As most of you know, I play in The Conklin Ceili Band. We play mostly Irish, some Scottish, and some North American folk, such as Stan Rogers. We play all over Michigan, from Beaver Island to Niles to Flint to Grand Rapids to Muskegon and so on. Our instrumentation consists of the following: 6& 12 string guitar, banjo, mandolin, bodhran, whistles, Irish bouzouki, 48 button concertina, fiddle and hammer dulcimer. Four of us do the vocals and the harmonies. We try to do a mix in our repertoire that introduces our audience to as much of the various styles of music and singing of Ireland as possible. We do jigs and reels, Ballads including love songs, longing for home/emigration, drinking songs, rebel music, some sean nos which needs work but is coming, some group a capella, and so on. Most of our shows are energy driven. I have insisted that we also include a fair amount of historical reference as we do the music, especially the songs of emigration, so the audience walks out knowing more about their past than they walked in knowing. And of course the jokes. In fact, a young man came up to me this past St. Pat's Day and said he saw Hal Roach at the Milwaukee Irish Fest and the damn guy was doing my material. I am going to contact his people and register a complaint!!!!!!

Mick