RI Irish Famine Memorial

I have heard that the dedication of the Rhode Island Irish Famine Memorial will take place in November. The Memorial will be located along the Providence River. I happened to drive by the site the other day, the construction workers were getting the site ready. This has been a long time in the works. The Committee should be commended on all their hard work.

Newport Waterfront Irish Festival

The Newport Waterfront Irish Festival is coming up next weekend. I will be going of course. I am not sure what day I will be going. It is on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. There is a concert on Friday evening, something new this year. It is always a fun time. Check out their site --http://www.newportfestivals.com/Irish-Festival/

Celtic Rock

One band that I like is Seven Nations. They play rock, and celtic rock. The band uses instruments like bagpipes and fiddles. The band started playing traditional, and now is playing more rock. The latest album I have, Thanks for Waiting, has a nice instrumental,"Slow Air". On their album, And Now It's Come to This, my favorite song is "Asleep for Days". I was playing it once, and my sister looked at me, and said "is that bagpipes I hear?". Now she is listening to this band. Their site is http://www.sevennations.com.

I really like Irish music, so I was saddened last week when I opened the paper and read that Tommy Makem died. He was one of my favorite musicians. I saw him perform a few times in Newport RI at festivals. I play my copy of the Reunion Concert CD in my car all the time.

I don't think that I will be able to make the Irish Connections festival in Canton, MA this year. Everytime I want to go, something always comes up, usually a family function or a visiting relative. It is being held later this year, normally it was held in June. I went when it was held at Stonehill College.

Mystery Books

I've always like reading mysteries, so I thought I would try Irish mysteries. I found authors to read. Bartholomew Gill wrote the Peter McGarr mysteries. Unfortunately after he died in a fall, I find another writer. I did find some books by Jim Lusby, who wrote the Carl McCadden stories. These are hard to find in the US, however I was able to purchase some, and borrow some through interlibrary loan at my library. If you want the darker side of Galway, read the Jack Taylor books by Ken Bruen. There is also the Matt Minogue mysteries by John Brady. I am not sure if he has written anything new lately. Another I read recently is Andrew Nugent. Most of these are police procedurals. One book I read was Yeats is Dead, written by a variety of authors, but I really wouldn't recommend it. I'm sure there are others. I'll have to search the card catalog at my library to find more.

Hello world

This is my very first blog post.