Great gig for Colm Meaney and Lord Mayor of Dublin

Uilleann Pipes
1

I just received a call to play for the San Jose, California - Dublin, Ireland, Sister Cities Spirit of Ireland event on March 10, 2007.

I will be playing uilleann pipes in the VIP room at the Fairmont Hotel for Colm Meaney and Lord Mayor of Dublin.

Colm Meaney, for those who don’t know him, is an actor who has appeared in The Commitments, The Boys and Girl from County Clare, and many other films. He also stars in Star Trek on television. He is the Honorary Awards guest at the event.

It is so wonderful that the city of San Jose is promoting Irish music and had the insight to have uilleann pipes at the event.

I am honoured to be asked. I am sure that it will be a great event.

I also get to attend the $150.00 per plate dinner after my performance. Free, of course! What a plus! And, yes, it I am getting paid to play.

I will give an update after the event.

Cheers! Richard

2

Sounds like a blast.

Colm Meaney is one my favorite character actors. I especially enjoyed his role in The Snapper.

3

Just call him “Chief”. :slight_smile:

djm

4

How cool is that!!! He was great as Mr. Rabbit in “The Commitments”.

“F***in’ blasphemy! Elvis was not a cajun!”

5

Congrats on the gig Richard! Be sure to let us know how it goes. As a San Jose native, I think it’s pretty cool to have Dublin as our sister city.

6

Thanks for the input.

I will definitely be watching all of Colm’s movies again before I meet him in person. I have most of the script for The Commitments memorized anyway.

Elvis was God! At least according to Mr. Rabbit.

I am very excited and honored to be invited to play for this event. Plus we (my wife and I) get a free dinner out of the deal.

Not only will the Lord Mayor of Dublin and Mr. Meaney be there, but also the Mayor of San Jose and many other honorable and upstanding citizens. :slight_smile:

Maybe Paris Hilton and Britney Spears will attend…NOT! People most likely would confuse Britney with Sinead O’Connor.

I hope this will lead to other gigs and someday I will be as famous as Patrick D’Arcy. Are you listening Paddy?

Updates later!

Richard

7

Richard- sounds like the perfect time to break out Planxty Browne :slight_smile:

“Chief- Beam the away team up NOW!@”


That’s a great gig Richard- who knows, you and Picard could do a double-pipes and whistle combo- <Name the episode where Picard plays a clarke whistle:-)>

8

Damn! I just saw a show about them auctioning all that Star Trek memorobilia. That whistle only went for 40 grand, petty change you know.

9

What a rip off! I’d sell you mine for 30!

Pat.

10

Hey…I’ll make you a Picard whistle for 10 grand! Hurry…I’m having a BIG SALE right now.

11

Oh! Did I say petty change. I meant petty change to the poor soul who dropped 40 G’s on that whistle that, according to Patrick Stewart, doesn’t even work. :smiling_imp:

12

Well, the 2007 Spirit of Ireland event is now history. I was able to play uilleann pipes for the breakfast event and the Award Dinner.

I had the pleasure to meet the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Vincent Jackson and many other dignitaries including the Mayor of San Jose, and Catherine Heenan, our local anchor for KRON TV Channel 4.

At the dinner, Colm Meaney was the 2007 Spirit of Ireland Award Recipient.
I played in the VIP room for all the dignitaries and then was able to attend the Award Dinner.

Colm and the Lord Mayor really appreciated the uilleann pipes and we had a nice chat afterwards.

All in all a great and enjoyable evening. I have been asked to be a participant from now on for each annual event. It was nice to see San Jose promote Irish culture and music…especially the uilleann pipes!

I have put some photos on my website at: http://katzwerk.com/photographs.htm

Cheers! Richard

13

I was in an Irish traditionl band that was hired to play the Riverdance cast party about ten years ago. Big mistake! (conceptually that is). The cast members pleaded with us to play some kind…any other kind…of music instead of the Irish traditional stuff. It was all we knew, so they were stuck with it.

Paid well though :slight_smile:

t

14

Good luck, Mr Rabbitte wasnt too impressed with Brian MacAodhs piping in the commitments!(the auditioning scene)!

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