertaining Waking
Ned Devine -- if you haven't yet seen it, do so! The
Corrs' official site is at: thecorrswebsite.com
and First Look Media is at: firstlookmedia.com
• • • May 27 THE
NATIONAL EISTEDDFOD OF WALES The National Eisteddfod
of Wales is Europe's biggest cultural festival, and this year is being held
from August 2 to August 9. This annual celebration features performers from all
over the nation, and alternates locations each year between North and South Wales.
The music-making and poetry-writing is a unique celebration of Welsh language,
art, culture and heritage. Click
here for a very special Celtic Cafe feature about the 2001 Eisteddfod,
and learn about the pageantry, poetry, dancing, music and food -- and why the
Eistoddfod attracts so many international visitors. The English-language version
of the official site is at: eisteddfod.org.uk/english
•
• • May 26 CUSTY'S
MUSIC SHOP Custy's, the terrific music shop in Ennis,
County Clare, which offers the best of Irish traditional music though their charming
website, now features video clips shot in session! One can actually get
a flavor of the musical talent and personalities of the artists via high-resolution
-- especially when the "full screen" option is used! They
have seven different clips up at the moment, and that number will increase steadily.
Musicians currently featured are Siobhan Peoples and Murty Ryan, Mary
Custy and Quentin Cooper, Pat O' Connor, Kitty Hayes and Eoin O'
Neill, Andrew McNamara, Vincent Griffin and Kevin
Crawford. Kevin, "front man" of Lúnasa,
is a personal favorite here at the Celtic Cafe, as are all the Lúnasa
Lads. Check out his "In Good Company" CD, especially via the
taste in the video clip at Custy's. You can hear Kevin and Lunasa's latest CD,
Redwood, via RealAudio at the Green
Linnet website, and even a full MP3 track!
Click here. Custy's offers an extensive range of
traditional Irish music CDs, books and videos with special emphasis on independently-produced
recordings of quality local music. The shop has earned a worldwide reputation
for dealing in musical instruments - fiddles, concertinas, flutes, banjos and
whistles. Bodhráns feature prominently with a vast choice of Irish drums
by some of the best bodhrán makers in the world. We love their personalized
artwork gracing the website -- click
here for an example. The main page of Custy's website
is located at: custysmusic.com
•
• • May 25 MICHAEL
FLATLEY TO PERFORM AT ST. PETERSBURG TRI-CENTENNIAL The
beautiful artistic and cultural centre of St.
Peterburg, Russia, will become the focus of world media attention over
the coming days. On Saturday there will be a summit of world leaders, there to
help celebrate the 300th anniversary of this historic city. What does this have
to do with the Celtic Cafe? Well, Michael
Flatley and a number of his "Lord
of the Dance" troupe will be performing! Eddie
Rowley of the Sunday World newspaper in Ireland reports exclusively
that Michael Flatley has been "summoned out of retirement to dance for world
leaders in Russia..." He simply "couldn't resist the thrill and huge
honour of performing at the exclusive event, which will take place in the magnificent
Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg. It has been completely restored to its original
glory for the anniversary celebrations." We'll be bringing
you news and information as we get it, and post to our CelticCafeFLATLEY
Yahoo Group/mail list, as well as our MIKEroCosm.
Meanwhile, here is the official St. Petersburg city site for the Jubilee: eng.gov.spb.ru/gov/jubilee •
• • Read the first-ever Cafe Buzz items by clicking
here.
Read the second page of Cafe Buzz items by
clicking here.
Feature: Bernadette
Price
Original Web Design: Alexander
Servas
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