Hello Buddies!--Happy Summer 2009!Sorry we've been quiet lately: a busy, challenging, and transitional year, like most of us...THE SHOW MUST GO ON...RIGHT?_________________BUT FIRST________________________________________Hello!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! to all the VILLAGE PEOPLE in Pleasanton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I had the privilege of teaching at Village High School thus past year. So many great kids and memories to hold! Also, very special thanks to my peer educators for your great heart and kind support during the year! Please!! Stay in touch!!!
________________________And to our graduating SENIORS: You better Go For it!!!!!!!!!!!_________________________Performance:
I had the privilege of delivering the IMMORTAL MEMORY for the Caledonian Club of San Francisco lads in January in remembrance of Robert Burns. A very auspicious honor in this the year of Scotland's HOMECOMING EVENT commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the bard's birth in 1759.
I hope to be home attending and performing at some of the Homecoming Celebrations this summer! Keep yer eyes posted here...!Had a lovely visit with our friends (Lynne and Woody Gordon-- et al) in Las Vegas for the annual Celtic Festival-2009, our fourth year....Thanks to my friend Ray Pearson who invited me to sing at his Whisky tasting event there!
Costa Mesa Highland Games was great again this year--Our 6th YEAR! already. Great to see them blossom after returning home to Orange County! Special thanks to Don (Cameron) and to Chief Tom, great to see you! And to the Great ALEX BEATON who was brilliant again this year! AND for the braw jam session with the Browns and the Molly's et al at the MARRIOTT on the Sat night! Slainte!Upcoming is the BIG ONE! Our HOME Games...!
SF-Caledonian Club 144th Scottish Games and Gathering at the Alameda Fairgrounds over the Labor Day Weekend (Sept 5+6, 2009).Bring your familiy and friends to SCOTLAND for the weekend! This is our 6th year performing for the Games, always a great pleasure! This year as well as singing, I'll be MC-ing in the Grandstand during each day's events, I believe.Keep yer eye on the Games program for times/details.
or stay in touch...
www.neiloneill.orgHave a grand summer, we send you love and light on the path.
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____________________UK-TOUR-SUMMER-2008_____________________
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A wee update/catchup-flashback for ye: We had a great summer-2008 doing the UK-Celtic Nations Tour, Scotland/England/Wales. A big success and highlight was peforming at The Dunstaffnage Music Festival in Oban: Folk Stage! Great event in full view of Mull and Ben Nevis too! SPECIAL THANKS TO MY GREAT PAL LOUIS BARROW!!! Who I hadn't seen in years, and who stepped forward to save the sound day! Yer a PEACH!
Went on to headline at MARKIE Dan's Pub next to the Corran House in Oban---as well as guest appearance at the The Waterfront in Oban, too.Thanks again to Louis and Alison and Family for love and babysitting!
Grateful good thanks to our friends there: Ann McDonald and family!Who were wonderful hostesss, so welcoming! We miss them! Love and thanks, dears!Another astonishing highlight was singing next Robert Burn's deathbed, no less. After reading the lines he etched on his windows there, in the Vennel, Dumfries. If you go there, visit the Globe Pub on the high street, ask to see Burns's bed upstairs! His room he used has been preserved since 1790s!
Iona--the sacred isle-- proved to be a grand inspiration! We walked on St Colum's beach at the rear of the Island, as well as offered prayers and thanks at the Abbey where St Columba brought Christianity to Celtic Scotland/Caledonia in 563 AD.
TAYBANK HOTEL Dunkeld: a glory singing here, next the river Tay, at the old Pictish capital of Scotland. Just missed Dougie (McLean) who'd gone off fishng for the week, ach!
Where kindly invited back next summer and to play the Merryburn Hotel there, too! Loved Dunkeld! Thanks to pal, Ray Patillo, our kindly host and the Chieftain of the Livermore Games 2007! We own ye one, Ray! Next time yer Stateside!Lad!Arran: Scotland in Miniature! Peformed at Lamlash Folk Night. Beautiful views of the Holy Isle. Arran is a magnificent island and we hope to sing there again next summer! DATES TBA.Hope to be back in Scotland summer 2009--appearances: stay tuned!US/CAL--143rd SFCC-Pleasanton Games we had a great year. 5TH Anniversary for us! On the Glasgow and Palm Stages. Great, fun weekend and a success for our club too!Seaside/Ventura: a lovely wee Games, and a grand success this year! thanks to John and Nellie Lowry for their kindness! Performed on Main and Celtic Rock Stages. Opening for Alex Beaton and Wicked Tinkers respectively. A great turnout and fun day all round. Many thanks again, Chief/Chieftainess!
Upcoming: Costa Mesa--2009, Homecoming Scotland, et al---watch this space...! Be well!Blessings/ Slainte!Scotch Melody Maker, Celtic Troubadour, Actor
I'm a native born Scotsman with three Irish grandparents. I sing tenor, inherited from Charlie Duffin, my maternal grandfather whose great tenor voice inspired and entertained the troops, his Regiment: The Royal Enniskillen Fusiliers, during WW I. He also played pipes and drums. He was my first inspiration when I was a wee lad. He sang everything in the Scots/Irish popular repertoire of his day. He especially loved the great John McCormack, and of course, oor ain lad, Robert Burns who lived a mere 20 miles away, in Ayrshire, Scotland.I recorded/released a compilaton of Scottish/Irish/Roots music at the end of 2005, the SCOTCH MELODYMAKER. It was launched at the Starry Plough, in Berkeley, CA, to a great reception, and it was broadcast over the web and on the radio at KPFA FM's, Cover to Cover with Jack Foley on Nov 15th, 2006. You can buy selected songs from SCOTCH MELODYMAKER at Amie Street ... --> --> --> --> Amie Street Player --> ..My love for music led me to play in varous bands, as well as pick up a few instruments on the way: guitar, banjo, pennywhistle, piano and bass. (I sang first tenor for the UC Berkeley Men's Choral for a semester! Very hard work, but rewarding too).I love the classic Rock and Roll era, Beatles, Stones, Eagles, Cream, but I especially enjoy the great accoustic singer/songwriters of the Folk and Roots idiom. The Corries, Eric Bogle, Matt McGinn, Hamish Imlach, James Taylor, Paul Simon, The Clancy Bros, Kate Wolf, Van Morrison, Cat Stevens, Stan Rogers, Runrig, Dougie McClean, as well as the great US folksters, Woody and Arlo Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Kris Krisofferson, Don McClean, Jim Croce, Greg Brown Pete Seegar, Ewan McColl and on...For 25 years I've been lucky to be a part of Bread & Roses offering musical outreach in the San Francisco/ Bay Area, singing for involuntary shut-ins-anywhere where people are confined. music is so great, it can reach across many divides, and open hearts and minds. It has been a wonderful heart-opening experience for me. Thank you to the caring Bread and Roses Staff and volunteers for their service and support over all these years.Actor I have a couple of film roles in process...keep you posted. I was trained at ACT in San Francisco, studied with Tony Taccone (Berkeley Rep-Master Class) and performed in 80 + productions: from Shakespeare to the modern playwrights. Cinema: my first film role was a reporter opposite Jeff Bridges in the movie, Tucker: A Man and his Dream...(Dir: Francis Coppolla.Prod: George Lucas). Check out my upcoming film, Honest Man.or for more info, visit my Myspace actor site and check out my IMDB. site.
