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Volume 75, Issue 7 SERVING BREVARD COLLEGE SINCE 1935 Oct. 16, 2009
Gaelic Storm performs at Porter Center
The genre expanding Celtic band delighted a sellout crowd at the
Porter Center last Thursday evening
by Will Byers
Arts & Life Editor
Last Thursday night the Porter Center
greeted the return of the lively Celtic outfit,
Gaelic Storm. Eight years since their previ
ous performance at Brevard College, Gaelic
Storm’s return was welcomed with a house
full of students and community members
that enthusiastically received the songs and
antics of the five-piece band.
Gaelic Storm first achieved popular
status after their memorable appearance
In this issue...
NEWS:
New student Q 'N'A 2
Interview with a senator 2
Reid Gilbert review 2
Homecoming information 3
Does Obama deserve Nobel Prize?... 3
OPINION:
Should marijuana be legalized? 4
ARTS & LIFE:
Tucker Max interview 7
5 Dollar word 7
Archived review: ‘Monster Dong' 7
ODDS AND ENDS:
American Hero 8
Your Horoscope 8
as the Irish steerage band in the 1997 film
Titanic. They’ve been touring tirelessly
since their big-screen debut, averaging over
125 shows a
year in vari
ous coun
tries around
the world.
With al
bums top
ping the
Billboard
world music
charts, it’s
no accident
that they’ve
snowballed
into their
current criti
cal and popular acclaim. Each musician is
highly talented with a variety of traditional
instruments (Uillean pipes, bodhran, ca-
jon, tin whistle); as well, they displayed a
genuine love of showmanship made even
more effective by their
obvious chemistry.
The charismatic
group delivered over
two hours of original
songs that ranged from
humorous (e.g. “The
Night I Punched Rus
sell Crowe in the Head”,
true story!) to powerful
(e.g. three drum finale,
fiddle/bag pipe duet).
Band founders Patrick
Murphy, the brave lad
who “dalked” Maximus
in the head, and Steve
Twigger quipped and
entertained throughout the show, bringing
even the inert older crowd out of their shells
by the end of the night.
A few brave dancers out of the audience
got their jig on, and despite some amusing
attempts, one had to admire their deter
mination
to have
a good
time.
After all,
though
Gaelic
Storm
may be
able to
conquer
the stoic,
cerebral
concert-
goers, it
was ap
parent they prefer playing to a readily
boisterous, moving crowd.
The band invited the audience to join
them at Dugan’s Irish Pub after the show,
many accepting this invitation. This re
viewer caught the spirit, then
inexplicably ended up in another
favorite pub, but decided it was
the revelry that really counted.
It would’ve been great to meet
them, as they inspired one of
the better nights of drinking in
recent memory, but I suspect
they’ll return in top-form before
too long.
In all, Brevard was treated to
high-spirited fiddling, robust bag
piping, mighty hand-drumming,
and even a taste of wooden
spoon wizardry, all within the
marvelous acoustics of the Porter
Center’s concert hall. Check out
Gaelic Storm’s latest release, “What’s the
Rumpus?” over at Rockin’ Robin’s or poke
around YouTube for some nifty videos.
photo courtesy M. Newton
photo courtesy M. Newton