Summer plans and Irish Arts Week!

Just yesterday I was reading about how to get ready for swimsuit season, and realized, it already is swimsuit season! So I guess I'll just be swimming as is...

This summer has been mostly about catching up, and if all goes well, I should be caught up by next summer. We have a show June 30th in Staten Island that is the perfect opportunity to try some new material, so I've been going through new tunes and experimenting with different combinations. I even bought a book of Gypsy violin tunes - how about that in the middle of an Irish reel set?!

In July I'm heading up to East Durham for Irish Arts week. I'm taking a few classes including some Canadian fiddling and I'll be at the sessions.  I found a cool youtube site of the sessions last year, and if you're wondering what goes on there, here is an example.

Highlights from St. Patrick's Month NYC 2012

St. Patrick's Shows: Jameson pub crawl

It has been another year of March Madness, but we had some of the most fun gigs.

Vita and I did the Jameson pub crawl (bus photos below) several parades....and the usual assortment of shows.

Here are a few photos.

Irish fiddle shows: Cady Finlayson Band plays Bronx & Queens shows

Irish Music Concerts: Bronx, NY and Queens NY March 3rd & 4th!

Cady Finlayson Band in the Bronx
March 3rd 2 pm at Woodlawn Heights Library
4355 Katonah Avenue (at 239th St. )
Bronx, NY 10470
http://www.nypl.org/locations/woodlawn-heights

Spirited Irish music!
Sizzling fiddle and beautiful ballads for all ages. Admission free. Catch the Celtic Spirit!
http://www.nypl.org/locations/woodlawn-heights
Cady Finlayson, fiddle, Vita Tanga, guitar, Marina Meyler, vocals/banjo.

Cady Finlayson Band in Queens
Sunday March 4th 3 pm
Queens Central Library
89-11 Merrick Boulevard
Jamaica, NY 11432
http://www.queenslibrary.org/index.aspx?page_id=44&branch_id=CEL

Irish Music Sundays at Molly Spillane's: Cady Finlayson & Marina Meyler

I'll be back at  Molly Spillanes again this weekend, Sunday February 19th.
The place to be! 5-7 pm
Marina will be singing those Irish ballads and I'll be kicking it up with the fiddle tunes.
Stop by and say hi! No cover.
Molly Spillane's Irish Pub
211 Mamaroneck Avenue
Mamaraneck, NY 10543
http://www.mollyspillanespub.com

New York City at its best!

There are days when New York City is absolutely magnificent, and this video captures that for me.
The background music is our recording of "Foggy Dew" (Electric Green CD)

Cady Finlayson Band Showcase at Arts Presenters Conference

Here is the real live version of the showcase we did at theArts Presenters Conference in New York City. If you can get past looking at the very sexy "EXIT SIGN" in the background and imagine a real theater with lighting, you get the idea.  It was such fun to have Irish dancing as a part of it.

Pencil drawing of our APAP set 2012

Vita and I played the Arts Presenters Conference at the NYC Hilton.
In this pencil drawing video you'll Cady on fiddle, Vita on guitar, and Tim Alworth on the bodhran.

This is a photo I just came across of my band at the Blackstone Valley Celtic Festival.
Fast forward to 2012...
We're getting ready to do showcases at the Arts Presenters Conference in New York City, complete with Irish dancing!
Saturday January 7th 7:40 pm, 9:20 pm and 9:40 pm
Hilton Hotel, 1335 Sixth Avenue, New York City.
Morgan Suite, 2nd floor.
No tickets necessary.
Conference attendees can visit the Irish Coffee Entertainment Booth #131 for bookings, Irish coffee recipes and New York City coffee recommendations. 

December 2011

A lot of news for events coming in december, so stay tuned.

Coming soon...  a new Irish fiddle app for android where you can be up-to-the-minute with all Cady's news and shows.

Coming soon... a new company partnership helping to put on all kinds of Irish fiddle events...that will include one of my favorite beverages...

I'll be making the announcements at our next show, which is part of the Sixth Street Sundays Series
Sunday
Cady Finlayson & Vita Tanga - Spirited Irish music with a Global Twist
Dec 11th 3 pm in New York City.
and we'll have two workshops before the event (2 pm)
1.  Tips and tricks of Irish fiddle (how to give your tunes that Irish lilt)
2.  Spice up your guitar playing with Global Guitar styles.
So come on by, 325 E. 6th St. in Manhattan http://sixthstreetsynagogue.org/special-events/6thstreetsundays/

A photo album our travels and gigs: Cady Finlayson & Vita Tanga

Irish Night at Caramoor: Cady's favorite video clips

I had great fun watching the kids during the Caramoor show. ...dancing, coloring, trying the instruments...
Irish dancer Lauren McGarrity was there to get them started on the reel and the jig, and everyone seemed to get the "JUMP" part! Family Program Designer Katie Kresek made sure all the kids had something fun to do, and even led them in a spelling contest (Who can spell the name of the Irish drum? ...BODHRAN (the winner got a complimentary Harp and Shamrock cd).

See some of my favorite shots here....

 Dancing to "Pumpkin's Fancy"

 Vita and the Guitar girls

 Cady shows a page from the Celtic coloring table.

 "...and the Bog Down in the Valley-oh..."

 Celtic Coloring

 Tim gets going on the Bodhran!

 The beauty of Caramoor.

Visit Caramoor,org for their whole season.

Celtic fiddle at Caramoor

I went to Caramoor last weekend to check it out since we have a concert there June 29th. It's beautiful!

From the gardens to the architecture to the woods.Of course I had to pull my fiddle out and play a little.  Afterwards we checked out the town of Katonah, the part by the train station. It's very cute and even though it's only a few blocks there was a music store, so I thought that was  a good sign!

Check it out for yourself Caramoor.org 

They have concerts all summer long and there's a picnic area with lots of trees. Our show is part of the Dancing at Dusk series - a 5 pm show that includes activities for kids. We'll have an Irish dancer (Lauren McGarrity) too, so that will be fun. 

As someone who lives in a big city, it's really nice to have places to go and feel like you are in a completely different world. Caramoor is one of those places. 

A Night at the Long Island Violin Shop

Vita and I played at for Irish music and Poetry Night at the Long Island Violin Shop. We heard poetry by Claire Nicolas White and Annabelle Moseley,... and saw all the work that goes on in the shop, which is run by violinmaker Charles Rufino. 

We met lots of nice people, and heard a variety of poets at the end when they had an open mic. Of course my favorite part was finding a blue violin that matched my dress! 

 Playing some Irish tunes...

 Autographing cds...

 Poet Claire Nicolas White read some of her beautiful poems and also "The Fiddler of Dooney" (Yeats)

 I found a violin to match my dress!

 Refreshment break...

Gearing up for Easter!

Long Island Violin Shop, Algonquin Seaport Theater, and Celtic Guitarist John Doyle in Brooklyn

I survived March and actually I kind of miss the craziness of totally different gigs every day...

there were definitely some new ones, like doing the parades, which were a lot of fun.  Plus we did a lot of new songs, some of which are keepers and others are great for St. Patrick's Day, but probably won't make the regular set list. I also had two green bagels at the Park Slope Parade, courtesy of Marty Markowitz whose people were handing them out. 

April  is time to figure out the next big project (West Coast tour? Christmas recording? Collaborations with various musicians? Composing new tunes?) - whoever said life didn't have choices wasn't talking about my life. 

In the meantime,  the shows coming up are going to be nice ones-

April 16th 5 pm at the Long Island Violin Shop "An Evening of Irish Music and Poetry". With real poets no less - all the details 

http://www.stringpoet.com/2011/03/irish-music-and-poetry/

http://www.liviolinshop.com

The Long Island Violin shop is turning out to be a nice community shop - lots of events and cool colors for instrument  cases....(anyone for a pink cello case?)

The other news is that I checked out the new venue where Vita and I are playing May 24th. 

It's called  the Algonquin Seaport Theater, and it's worth checking out for the view alone. It's at South Street Seaport, on the 2nd floor of the Seaport Mall, way on the end, so it overlooks the water, and you see beautiful views of the Brooklyn Bridge right behind the stage.....

We're playing for one of the Tuesday Acoustic Nights, which start at 7 (we're first) and continue into the night with a variety of acoustic musicians.  It's $10 and the best part is, all ages can come AND wine and drinks are served...so come on down May 24th 7 pm! www.algonquinseaporttheater.org

Lastly, if you haven't had a chance to hear Irish guitarist John Doyle, guess what, he's playing in Brooklyn this month (Sun April 10th at the Brooklyn Historical Society). Worth checking out!

http://www.brooklynhistory.org/visitor/calendar.html

Trenton St. Patrick's Day Parade:Cady & Vita on Parade Float

St. Patrick's Day in New York City: Irish music month

Getting ready for the great Month of March.... If you've never seen a fiddle/guitar duo in an Irish parade, this is your chance !  Vita and I are going to be in two: the Trenton NJ St. Patrick's Parade  (Sat. March 12th) and the Robbinsville NJ St. Patrick's Parade ( Sat March 19th). We are even going to be on a FLOAT for the Trenton Parade! As you can see from the photo below I'm getting ready to go green, complete with fingerless gloves that you can wear while playing jigs and reels on the fiddle.

Here is what we have so far ....all of the ones listed are open to the public

March 3rd 2:30 pm Mitchell-Linden Library  A Celebration of Irish music (Cady Finlayson & Vita Tanga). One-hour show, admission free. 29-42 Union St. Flushing, NY www.queenslibrary.org

Thurs March 10th 6 pm Playing for a Meet the Author event at the Hudson Park Library. 66 Leroy St. New York City. The author that evening is Julian Gough how has a poetry book: Love, Sex Chocolate....

Sat March 12th Trenton Parade NJ 12:30 pm trentonparade.com  Featured playing on a float in  the parade!

Mon March 14th 6 p.m. Middle Village Library,72-31 Metropolitan Avenue, Middle Village Queens NY www.queenslibrary/org admission free

Wed March 16th 7:30 pm The Brecht Forum 

"Pulse Harmony Progress: Music for International Women's Month

Irish music starts the program and then it's a

double bill with the fantastic Los Mas Valientes playing music from every corner of Latin America

451 West St. New York City, 10014  brechtforum.org for tickets. 

3/17 St. Patrick's TBA

3/19 Vita and I will be playing in the Robbinsville  NJSt. Patrick's Parade, Robbinsvilleirish.org

APAP 2011: Cady & Vita do the Arts Presenters Conference NYC

Conferences are always interesting to me, each one has its own feel and the Arts Presenters Conference in New York City (APAP) definitely feels like one of the more hectic ones, taking on the mood of the city.  There is a combination of dance, theatre, music, comedy, just about everything -except for maybe Heavy Metal (I quote from a musician I met there,,,,"this doesn't seem to be the place for a Heavy Metal band".... (hint: it's not!).

People are selling their shows, their artists, and in some cases their souls...

We had a booth in the exhibit hall, did three showcases, and couldn't resist a few photo ops with the beautiful Taipei Li-yan Peking Opera Theatre performers, and a vampire from Scorpio Dance Theatre.

I also had a chance to hear a few showcases from other musicians - a beautiful lute/vocal concert by Morriongiello and Young, fascinating and beautiful songs from Colombia by Calle Sur, an energetic set by Eileen Ivers, local favorite The Prodigals, even a pop-type group called 425, that combined singing and acting - making all the instrument noises with their voices. They also gave out twinkies.

 I tried unsuccessfully to get Vita to try one (he has never had one) insisting that eating a twinkie was the final step in celebrating his green card, but apparently there is some book or movie about twinkies that dissuaded him from ever trying one.

Other highlights -

1. Reading a book I got from Ken Waldman (Alaska's fiddling poet) called "Are you famous". kenwaldman.com

2. Meeting a former clown (Michael who now books the Bindlestiff Family Variety Arts) and hearing the real scoop on the circus. 3. Staying at the Hilton Hotel and not having to deal with the MTA for four days. (BONUS!)

So that was my APAP conference experience.  It's not quite as fun as the police conferences I go to when I play with the pipe band, but it is a great chance to see what's going on within the industry - and to let people know about us and set the groundwork for future concerts. 

A few days after APAP I went to Tulsa, Oklahoma to visit my grandmother who is 97 years old.  Just hanging out in the nursing home was a good antidote to APAP.  It reminded me that life is really about the people you love and if you can have them with you as long as possible, then you are really blessed. 

Being the top or bottom enchilada at industry events isn't really that important in the scheme of things. 

Creating beautiful music that means something is important and reaching people in ways that only music can, that's why we do what we do. The other stuff is just gravy. 

Celticpm3s.com Top cds of 2010

Celtic Mp3s.com came out with a list of top favorite cds of 2010 and I am happy to report that our Electric Green cd is mentioned. Check out all the artists here...
http://celticmp3s.com/2010/12/top-14-celtic-cds-of-2010/

Vita and I will be doing showcases at the Hilton Hotel for the Arts Presenters Conference Sat Jan. 8th and Sun Jan. 9th in New York City.   All details on our showdates page (fiddleandguitar.com).
Getting ready for the conference has kept me busy, so more on the news of 2011 after the conference...
there will be news about our new shows, our Christmas show, new music coming out and the usual adventures one comes across in the music business.
Happy New Year!http://celticmp3s.com/2010/12/top-14-celtic-cds-of-2010/

Cady Finlayson & Vita Tanga - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen: Irish blessings for the Holidays

• Wishing everyone the best for the Holiday Season. Remembering too that it can be a difficult time for people, as that Irish saying goes...""Ni thulgeann an seach an seang"(the well-fed person doesn't understand the hungry one"). 
• The Irish blessing I'm sending out to you is. "May your home always be too small to hold all your friends"...
• and may you always have music in your lives....
• Happy Holidays!