Here is some more music to celebrate with. This is a bit folkier than last week’s as we mellow out after partying all week. All very well worth a listen. Enjoy!

The Mary K Burke Band from Glasgow, UK

Craig Herbertson from Witten, DE

Marc Gunn from Birmingham, AL

SWITCHBACK® from Chicago, IL

Lynn Hollyfield from Accokeek, MD

Gareth Brannigan from Belfast, UK

Eilis Phillips from Belfast, UK

Mckinley Black from Berlin, DE

Donna Fullman from Brighton, UK

Mickey Coleman from Tyrone, IE

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Niamh Parsons from Dublin, IE

Cara from Neuhausen, DE

Needfirefrom Dallas, TX

Finn MacCool from Granada Hills, CA

Blackwater from Middletown, NJ

Marc Gunn from Birmingham, AL

Beltaine Music from Portland, OR

Paddy Homan from Chicago, IL

Connemara Stone Company from Essen, DE

Tannahill Weavers from Paisley, UK

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Marc Gunn from New Orleans, LA

Glengarry Bhoys from Glengarry, ON, CA

The Tartan Terrors from Burlington, ON, CA

Seven Nations from Windermere, FL

Barleyjuice from Holland, PA

Gaelic Stormfrom Nashville, TN

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Marc Gunn from New Orleans, LA

Marc has been active in Celtic Music for many years. He has also been a big supporter of the genre. You are probably familiar with his Celtic MP3s Music Magazine if not, get yourself over there and find out what you have been missing. You can find Marc on Facebook here and at his own website here His cds are at cdbaby here

Tannahill Weavers from Paisley, UK

You can find the Weavers at Facebook here and at their own website here

Paul Brady From Dublin, IE

Paul is happy to have his fans follow him at Facebook here

Beltaine Music from Portland, OR

You can find Beltaine Music at Facebook here and at their own website here

Paddy Homan from Chicago, IL

You can find Paddy at Facebook here and at his own website here

Irish Wolfhounds from Raleigh, NC

This band will be playing at Tir Na Nog in Raleigh at 3 PM on St Pat’s and at Broad Street Cafe in Durham at 8 PM that night. You can find them at Facebook here

MCPEAKE from Belfast, UK

McPeake are featured at many US festivals so be sure to keep an eye out for them. You can find them at Facebook here, Twitter here and at their own website here

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My pick for the brand new Christmas song of the year this year is by Paddy Nash and the Happy Enchiladas. It’s called It Being Christmas and it ain’t your same old tired -snow-bells-angels fare. It’s also not the Grandma getting offed by an unnamed fella in a sleigh sort of song either. That one was too weird even for me. This one is about the true magic that is often lost in all the commercial hoopla of the season. It is about what the season should be about – daring to believe in human kindness, forgiveness, redemption – the sort of thing we should be able to manage at least at this time of year. Paddy is offering this song as a free download, it being Christmas, and all. You can get your copy here Don’t forget to check out Paddy’s cd When We Were Brave while at cdbaby here

You can also download It Being Christmas and the B Side – the beautiful A Place at the Table at Paddy’s website http://www.paddynash.co.uk/web/music.asp The songs compliment each other beautifully. Diane Greer does such a wonderful job on A Place at the Table that it will bring tears to the eyes of every Bah Humbug type out there. There’s lots of great music to listen to and download at Paddy’s website. Be sure to spend some time there.

The Saw Doctors’ Going Home from the Cure album is still a favorite of mine that I am NOT sick of. It is another people song representing the ties that go deep that lead us back the the places and people we may have left but never left behind.

Going Home (This Christmas) by sawdoctors

Another Christmas Song from The Saw Doctors

Christmas Shade by Sienna is another one I really enjoy. Another people song. I think I see a pattern here. Thanks to myspace music I can let you hear that one right here.

A great video of a classic by Building Pictures. John and his faithful canine companion do the best version of this I have seen in years. Dancing With The Stars – eat your heart out!

John is offering a free download of this song also. You can get your copy here

Another great place to hear Christmas music you won’t hear on commercial radio is Marc Gunn’s Celtic mp3s and Music Magazine. Here is the link to the Christmas show This is special Christmas for Marc – his first as a new Daddy. Congrats to Marc and his lovely wife. Enjoy this one, Marc, before you know it, Christmas will require some assembly

Whatever holiday you end your year with – Christmas, Yule or any of the others, one thing remains the same. It’s a time to remember what’s really important. It isn’t about gifts or what you got or what you gave. It isn’t about the frenzy of the season. It’s about taking stock in your life – the year that is ending and the one that is beginning. It’s about family and friends and the time you spend with them.

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The Saw Doctors have released the single Takin’ the Train from their new cd. The video of Takin’ the Train can be seen here

Other samples from the new cd can be found on their myspace page http://www.myspace.com/sawdoctorsofficial

On Saturday July 3 The Saw Doctors will appear at the Millennium Forum in Newmarket Street, Derry. They will be at The Diamond as part of the Donegal Summer Festival in Donegal on Sunday July 4th.

Celtic Thunder

A few more cities are now selling tickets for the upcoming Celtic Thunder tour. The tour will run from Sept – Dec and include cities in both Canada and the US. To check out the updates just click here In addition to the cities that are newly added, Minneapolis will be doing a pre-sale on July 7. The pre-sale code for Celtic Thunder shows is generally DUBLIN. I will keep checking with both the Celtic Thunder website and Ticketmaster and let you know when more cities are on sale.

Celtic Thunder has two new cds in the works. One will be a Christmas Album and the other is an album of Irish tunes tentatively called Heritage. No release date has been given for either CD but I would expect they would be available in time for the fall tour.

Gaelic Storm

The long awaited new cd from Gaelic Storm, Cabbage is available for pre-order in advance of the August 3rd release date. When you pre-order your cd from the Gaelic Storm website you get:

* Your CD shipped to you to arrive on or before August 3rd
* A digital download of the song “Green Eyes, Red Hair” from the new album IMMEDIATELY upon purchase of your pre-order
* An autographed copy of CABBAGE for the first 500 pre-orders
* AND, pre-order the album by July 28th and you will receive an email with instructions on how to download a FULL digital copy of the album on Thursday July 29th, 5 days before it even hits the stores!

ALSO AVAILABLE – A SPECIAL PRE-ORDER BUNDLE of the new album PLUS a brand new Gaelic Storm T-shirt (not available anywhere else) for a super discounted price of $28!!

To take advantage of this great offer click here

Coyote Run

Coyote Run has announced the release of their new cd Ten Years Running: A Retrospective To celebrate both the cd and the anniversary of the band they are holding two special concerts in their hometown of Williamsburg VA on July 16th and 17th they will perform at the Kimball Theater. These shows are must see for all Coyote Run fans. Former band members will be joining them on stage and they should bring the house down. Tickets are available by calling 1-800-HISTORY.

Coyote Run will also appear at the Virginia Highlands Festival in Abington, VA later in the month. For more info on the festival check this post

Marc Gunn

Marc Gunn’s latest cd Kilted For Her Pleasure is at the printers and will be ready soon. Marc is one of the poineers of the whole Celtic/Indie movement that we all enjoy today.

You may know him from his podcast Irish & Celtic Music Podcast which is coming up on its fifth anniversary. For more info on this and his other cds please check out his website http://www.marcgunn.com

Catch Marc at one of his upcoming gigs.

Jul 2-4: Indianapolis, Indiana – InConjunction
Jul 16: Savannah, GA – Lawson House Concert
Jul 17: Crestview, FL – Leake House Concert
Jul 24: Round Rock, TX – Grace Concert
Jul 30: New Orleans, LA – Fair Grinds Coffeehouse
Sep 4-7: Atlanta, GA – DragonCon

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We now have the ability to change backgrounds so I will most definitely be playing more with that.

Music News

The Saw Doctors have been selling out concerts showcasing their new album. Here is a link to a press conference announcing the concerts http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeqTPikB2Zk

Celtic Thunder performed at the International Rotary Club in Montreal on Sunday. If their fans would like to catch a glimpse of their performance in the opening ceremonies they can check out this video They sing at the very end of the video. This is just a clip not their complete performance. They sang for two sessions, playing for about 15,000 convention attendees each time. They did the show they are planning to tour in the fall at the aptly named Thunder Bay, in Ontario, last night.

Marc Gunn to play three upcoming conventions. I first heard Marc at a con and he really shines in that atmosphere. If you are attending any of these, be sure you find Marc and listen to his show. It will make the con!

07/03/10 – InConjunction – Indianapolis, Indiana
08/06/10 – GenCon Indianapolis – Indianapolis, Indiana
09/03/10 - DragonCon – Atlanta, Georgia

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Irish Fair & Music Festival June 19-20 Irvine Meadows Next to the VerizonWireless Amphitheater in Irvine, CA Musical Guests include The Young Dubliners, The Fenians, Sligo Rags, 1916 and many more. Also a sheep herding demo, High Kings banquet and other activities http://www.irishfair.org

Celtic Fling & Highland Games June 25-27 on the Grounds of Mount Hope Estate & Winery and the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, Manheim Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Musical guests include Enter the Haggis, the Young Dubliners(Friday night only), Scythian, Barleyjuice, Brother, Icewagon Flu, Rathkeltair, The Rovers, Solas, SloanWolfe, The Town Pants and more. Please check their website at: http://www.parenfaire.com/celticmain.html

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Fanrealm's temporarily headless marketing maven with Marc Gunn's CD

On a recent trip to Portland, OR the intrepid Fanrealm staff was invited to take a tour of CDBaby, the center of the Universe in the Indie Music world. From the minute we walked in the door we were impressed with the atmosphere.  That same fun feeling that goes into their famous emails was in the air. It was clear that the people who work at CDBaby love their jobs. They are all enthusiastic about music.  This may be because so many of the employees are also musicians and have their own CD’s for sale at CDBaby.

During the course of the tour, the whole process of what happens to a CD when it arrives till it is placed on sale at the CDBaby website was explained.  When a CD arrives the first stop is the digitizing dept. Here the digital copies of the songs are created.  These are used as samples so the customer can hear a bit of the CD before purchasing it. Also, if the artist wishes to sell mp3 versions of his songs the files are created here. One copy of the CD is kept in this department to serve as a master copy.  Next the info is sent to the web wizards so they can put all the info about the artist and the samples onto the CD’s page at the CDBaby website so we can purchase it.

The CD is then added to the collection where it can be “gently taken

This is where the CD's are gently removed from shelves to fill an order

from our CDBaby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow” and delivered to you when you order it.  As anyone who has ordered from CDBaby knows, the shipment notice emails are hysterically funny and one of the best things about ordering from CDBaby.  Another great thing is the fact that CDBaby really supports the artist and wants each one of their artists to succeed. To that end they have entered into a corporate partnership with iTunes and give their artists the option of selling through that venue as well. CDBaby helps the independent artist level the playing field in terms of getting the artist’s CD’s into the hands of customers. They can offer the artist more exposure than most artists can afford on their own. It is a win-win situation both for artists and for music lovers looking for something other than the often over produced and carefully handled music the major labels are turning out. I know I, personally, prefer music the way the creator of it intended over the decisions made by some focus group.

More CD's ready for new homes

CDBaby had CD’s from 300,000 to 500,000 artists in stock and that number is steadily growing.  Because they stock so many artists they can only ask for a small number of CD’s from each artist until they know how well the CD is going to sell. In order to know that, they need to understand the demand for each of the CD’s from each of the artists.  If your favorite artist is out of stock be sure to contact CDBaby via their website and let them know that you want to order the CD but it is out of stock. Just click the contact us link in the footer at their website.  This will take you to a page where there are several contact options including homing pigeon but that one might take a while.  As demand picks up, CDBaby will ask for more CD’s at a time from the artist and be out of stock less often which will make everyone happy.

If you want to support independent artists and get some great music in the process, be sure and go to the CDBaby website http://www.cdbaby.com and jump right in.  It’s likely you will find several must have CD’s, and if you order several at once, CDBaby will erect a statue in your likeness as you will find out when you get the email from them.

If you are an artist and would like to get your CD onto CDBaby you can get more info about the process at http://www.cdbaby.net

We toured the main facility. There are also two satellite warehouses in which more CDs are stored. We found the people at CDBaby to be both dedicated to the artists and a lot of fun to be with.  I know I will continue to support Indie artists and CDBaby.  If you have never been to their website it’s a great time to go.  Music makes a great Christmas gift.  I’m sure you will be able to find something for everyone on your list in their inventory.  They are also a great source of Christmas music to get you into the mood.  When I went to the site today I was happy to see Paul Byrom’s I’ll Be Home for Christmas CD on the front page. This is one I highly recommend.

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We want this to be a place where Celtic music fans can discover new music to love and where musicians can get their music out there in front of new fans. To us, Celtic music covers a wide spectrum from traditional Celtic music, Irish tenors to rowdy drinking songs and also contemporary music made by musicians in today’s Ireland. We won’t all like the same thing but from the classically beautiful to Celtic Rock and everything in between, Celtic Music fans can find something new and exciting out there. Our goal is to cover as much as we can and post it here so it’s easier for fans to find.

Generally speaking we tend to like Indy bands who don’t have the backing of a major record label to help them. Not that major record labels are really all that helpful to a lot of acts that have been signed these days either but Indy bands are really on their own. It is hard for new bands to get established. It can be hard to get gigs and when you do, you seem to spend most of your time on the road so you don’t have time to record or promote a cd. Sometimes real talent can slip through the cracks. Since our niche is Celtic music we want to try and promote great Celtic musicians to fans who might not otherwise find them. As fans, we are always hungry for more great music so hopefully this is a win-win situation.

So we ask you to take a few minutes and click on that Join Fanrealm link and become a member. Members can participate by commenting on posts, suggest bands and events for us to cover, take part in polls and be eligible for periodic drawings to win cds and other prizes. We will not sell or give away your private information. We have no clue how to do it to begin with and as spam haters ourselves we would never inflict that on anyone. Bands should also feel free to join. It’s the best way to keep us updated on your gigs, appearances and upcoming cds.

We have a lot of plans for the upcoming year. We will be putting together a page for Celtic Festivals and we will try to organize a battle of the band videos open to all Celtic and Irish musicians so stay tuned for more info on that. We have a few more events planned also so keep checking back and join up to participate. The more fans we have registered the more tempting it is for bands to participate in our events and the more music we all get to share.

If you are on the staff of a festival or just know of a good one please send info on it to fans @ fanrealm . com (remove the spaces) and we would be happy to include it on our page. If you own or know of a great Irish pub, especially one with live entertainment let us know that too. If you are in or know of a Celtic band or solo act let us know about them especially if they have a cd and it is for sale at cdbaby so we can link to it and sell a few copies for them.

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