St. Louis Irish Arts Christmas Concert 2010

The Fuschia Band in Jefferson City, Missouri

In their only Missouri stop on their annual whirlwind tour of the central United States, The Fuschia Band performed at the Miller Performing Arts Center in Jefferson City on Thursday, Aug. 19.

Comprised of four incredibly talented lads from County Cork, The Fuschia Band provided more than 600 attendees with two hours of non-stop music and comedy. Then, for an encore, lead singer Máirtín de Cógáin perform his signature "brush dance" with an "American-sized" push broom and brought the house down!

Trinity Irish Dance at 2010 Iowa Irish Fest

Here's a little sampler of the performance of Chicago's famous Trinity Irish Dance Company at the 2010 Iowa Irish Fest in Waterloo from Sunday.

Browne's Irish Street Faire 2010

Here are a few photos from last Saturday's celebration of the 123rd anniversary of Browne's Irish Market & Deli in Kansas City, MO, the oldest Irish business in North America.

33rd Annual Kansas City Scottish Highland Games

Here are a few photos from the weekend's fun earlier this month at the 33rd Annual Kansas City Scottish Highland Games & Celtic festival.

Flannigan's Right Hook at Celtic Block Party 2010

Here's Flannigans Right Hook performing at Governor Stumpy's Eight Annual Celtic Bock Party in Kansas City on Sunday, May 30, 2010.

The Mairtin de Cogain Project

**** UPDATED WITH THREE ADDITIONAL VIDEOS ****


"The Mairtin de Cogain Project" (Mairtin de Cogain, Norah Rendell and Brian Miller) perform in Jefferson City, Missouri, on Thursday, May 13, 2010, in a performance sponsored by Wylde Irish Productions, in conjunction with Paddy Malone's Irish Pub and Heart of Ireland Tours.

Chicago Road Trip

Took a weekend road trip to Chicago for the 10th annual "Celtic Fest" over the weekend. Tried to bring back some video to share with you but it seems they are very strict about people recording the acts (even though about every fifth person in the audience can be clearly seen with a "Flip" camera or other video recording device).

But we did manage to bring back some video.

Here is a sampler from the Milwaukee-based group "Athas."



Here is a performance by "Cu Roi" from the Irish American Heritage Center (where we will be attending another festival in July and hope to gather some better videos for your viewing pleasure).

A "Home Movie" from the St. Louis Tionol

I hope you've got a few minutes to spare, because below are NINE parts to an approximately 90-minute "home movie" from video we took while attending the 13th annual St. Louis "Tionol" over the weekend.

In these nine videos, you will witness along with us just about every phase of the Tionol weekend experience (although we did skip intruding on the many incredible classes held on Saturday).

In the first and second videos we have snippets of the incredible concert held at the Shlafly Brewery on Friday night.



Part two features the incredible combined talents of Roger Landes on bouzouki and Pat Broaders on uilleann pipes. Both were among the many talented instructors during the classroom portion of the weekend.



In part three we enjoy a bit more the Friday night stage show getting into the meat and potatoes of the Tionol experience - the sessions at Shlafly Brewing.



Parts four and five are slices from the Saturday evening concert, usually held at The Sheldon in St. Louis, and featuring dancers from St. Louis Irish Arts.





Part six includes footage from are area I began to think of as "piper's roost" because it is located on a landing on the third floor of the brewery and the first time I stumbled onto it at last year's Tionol I discovered about EIGHT uilllean pipers in full flight. Definitely NOT something you soon forget.



On Sunday morning I headed over to John D. McGurk's Irish Pub in Soulard hoping to get some footage of an outdoor session. Not much was happening, so I hit the incredible buffet and was enjoying some wonderful Irish "bacon" when I was almost swallowed up by a spontaneous session. Just incredible.



Part eight features two of my very favorite box players, Tom Dahill and Larry McNally.



Part nine starts with one of our oldest instruments and ends with some of our youngest talents. Seems appropriate.

Bob Reeder sings "The Molly McGuires"

Anyone in the Kansas City are who has caught a Bob Reeder performance in the last 20 years or so will be familiar with this video of Bob performing "The Molly McGuires".

I thought the timing of this recording especially fitting not only as it pays tribute to Irish patriots but to Irish coal miners of which I can proudly claim some connection as my own grandfather and all his forbears for many a generation labored underground in the coal mines of Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland.

Here's the video:

House concert craic with "Captain Mackey"

Here's a taste of the craic to be had with the crew of "Captain Mackey's Goatskin & String Band" at a house concert in St. Louis earlier this week when joined by our host Andrew O'Brien.

Traditional music in a traditional setting

Here's how they celebrate St. Patrick's Day at The Shrine of St. Patrick in St. Patrick, MO, as vocalist Colleen McNally-Harris and harpist Kirk Kypensky perform "Isle of Innisfree."

'Three Dollar Band' at Browne's Irish Market

The "Three Dollar Band" entertains the crowds awaiting the arrival of Guinness Brewmaster Fergal Murray at Browne's Irish Market & Deli on Sunday, March 14, 2010.

'Captain Mackey's Goatskin & String Band' in St. Louis

Here is a clip of "Captain Mackey's Goatskin & String Band" (AKA Valerie Plested, Mairtin de Cogain, Jimmy Crowley and Don Penzien) performing Crowley's "My Love is a Tall Ship" during a house concert in St. Louis on Monday, March 15, 2010.

'Tullamore' at Waxy O'Shea's in Shawnee

Here is a clip of "Tullamore" entertaining their fans at Waxy O'Shea's Irish Pub in Shawnee, KS, on Sunday, March 14, 2010.

Let's get this hoolie started ....

Anyone who has ever attended a performance by the Kansas City Celtic rockers "The Elders" will recognize this opening tune. This clip was taken during their 8th annual "Hoolie" in Kansas City over the weekend but, unfortunately, this may be the ONLY clip forthcoming due to incredibly bad sound on the rest of the footage.
As it is, the sound is only marginal on this clip but we thought it would at least give you a sense of the band, who are (roughly from left to right, Tommy Sutherland on drums, Brent Hoad on fiddle, Steve Phillips on guitar, lead singe Ian Byrne on drums & bodhran, Joe Miquelon on keyboards and Norm Dahlor on bass).