Musical Notes

The Lorient International Celtic Festival is the largest Celtic Festival in Europe. The sleepy town of Krittany (the Celtic region of France) becomes the Celtic capital of the world for a week. American Celtic artists such as Eileen Ivers, Gaelic Storm & Clandestine will perform at this year's festival.

Nina Hynes and Ten Speed Racer, recording artists for Dublin-based Reverb Records, concluded a two week East Coast United States tour. Hynes. praised arlong the likes of Mazzy Star. Bjork, and Massive Attack has pained a sizable following in the U.S. with her enchanting electro-alternative music. Ten Speed Racer, making their first US appearance plan to return following their late June debut, Eskimo beach Boy. The tour also included a special live broadcast from CBGB's.

Ronnie McCoury said to be the epitotme of the modern hluegrass musician released his first solo album, Heartbreak Town. As a singer, songwriter. and instrumentalist McCoury plays everything from country weepers to storming hluegrass barn burners to jazzier fare.

Transatlantic Sessions, the album named afier the award-winning BBC TV series of the same name has been released in US. This collaboration features some of the best of American. Scottish, and Irish roots music. The musicians jammed together in Scotlantl or several days while putting together this memorable album. Artists include Roseanne Cash Jerry Douglas, Nanci Giffith, and Ricky Skaggs. Ceili Music, founded by Skaggs in 1997, typically features the music of traditional, contemporary and gospel bluegrass artists.

Art, Business and the Web

Irish incubator Gorann has signed up Weddingsonline.ie. Gorann will be instrumental to Weddingsonline as it implements its entry into the US weddings market. Online since Valentine's Day 2000, the site developed by such professionals as creative director Ian Dodson and editor Kim McGuire, author of The Irish Wedding Book.

Pulitzer Prize winning author Frank McCourt joins New York Times best-selling author Mary Higgins Clark and writer Brian Hoey on Queen Elizabeth 2's Great Authors of the Century theme cruise. The seven day (July 5-12) transatlantic crossing includes answering questions with McCourt about his new biography Tis. Clark and Hoey (the last person to interview Princess Diana) will also discuss their work.

Universal Concepts Unlimited launched Recent Work, an exhibition by Frank Gillette. Gillette has been exploring art and technology since the late '60's. His work includes video installation, large-scale Polaroid photography and photographic sets. His digital technology work continues in this pioneering tradition.

Wisdon Media Group has hired Nicholas R. Kiernan as VP and G.M. of Wisdon Internet and Windon Radio. An 18 year veteran at CBS, Inc., Kiernan is expanding Wisdon's position as a key service provider of Life Improvement programming. Wisdon Media Group provides informative, entertaining and motivational programming on alternative health, spirituality, personal growth and global change.

Authors Arthur and Barbara Gelb celebrated the life and work of one of America's greatest play wrights, Eugene O'Neill when they presented the updated edition of their definitive biography, O'Neill: Life With Monte Cristo. They were joined by Cherry Jones and Poy Dotrice, leads from the Broadway revival of the O'Neill classic, A Moon for the Misbegotten.

Gen Art and Shine presented their Summer Benefit & Celebrity Silent Auction. The event featured an exhibition and auction of 100 celebrity pieces created by influential members of the film, fashion, sports, political and music communities. Celebrity pieces include one-of-a-kind submissions by Cindy Crawford, Kevin Spacey Tommy Hilfiger, Senator Ted Kennedy, Kenneth Cole, Todd Oldham, Oliver Stone, Chris Kirpatrick of N'Sync, Anjelica Houston, Olympic Medalist Bonnie Blair; Martin Sheen, Peter Max, Sandra Bernhard, cartoonist Bill Hanna (Flinstones), Rachel Lee Cook, Jenny McCarthy, Denzel Washington and dozens more.

Award-winning director-producer, Jim Sheridan (The Boxer, in the Name of' The Father, and My Left Foot) is working on his latest film The Smiling Suicide Club, a film about suicidal patients discovering their true selves while going through therapy in a treatment center. Sheridan encountered leading man Dublin-born Cillian Murphy during screening of Jean Doumanian's Sunhurn- an indie-film about a group of young Dubliners who work in Montauk, New York, for the summer.

Produced by New York-based "Dreams, a new Irish play, Love So Blind, makes its American premiere with a three-night run at the Irish Arts Center on July 6th. Performed by the Dungarven Dramatic Club (from County Waterford, founded in Ireland in 1941) who are making their USA debut, the play also marks the dramatic debut of writer/director Jim Cullinane.