Although I’ve been playing music professionally for almost thirty years there is always a fear buried deep within my mind that the offers of work will stop coming, and a greater fear of becoming destitute and unable to pay the mortgage and the usual assortment of bills that arrive through the mail slot in our front door with alarming regularity. At certain times of the year I fret and worry but it always seems to work out somehow. Such was my concern in early summer this year that I wasn’t able to relax and avail myself of my healthful allotment of REM sleep, and so became quite a burden to my family. It looked to me that my Fall schedule was somewhat sparse in the area of live performance which is mostly the area in which I make my living. Don’t get me wrong, I do get paid for CD sales and downloads but that amount is meager enough to elude the attention of even the most enthusiastic employee of the IRS. Why now that I think about it I did once receive a royalty check for my performance with the Savannah Symphony. Four dollars and fifty seven cents if memory serves and I did include it in my annual tax return but again they seemed enthusiastically uninterested. 

So it was a terrific relief to be offered several performances with Norwegian Cruise Lines again this year aboard the Majesty, and an even more pleasant surprise to be offered additional performances onboard the Jewel, the last of which I will fulfill this week. I fly out tomorrow morning to join the ship in New York and fly home on Sunday from Quebec City. The experience has been wonderfully rewarding; the audiences eager to enjoy, the sound and lighting technicians extremely competent, the cruise staff friendly and accommodating and the theatres beautifully appointed. It’s almost surreal to perform in such a venue, seating up to one thousand people, and realize that you are actually at sea. I met some lovely people, entertainers and audience members and I truly had a blast. Thanks to everyone with whom I crossed paths and a very special thanks to NCL Entertainment Director Sue Carper for believing in me.

On a related theme if you are interested (and why wouldn’t you) in coming on the Ireland at Sea cruise on January 24 please call Isle Inn Tours at: 1800-237-9376, ext 17.

The one and only Seamus Kennedy will be with us as well as Fiona Molloy and the group Guaranteed Irish. It’s going to be a wonderful trip but call soon because we do have to release unsold cabins in a couple of weeks.

Our 2010 Tours to Ireland packages are now available and we are taking reservations. There are two to choose from; the first is with Fr. Liam and Mary Collins and begins at Shannon airport on July 8. The second, my 20^th, begins at Shannon airport on July 22.   Both Tours are 10 day -8 night tours and on these customized outings we’ll travel to the southwest and east midlands of Ireland. Please check our 2010 Tour page for information, itinerary and contact numbers. Fr. Liam’s tour flyer can be emailed or surface mailed upon request. Both tours have limited availability, we don’t overcrowd the coach, and for those who have asked…yes I do come along. I never tire of my ancestral homeland, her beauty and mystical images, and we indulge in several nights of sing-along music, stories and jokes. If you have questions please email me or call: 912-398-2276

The Eddie Ivie scholarship concert was very well attended last week. It was a joy to perform with Gabriel Donahue, Danny Ray Cole, Johnnie Kennedy, Frank Emerson and the Savannah Irish Dancers and I believe that we raised a princely sum to aid the scholarship. Thanks to those who came to the show. Dr. Howard Keeley, the Director for the Center for Irish Studies at GSU was unable to make the event. He was sorely missed but he was otherwise engaged with the arrival of a baby girl. Mother and child are doing fine and I offer my hearty congratulations to the Keeley family.

If you keep a constant vigil for new music may I offer the following suggestions:

Spilt Milk is the eagerly anticipated debut recording from Kristina Train. This young lady has the goods; a soulful, sultry, folksy, emotional voice that can really soar with the best of them and a beautifully produced low key collection of new songs that showcase her tremendous vocal talent. Not to be missed. Available from Blue Note Records.

If it Wasn’t for the Irish and the Jews is the latest offering from Mick Maloney as he again looks at the music of Tin Pan Alley at the turn of the last century, and especially the unlikely collaboration between Irish and Jewish songwriters and lyricists. A well crafted album which is good company for his last recording McNally’s Row of Flats. Both available from Compass Records.

That’s about it for now, I must go and pack for my early, very early flight to New York to join the Jewel. Drop a line on our Guestbook page, don’t forget to tune in weekly to The Green Island Radio Show - Saturdays at 9 PM and Wednesdays at 11 PM - and take care out there.

 All the best,