The songs I love the most in the Irish music tradition are the ballads. I love singing passionate love songs of today and yesterday.

That's one of the reasons I named my first solo CD, Soul of a Harper. It is filled with some romantic and soulful ballads. Course, it's not quite as defined as the Brobdingnagian Bards' Celtic Wedding CD, A Celtic Renaissance Wedding. But it's close.

Any case, I'm gonna celebrate my Irish Valentine's Day with a bunch of romantic, love songs from my various CDs at Things Celtic. Come join me in some sappy fun.

February 11, 2006
Things Celtic @ Noon-1 PM
1806 W. 35th Street
Austin, TX 78703

I hope to see ye there.

PS. Don't forget the following weekend, the Brobdingnagian Bards will do a CD Release for The Circle, a Ren Faire Compilation CD at Mother Egan's Irish Pub with the Bedlam Bards. Find out more.

Below are all of the Irish music venues that host music outside of just St. Patrick's Day. If you want St Patrick's Day Party info in Austin, you can check the link. Otherwise, check out these great Irish/Celtic Music venues:

B.D. Riley's Pub
Contact: John Erwin
204 East 6th Street
Austin,Texas 78701
Phone: 512-494 1335; Fax: 512-494 1336
Email: jmerwin@austin.rr.com

Cactus Café & Bar #
Contact: Griff Luneburg, Manager
Texas Union, University of Texas
Location: 23rd & Guadalupe
PO Box 7338
Austin, TX 78713-7338
Phone: 512.475.6515

fadó Irish Pub #
Contact: Clay
214 W 4th Street
Austin, TX 78701-3917
Phone: 512.457.0172

The Kerbey Lane Café #
12602 Research Blvd
Austin, TX 78759-2219
Phone: 512.528.7757; Fax: 512.335.4466

Mother Egan’s Irish Pub #
715 W 6th Street
Austin, TX
Email: motheregans@motheregansirishpub.com

Mother's Café & Garden #
4215 Duval Street
Austin, TX 78751-4341
Phone: 512.451.3994; Fax: 512.459.6447

Things Celtic #
Contact: Lanora Davidson
1806 W. 35th Street
Austin, TX 78703
Phone: 512.472.CELT (2358); Fax: 512.472.3679
Toll Free: 888.921.9529
Email: lanora@things-celtic.com

The Waterloo Ice House
Contact: Stuart Hentschel, Gnl. Mgr.
600 N Lamar Street Ste G
Austin, TX 78703-5400
Phone: 512.472.5400; Fax: 512.472.6414

The Waterloo Ice House 26 Doors
1106 W 38th Street
Austin, TX 78705-1019
Phone: 512.451.5245; Fax: 512.472.6414

Austin is host to a lot of great Irish music every week. Your job, if you choose to accept it is to come out and enjoy it!

Sundays

Doc Grauzer
Mother's Cafe
4215 Duval

Tea Merchants
Mother Egan's Irish Pub
715 W 6th Street

Irish Session
B.D. Riley's Irish Pub
204 E. 6th St.

Tuesdays

Tea Merchants
Mother Egan's Irish Pub
715 W 6th Street

Wednesdays

Ptarmigan
Waterloo Ice House
38th Street

Thursdays

Doc Grauzer
Mother's Cafe
4215 Duval

Fridays

Pubcrawler
B.D. Riley's
204 E. 6th St.

Doc Grauzer
Mother's Cafe
4215 Duval

You can also find a nice list of Irish Events at the Austin Celtic Association website. Or see the Texas Celtic Music Network for a huge list of Celtic events in Austin and around the state.

I was at B.D. Riley's Irish Pub chatting with a fellow member of the Irish American about the Irish American community. He asked me, "Where is it? I see people at pubs, but that's it."

In some ways he's right. The Irish in Austin are divided somewhat. They find their roots only in the Irish pubs of Austin. They don't realize that the Austin Celtic Association is out there gathering its members into the fold or that there's an Austin Irish Yahoogroup and an Irish Austin Livejournal. And there are a lot of Irish pubs too.

To start, check out these pubs for the rich Irish community that includes live Irish music.

B.D. Riley's Pub
204 East 6th Street, Austin,Texas

Fado Irish Pub
214 W 4th St, Austin, TX

Mother Egan's Irish Pub
715 W 6th St, Austin, TX

But for the ultimate place to find the Irish, our gathering point for all things Irish, go to Things Celtic.

I got up earlier than usual to go to 24-Hour Fitness. I've wanted to learn Yoga for a while. They have a Sunday at noon Yoga class (early? what can I say, I'm a musician).

This was my first-ever Yoga class. Oy! What a workout. I'm not used to actually exercising. But it's good for me. I'm gonna start going regularly methinks.

After meditating cool down, I left the gym and decided to go to Mother Egan's Irish Pub for their newly started Celtic Brunch. The band playing--The Tea Merchants. I walked in at the end of a rousing set of reels. There were a solid fifty or so people gathered on the covered deck at Mother Egan's. I only saw one table open so grabbed it.

It was the end of their set. So I ordered the Egan's Eggs while I waited for the next set. The weather was just perfect with a nice breeze blowing across the porch. There families, couples, folks just out of church, and a lot of bright smiles on people's faces.

The next set kicked into gear and the band rocked the house. Folks were clapping, stomping, dancing around as waitresses dogged them. The band was tight. They sound even better than ever every time I see them. Today was no exception.

One of the owners, Mick, walked out onto the deck during a set of a very powerful polkas. He was beaming. The Greencards used to play a Sunday brunch there for a couple o'years. I could tell he saw the same success of The Greencards as he did with The Tea Merchants.

The end of the show was riveting. Twenty minutes of Irish tunes that moved every foot in the house.

Most Austinites don't realize how much great Celtic music there is in Austin. To me, the Irish & Scottish community is fragmented. But let me tell you, folks like the Austin Celtic Association, the Celtic Cultural Center, Things Celtic, the Celtic MP3s Music Magazine, and now my own Irish & Celtic Music Podcast are out there on the front lines promoting some of the hottest new Celtic artists out there. Many of them are from right here in Austin.

Go to AustinCelts.org and find some of these great Celtic Performers that are playing EVERY week.

PS. On February 18th, the Brobdingnagian Bards and the Bedlam Bards will get together at Mother Egan's to do a CD Release for The Circle, a new compilation CD of Renaissance festival musicians benefitting victims of Hurricane Katrina. This is a side of Celtic music that doesn't pop up much in Austin, but we'll leave you rolling in the aisles.

I woke up this morning and looked at the clock. "Oh crap! I'm late."

I had a meeting with Mick at Mother Egan's Irish Pub at 11am. It was 10:55 by my bed alarm clock's standard. Today, I was happy that I did not fix that time from when I worked at UT. That meant, I had twenty minutes instead of five to get dressed and get to the pub.

So in record time, I was dressed and out the door. I got there five after 11 am and Mick hadn't arrived. Whew! The bartender poured me some coffee and then Mick walked in.

I told him what I'm looking to do--a CD Release Party for The Circle, the Renaissance Festival Podcast and Modern compilation CD of Ren Faire artists. We set a tentative date and chatted about things.

I told him about the idea that Kimberly, Doc, and I were talking about the other night for the ACA. Instead trying to do concert production, let's start supporting Celtic music groups around town. Now I just need to see if I can get the Austin Celtic Association involved in it. I'm confident it'll happen.

Course, once I talked to Cedric about the date I was looking at for the CD release I found out immediately that that date might be a no go. So I'll try again.

Stay tuned for a gig update coming soon to an LJ near you. Slainte!

When St Patrick's Day swings around, keep an eye open for Felix the Cat, Morris, Sylvester the Cat, Garfield, the Cheshire Cat, the Pink Panther, gathered around a large wooden barrel of green milk purring and waiting for the bartender to pour another pint. In the corner of the pub are four stray cats decked in kilts playing reels and jigs on autoharp, mandolin, flute, and fiddle.

This St Patrick's Day will be a year not to be forgotten as Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia takes up the microphone and roars an Irish ballad.

Thinking he was on American Idol, Dr Evil's cat, Mr. Bigglesworth will take his turn at the mic singing cat-styled Irish rebel songs before plotting to take over the world.

Harry Potter's Crookshanks will step up and mew an Irish toast, "Here's to a long life and a merry one. A quick death and an easy one. A pretty girl and an honest one. A cold pint-- and another one!"

A loud cheer erupts in the feline pub. Cat hairs stand on end. Then Tom and Jerry step up. Tom reads the following poem,

"Some Guinness was spilt on the barroom floor
When the pub was shut for the night.
When out of his hole crept a wee brown mouse
And stood in the pale moonlight.

He lapped up the frothy foam from the floor
Then back on his haunches he sat.
And all night long, you could hear the mouse roar,
'Bring on the damned cat!'"

Then he pounces on Jerry. The pub is filled with the sound of tables and chairs crashing over. Tony the Tiger picks up his pint and barely avoids losing his drink.

This will be a St Patrick's Day Party to remember!

And I'm home.

Twas a nice trip. Thursday, I got to hang out with David and Sharon of Boogie Knights (David wrote "Exclamations"). I also got a peek at a couple upcoming songs. They have one that's a parody of "Puff, The Magic Dragon" that is awesome!

Yesterday, my mom and I drove to Delaware for my house concert. Listened to "Goblet of Fire" as an audio book all the way out there which passed the time easily. I wish I had gone out sooner though cuz the are looked pretty nice. The big challenge was the wind. It was blowing wayyy hard all the way too and fro.

Arrived at Larry's just before showtime. The temperature was dropping and it started sleeting. A local autoharper arrived for the show, everyone chatted. I got to meet Larry's cats and see some of his Red Dwarf fandom stuff. Dwarfers rock! :)

The show started a wee bit late, but it seemed to go quite well. My mom was quite impressed with my performance. So I guess I put on a good show. It felt good. I was much more relaxed than some of my past solo shows.

A few folks arrived late to catch the end of the second set. They all enjoyed it too. To top it off, the sleet had turned to snow by the time we left the house. So after all my hoping for a snow when I went up to Virginia, I got a wee bit. Yeah. Even pegged my mom with a snowball.

All in all, I was rather pleased. The attendance was small, but it seemed to do what I was hoping which is pay for my trip.

So thanks Larry!