Sunday -

Hello, I suppose it’s now officially the bleak midwinter, what with this unbelievable worldwide cold snap. I noted to my wife just the other day that perhaps we should move another thousand or so miles to the south of our current location and set up house where it surely must be warmer. Like so many I don’t much care for the cold weather, that was a deciding factor in coming to Savannah, Georgia . . . how was I to know that Jack Frost had the same idea!

All humour aside this is shaping up to be one brutal winter, hard to know what to make of it all. There is the natural global warming theory, the natural weather cycle theory or the ‘man caused all’ of this theory, who knows, and in one hundred years it will matter little to all of us, but our children’s children and those beyond them will have to understand and deal with our planets issues. What should humble us is the fact that we have come so far, we have done so much, we have become supremely intelligent and yet we know so little and have such difficulty in coping with natural disasters. In short we’re extremely lucky to be here in this phenomenal world and yes we should take better care of it and yes we can, but I’m not going there, this is neither the time nor the place. We’re all grown up and each of us makes a difference and each of us plots our own path through life, isn’t that what makes us so interesting? I’ll just leave it there.

Speaking of life’s path I must inform you of the passing of my friend Ron Smith in the small hours of Saturday December 26th at his home in St. Petersburg, Florida. Together with his wife Barbara and my wife Traci , we traveled to many places these last few years and have wonderful memories of our times together. Ron fought a long and courageous battle but as applies to all of us, time was not on his side. Against the odds he made it to the milestone of his 60th birthday in November and perhaps on that cold Christmas night, with Barbara by his side, he knew it was time to go. His intelligence, quiet wit, companionship, friendship and wise council will be sorely missed by those of us who knew him well. We will offer several toasts in his memory during the coming months. I remember well my mother asking about Ron’s health last January when we were home. We stopped by the Dominican Church and she lit a candle and said a prayer for him, little did I know as I looked on that she herself would be gone within a week, life is harsh that way. Anyway, Godspeed on your journey Ron, I’m sure you’ll bump into Bryda up there.

It was, and this is hard to write, thirty, count them, thirty-years ago on Mother’s Day that I first came to America - so I suppose I should, and let me choose the correct word here . . . celebrate?  the occasion. Perhaps I should then! And so I will but I will also need to gather my thoughts on how to do this so a little time to plan please. I do know that as part of the Ireland tours a night will be dedicated to the celebration. I have planned an evening on both trips where we will have an Irish Summer Dinner at a location around Newgrange, just west of my hometown. Family and friends will be there to harass and roast me so it will be an enjoyable night for many!

I would like to express my thanks to all of you who came to our touring Celtic Christmas Concert in December. All in all the tour was a nice success and Carroll Brown and I fully intend to do it again this year. I also had a terrific time performing at the Carols in the Cathedral with the Savannah Philharmonic and singing a duet with baritone Jason Moon was a highlight for me. What an experience, my thanks to Artistic Director and Conductor Peter Shannon and all the members of the Philharmonic Chorus.

On our Tours to Ireland  front, we’re enjoying a flurry of activity with inquiries and folks deciding to sign on and come with us. Here on the website we are working on a dedicated O’Donoghue Tours  page but for now you can click on the 2010 Tours icon on our Home page. All of the information is there and we’re very pleased with the package - price, hotels, itinerary and the finer details that hopefully will continue to make these customized trips special. One of the things I am most pleased about is that there are no hidden costs. The price is the price and that’s it. We also try to accommodate personal requests the best we can. Life is indeed in the details.

To sign on or for queries of any kind please contact us by email or phone - hodmusic@aol.com -  912-398-2276

I am still recording with Gabriel Donahue and my new project should be released, well, before May I should hope...as part of the 30 Year celebration. Getting near the end now. If you’d like to book an O’Donoghue performance, organize a group tour to Ireland no matter how big or small you can begin the process here at the website. If you find time please drop a note here on our Guestbook Page and let us know your thoughts. The Green Island Radio Show seems to maintain its popularity and you can find us on any GPB member station or streaming live on the web on Saturday evenings at nine and Wednesday evenings at eleven. May the Winter pass quickly for those who wish it to and more slowly for those who revel in the cold.as for me, I’m breaking out the sun tan lotion -  roll on Summer.

Stay safe and warm out there,