April 2010

Well, the St. Patrick's day season seems to have treated us all very well. There, on the left, is a picture of me walking with my fellow members—including my Dad—of the Order of the Friendly Sons of the Shillelagh in the West Orange, New Jersey, St. Patrick's Day parade.

As far as music goes, we had more than a few great gigs with the band including St. Patrick's Day itself. Plenty a song was sung and a pint emptied in honor of one of Ireland's great saints.

My personal favorite Irish saint however, remains the great St. Declán who arrived in Ireland in the 5th century, built the first Christian church there and did it all long before that upstart St. Patrick was done with his diapers.*

As some of you might know, a few centuries later in 2003, I myself landed in Ardmore and found there a mighty village full of warm, gentle and fun-loving people. Together we celebrate St. Declán every year at the Ardmore Pattern Festival coinciding with St. Declán's feast day on July 24th.

Let me tell you, this is no weekend of silent reflection. Over the last few years this has become an incredible festival for music, regional Irish culture and just plain awesome fun. St. Declán would be proud. People come in the thousands to take part in this unique event to honor Ireland's other patron.

See you there? I'm planning my trip now. This is no joke. We're gonna party like it's 499 A.D.

(*this statement is gently exaggerated for emphasis)

Spring 2010

Welcome to the official on-line home of the Will O'Connor Live Acoustic Show. For seven years I've been performing live in Hoboken, NJ, and a few other places around the world.

As far as keeping this up-to-date... well, I'm working on it.

Lately, I've been performing as a part of Music For Grownups, a new band formed out of our jam nights at Duffy's last year. with Jenny Lyden on percussion and backup vocals and Jeff Sassaman on upright bass, this collaboration really cooks. Look for new bookings and updates on the band's website: music-for-grownups.com.

Keep you eyes out. We'll be booking more gigs around town soon and have added a bunch of new tunes, so be sure to come down and check things out. I'm also looking into some new ways to get the word out, so keep an eye on this page for more info to come.

As always, don't be a stranger... you know I love to see you. Check back here again soon too. I know you might not believe me, and with good reason of course, but I am going to try and add a few new features to the website, like music downloads and further flesh out the "About Me" page.

I do try to keep the calendar up-to-date, so see if you can find a good night to come down and relax with a little live music and a few drinks.

See you there!
-W

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