2006 Celtic Classic, Bethlehem, PA Sept 22,23,24

I joined here last year shortly after this festival and missed a chance to meet quite a few of you there. I don't plan on making that same mistake twice.
Who's coming?

Most likely, the usual bunch that have been there the past few years will attend again. I think we will be staying at the Hilton Hotel, near the airport but I don't think we will be spending time in the hot tub with The Barley Boys. They weren't invited back this year.

Hi SubHuman, it's nice to have a new person on the network!!!!

As for the Celtic Classic Festival, it has grown to the largest Celtic Festival on the East Coast! I hope you will enjoy the terrific bands and vendors as much as I have for the last 3 years of attending.

In 2004 I suggested we have a Celtic Radio get together for "2008" at this festival and everyone start planning and saving to attend so we could all meet and have a good ole time together as a group and sit and have a few beers and hang together.

As usual, talk is cheap and alot of folks said they wanted or were coming and then one excuse or another and slowly the number of folks grew less and less to the point planning any type of activity would be unproductive.

In the beginning I spent alot of time talking to the director and staff of the Celtic Classic Festival about even getting a booth set up for us as a meeting place and to advertise the radio station. But that is futile if members aren't going to show. I also looked into hotels and camping facilities for all of the members to find inexpensive lodgings and facilities so attending would not be a burden financially.

So I have come to the point that a few member's e-mail me to let me know if they are coming and where to catch up with each other which is always Great! to catch up on each other about how things are and have been going for them over the last year.

By attending festivals together I have met some wonderful people. Shelly (Irish Stepper) and her hubby came, EAMON, 3Raven's, A Shrule Egan, Fran and his wife, Rocky and Kelly from USA KILTS * yes I love my Kilt Kelly! , David and his wife Hillary, My Favorite fella - Sylvanius and his brother along with the new wonderfully talented people like Terri & his future wife Jane from Kildare's pub and the guys from many of the different bands. Great people all of them!

I truely wished everyone could come to this but I know location sometimes is a problem. But I wish everyone would find a festival close to them and go out of their way to meet up with other's from our network....they are missing so much fun and the building of great friendships.

Subhuman, let me know by email if you are coming and I'll make it a point to buy ya a beer and sit and chat!!! Looking forward to meeting you!

Annabelle

PS: Forgot to tell all of ya'll "Irish folks"! Savannah Ga has grown to the largest Irish Festival on the east coast! Come see us sometime Ya'll!

Not sure who took over hiring the bands the past two years but they have put together another poor selection of bands this year. http://www.celticfest.org/CCA_2006Perform.html

Enter The Haggis is the only band that has some real backbone in the lineup. Looks like I'll be spending a lot of time checking out the vendors again.

Well you are the shopping Queen anyway! So your checking out the vendor's doesn't surprise me at all!

Man, you're not kidding about the lineup! Charlie Zahm is another one I look forward to seeing. Ed Miller's not too bad, but other than that...hmm. I think I may only be spending 1 day up there again this year. It stinks that neither of the "boys" will be back this year...Barley or Glengarry. So which day are most people going to be there? And which hotel...The Hilton in Allentown?

Man, you're not kidding about the lineup! Charlie Zahm is another one I look forward to seeing. Ed Miller's not too bad, but other than that...hmm. I think I may only be spending 1 day up there again this year. It stinks that neither of the "boys" will be back this year...Barley or Glengarry. So which day are most people going to be there? And which hotel...The Hilton in Allentown?

Shelly, we'll be at the Hilton on Airport Rd, starting Friday evening and leaving Sunday afternoon from the festival. Take the Airport Rd. south exit off 22 and go to the next light. Be in the left lane, so you can make the turn into the complex. And don't forget your bathing suit. Very nice pool and hot tub.

Alrighty...I made the reservations for Fri and Sat night. Hmm...pool, hot tub, cocktails... Sounds good to me...

I'll be there, I've been there every year for about the last decade. I live about fifteen minutes from there. The problem is I joined here at CR two weeks after the '05 CC and missed out on meeting people. I don't plan on letting that happen again.
No, the Glengarry Bhoys aren't back this year. However look at the lineup of Greenwich Meantime and you'll see many familiar names. Four of them were in GB last year this time...

Ok Fran where are you and are you guys going to meet up with us this year?

One of the main problems is Musikfest, which runs for ten days in the exact same spot. Seven Nations finished playing about an hour ago, add in Brother, Scythian, Seamus Kennedy and a whole bunch more Celtic acts I forget and there lies the problem. Musikfest has been booking more and more Celtic acts each year, and with it running just over a month prior to the Celtic Classic it's interfering. Seamus is the only performer I've seen show up for both festivals.

For those of you who are planning on attending, I'll be spending the earlier part of each day beside the beer tent at the Tavern in the Glen. Unless I get recruited to help, which may happen one of the days, depending on how many volunteers show up. One of my friends and coworkers runs that tent, so we usually hang out there. Come evening I'll be catching shows.
Here's where it gets tough... no pics of myself on this computer, so here goes...
6' tall, about 190 pounds usually with a shaved head, unless I'm excessively lazy it may just be fuzzy... glasses, usually a fu manchu for facial hair, most likely wearing an urban camo utilikilt.
Name's Bob for those who don't already know.
Well, if you get by the beer tent look to the right of it where the chairs are set up, I may be there!

Bob,

nothing has changed, that I know of. We (Irish Stepper and hubby, Annabelle and myself) are still all staying at the Hilton, by the airport. Tequila Nancy won't be there this year. I think she told me, that BarleyJuice is playing at the Wildwood, N.J. Celtic Festival.
Haven't heard from Eamon or Sylvanus, so, not sure what's up with them.

I think you will find us frequently with Rocky and Kelly, at the U.S.A. Kilts tent or taking the march up the hill to the Bethlehem Brew Works, to get a real beer, instead of that phony chemical crap, they sell at the fest.

We should run into you somewhere along the way.

Any chance we can exchange first names at least in advance? Privately if you so prefer. You already have my info.

battery for camera charged: check
battery for laptop charged: check
list of local wireless hotspots to upload pics here while at the fest: check
scheduled to be done work tomorrow by 3pm: check
scheduled to be done work Sat by 10AM: check
off work Sun: check
sitting the bar right now while posting getting my liver ready for the weekend: check (you need to ease your liver into these things)
hungover and tired Mon: probably
kilt already in the van so I can put it on tomorrow before I leave work: check
good weather forecast: umm... kinda. Calling for good tomorrow, chance of rain showers Sat and Sun

Should've posted request for names a while back, but something changed in our internet access at work and I can load half of this site's main page before it freezes. I'm not going thru the hassle of getting around whatever they block because the wireless connection I leech off of belongs to a division of the company that moves out on Oct 1.
Anyway, hope to see you guys tomorrow

Irish Stepper is Shelly and hubby is George, Annabelle is Annabelle or some other names that can't be printed on here and myself, Mike.

I suspect we may see Eamon (Ed) pop in on Friday night but I haven't heard from him yet.

Most likely, we won't go to the Friday night show. We plan on heading over to Gregory's for dinner and hang out the for a while. Then head back to the hotel and hit the hot tub and pool and I'm sure we will pop open a few bottles of something.

We will see you somewhere along the way on Saturday.