Yesterday I saw a movie called Boys and a Girl from County Clare. Light comedy with lots of ITM and Ceili music (ugh!). Lots of insight into the rawer side of Irish personalities and family life in the 60’s. Andrea Corr is one of the stars. Especially fun movie if you play fiddle. There’s a little whistle in there, but not a heap.
Bump!
I really enjoyed this move (availabel at video shops now) and I think others would too.
I really enjoyed this movie too. Even though the fake fiddle playing by Corr is absolutely terrible, I believe the movie to really capture the importance of the music. The part where John Joe talks about music is very moving:
Something like: “Keep the music, because as long as you got the music you will have friends. That’s why I haven’t been lonely all of these years.” (these aren’t exact words, but gets the idea) ~I agree with this statement.
Right after I saw this movie, I bought it, because it reminded me so much of Willie Week and it is so much about the music. But it really bothers me how even though Corr is a whistler, her fiddle imitating is the worst in the whole movie. At least the LoTR veteran tries to finger the notes.
Anyways, great movie, and it is a good one to see.
-Casey 
I saw this movie too and enjoyed it more for the Irish life portrayed rather than the music. I really enjoyed the dark humour and the typically portrayed grudge wars. Not one I would watch again in a hurry, but enjoyable nevertheless.
I believe it’s Paddy Glackin playing fiddle–nothing to sneeze at.
Hey dyer, that’s the line in the movie that stuck with me too. I agreed with John-Joe. I’ve also seen jerks create a lot of enemies through music, so it’s a two edged sword. One very talented fiddler I know will join in on any session he can, usually accompanied by one other, and completelly take over, playing his tunes (regardless if others play them) at breakneck speed. After he has finished, he leaves the group and does his own think. He considers music a competitive sport.
I haven’t seen the film yet, but was surprised to see quite a favourable review of it by Terry Moylan in An Píobaire.
Mind you he probably liked it mainly because it takes the #!§§ out of CCE and its competitions!
…whereas I would mainly watch it just to lust after the slender but sultry one.
Yeah, I caught that movie a few months back, just happened on it in the video store. The fake fiddle playing by Andrea Corr was quite distracting but other than that it was a very excellent film. I laughed hard when that group of hippies claimed, “we’re musicians too, we all play the bad-rawn.” It was also quite odd seeing that African group swaying about like a big band while playing their whistles… very interesting. Maybe we should try something other than just toe tapping when we play eh?
Overall, the music was excellent and the movie was full of the typical Irish wit, charm and bickering. I’m nobody important and I reccomend it!
Hey Straycat, they tell me there’s a lot of Irish stuff (pubs, music) going on in Phoenix compared to some other cities such as Miami. Is that true?
And it was mostly filmed on the Isle of Man - quite a few of my mates played in the ceili bands. The original working title was actually the Great ceili Band Wars 
Well, I can’t compare Arizona to any other states as I haven’t experienced what they have to offer. I can, however say that there is a large Irish awareness, partially due to the fact that we have an Irish Cultural Center that hosts a lot of events, classes, fundraisers, etc. There are huge Irish Festivals twice a year, once on St. Patty’s day and once at the end of October. There are quite a few pubs within the greater Phoenix area. There are at least five or six of them within 45 minutes of my house. There are quite a few local Irish bands. Two of the best are (in no order):
-Blackwood, which is world class traditional Irish music. The do a lot of work with the Ceili dancers in the area. Their website is: www.blackwoodband.com
-The Clare Voyants, who are more of a folk music driven Irish band. They’ll do the pub classics like Finnigan’s Wake, then ten minutes later they’re playing Piano Man by Billy Joel. I’m actually having these guys play at my wedding in March. Their website (which is currently under construction) is:
www.theclarevoyants.com
Both bands are very talented and have a large selection of wonderful original tunes as well as traditional tunes. I’d highly reccommend getting their albums if you have the money. Blackwood has one studio and one live album out. The Clare Voyants have two studio albums out. Shay Veno of The Clare Voyants is an especially good songwriter.
There are probably a dozen other bands in the area that tour the pubs frequently but those two are the creme of the crop.
You could probably find a session at one pub or another at least four to five nights a week, most of them are too far a drive for me but it’s good to know they’re there. I usually only go on Thursdays.
Hope that answers your question.
Cheers,
Johnny