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I personally disagree with a certain mouse. To me, the happiest place on earth is Kells Pub in Portland OR. This is especially true this month when the St Patrick’s Day Festival goes into full swing. The festival runs for 5 days and is a charity event. The perfect chance to have a wonderful time and help out local charities. This year’s festival also includes an event that benefits Haiti. Kells Irish Pub and Restaurant is located at 112 SW Second Avenue in Portland. The phone number is 503-227-4057.

This year’s Festival is sure to be one of the best with the line up of talent they have on deck. The festival kicks off on Friday, March 12th in the pub at 11:30 AM and in the Festival tent at 7PM. There is a $5 cover in both locations after 7 PM. The entertainment in the pub that evening includes Grafton Street, Cul An Ti and Chancers. In the festival tent you can see The Maher Dancers, Tom May, Kells Pipers, St James’ Gate and Amadan.

On Saturday, March 13th both the pub and the festival tent are also busy. The pub opens at 7 AM and goes until 2 AM. The tent comes to life at 11:30 and goes till 12 AM. There is a $10 charge after 6 PM. In the pub you can see Chancers starting at 6:30 PM. Grafton Street, Amadan and St James’ Gate also play the pub that night. In the tent you can see The Murray Dancers starting at noon. Also appearing on Saturday are Tom May, Kells Pipers, Peter Yeats, Yeates Dancers, Cul An Ti, Thin Lizzie Dedication, Maher Dancers, Slate and Standard and U2 77.

On Sunday, March 14th, the pub hours are 7 AM – 2 AM and the tent will be open 8:30 AM – 6 PM. The evening in the pub kicks off with Irish Sessions starting at 6 PM. Chancers and Grafton Street perform later in the evening. In the tent things kick off at 10 AM with the Kells Pipers. Also performing on Sunday are Slate and Standard, Maher Dancers, St James’ Gate and Grafton Street.

On the weekend kid and family events are free all day. Minors are welcome in the restaurant and festival tent are until 5 PM

On Monday, March 15th events will be confined to the pub in preparation for the big Charity event in the tent the following day. The pub will be open 11:30 AM – 2 AM. Grafton Street will perform at 9 PM followed by Amadan.

Tuesday, March 16th marks the day of the Special Benefit Concert for Mercy Corps. Tickets are $16 in advance or $20 at the door. Advance tickets for this event only may be purchased through Kells website at: http://www.kellsirish.com/portland/festivalmusic.html All proceeds go to aid Haiti. The tent opens at 6 PM. Curtis Salgado will be performing at 7:30 followed at 9:30 by the Crazy Bs. The pub will be opened 7 AM to 2 AM. St James’ Gate will appear at 11:PM.

On St Paddy’s Day itself the events are non stop. The pub hours will be 7AM – 2 AM. The entertainment begins at 12:30 PM with Cul Ti An and continues all day with Tom May, Chancers, St James’ Gate, Grafton Street with Irish Sessions beginning at 10:30 PM. In the tent the festivities start at 10AM and run till 12 AM. Performers include The Maher Dancers, Kells Pipers, Grafton Street, Yeates Dancers, St James’ Gate, Imelda May, The Murray Dancers, The Portland Police Band (so be on your best behavior my Portland pals – you know who you are ) U2 77, Tualitan Valley FR Pipers and Thin Lizzie Dedication. I can’t think of a better way to spend St Paddy’s Day. Admission is $20 before and $25 after 4PM and includes a festival t-shirt. More information can be found at the festival page of the Kells website http://www.kellsirish.com/portland/festivalmusic.html

Kells pulls an excellent pint and can even be persuaded to make you a Nutty Irishman in a pinch. I couldn’t recommend them more highly.

by PrisR

The North Texas Irish Festival is being held March 5-7, 2010 at Fair Park in Dallas, TX. The list of performers scheduled to appear is amazing! With both international and U.S.-based musicians appearing, the festival has got to be fantastic. It will be just the thing to energize us all for the remaining weeks of winter! Following is an alphabetical listing of those scheduled to appear:

International Artists
The Barra MacNeils – Ireland
The David Munnelly Band – Ireland and England
Ed Miller of Scotland with Scooter Muse and Jil Chambless of the US
Gadella – Prince Edward Island
Grand Derangement – Nova Scotia
Great Big Sea – Newfoundland
Irish Descendants – Canada
Samantha Robichaud – New Brunswick
Sliabh Notes – Ireland
The Town Pants – Vancouver, Canada
Vishten – Prince Edward Island

Also Featured US artists from Texas and across the US

Abby Green
Behan
Beyond The Pale
Blaggards
Boru’s Ghost
Clandestine
Cor Gaeilge Texais
Coyne & Reeves
Crossroads
Don Gabbert
Ed Miller (A Scot now living in Texas) with Scooter Muse and Jil Chambless
5 Second Rule
Irish Rogues
Jiggernaut
Jim Flanagan
Legacy
Needfire
North Texas Caledonia Pipes & Drums
Poor Man’s Fortune
Sarah Dinan
Seamus Stout
Shift
Teribus
Threadneedle Street
Trinity River Whalers
Tullamore

Be sure to visit the North Texas Irish Festival website for
times and location of these show: www.NTIF.com

Festival season is upon us. I have been updating the festival page as I get new info but these two are worth noting here.

The first is the 18th ANNUAL GREATER PHILADELPHIA MID-WINTER SCOTTISH & IRISH MUSIC FESTIVAL & FAIR that takes place this weekend, February 12-14, in King of Prussia, PA. This is a not to be missed event. Don’t let the horrible weather deter you. This is one of the best festivals in the country. I wish I could attend. Many of my favorite bands will be there including Cliudan, a Syracuse band we featured in a post just yesterday, Seven Nations, Brother, Rathkeltair, Paddy’s Well, Jamison, The Brigadoons, Ashley McCloud, Screaming Orphans, Searson, Albannach, The Tarten Terrors and many others, as well as many fiddle and pipe bands and several dance troops. This one has something for everyone. It is inside at the Valley Forge Convention Center. Admission is $25 per day (for all this entertainment!) and parking is free. What better way to get over cabin fever than to come to this great event? For more info check their website http://www.eohebrides.com/events/index.cfm?EventID=383

The other festival is Celtic Fest Chicago which will be at Millennium Park. They have just confirmed that The Saw Doctors will be appearing in a free concert at Petrillo Music Shell on May 8th. Yes The Saw Doctors and yes FREE. What are you waiting for? More info can be found at the festival website http://www.celticfestchicago.us/ I can’t attend this one either but there will be one lucky Fanrealm staffer in attendance so we should get a report on the show to share. We are still waiting for more info on the rest of The Saw Doctors’ US tour.

In other news I got a couple on inquires from bands so I thought I would clarify here for everyone. If we have featured your band in a spotlight it means we like you and would love to cover you more thoroughly. We would be happy to post band bios, tour info and to review cds. Click the contact us button and I can answer any other questions you may have and give you the snail mail address for cds or any other hard copy you may want to send. If we haven’t featured you, feel free to contact us anyway. We may just not have gotten to you yet. We are trying to showcase as many bands as we can so fans can discover them. It’s sometimes hard for bands to get exposure and it takes a lot of research for people to hunt bands down at myspace or music sites. We want to make it easy for bands and fans to find each other.

The 6th Annual Guinness Belfast Nashville Songwriters Festival will be held Feb 24-28, 2010. 150 songwriters will take part in the event which will feature 20 seminars and 42 concerts. More information about the event can be found at their website http://www.belfastnashville.com/ Tickets may be purchased through the website. I wish I was on that side of the pond as I have a strong suspicion that Belfast today is as much a hot bed of music and creativity as Liverpool was in the 50s and 60s. Liverpool launched The Beatles and enough other great groups that what was known as the British Invasion landed on the shores of the US and the world and forever changed the face of music. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a Celtic Invasion hit the world any time now with the talent coming out of Ireland and the UK and the talented people the world over who are making their music in Celtic style using traditional Celtic Instruments.

Our readers from the Belfast area should definitely take this event in. The next supergroup a la the Beatles might be right on your doorstep. Two of Fanrealm’s favorites are taking part in the festival. Mickey Coleman will be there on the 24th and Oracle will be playing on the 27th along with another band Oracle’s lead guitarist Chris Logan plays in called Exit. I have listened to them on my space too and they are excellent.

Thanks so much to David from Oracle for the heads up on this event. Oracle will be playing at 8PM sharp on the 27th. You don’t want to miss them (remember that whole Beatles warning above.. ).They are definitely a band to watch. This is a link to get tickets for the Black Box where Oracle will be appearing on Sat night Black Box tickets Black Box is at 18 Hill Street. Doors open at 8PM and Oracle is first up so don’t be late. Tickets are £5 plus P + P.

The wonderful band, Wicked Tinkers sent me a news letter telling me what is on their agenda for the next couple months. I thought I’d share some of it with you, the readers and members of fanrealm.

Wicked Tinker schedule for January 2010/February 2010
Jan.15

THE NAMM SHOW

9AM FRIDAY MORNING! Anaheim Convention Center, CA http://www.namm.org/thenammshow/2010

Jan. 22 – 23

CRUISE TO MEXICO WITH WICKED TINKERS

http://www.wickedtinkerscruise.com

Feb 27 – 28

46th ANNUAL ARIZONA SCOTTISH HIGHLAND GAMES

Phoenix, AZ http://www.arizonascots.com/05games.shtml

I hope that those of you who can, go and check them out. They are a great group.

The great PA based band Burning Bridget Cleary will once more be appearing at the Firebird Festival this year. For more info please check out this link http://firebirdfestival.com/ but the basic info is this:

Saturday, December 12th at 9 pm

Steel City Coffee House

203 Bridge Street
Phoenixville, PA 19460
610-933-4043

Tickets: $15 advance, $18 door