DANISH TOUR DATES


20/03/2007 Niamh Parsons with Graham Dunne Baltoppen: kl. 19.30

23/03/2007 Niamh Parsons with Graham Dunne Haslev Viseversklub

26/03/2007 Niamh Parsons with Graham Dunne LO Skolen

28/03/2007 Niamh Parsons with Graham Dunne Kaerum Kirke, Fyn

30/03/2007 Niam Parsons with Graham Dunne Gimle, Roskilde

31/03/2007 Niamh Parsons with Graham Dunne Halkaer Kro

01/04/2007 Niamh Parsons with Graham Dunne Det Bruunskepakhus

St. Puy

What a lovely weekend in St. Puy, France. Hosted by Ken Eaton, myself and Graham were treated royally. Arriving in Biarritz on Friday, we were picked up by Ken and his friend Angela, who brought us back to St. Puy, stopping for lunch on the way in a most beautiful restaurant, where we had to have duck! We had a relatively quiet night in Ken's wonderful house on Friday. But I was quite ill with a chest infection, on anti-biotics (which meant very little alcohol - no harm there) - so I had to rest a lot on Saturday, which I did. Graham entertained all round by playing the guitar for about 4 hours, while Ken cooked dinner for the multitude who would be arriving after the sound-check.

Our concert was to be held in the town of St. Puy. This was the first concert of it's kind, and Ken had done trojan work gathering people for it. It was a most unusual concert, in that there was about 120 people there, 100 of them were British!! And only about 20 French people - amazing - so everybody could understand me - which was great as I didn't have to strain by brain trying to speak French (which always turns out Irish or Italian!) Anyway - Ken's band opened up the night - then we went on for our usual 1.5 hours, and the night was finished by Franc on his piano - amazing singer/entertainer!

Sunday saw us at Chez Nous in the town, where after an amazing meal, we got the guitars out and had a lovely afternoon session. Sunday night we tried to recuperate - and both myself and Ken lost to Graham at Scrabble - what is Qi anyway!!!

A very big thank you to Ken Eaton for all his hard work - he brought people together for a night, introduced them to his favourite music, and everybody had a great time!

Special mentions go to Angela, David, Eric & Chris, Catherine, Chez Nous Staff and Franc! Thanks so much - we'll do that again - anytime!!

ENNIS TRAD FESTIVAL

The Best Weekend in the World! Ennis trad fest was just brilliant. Thursday night's concert was 'At First Light' with Donal O'Connor and John McSherry, Ruben Bada, Alan Burke and Francie McIlduff. Brilliant music and an excellent gig despite being at midnight when all revellers were fairly nicely. I was blown away by the music and the performance in general. The album has not left my CD player since.

Friday night was great too. Mike McGoldrick and Dezi Donnelly along with Jim Murray and John Joe Kelly. Again fantastic music and tunes. They were joined by Grace Kelly and Johnny Ringo McDonagh - brill! I sound like I'm raving but it seriously was an excellent performance.

Saturday afternoon, we met for the singing session, which was good but a bit frustrating as the Rugby matches were on. Saturday night we were back out to the Auburn Lodge for Fisherstreet, who had not played in 15 years - and they were great! Great traditional music and wonderful tunes. I nipped into the Trad Disco for a little while before it got busy - and it was great craic - loads of people jumping round with pints in hand, and not spilling a drop - despite falling all over the place!

Sunday and it was off to the Ashford Court for another singing session, which turned out to be great and went on for hours. But we headed off to Steele's for the session. I snuck away to the concert which was the best yet! Jean Michel Veillon and Jamie McMenemy - sublime.

Monday, and by this stage everyone is just wrecked! I steered clear of the drink for most of the weekend - except wine at dinner which, like my father, I don't count as drink! There were two lovely sessions in Cruises and I played for 2 hours in one - my fingers were hanging off me - as I've only recently started playing guitar again! I decided it would be better if I headed on home because the Teada gig wasn't on till midnight and I was busy in Dublin on Tuesday - so I packed up my guitar and headed home, having had the best weekend in years and years. Thanks to John, Carmel, Mike and all the team for the best yet! www.ennistradfestival.com

Padraig O'Keeffe Festival, Castleisland

Castleisland
What a great weekend. Castleisland hosts the Padraig O'Keeffe Memorial Festival every Halloween - it's been going about 14 years. We arrived and checked in to the Hotel. We went straight for dinner as we were starving. Unfortunately I accidently said whisky when I meant to say Water afterwards and that was the end of me for the night - apparently I had a brilliant night though nobody could find the key I was singing in - oh dear. That was it - for the rest of the weekend I was on the dry!

Saturday afternoon found us up the road in a lovely pub at the singing sessions - singers included Dessie O'Halloran, Tim Dennehy, myself and a lot of wonderful local singers - lovely afternoon. It was great to see a group of Dublin lads down for a birthday celebration - they were so well behaved and respectful that they declined singing anything!! Thanks Eoin and crew.

Saturday night we went to Jackie Daly's session along with Seamus Creagh, Connie O'Connell, Eileen de Paor, Paul de Grae, Aaron from Virgingia and Jay Kuchinsky from Edmonton - what a really lovely session, though it was a pity it was in the middle of a noisy hotel room - but it got quieter later, quiet enough for songs. On seeing the queue to get into the resident's lounge we decided to head for the hills at about 2.30 - but of course the clocks went back so we actually got an 'early' night.

Sunday afterrnoon and a brilliant session in Brennans. Connie O'Connell and Gerry Harrington led it with Eileen de Paor of course and a few other great players. The scheduled players - Derek Hickey etc. held off until the first session came to a natural change - which was a really good way of doing things. The Concert on Sunday was excellent - with every act doing just 2 or 3 numbers, and it flowed very well. Some of my favourites were Paudie O'Conner with his wife Aoife O'Keeffe, Joe and Anne Burke, Jackie Daly, Seamus Creagh, Peadar O'Loughlin, Dessie O'Halloran, Sean Abeyta, Con Fada O'Driscoill to mention a few! Later Sunday there was craic to be had all arcross town, with about 16 sessions in each of the pubs.

On Monday we decided we'd better hit the road, but dropped into Brennans for a quick coffee before heading over to Clare on the ferry. But we were caught when in walked Connie O'Connell again - he's just such a wonderful player, with great tunes and real respect for the music. 5 hours later we eventually hit the road!

Thanks to Cormac and the committee for such a brilliant weekend.