
Tir na nOg Sunday Session
Bill O’Neal’s Four Stars
St. Patrick’s Block Party in Atco.
Boundless
I wrote this one in a few hours time yesterday. It’s a moment in the life of two 17th Century immigrating Scots.
Dubliner on Delaware in New Hope
Titusville St. Patrick’s Parade
Riverhorse Brewery
Tir na nOg Session
Dubliner on the Delaware
Bantry Bay
Sunset on Bantry Bay. Taken with a Pentax K1000 manual focus SLR film camera some thirty years ago. The view from The Bantry House. This is where the French army landed during the United Irishmen 1798 Rebellion. For more of my photos of Ireland from my travels to there, click here.

J-100 pick guard
Tir na nOg
From Great American Pub to Tir na nOg

Great American Pub
Good Afternoon, Mr. Gibson
Tir nanOg Sunday Session
My Lowdens
My G9 and F12 Lowden guitars. The F12 was made in the Lowden Glenvale shop in Newtonards one summer while I was hosting sessions a few villages south of there in Portaferry. The Galway Hookers were in port at the time. A snap of my sweatshirt from the event is below. Newtownards is situated a bit above the “L” in Galway, at the topmost point of Strangford Lough.


Tir na nOg Session
Canal Walk Christmas Party
Bristol AOH
3rd Sunday Session at Tir na nOg
Dubliner on the Delaware
G9
My S. Yairi Era Lowden is home from the shop.

In 1980, Yves asked George (Lowden)’s permission to source a small and expert company to make the guitars under license, so they would be more widely available. George recalls “Thus began a five-year period when my guitars were made by the small, dedicated band of luthiers in the S.Yairi workshop near Nagoya, Japan. Visiting the workshop regularly to give the designs and check quality, I observed their craftsmanship and serious approach to work! I found them to be honourable and courteous, and I had the greatest of respect for their hard work and excellent guitars. I learned a lot about production and tools, and they in turn were delighted to be able to make original design guitars to this quality level. I also observed, what was to me, a new type of workmanship. I had previously thought that working to a high standard took a lot of time. However, I found that, with practise [sic], the same or better results could be achieved at speed, by working at a high level of concentration. They also took me to visit a tiny store in Nagoya to buy Japanese hand tools with their laminated steel and fantastic cutting edges – which were a complete revelation to me.”
Molly Malone
Sunset on the River
Another lovely sunset on Delaware River.
Lumberville General Store
Animated
Reminiscent of The Twilight Zone episode in which the mannequins came to life.
Face Lift
Tir na nOg 3rd Sunday Session
Dubliner on the Delaware
Antrim Meets Down
Time Out
JB Kline
Porch Practice
Gibson Dreadnaught
AAA Anthem
Feileastram Dearg
Down Sizing
I’ve cut my acoustic guitar count down to seven. I sold four and passed the rest along to my grown children. Here are the ones I said adieu to:
Picnic Picking
Drumsurn Bodhran
Backyard Morning Practice
Terhune Winery
Fun with Dave
Survey of Irish Folk Music Course
I will again teach an Evergreen course this fall, hopefully a hybrid version at the Princeton Senior Resource Center. Enrollment begins August 3. I placed no cap on enrollment this time and the course is not the same as the last two classes I led.
Evergreen Forum Course List – PSRC (Princeton Senior Resource Center)
The course booklet is available from Amazon.com in paperback and KINDLE e-book formats.
Down By the River
Live at the nOg
Halo Pub
Time Out
Solo at Bristol AOH
Forsgate Country Club
My solo set up for today’s bereavement luncheon.
Guildy as Charged
Irish Session Returns
Who Is That Masked Man?
Resonator
That’s My Boy
My son John playing a few licks in Costa Rica.
Black Beauty
Today I added this 1987 Westerly Era Guild D25 to my modest collection of guitars. Ever since I passed along my old D25 (last three slides in this show) in Ireland, I’ve been wanting a replacement. The budget friendly D25 model, in production from 1968 – 1999, was Guild’s all-time best selling acoustic guitar.
Fun with George
I stopped by George’s sign shop to play some tunes and putz around. Top time!
Yamaha Student Upgrade
I installed a Fishman Preamp/Pickup in this one. It was the only Non-Electric/Acoustic in the house. I bought this 1981 SJ 180 for a song a few years back. It’s a student guitar and all laminate, but plays well with good intonation, and the pickup addition renders her seaworthy.
March 17 ZOOM with Friends
Happy March

I hope everyone out there is doing well. Given the current COVID situation, I have cut back on my appearances for March. Hopefully I will soon be vaccinated, but no luck so far.
Today we played at Hopewell Valley Vineyards, away from the customers, on a stage. Be safe!– Bill

Alvarez
Hot Cross Buns
My Favorite Pagan Song
Happy February
The COVID slowdown continues. Hopefully by early summer we’ll be back to normalcy. We have booked a few gigs, including St. Patrick’s Day at O’Connor’s and a series of short sets in the chapel at Historic Allaire Village.
I decided to revamp an old KAY mandolin from the early 1950s which was sitting idly about the house. Here it is after the clean up and then after a restringing. I’m learning a few tunes on the fellow. So far it’s:
Roddy McCorley
Carrickfergus
Derry Aire
Kesh Jig
Star of the County Down
Dawning of the Day
I Tell Me Ma
Harvest Home
Boys of Bluehill
Gary Owen
The Wind that Shakes the Barley
Love Will You Marry Me
The Minsrtel Boy
Belfast Mill
She Moved Through the Fair
Happy New Year!
Montgomery News

Me beside one of my adopted mileposts in November issue of The Montgomery News. P 16.
Tribute to Doc Long Details
Since this year’s Dodge Poetry Festival will be entirely online (Oct 22 – Nov 1), we have created a Zoom Community Room where Festival attendees and poets can join each other and connect.
In the Community Room, we will be hosting tributes to Doc Long and Paul-Victor Winters, two Dodge Poets who passed away this year. Paul-Victor was also a 2020 Festival Poet. We received a pre-recorded poetry reading from Paul-Victor this fall, which will be aired during the Festival.
Doc and Paul-Victor were poets so beloved by their friends, colleagues, and the many teachers and students whose lives they touched.
We wanted to make sure you knew when their tributes are happening, in case you would like to join to share a poem or memory of Doc or Paul-Victor.
Paul-Victor’s poetry reading will be aired as part of the Festival Poet Reading on October 25, 5 – 5:45 p.m.
The Tribute to Paul-Victor, hosted by Peter E. Murphy and Christine Salvatore will happen in the Community Room later that evening, from 7 – 7:45 p.m.
The Tribute to Doc Long, hosted by Bill O’Neal is happening October 31, 10 – 10:45 a.m.
In order to keep our online space as safe as possible for our Festival Poets and attendees, we are asking anyone who would like to join the Community Room to register for the Festival (you can register for free). Once you have your Festival Pass, you can Enter the Festival and access a full schedule that has links to each session, including the tributes.
We would love for you to share this information with anyone you think would like to be there. We also have social media graphics that you can download and share: one for Doc Long and one for Paul-Victor Winters.
We hope you and your loved ones are safe and well,
Dodge Poetry Staff

Fall Update
Hi All.
Andrew and I played a pair of outside gigs last month at Terhune Orchard and the Hibernian Club. I played two solo ones indoors at Tir na nOg. A photo from the second one is posted below. Given the uptick in virus cases, I don’t anticipate playing indoors this winter. In the absence of a Covid vaccine, March 17th is looking bleak as well. Be safe.– Bill

New Digs
The case for my Gibson Heritage was showing its age after 55 years, so I bought a replacement.
Outdoors at Hibernian Hall

Sangiovese Saturday: Anything May Happen!

Cycling on the Old PRR Bel-Del



Happy Sunday

Dearg Dare
My wife’s uncle was venting over the humdrum shots of my daily guitar porch practice sessions which I was taking and posting on FB. He asked me to incorporate the Feileastram Dearg in a shot, so here it is.
Last night I played a two hour solo gig on the rear “patio” of Tir na nOg. It went well.
August 7 Update
Greetings. Last Saturday Andrew and I played our first gig since the COVID outbreak. Ironically, it was the same venue as our last gig before the COVID outbreak: Terhune Orchards. This coming Wednesday I am playing solo at Tir na nOg, weather permitting. Given all the outside gigs likely to occur, I acquired another outside-gig guitar: A Takamine G series jumbo.

Leaving Nancy
Eric Bogle wrote this song about leaving his mother to head off to Australia from Edinburgh. Sad stuff, but here it is anyway.
Thanks, Seamus
A belated thank you to James ‘Seamus’ Farrell of Killarney’s Publick House for gifting me this awesome practice amp.
Cheers!!

MIGRATIONS: CONTINUING STORIES
Retired TCNJ Prof Bob Mehlman and I will be returning as co-presenters for one installment of
MIGRATIONS: CONTINUING STORIES
Organized By: Barbara Kirsh, chair, Lynne Cullinane, Art Firestone, Elaine Jacoby, Sandy Kurinsky, and Judy Walzer
Wednesdays: 10:00 a.m. to noon, 9 weeks: September 23 through November 18
Maximum: 60
The Fall 2019 course, Migrations: More Than a Border Story, filled up quickly and was deemed a great success. This second Migrations series is suitable for new and previous participants. The course will cover a variety of topics related to migrations, including whether we can call the earliest moves of our ancestors “migrations,” the legal and political context of migrations, along with the rich contributions to music, poetry, food, film, and art of current and past migrations. We will also hear about refugee resettlement to the Princeton area. Each week’s topic will focus on one aspect of migration and be presented by different experts in a variety of formats such as lecture, panel discussion, and a virtual field trip to the Princeton University Art Museum.
Registration opens Registration opens August 4, 2020
Happy Father’s Day
I’ve only written one song about fathers and sons. I was going for something in the the line of Bobby Burns. It’s called “When We Meet Again”. Have a listen. I hope you enjoy it.
When I Grow Up!

Andrew Koontz and me as depicted in Ryan Lafferty’s children’s book When I Grow Up!
Lowden’s Glenvale Workshop
Welcome to June
Greetings. Gig after gig has been cancelled. I will be happy to get back to some music work when things loosen up. Meanwhile, down in Monteverde, Costa Rica my son John plays sunset concerts virtually from Morpho Restaurant every other Friday. They start the broadcasts at 7pm Eastern time.

Terhune Winery
Andrew and I played at Terhune Winery to an outdoor audience. Given the trends in Corona Virus deterrents, this might be our last public appearance for several months.
Update of March 17th: Yes, it was indeed our last gig of the March season. All other appearances for the month have either been cancelled or rescheduled. Hopefully by April we will return to normalcy. We shall see. Be safe and may God bless everyone.
Happy March
Only 17 days until St. Patrick’s Day. Hard to believe. We’ve been playing quite a bit this past fall and winter. Check my Appearing page for upcoming events. We’re playing some wineries, farmers’ markets, pubs, parties and of course restaurants.
Andrew and I host the third Sunday session at Tir na nOg in Trenton. Stop in!
Here’s from the March 1st one. The young ladies wanted to hear me sing “Toora Loora Loora”. Dave Anderson to the far right. Where am I? That’s my guitar head to the left. Probably best this way. 🙂
Happy New Year
I took a few weeks off for the holidays and the family went south to Florida. Once we returned, I sang the national anthem at the county reorganization meeting, played for a birthday party, and a also few other gigs. My daughter was in town for my brother Eugene’s memorial service, so we sat in at the Hopewell session and sang a duo. Many more gigs coming up soon. See the Appearing page for details. — Bill
Thanksgiving Eve in Bristol AOH
Tir na nOg Third Sunday Session
Princeton Battlefield
Princeton EMS Sneak Peek
Update
Greetings. I have been remiss of late in regard to posting updates. I’ve been playing a few gigs a month here and there at festivals, libraries, farmers’ markets, Dubliner on the Delaware, etc. , and also hosting the third Sunday session at Tir na nOg in Dermot’s place. We had a nice session this past Sunday. I took the photo so I am not shown.
This fall all four members of Ballycastle will perform at the Hamilton Irish Fest. See my upcoming gigs page for details.
All the Best,
Bill
A Little Down Time
March was a busy month. I looked forward to getting away for a weekend with Mrs. O’Neal.
GF 60
I bought my Guild GF 60 way back in 1987. She was the show model for the 1987 NAMM show in California. Manufactured in Westerly, RI, she was one of the final Guild design acts executed during the partnership with George Gruhn. Just 82 of these solid maple grand concert models were produced over a two year period ending in 1988. They also made 277 Indian rosewood versions of the GF 60 between 1987 and 1990.
Birthday Present
For my birthday I picked up a guitar for those gigs where I wish to spare my vintage instruments abuse: parade floats, bars, farmers’ markets, outdoor concerts, etc .
Update March 2021: I passed this one on to my oldest son who needed another axe.
Standing in at Cactus Grill
While out for dinner and drinks in Pipersville, I was called up to sing “Walk Away Renee”, backed up by The Big Chill Band.
Photo by Michael Mancuso
Halo Pub
Photos Courtesy of Fred Fishkin
Patriot’s Week — The Assumpink Firewalk
At Canal Walk
Andy and I returned to Manville for the annual potluck holiday party, held in the ballroom Canal Walk Community.
At the nOg with Joe
WINK Service at PCOL
Yesterday evening I provided the music for the first WINK service of the 2018-19 series.
Printer Not Liable for Errors
A bit of tongue-in-cheek humor from the mind of Sam Graff, former editor for the NY Daily News. Sam created this back in the 1980s for a Trent House fundraiser at which Carl Daugherty and I performed.
Note the disclaimer at the bottom of the bill: Printer Not Liable for Errors.