August 2010

August is here already. Where did July go?

Fiddlers Green, my homebase pub in Co. Down, will be featured on Blas Ceoil this fall. The filming date is Oct 7. Wish I could be there, but I have a class reunion that weekend.

In July my dear cousin John O'Neal  lost his battle with cancer and joined the other saints. We'll miss you sorely, John. You're a man we don't meet every day.
VP of DST Systems and CEO of DST Securities, he was a shaker and mover in the Kansas City AOH (past president) & Irish community and a devoted father and and husband. Last March 17th he rode shotgun with the Lord Mayor of Dublin in the Dublin St. Patrick's Day Parade. We love you, John!

I sang the anthems at Waterfront Park on Irish Heritage Night, which is always an honor. Billy III and Tom came down onto the field with me. This was Tom's first trip to the park; he loved it, especially his game of catch with Boomer.

June marked the first anniversary of the Sunday sessions at Dublin Square. I thoroughly enjoy playing in a family atmosphere at a sane hour of the day in an authentic Irish pub.

On June 13th, the An Fleadh Liteartha Bloomsday/Ulysses reading at Dublin Square began at 7, immediately following the session. We honored the memory of James Joyce. There were a few no-shows who felt the venue should have been elsewhere, at the "reel" Irish pub. Don't you just love politics? In the immortal words of my late friend Billy, "Spare me, Bro!" Next year we'll hold the event upstairs in the brand-new room, which opens August 7.

I moved my main pc into a new case. It's an EVGA mobo with an AMD Phenom Quadcore processor and 8 GB of RAM running 64-Bit Windows 7 Ultimate.

News concerning where I've played of late is posted on my blog; click here.

This past February I performed at the annual Trenton Miss Patrick's Day contest/fundraiser for maybe the 24th time?

On Paddy's Day we played at Dublin Square.

We also played on the Dublin Square float in the Trenton parade. We won Best Float category.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm working on a song called "The Long Way Home". It's nowhere near where it needs to be and might never get there. Given its title, what more would one expect? A crude audio file can be found here.

Work continues on my novel, tentatively titled Six Counties, Seven Sins. Wade Cahan, the protagonist in the novel, is a fish out of water. He loses his livelihood and family. Disillusioned, he leaves America to do missionary work in his mother’s homeland, the Occupied Six Counties, in the small, fictitious village of Dunshane Cross, still holding hope for reconciliation with his wife. Next, due in large part to The Troubles, he loses his religion. Fortunately for him, religion does not lose him. Bits are posted here.

In Mid-October our home appeared in The Times on page 3. The article was about a new guide to Lawrence Township's historic houses.