Saturday, October 15, 2016 The Irish Outreach and Guinness presented BOGMAN : A Festival of Irish Music for an afternoon fundraiser at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, CA from 3pm to 6pm. Busloads of Irish community members from all over the county came to attend this new event.
The sold-out show presented four musical bands emceed by actor/singer/story-teller Mairtin de Cogain- a true Celt well versed in the Gaelic dialect, who started the event singing an a Capella version of the Irish National Anthem and then “Oro’Se do Bheatha Bhaile” which he sang in the film, “The Wind That Shakes The Barley”. Following the two songs, Mairtin made announcements of the silent auction items and raffle prizes to benefit The Irish Outreach – a non-profit organization that provides help and support to the Irish community, focusing on new arrivals, vulnerable citizens and senior Irish community members.
First up was Neil Morrison & Company playing old Irish folk music and ballads with Neil on guitar, internationally renowned violinist Alicia Previn, Brendan Kennedy on djembe (percussion), and Aiden Hanley on mandolin.
Next up was Sara Petite & The Sugar Daddies raising the tempo with their rock’n’roll-country-bluegrass originals with Sara’s classic country ladies vocal style and her sassy smile! Sara puts on a fun show and is promoting her new video “Road Less Traveled” with the CD release scheduled in February 2017.
Tony Cummins, along with Jerry McMorrow and Brendan Kennedy (who also played with Neil Morrison & Company) followed up as the Tony Cummins Trio. Tony and Jerry played plenty of Irish drinking songs including “Dirty Old Town,” engaging the crowd to sing along and celebrate Irish pride, surging the volume and energy in true Irish pub tradition.
The middleweight boxing champion Jason Quigley appeared during the mid-event introduction of sponsors. He would draw the winner of the grand raffle prize at the end of the show.
Ambling in was the fourth band, Brogue Wave: a well-polished Celtic band with traditional instruments including uillieann pipes, low whistle, bodhran (Irish frame drum) by Tim Foley. The accordion was played by legendary skateboarder and Flogging Molly band member Matt Hensley; guitar and vocals by David Lally; Fiddle by Patric Petrie, and Jordan McKinley on drums. These performers were absolutely fantastic and played their beautiful renditions of old and new Irish traditional music with a full Irish sound.
Due to the success of this event, the Bogman will become an annual event! See you next year!