Friday night at the Irish Fest Center (we just finished cleaning up after the wild David Francey crowd), you can see two enormously talented musicians; Jesse Smith and Ryan McGiver wow the crowds with an evening of Irish music.
Hailing from Ireland by way of Baltimore, Jesse is a great fiddler known for his work with the group Danu. Living in Ireland for the past 13 years to hone his craft, Jesse has three widely acclaimed CD's including his latest - The Ewe With The Crooked Horn (2010).
Ryan McGiver, (no - not that McGiver, although I think this McGiver can take a perfectly good guitar and perform incredible music with it. Of course, it's not quite like doing a heart transplant with a paper clip and an old sweat sock but better). Ryan Mc Iver is a much sought after guitarist performing on both sides of the Atlantic with the likes of Cillian Vallelly, Edel Fox and Liz and Yvonne Kane.
Jesse and Ryan will be playing Friday night Feb. 17th at the Irish Fest Center 1532 Wauwatosa Ave. Tickets are $12 each or 2 for $20 (which is like $10 each so bring a friend). For more information call 414-476-3378.
Concert starts at 7 PM - doors open at 6:30 See you there
Spending a week catching up on things (hey! you actually have a JOB?) upon my return from Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow, I thought I might spend a wee bit of time telling you about this, the world's largest winter festival.
After running our own version of planes, trains, and automobiles, ("whaddya mean we're going to miss the Newark flight?"- the bus to O'Hare? - Heathrow?) the Peat Blogger and Doug "Dude" Johnson arrived in Glasgow for about five days of intensive music therapy.
Glasgow is a wonderful city full of theaters, pubs and clubs, and we visited them all, well, maybe not ALL the theaters. It also has many fine restaurants showcasing the best of Scottish cuisine as evidenced by the this photo on Bath St. taken by our friend Michael Rose from Denmark.
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| Scottish Fine Dining |
Celtic Connections festival was started about 20 years ago as a way to offer a diversion for the locals during the darkest part of winter. I mean it's still dark out at 7 AM for Pete's sake, although I have to admit I only saw 7 AM twice while I was there. (arrival and departure days) This year the festival ran over an 18 day period from January 18th to February 5th and featured over 300 different concerts and events during that time.
The Showcase Scotland portion of Celtic Connections is designed to showcase Scottish music groups to promoters and venues around the world. The music is fantastic and it's also a chance to catch up with a lot of our friends in the music and festival industry throughout Europe. Over 180 delegates attended this year, many of the from Europe although one of them Una, won the prize for longest trip, coming all the way from Australia.
In the next week or so I'll post some of the music Doug and I saw while there.
Next weekend, Canadian singer songwriter David Francey will be showcasing his ninth album Late Edition, at the Milwaukee Irish Fest Center.
Born in Scotland, David Francey spent his early years delivering newspapers in Ayershire developing the stories for Late Edition. Emigrating to Canada when he was 12, David has since that time, emerged as an award winning singer songwriter winning three JUNO awards (the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy), as well as the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in 2010.
The Peat Blogger was fortunate to see David perform in a school gymnasium in Whycocomagh during Celtic Colours a few years back. His songs and stories are reminiscent of the stories of Woody Guthrie and should not be missed.
Accompanying David Francey at this show is his long time friend and guitarist Mark Westberg. The show is Saturday February 11th at 7:30 PM. Advance tickets are $15, or $18 at the door. If you bring a student, tickets are only $10 for them. If you need additional information call 414-332-8521, or email kathy@turkeyhollow.com The center is located at 1532 Wauwatosa Avenue.
