Highlights- Lizards, Celts and Laughs
Highlights for January 11-18
Celtic Crazy
Eureka Springs is known for its festivals—the Ozark Folk Festival (the oldest folk festival west of the Mississippi), Blues Fest and May Fine Arts Festival and now growing every year with its entertainment lineup and crowds is the Celtic Connections Eureka Festival, now in its ninth year.
The festival coincides with Scottish poet Robert Burns birthday and is a four-day event that takes place Jan. 18-21. The clans will take over the tiny hamlet of Eureka Springs for a celebration of all things Celtic—the Celtic heritage, music, poetry, food and drink.
Entertainers, crafters and historians will travel to the Ozarks to share their knowledge of Celtic traditions with festival-goers.
The traditional Robert Burns Night suppers are scheduled for Jan. 18 and Jan. 19 at the Crescent Hotel’s Crystal Dining Room, which create a castle-like backdrop for the pomp and circumstance of the dinners.
There will be highland pipes, poetry and pride, the traditional Scottish dinner with roast beef and haggis, the drinking of Scotch whiskey and the recitation of Burns work, along with general merrymaking and singing.
The Jan. 19 dinner will feature music and stories by Ed Miller, modern bard of Scotland and Scottish folksong preservationist.
Another special guest will be author and historian Bruce Crabtree who will be performing “Robert Bruce’s March to Bannockburn” in traditional attire and full brogue.
Crabtree will also present a workshop about the Gaels during the festival, along with other workshop presenters who will discuss the Scots and Irish influence in the Ozarks, traditional tartan attire, the seven Celtic nations, demonstrate musical instruments and more.
A lively performance by Tartanic, the bagpipe comedy theater band from Houston will take place Jan. 19 at the City Auditorium. On the bill with Tartanic will be Beth Patterson, Celtic singer-songwriter from New Orleans.
Patterson will also perform on Jan. 19 at the City Auditorium with Ed Miller and with Rowan, a traditional Celtic trio from Kansas.
Rowan will perform at the Crescent Hotel’s Sunday Brunch on Jan. 20.
Other performers will be Arkansas Celts Tinker’s Dam and the Crooked Creek Irish Dancers and award-winning Celtic Heartstrings Linda Brockinton and Brenda Ramsey playing traditional music on mountain dulcimer and flute.
Throughout the event, guests will have a chance to enjoy a number of workshops, music sessions, the Gypsy Fair vendor market and Celtic offerings at Eureka Springs’ pubs and restaurants.
Tickets are: $28 for Jan. 18 events including the Burns Night Supper; $25 for Jan. 19 events excluding the Burns Night Supper or $45 per person or $80 per couple for Jan. 19 events including the Burns Night Supper. Tickets for Jan. 20 events are $25.
For information and to purchase tickets go to www.EurekaCelts.com or call 866-363-9545.
Laugh it up with Brian Regan
If you’re still bogged down from the holidays, bring yourself out of the doldrums by getting out Monday night for lots of laughs at a one-night show by hot comedian Brian Regan who will play the Walton Arts Center as part of his 2007 tour.
A popular TV guest performer, Regan has been featured on shows ranging from The Late Show with David Letterman to MTV. A native of Miami, Fla., Regan moved to New York in the late ‘80s. In 1988 he won the Funniest Person in New York contest and in 1996 won the American Comedy Award for Best Comedian. In the early ‘90s Regan realized on of his dreams when he scored a spot on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Recently he has starred in his own comedy specials for Showtime and Comedy Central and released a live performance DVD in 2004, titled “I Walked on the Moon.”
Performance at 7:30 p.m. Tickets $36 by calling 443-5600.
Austin Lounge Lizards
They’re witty, they’re original, and they’re superb musicians. “They” are the Austin Lounge Lizards, and they will be returning to GoodFolk on Friday night for one of their rare visits to the Natural State. The Texas band has been together for 27 years and continues to come up with sarcastic odes and humorous songs about the “happily clueless” and current world situations that we all love to hate. So the big question is: Will they go the Dixie Chicks route and satirize their fellow Texan, George W.? The word is: yes they will and they’ll also devote some time to tongue-lashing drug conglomerates, health insurance, consumer-preying credit card companies, those who contribute to global warming and other devilish sectors of today’s society.
They’ll be doing some songs from their latest album, “The Drugs I Need” which they say is the best and most topical album they’ve ever done.
“It’s an uplifting rallying cry for poor, downhearted liberals who live in a little blue island in a big red state,” says vocalist Boo Resnick.
Get out for some fun. GoodFolk concerts are held in a Victorian house near the downtown square. For tickets call 521-1812.
