You start with the Winchesters, move to Malkum and Chris, Parkers Alibi, Blue Up Front, Steve Williams and Blue Delux, and from there to Martin Fletcher's Usual Suspects, Funkhaus, Rollo Markee and the Tailshakers . . . and that's just half the circuit.
A "little blue energy" is how the Castlebar hosts describe the musicfest they have put together for the Whit weekend, when Mississippi comes to Mayo to spread some "sweet blue sounds".
Energy will certainly be required for the blues trail, spread as it is across 18 locations in the town from Friday June 2nd to Sunday June 4th. Only one gig has an admission fee - £8 a head for the Blues Ball on Sunday, June 4th, in the Travellers' Friend Hotel, with Johnny Mars.
Further information can be obtained from Aprile Blake or Pat Jennings in the Guinness Castlebar Blues Festival office at (094) 23111 or castlebarblues@anu.ie, and the website is www.castlebar.ie If the blues are not your bag, juggling and whistling are on offer at the Conamara Bog Week, also planned for the June holiday weekend, but starting this Friday, May 26th, in Letterfrack, Co Galway. Sean Tyrrell, Frank Custy, Tola Custy, Festy Homburger, Mary Finn and a host of other musicians are promised over two weekends, and the festival's first big event is the Connemara Fun Run this coming Sunday, May 28th, following a five-kilometre route from Tullycross to Letterfrack.AS scheme administered by Forum, Letterfrack.
The week also finishes out of doors, with the annual Connemara Walkabout - three gentle days exploring the landscape with the likes of Micheline Sheehy Skeffington, botanist and bog expert from NUI Galway, ecologist Mike Millar and artist Pam Berry. Jugglers from all over Ireland are invited to attend a juggling convention, organised by local performer Paul Mohally. For further information, contact Leo Hallissey of the Connemara Environmental Education Centre at (095) 41034 (work) or 43443 (home) or fax (095) 41112.
This coming Wednesday, the Galway Mental Health Association hosts the annual open day at Lorna MacMahon's spectacular garden in Bushypark, Galway. The four-acre woodland with stream, pools, Japanese-style sections, heather and bog, rockery and herb garden has been thrown open during one summer's day over the last 16 years to raise funds for the association.
The garden is about 3.5 miles from Galway city, on the Galway-Moycullen-Clifden road. The open day will be from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on the 24th, and tea and coffee will be available, with wine between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Admission is £3.
Finally, the Irish language is worth about £50 million annually to Galway city and surrounds, according to the Minister of State for Arts, Heritage, the Gaeltacht and the Islands, Mr Eamon O Cuiv. The Minister bases his estimate on the £30 million paid annually to Udaras na Gaeltachta, benefiting city Irish speakers through house and business grants, and spin-offs through tourism and industry.
Speaking at the recent publication of the annual report produced by Gaillimh le Gaeilge, Mr O Cuiv O Cuiv presented certificates to 16 restaurants and guest-houses for using a bilingual menu, and said that Galway had become the State's leading bilingual city.