MARC'S MUSINGS — June 3, 2009
– Marc's Music News
– Celtic Invasion of Ireland
– Pre-Order: Happy Songs of Death
– On Tour Texas, MO, IA, IL, KY
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Marc's Musings
Greetings Amici,
Italy. Wow, what an experience! The whole trip exceeded my expectations of what a Celtic Invasion Vacation could be. Good food, good drink, good company, and a great ceilidh. More about that in a bit, because I am back in the country with a lot of exciting news to share about my music and the weeks to come.
MARC'S MUSIC NEWS
When last you you left your intrepid musician, I talked about releasing five CDs in five months. As much as I thought that might happen, it won't. That's okay. I have plenty to keep me occupied as well as an update regarding upcoming projects.
Happy Songs of Death is almost done. While I was abroad, Ari Koinuma took my recordings and set about recording additional instrumentation, mixing, and mastering the album. He finished everything except… One track from the last song that I recorded had an error on it. I did my best to get that fixed in Italy, with no luck.
As a result, the album is delayed a little bit. It will be July before it is released to those select few who pre-order it.
Yes, the album is now available to pre-order. AND you can also pick your favorite CD cover.
When you pre-order a copy, you can choose your favorite CD cover or get both for a discount. When the albums arrive, around the beginning of August, I will autograph the CD and send it to you. Otherwise, you will be able to officially purchase the CD on August 23, 2009 (without the autograph sadly).
Meantime, order your copy now! and read reviews of it in my Weeklies.
So what happened to that other album I was working on with Rich Brotherton? It too was delayed. I hope to finish recording it at the end of the summer. And after much consideration, I have decided it will quite appropriately be called The Bridge, featuring many more original songs and a bigger fusion of Celtic music with contemporary jazz and blues.
I should have a new Pub Songs Podcast coming your way with bits from my Italy trip. So stay tuned for much, much more.
OH! And I have new T-Shirts coming that you can pick up in my swag store. Every little bit helps me immensely to continue making a living as the independent Celtic American musician that I am.
MARC GUNN LIVE!
If you watch my blog, you know that Jamie has taken over my booking. And whoa! She's doing an awesome job. I have my first tour of the summer coming in the middle of the month, kicking off with my debut performance at the Saxon Pub in Austin, Texas… on Father's Day!
I need your help spreading the word about all these gigs. So please bring your friends, and if you're not too far away, consider making a trip. Love to see you at the shows where you can pick up a copy of the limited-edition tour t-shirts.
Meanwhile, the tour will take me to Chicago and back. You can see below that the schedule has filled up nicely for June.
6.5-6 (ARLINGTON, TX) Texas Scottish Festival
6.12 (COVINGTON, LA) St. John's Coffee House
6.21 (AUSTIN, TX) Saxon Pub
6.24 (SPRINGFIELD, MO) The Coffee Ethic
6.26 (CEDAR RAPIDS, IA) Cummings House Concert
6.27 (ELMHURST, IL) Benefit Concert for Feral Fixers
6.28 (BROOKFIELD, IL) Irish Times Pub
7.1 (WINCHESTER, KY) Panzarella House Concert
7.8 (NEW ORLEANS, LA) Neutral Ground Coffeehouse
7.11 (COVINGTON, LA) Etoile Restaurant
7.25 (RESTON, VA) Fogel House Concert
7.30 (DENTON, MD) Market Street Public House
8.12-16 (INDIANAPOLIS, IN) GenCon
10.23-25 (DENVER, CO) MileHiCon
10.30 (NEW ORLEANS, LA) Anne Rice's Vampire Lestat Fan Club's “Blood and Gold” Ball
11.7-12.13 (ROBERT, LA) Louisiana Renaissance Festival
1.16.10 (NEW ORLEANS, LA) Concert with Jed Marum
I know I wasn't able to hit ALL the places you wanted, but keep the requests coming to booking@marcgunn.com so we can try. In July, I am heading up along the East Coast to Maryland and New York, and I could really use your venue suggestions to get those shows booked. And also, don't forget to make a demand to see me perform.
Now check out the first gig on that list above. I have something interesting to share about it…
REBIRTH OF THE CEILIDH AND CELTIC INVASIONS
Yesterday, I had an interesting conversation with Royce Perry, a Gunn, who works with the Texas Scottish Festival, about the ceilidh.
A ceilidh (or “ceili” in Irish) is an Irish or Scottish social gathering with traditional music, dancing, and storytelling. I will be playing music for the Friday night ceilidh at the Texas Scottish Festival. It sounds like a total blast! But what got me really interested was when I realized the CEILIDH is a big part of what I hope to do with the Celtic Invasion Vacations.
As I said, the first vacation was a tremendous success. Sure, there were very few minor issues as with any vacation. But more imporantly was the glow on everyone's face at the end of the trip as we sat at this cool restaurant on the edge of the street in Rome on our second to last night and talked about what we loved most about the trip.
What did they love best? The community. The ceilidh. Good food, good drink, good company. We had two magical evenings where we made food together, sat around the table, drank wine, talked, told stories, sang songs. That's what a ceilidh is all about. That's what sets the Celtic Invasion Vacations apart from typical whirlwind tour of Italy or Ireland or wherever. It's the community that I love. And this trip was beautiful!
So much so, that I decided to go ahead and start planning another one THIS SEPTEMBER! The dates for the Celtic Invasion of Ireland 2009 are September 16-23. I am now accepting applications. I am taking a very small group with me to Dingle to experience the magic and beauty of the country. I hope you will consider joining me. Details are coming, but click the link above for all the latest updates.
Drop me a line and say hi when you have a moment. Slainte!
– Marc Gunn
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Marc Gunn is Celtic American Musician and Podcaster from Austin, Texas. Good food, good drink and good company. Folk ballads, Irish drinking songs, fantasy, Sci Fi, and cats on the autoharp. Embrace independent Celtic music!
