Irish Fest is gearing up for its 40th annual festival at the Milwaukee lakefront and it has announced the lineup of entertainers on tap for that event, which takes place Aug. 13-16 at the Henry Maier Festival Park.
Festival favorites like We Banjo 3, Hermitage Green and Eileen Ivers will be back, and newcomers Clare Sands and Wallis Bird will make their debuts.
Also on the bill are Liz Carroll with Daithi Sproule, Jimmy Keane with Mick Moloney and Pat Broaders, Brave Giant, The Murphy Beds, Red Hot Chilli Pipers, Cherish the Ladies, The High Kings, Gaelic Storm, Moxie, Rory Makem and Donal Clancy, Boxing Banjo, MEGA Trad, Shane Hennessy, Seamus Kennedy, Talisk, Winifred Horan Trio and The Drowsy Lads, among others.
A focus on the culture of County Donegal will bring Altan, The Screaming Orphans, The Henry Girls and The High Seas.
You can find the full lineup at irishfest.com.
"As we often say, you won’t believe all the things that Irish Fest has to offer until you visit us, and the music is no different," said Mike Mitchell, executive director of CelticMKE, which organizes Milwaukee Irish Fest.
"From indie-folk to traditional Irish, there’s a wide variety of music, so there’s something for everyone to enjoy!"
Milwaukee Irish Fest is having a "buy one, get one free" sale on $20 general admission tickets through March 17. Four-day passes are also on sale for $35. Children 12 and under are admitted to the festival at no charge.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
