Examining my family’s grave differences - keeping the memories of our ancestors alive

North Arlington Cemetery (Sheena Chi)

The Easter season is upon us, which means that my parents are doing a tour of North Arlington Cemetery and other plots around Hudson County, New Jersey with my cousin Diane.

This ritual is going on right now, as I write this on Saturday morning in my pajamas with a steaming cup of joe next to me. 

The threesome will fuss over the graves, clearing weeds after a harsh winter and planting flowers that will greet the oncoming spring. It is a cathartic ritual for them, one my mother has been trying to instill in me for many years now. 

“We just love it,” she beamed over the Bluetooth speaker system of my car recently. 

“I suppose the weeds will choke us down under when your father and I are dead and gone. Who knows what will be the shape of our graves?” Her voice trailed off. 

“Subtle as ever,” another Mrs. Farragher said, rolling her eyes in the passenger seat once we hung up. 

My mother knows this tradition will die when she does. I admire the way she chooses to honor those that have gone before us, though I could do without the Molotov Cocktail of customary passive-aggressive guilt that she tossed into the car when I choose to honor those that went before us in prayer and memory alone.  

This curation of graves is fastidiously managed in Athenry and Ballylanders, where my grandparents are laid to rest. Indeed, a tour of the graves is part of your Irish vacation whether you like it or not, and one keeps their head down in the back seat for the afternoon during these stops if one knows what’s good for him. 

That’s the contradiction that is Mike Farragher -- he writes essays and books to keep the memories of his ancestors alive, yet has no interest in visiting their graves. 

I look forward to continuing my rock and read tour to publicize a book that looks backward for the most part. Go figure!

The conversation inspired me to dust off the Last Will and Testament to ensure my last wishes are clearly stated. 

No coffins. No trip to the funeral parlor for embalming. No cemetery plot. No church. No eulogy. No crying over a grave. 

My ashes will be scattered and licked by the waters of the ocean while a bagpiper plays, and anyone who pays their respects cannot help but think of the great memories we shared in the past while firmly gazing on the horizon ahead at the same time. 

As it is in my life, so shall it will also be in my death. 

Mike Farragher’s essays can be found in a series of This Is Your Brain on Shamrocks books. For more information, visit www.thisisyourbrainonshamrocks.com.

A date with WB Yeats and the Waterboys in New York City - VIDEO

Mike Scott of The Waterboys

Mike Scott and his Waterboys made a memorable “appointment with Mr. Yeats” in front of a jam-packed and adoring crowd on Broadway’s Town Hall last Tuesday.

The show, the only one of it’s kind in North America, coincides with the stateside release of An Appointment With Mr. Yeats, an epic album of songs fashioned around the words of the famous poet. 

I picked up a copy of the CD while traversing through Ireland a couple of years ago and here’s what I wrote about it back in 2011:  “Scott has crafted musical soundscapes worthy of this classic prose. His ‘White Birds’ has a majestic chord structure that expands into the open air, the sound of seagulls bobbing atop the guitars.”

Let me amend this review here and now with an extra sentence -- An Appointment With Mr. Yeats is one of the most important Irish albums to be released in the 16 years I have been slinging ink for this column. 

The music is a complex masterpiece that couches Yeats’ immortal words -- reason enough to buy the album as it gets released here this week – but it also inspires a deeper love of Yeats’ poetry and keeps the prose alive in an exhilarating new way. 

The concert opened with “The Hosting of the Shee,” a rallying cry that has all the heavy-handed bombast that goes with a rock show. 

Dressed in a black jacket, black striped pants, a black fedora and a gold sparkly scarf, you would be forgiven if you mistook the pouty-lipped Scott for Jagger or Tyler. Charisma oozed from every inch of his wispy frame, his fluid movements imbedded into each poem’s interpretation. 

The epic “Mad As the Mist and Snow” made a bizarre left turn when Scott donned a three-faced mask and prowled the stage while his band wore pointed black masks. It was slightly cartoonish, though Steve Wickham played the fiddle like a man possessed. 

Wickham’s playing is wonderfully versatile, with his scratches simulating seagulls on the poem “White Birds” before he leans in and does battle with the electric guitar soloist elsewhere. 

For this show, an all-new American Waterboys was unveiled.  "Touring America with a British/Irish band is tough financially and in the past has meant less shows, so I took the decision to assemble a new band for North America,” says Scott. 

“I hand-picked the players myself, most of whom I spotted playing in New York and was blown away by.” 

The new musicians are Elizabeth Ziman (vocals, from the band Elizabeth and the Catapult), Jay Barclay (guitar), Daniel Mintseris (keyboards, a member of St. Vincent), Malcolm Gold (bass), Ezra Oklan (drums) and Chris Layer (flute). 

Ziman’s voice flourishes on the poem “Before the World Was Made.  “What if I look upon a man as though am I beloved/why should he think me cool or that he is betrayed?” she sings, the sole electric piano cranking out spooky atmospherics as a backdrop. 

The first and most stirring of all the encores of the night was “The Stolen Child,” the first Yeats poem set to music, from the classic album Fisherman’s Blues. 

“Come away human child to the water/Come away human child to the waters and the wild/ With a faery hand in hand/For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand,” Scott sang, hunched over an electric piano as the band whirled around him.  

“I’m well aware I’m sculpting with words of the very highest quality, and this spurs me to write music at the peak of my own abilities and expression,” Scott has said.  

“The poems conjure an exquisite otherworld in my imagination, and I want to create the soundtrack of that world.  But I’m not intimidated or anything like that.  My job is to make the work as great as possible, same as it was for Yeats when he wrote or for me when I do my own music and lyrics.”

Scott succeeded, and mightily so, at accomplishing that on both the album itself and the evening’s performance. He ended the show with his own classic “Whole of the Moon,” proving his words can easily approach Yeats in greatness. 

“See you in the summer,” he said before taking a bow.

Scott mentioned to me in an interview that he is working on new music, and there is also recent news that he will be releasing a massive seven-CD box set titled Fisherman’s Box, to commemorate a quarter century since the release of Fisherman’s Blues. 

This compilation, containing 121 tracks and an incredible 85 unreleased tracks, will get an airing as the Waterboys will play a special tour of Britain and Ireland this December titled Fisherman’s Blues Revisited, reuniting Scott and Wickham with Fisherman's-era members Anto Thistlethwaite (Saw Doctors) and Trevor Hutchinson. Keep it tuned here for more information as it develops.

Watch The Waterboys peformance of 'Mad as the Mist and Snow' here 

Dropkick Murphy’s Ken Casey gave Neo-Nazi headbanger a smack down - VIDEO

Ken Casey of The Dropkick Murphys (AP)

The Internet is abuzz with news that Boston Celtic punks Dropkick Murphys gave a neo-Nazi fan a beat-down when they played Terminal 5 in New York for two nights prior to St. Patrick’s Day.

As has become tradition, the band invited the ladies to come onto the stage for their encore of "Kiss Me I'm S**tfaced,” and the crowd onstage soon swelled.  The band then kicked into "Skinhead on the MBTA" before breaking into “T.N.T.” by AC/DC. 

Some right eejit started “seig heiling” like a Nazi during the “Oy! Oy” portion of the song.  Dropkicks singer/bassist Ken Casey noticed this and smashed him in the face with his hand before walloping the guy with his bass.  Casey emerged from the pileup with his shirt torn and made his way back to the front of the stage.  

He strapped on his bass and said into the microphone "Nazis are not f***ing welcome at a Dropkick Murphys show."

I guess that Nazi moron learned that free speech can hurt sometimes.

Here's the Dropkick Murphy's "Skinhead on the MBTA":

Cabbage meets corned beef - the stir of family memories brought forth by this traditional Irish American meal

Granny Farragher

Corned beef and cabbage are two great tastes that taste great together.

I’ve heard numerous versions on how best to prepare it -- boil the meet twice, once to remove the salt; boil the meet first and use the same water for the cabbage, etc.

Then there was this time that my brother introduced the beef with the cabbage while we were in Ireland that became stuff of legend in my family.

I couldn’t have been more than seven and my brother Brendan was looking forward to starting school at the end of the summer. My father had clocked countless hours of overtime on the New Jersey Turnpike for this moment -- we were stepping out of the Dan Dooley Rent-A-Car and into the house of Granny Farragher.

She was there, peering over a green hedge as sharp as the crease on a pimp’s pant leg. This tough, grizzled old bird melted into a puddle of emotion as she outstretched her arms and welcomed her darling son home.

My little brother Brendan wasn’t paying much attention to this Hallmark Card moment unfolding on the front lawn. His eye had widened once he caught the chickens and roosters that clucked and pecked in the pen nearby.

Being from Jersey City, neither one of us had ever seen livestock -- what the organic food snobs among us would call “grass-fed beef” and “free range chicken” today.

Sure, there might have been that Catholic grade school field trip to the Turtle Back Zoo, where we saw the animals caged (and pet turtles and frogs to our heart’s content, gloriously oblivious to the salmonella they carried), but these animals in Ireland roamed free!

Uncle Paddy, my dad’s bachelor brother, would have scraped the crumbs from the toast of the morning’s breakfast into his palm and shook it into the pen, inspiring a cloud of feathers to flap at our feet. Brendan would stare blankly, transfixed.

Paddy would usher us away, eager to show the visiting Yanks the rest of the farm for the first time, but Brendan would linger a moment longer at the henhouse to watch the birds polish off the crumbs.

It was hard to get Brendan off the old horse Tom once he sat on him. He made no bones about pushing myself or these new Irish cousins we had just met out of the way so that he could feed Tom in the field next to Granny’s house. During our week-long stay there, the pair became fast friends.

Granny was a whirl of emotion inside the small galley kitchen in the back of the house, preparing a ham and cabbage lunch for the weary travelers. Everything had to be exact and the house was bursting at the seams with Yanks and local family, so the pressure was on the woman to deliver.

You can understand how she would dismiss the young boy absent-mindedly when he asked if there was anything in the kitchen to feed the cows that grazed behind the stone wall a few feet away.

“Eh, no, pet,” she would say, her knobbed thumb brushing the wisps of dyed brown hair that escaped the hard and pulled back bun on her head. “Run along and find something else to do.”

Obviously, Granny didn’t know little Brendan and the steely-eyed focus he has to this day. And weren’t those little eyes focused on the pale green sliced cabbage that was cut into quarters on the drain board?

Granny shifted her pipe cleaner body to reach for something on the top shelf, and that was all the opening Brendan needed. He tucked two quarters of cabbage under his arm and held the other two in his hand, his legs running as fast as they could toward the stone wall.

He had two cabbage quarters hurled over the fence toward the delighted cows before Granny knew what hit her. She spotted this out of the corner of her eye and ran out of the door.

“Well, God blast yeh!” she screamed out of the top of her lungs. In Farragher Gaelic speak that was common in these parts of Athenry, this translated into a string of four letter words not suitable to be printed in this family paper.

Corned beef and cabbage met that day in a backward manner that still makes me smile each time I say grace over that meal this time of year.

Mike Farragher has just released his new book, This Is Your Brain on Shamrocks2: 50 Shades o’ Green. For more information, log onto www.thisisyourbrainonshamrocks.com.

It’s another Celtic invasion - Larry Kirwan’s great music in a broken music business

Larry Kirwan

March ushers in a wave of Irish music, and this reviewer gets to the point where the compilation CDs become drink coasters around the house.

Larry Kirwan has captained a new one, Celtic Invasion, that is decidedly different because it attempts to spotlight great music while changing the broken music business model.

“The music business is at its worst in the many years that I’ve toiled in it – and that’s saying something,” laments Kirwan.

“Where once fat men in cheap suits up on 57th Street ruled before being replaced by coke-snorting numbers-crunchers, now it’s young dot-com warriors who ‘lease’ your music and pay fractions of a cent whenever someone deigns to listen to a track.

“But you can sit around until the cows come home lamenting that you didn’t go into some honest business like Wall Street, or you can find an alternate way of getting paid for making music.”

It was over a pint with Jon Birgé of Valley-Entertainment that the two came up with their solution -- how about if they got one great song from a dozen fine acts and put out a compilation CD?

Kirwan says he leveraged his bully pulpit with his show Celtic Crush on SiriusXM, the wildly popular program that recently took over the Sirius airwaves for all of last St. Patrick’s Day weekend, to negotiate a royalty on each CD sold for the bands. The bands in turn could buy the CDs at wholesale cost and mark up accordingly.

This meant that each band would be paid a royalty for every CD the 11 other bands sold, along with a first-class introduction to their other label mates’ fan base.

In other words, the more they sold the more they made; the more anyone else sells, the more that artist would make too!

Kirwan then went on a charm offensive and seduced some of the greatest talents to contribute to the CD. “Producing Celtic Crush for eight years has given me some experience finding great songs that have been overlooked in this teeming meat market of music,” he says.

He chose local classics like “You’re So Beautiful” by Pat McGuire, “Weekend Irish” by Barleyjuice, “McLean Avenue” by Shilelagh Law, “22” by Celtic Cross, and “Sullivan’s Lake” by Garrahan’s Ghost.

To bring in a wider Celtic influence he included two Scottish gems -- “Clash of the Ash” by Runrig, and “Wacko King Hako” by Peatbog Faeries who put grooves under bagpipes that have to be heard to be believed.

A collection of obscure acts would indeed be a tough sell, and Kirwan knew it.

“I needed a couple of names to put up front. Mike Scott gave me a brilliant unreleased version of a Waterboys classic, as did Liam Ó’Maonlaí from Hothouse Flowers,” he said.

“I tossed in the zany ‘Uncle Jim’ by Black 47, which tells of Father Jim Hughes and quixotic mission to East Belfast to convert the Reverend Ian Paisley.”

Celtic Invasion also contains “The Irish Rover” by Blaggards from Houston, and “Buile Mo Chroí” by John Spillane, the bard of Cork City. And with that, he represents great Celtic music on every corner of the globe!

Celtic Invasion has been selling well online and has already succeeded artistically, with many bands eager to join the bandwagon. If this project breaks even financially then Kirwan will round up another dozen worthy bands and give them the same opportunity.

“And if it fails, well at least we tried to make a difference,” Kirwan reasons. “At the very worst, I might still have a career ahead of me as a fat numbers cruncher in a cheap suit up on 57th Street.”

This collection crackles with energy, rocking from stem to stern. There is little doubt that we will be seeing more compilations in the future!

Celtic Invasion is available on iTunes or CD form at www.celtic-invasion.com.

Beloved Irish band the Saw Doctors: Alive at 25 - their loyal fans and ongoing success

The Saw Doctors

The Saw Doctors are celebrating 25 years as a band by doing what they do best -- playing in front of adoring crowds thirsty for a taste of home this St. Patrick’s Day.

They also have a new compilation, 25:25 to mark the occasion. For singer and guitarist Leo Moran, the American experience never gets old.

“You grow up listening to Bruce and Buddy Holly to write songs in the west of Ireland and then you’re lucky enough to bring them to New York,” he says. “That’s stuff you should never take for granted. These songs have taken us all over the world and it’s been a brilliant life!”

By the sounds of things, the audience shouldn’t take the Saw Doctors for granted either. Moran confesses that after this tour there is nothing on the books for the band.

You get the sense they are at a crossroads, with some eager to carry on and some set on taking a long -- if not permanent -- break.

Let’s hope this isn’t the last time we hear them “Sing a Powerful Song” but I’d catch them on this tour juuuuust in case. I spoke with Moran over the weekend about his 25 years with the band. Here’s how it went:

What factors would you attribute to the longevity of the band?

We’ve always been organized. We always put money aside to record the next album, things like that. When you do that, you call your own shots and you don’t have a record company dictating to you.

The second thing is that its fun. What a great way to make a living. Your job is playing for the people so that they have a good time, give them a night out.

We play at such marvelous venues and we have such a great crew -- all we have to do is to strap on a guitar and make some noise. Not a bad way to run through life (laughs).

I have to say your manager, Ollie Jennings, might be the most tenacious champion for a band that I have ever seen. He’s always sending me emails on what’s happening with you guys.

Ollie is a unique manager, and his passion for getting the Saw Doctors out to the world is great. He is a fan, first and foremost. It’s not like you’re doing business with an agency.

He’s part of a cottage industry. A small-scale thing, but you can travel.

When you think about the 25 years together, what do you think is a highlight?

The homecoming gig we did, and then there were 10,000 people out to see us.  To be the catalyst for being 1991. That was a great buzz.

New York and playing so many amazing venues is another highlight. The first time you saw us in Tramps is another highlight. I’ll never forget the first time I was in New York City.

I would have to imagine the newer hits must be gratifying as well. Michael D. Higgins was a chart-topper in Ireland, as was “Downtown” with Petula Clark.

It’s like everything. You’ll fall back if you’re not moving forward. We hate the idea of being a nostalgic act.

Even if the new material isn’t good, at least you have new material and say you are real and current and alive.

How have the audiences been in Ireland in light of the economic depression the nation is in at the moment?

Music is more important to people in hard times. When we saw Irish people become prosperous it didn’t suit Irish people that well.

There is a general community spirit during tough times. They need a night out more than ever. They mightn’t get to do it very often. We always try to keep the ticket prices as affordable as ever.

I like to see you at the Stone Pony in New Jersey, which is near my house. I know you are a huge Springsteen fan. What is it like to play there with such Springsteen history all around you?

The Stone Pony is the real thing. The proper rock club. It holds the atmosphere of all the great things before you.

People take those places for granted. These people in there know what it takes to create a great rock and roll atmosphere.

I saw a new energy in the band with the addition of your drummer, Ricky O’Neill.

Ricky is brilliant. Our last drummer did a brilliant job doing a blueprint with him. He is so bright and energetic.

The transition was almost too smooth. It was no work at all. No rearranging to fit the new drummer.
Almost a stupid complaint, but it was too smooth. He is so energetic and animated as well.

You just marked a quarter century with the greatest hits album 25:25. What’s next for the band?

We are going to take a long break. We’re not sure of what the future holds. We’re not going to do more gigs through the rest of 2013. It’s the first time we had nothing planned in the history of the band.

Are you working on new songs?

I go through periods where it’s the easiest thing in the world, and then there are times when nothing comes. I am in a dry period at the moment, though I’ve been collaborating with Padraig Stevens lately.

I haven’t been as creative as I’d like to be in the songwriting department and I want to fix that.

So, is this the end of the band? You’re making me nervous.

If we do get back together we need to have new energy and new songs, and I for one hope that happens. Stay tuned!

The Saw Doctors play on March 14 at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, a sold-out gig at New York’s Irving Plaza on the 15th, House of Blues in Boston on the 16th, and Philadelphia’s TLA on the 17th. Check out the full dates on www.sawdoctors.com.

Icewagon Flu - Irish American rock and roll at Maxwell’s

Icewagon Flu to play Maxwells in Hoboken

If you’re taking the train out of the city after the parade on Saturday and heading for Jersey, make sure you stop off at Hoboken and catch “the flu” -- Icewagon Flu, that is!

The band makes a triumphant return to their hometown on March 17 as they spread their infectious music at the venerable Maxwell’s.

The band is scattered in a few states now, which makes the return back to where it all began even more special these days. For those of you not inflected by the Flu yet, check out their Off the Wagon series of albums.

This jam band plays fast and loose with traditional ditties like “Nancy Whiskey,” “Galway Races” and “Fields of Athenry,” replacing the fiddles and flutes with meaty, chunky alt-rock guitar grooves.

Icewagon Flu also throws some quirky originals into the mix, making a truly unforgettable night of Irish Americana rock and roll.

“The FLU is melting pot rock!” enthuses singer and guitarist Kevin Adkins when asked to describe his band.

“We are a spicy blend of traditional Irish, early Americana, peppered with blues-roots, fifties-rock sautéed in a proper marinade of modern pop (...throw in a dash of Elvis, XTC and the Pogues per taste.)

“At Maxwell's we plan to focus on our original tracks, many of which appeared on our album The Great American Something.”

Newly written songs that will make-up the foundation of the band’s next album will be featured as well. “Drive the Spirits Out,” “Cerise,” and “Before I'm Gone” are some of the working titles.

The band is worth seeing and to be sure, this storm-battered section of Hoboken could use some of our foot traffic. See you there! Check out www.icewagonflu.com.

Galway to Graceland a satisfying trip with the McLean Avenue Band - VIDEO

The performers in 'From Galway to Graceland'

Padraig Allen brought his McLean Avenue Band to the Jersey Shore on Saturday, bringing some much-needed cheer to the storm-ravaged region with his delightful show “From Galway to Graceland” at the Algonquin Arts Theatre in Manasquan.

The Patricia Murphy School of Irish Dance started the evening into high-stepping gear. It was heartwarming to see the permeation of Irish culture into the American landscape in the faces of these dancers, and it was a clever prelude to an evening that celebrated the tangled roots of Irish American ethos.

Jessica Semins is a native Long Islander who, according to her bio, participated in Blas, the University of Limerick’s Traditional Irish Music summer program.

In her cocktail dress and high heels, she brought a flirtatious sass to the program, skipping through the audience as she furiously fiddled. “Many of the fellas necks were stretching a bit in the aisles,” Allen joked.

Her playing easily shifted from the intricate reels to the back porch riffing of country staples like “Devil Went Down to Georgia.” Being from McLean Avenue, they re-worked to tune to have Satan sashay to Yonkers instead.

The McLean Avenue band is rounded out by Jersey boy Buddy Connolly (keyboards), Joe Biancorosso (guitar) and Tony Ryan (drums).  

The set list spanned two hours and since the show was called “From Galway to Graceland,” it touched on traditional Irish parlor songs (“Tell Me Ma”), tender Irish ballads (“Raglan Road”), and southern-fried ditties (“Wagon Wheel,” “Troubled Fields”) to create a thoroughly entertaining variety show.

They were joined by the Dublin-based Emerald Fire dance ensemble, headed by director/choreographer Joanna Barry. Since this was an Irish American show, the dance expression called for forays into jazz, modern and tap, and the troupe remained one step ahead of the music at every turn.

Barry and her girls slipped off the tap shoes and slid into some evening wear and gathered around the Irish harp for a stirring performance of Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times Come Again No More,” a fitting acknowledgement of the difficult re-building going on at the shoreline that is only a few blocks from the theater.

To be sure, the show had a few momentary swims in the auld corn syrup.  Allen’s gorgeous voice went to work on “Danny Boy,” and as I remarked to my wife that this was a bit Catskill schmaltzy for my liking, she remarked, “Look at how the crowd is lapping this up! The Irish love their schmaltz. I mean, you married a Jew, right?” She had me there.

Even in the cornier moments, Allen’s proud Irish heart and megawatt smile effectively sold it, and I found myself whooping and hollering at times against my better judgment. If that’s not the mark of a great showman I don’t know what is!

Catch the McLean Avenue Band at two big shows on March 17 -- the Suffolk Theater in Riverhead, Long Island at 2 p.m., and Empire Casino in Yonkers at 8 p.m. For more dates or to pick up their excellent new CD, Easy and Free, or log onto www.mccleanavenueband.com .

Check out the McLean Avenue Band performing 'Galway to Graceland' last year:

The Celtic Tenors play New York gigs after triumphant global tour - VIDEO

The Celtic Tenors gear up for NYC after global tour

The Celtic Tenors have been barnstorming across the globe, having just completed a triumphant tour of Australia and New Zealand.

“It’s been amazing and you feel like you’re ambassadors of Ireland,” remarks tenor James Nelson on the morning before a sold out gig in Alberta, Canada.

“We played China and many of the audience members knew almost nothing about Ireland; in fact, some remarked that they thought the Irish people spoke Spanish! So, it’s great to bring our culture into new places. We get a huge rush from that.”

The Celtic Tenors will be bringing their St. Patrick’s themed performance to Lehman Center for the Performing Arts in the Bronx on Saturday, March 16 before ringing in the day at Westhampton Beach PAC in Long Island on the 17th.

Expect Irish tunes sung with booming operatic voices without the cheese, thank you very much.

“We try our best to put on a show that celebrates our Irish culture without falling into some of the tired stereotypes,” Nelson says.

“Some of the Irish parlor songs are fun to do, but we sidestep the requests for things like ‘Who Threw the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy’s Chowder’ all the same! You don’t want to be snobby about it, but there has to be a certain amount of artistic integrity that we as a group must hold onto. We are classically trained and seek material that both entertains the audience and challenges us as artists.”

Their show is an engaging melange of classical music, orchestral pop, and of course, the Irish standards. On their 2002 debut album, So Strong, you found Paul McCartney’s “Mull of Kintyre” sitting next to the traditional church fare of “Ave Maria” and Phil Coulter’s “The Town I Loved So Well.”

Eleven years later, it would seem that little has changed on their newest album, Feels Like Home. Simply put, if you can’t find something to celebrate in their albums and live shows, you probably don’t like music.

Their shows are unforgettable and special in ways that leaves this writer at a loss for words. Visit www.celtictenors.com for samples of their CDs and other tour dates.

Watch the video here for The Celtic Tenors' 'Feels Like Home':

Knoxville Morning set to wow at the Craic Fest, New York - VIDEO

Irish band Knoxville Morning confirmed for NYC's Craic Fest

Knoxville Morning, based in Ireland, has been added to the bill of the Craic Fest that takes place this week in New York.

This folk rock outfit began life as a solo side-project of Band on an Island’s Ciaran Dwyer, before growing into something far bigger. Joined by fellow Band on an Island members Stefan Murphy (the Mighty Stef), Gavin Elsted (We Are Losers), Brian Gallagher (Humanzi), Claire Prendergast, Stephen Fahey (Super Extra Bonus Party), Deirdre O’Hagan, Rachael Caffrey and Laura Caffrey, they have created an inviting blend of folk, country and Americana, a classic sound with an Irish twist draped in Dwyer’s intuitive storytelling.

Textures of Chicago blues and Greenwich Village folk blend to form the band’s sound. “Should have stayed at home/shouldn’t have gone outside/there’s murder in my local/wanted posters on the wall,” Dwyer sings over a maudlin piano on “Chelsea Bards,” evoking Leonard Cohen’s earlier work.

In the song, he “whistles Tom Waits” -- shadowing him would be a more appropriate description. The song was written in honor of Stanley Bard, the former owner of the legendary Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan.

The album Knoxville Morning is steeped in American music, borne out of criss-crossed trips throughout our nation.

“I ended up with a bunch of songs after going away on a trip. I was going to put it out as a solo record but the more I worked on the songs, it became clear there was more to them so I got a lot more people involved and it turned into something a lot bigger,” says Dwyer.

“The record is a mix of stories about the people I met, the strange places I ended up in and the pretty crazy things that happened while I was away. It’s not an album full of American clichés, it’s an album celebrating the great people and places that I encountered along the way, and celebrating the friendship and brotherhood that exists among a small group of people sharing an experience as amazing as traveling across a country.”

Knoxville Morning will be joining the bill at the Craic Fest in the Mercury Lounge, 297 East Houston Street in New York City, opening for the Lost Brothers and the Tossers on March 8 at 9 p.m. There will be an after party at the Sixth Ward, 191 Orchard Street with Dwyer playing live.

Visit www.thecraicfest.com or www.knoxvillemorning.com for more information.

Catch Knoxville Morning's video for 'Knoxville Morning' here:

Pierce Turner is back with a new album “The Verry Small Orchestra”

Pierce Turner

It wouldn’t be St. Patrick’s month in New York City without the return of Pierce Turner. He’s back with a show at Joe’s Pub on March 7 and a fantastic new album, The Verry Small Orchestra.

As the name would imply, Turner has created an orchestral pop masterpiece steeped in ready, steady, go-era, sixties Brit-rock. He has the quirky wordplay of the Kinks’ Ray Davies and the mad musical genius of Sergeant Pepper, all rolled into one. In some tracks, the sunniness of Brian Wilson’s Pet Sounds shines through your iPod’s earbuds.

“That’s a pretty great compliment to me because I love Brian Wilson,” said Turner when I mention that during our interview last weekend.

“That’s kinda the combination of influences I had, with the classical influences gelling with the emergence of sixties pop.  I was always interested in that juxtaposition.”

The Verry Small Orchestra begins with a lazy church organ riff.  “I saw the book lying face-down on an open page/I need to pay attention/don’t stay on your own/I know I can be blind/caught up in a thousand tasks,” Turner sings on “You Won’t Catch Any Effect,” the album opener.

It’s the most straightforward rocker on an album that zigs and zags with oboes, cellos and other flights of fancy.

The Verry Small Orchestra is a portable affair, with different arrangements presented as the concert venue would tailor.  “The Orchestra makeup changes constantly in what it is,” Turner explains. “It’s an unusual lineup. Sometimes viola and violin.

“For the Joe’s Pub gig, Fred Parcels is on trombone and Imundo Penaforte is this Juilliard graduate and professor that plays everything -- keyboard, mandolin, guitar and percussion. He has this joyful rhythm, and we have been playing for 20 years.”

Fans of Black 47 will know Parcells for his rocking trombone, yet Turner will remind everyone that he began playing with Parcels first.

“Fred also has a great voice as well and it meshes well with mine,” he says.  “He had electronic pedals on his trombone and he played these three part chords through the pedals, which is extraordinary. He even chants through the trombone, which sounds pretty extraordinary.”

Like most artists trying to make their art work inside of a broken music industry model, Turner turned to fundraising online to get the new album done.

“It’s an interesting thing that had a positive effect I wasn’t expecting,” he says. “You still have a feeling in your heart that you might not sell any records. When you pre-sold it, it acts as this encouragement and motivates you.

“It’s one thing when people say they’re going to buy your album, but when people go online and actually commit, it means so much to you.

“You are working against the grain when it comes to the finance and constantly asking for things to be done for nothing. The fact that the pledgers were behind you the whole way made me fight harder to not let them down.”

The reviews of the album have been fantastic, garnering many pairs of “thumbs up” in the Irish press. After a smattering of gigs in Manhattan, Turner will return to Ireland to be part of  The Gathering 2013 initiative with the Irish government, where he will play May 10, 11, and 12.

“It’s a big gig in Wexford town where I am from,” Turner enthuses. “We are hoping to bring people over from America. We’re then going to take people through the pubs of Wexford and give people a little history of the town. I’m really looking forward to the whole weekend of stuff.”

The pinnacle of the weekend will be a church concert with new music from Turner. “Church music was always a big influence for me  -- the Sanctus, the Gloria and other texts,” he says. “It will be new melodies to existing prayers and texts. I wrote this one new piece called ‘Union’ about the communion of bringing all religions together. It’s an eight minute long piece.”

Turner will hit the stage of Joe’s Pub on March 2 at 7 p.m. and is in the process of finalizing other dates while on this side of the pond. For more information, keep it tuned to www.pierceturner.com.

Julie Feeney is great craic - Galway star set to wow New York once more

Julie Feeney

A country cousin to the orchestral pop musings is Julie Feeney, a brilliant composer and performer from my dad’s neck of the woods in Abbeyknockmoy, Co. Galway.

She took Manhattan by storm over the summer with her captivating, avant garde performances of her compositions. With a few classically trained musicians behind her and some costume changes, she made an alternative universe in the show I caught at the Irish Arts Center that eventually earned raves from The New York Times.

She will be part of the Craic Fest, the leading festival to introduce the new generation of Irish bands and filmmakers to the public.  Other bands to perform live at this year’s festival include the Tossers, Mark Geary and Colin Devlin. Feeney will headline March 9.

On Friday, March 8 the Tossers, a perennial New York City favorite, will headline.  Both nights of music will take place at the Mercury Lounge.

Feeney is excited to play the Craic Fest, promising a radical change in the performance she did earlier this summer.

“This is an intimate performance with myself and one other musician,” she says. “I like drawing people in that way, just as much as I love the orchestra.

“Sometimes, I think the big orchestra of six or seven instruments can be intimidating. You bring people more into the words and the melody. Because that’s where the song started -- by yourself and scaled down. “

Feeney has been nabbing numerous awards for her album Clocks, which was released in Ireland last year and will likely come to these shores sometime this year.

“It was pretty amazing and I was overwhelmed by it,” she says of the number one chart position for Clocks in its first week.

“I performed 10 different choirs in 10 different cities. All female, all male, all mixed. Each choir had 10 arrangements.  I did a rehearsal tour myself and went around the country and worked with all the choirs and then met them the morning of for more rehearsals. It was a lot of work. I really got to know people in each town, the feel and the character of each.”

While Feeney will be the one to watch, the Craic Fest this year has some of the best singer songwriters ever to strap on an acoustic guitar in Devlin and Geary. For more information, log onto www.thecraicfest.com.

A rock and read - An evening at the Irish Rep Theater

The Irish Repertory Theatre gears up for March Madness 2013

March Madness takes on a new meaning for the Irish and for myself in particular. As you may have read in these pages, I have launched my new book, This Is Your Brain on Shamrocks2: 50 Shades o’ Green and I will be kicking things off in New York with an evening of rocking and reading at the Irish Repertory Theatre in New York on Tuesday, March 5 at 7 p.m.

One of the great things about this job is that you get a ringside seat to the best and brightest talent in the Irish American arts and entertainment circuit, and I do believe we have a stellar lineup.

Chris Byrne and Andrew Harkin are legends in the New York Irish music scene, having logged countless hours onstage separately as members of Black 47 and the Prodigals before joining forces as Seanchai and the Unity Squad with Byrne’s wife Rachel Fitzgerald.

They have morphed into an urban trad outfit called Lost Tribes of Donegal and in doing so, keep the tradition of Irish traditional music alive in Brooklyn.

Killarney singer-songwriter Brendan O’Shea moved to the U.S. in the late 1990s.  Since then, he’s become a veteran of New York City’s songwriter scene and has released two albums that have garnered praise from critics and press around the world.

He is co-host of a successful Sunday night concert series in NYC’s East Village called the Scratcher Sessions which features musicians from around the world. His latest CD is Songs From a Tenement.
Joining me as a reader will be Honor Molloy, a Dublin-born storyteller and playwright whose plays have been produced in Ireland, Australia, England and New York City.

Her autobiographical novel Smarty Girl: Dublin Savage is an irresistible and raucous portrait of 1960s Dublin as viewed by Noleen O’Feeney, a precocious little girl with a fierce imagination. Molloy’s spellbinding readings have become stuff of legend in writer salons around Manhattan.

Hope to see you for a great night of songs and stories on March 5! For more information, visit www.irishrep.org.