While in Oklahoma City earlier this month, The Guggenheim Grotto taped an interview and performance for The Daily Oklahoman’s online music performance show. Catch Mick and Kevin talking about the story so far and playing a few songs here: http://blog.newsok.com/staticblog/2009/03/20/static-episode-6-the-guggenheim-grotto/

This year both Enter The Haggis and Black 47 are playing celebration gigs on the holiday itself, and if you're in Toronto or NYC you'll definitely want to check those out.

But if you're located somewhere else, you can still keep us in your heart on Ireland's national holiday with Now That's What I Call Irish Pint Three, available on iTunes now. The UFO digital sampler features tracks from recent releases by Damien Dempsey, The Guggenheim Grotto, Enter The Haggis and Black 47. It makes a great soundtrack for any St. Pat's party.

Enter The Haggis @ The Mod Club -Toronto
Black 47 @ BB Kings Blues Club - New York, NY

UFO at SXSW!

We'll have a few artists performing at this year's SXSW festival. Be sure to check out their showcases if you're in town for the conference.

The Guggenheim Grotto

Thursday, March 19 @ 9pm
Music From Ireland Showcase
The Rio
301 San Jacento Blvd

Thursday, March 19 @ TBD after 11:15pm
Habana Calle
Undertow/Standard Recording Co. "Songs For Presidents" Showcase
709 E 6th Street
They will perform 1 or 2 songs from "Of Great and Mortal Men: 43 Songs for 43 U.S. Presidencies"
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95509966

Jess Klein

Friday, March 20 @ 9pm
Flipnotics
1601 Barton Springs Rd.

Hamell On Trial

Friday, March 20 @ 8pm
Soho Lounge
217 E 6th St.

Jess Klein will be returning to her home region for a couple gigs this month. She relocated to Austin, TX last year to pen her seventh studio album, but performances back in the Northeast show she can't stay away for too long.

Expected out for a summer 2009 release, Jess' musc-anticipated new album is fully written and currently in mixing stages. Jess will be back in Austin in time for this year's SXSW music conference, where she'll be playing a few unofficial showcases.

Catch her if you're in town:

March 13 - Philadelphia, PA - Tin Angel
March 14 - Pittsfield, MA - Underground Pub @ Crowne Plaza Hotel
March 15 - New York, NY - Rockwood Music Hall
March 20 - Austin, TX - Flipnotics

The Guggenheim Grotto is still traveling the U.S. playing gigs in support of its new record, Happy The Man. Late February brought Mick and Kevin to sunny California for gigs in LA, San Diego and beyond, and early March brings the lads to the blistery Rocky Mountains for gigs in Denver and Fort Collins. Mid-March will see TGG eating Tex Mex while in Austin for a showcase at the annual SXSW Music Conference, and in April the band will return to the Northeast. We're pretty sure some incredible new songs will come out of all this cross-country adventuring.

Check the band out if they’re in your town.

March 5 - Avogadro's Number - Fort Collins, CO
March 6 - Quixote's True Blue - Denver, CO
March 7 - Steve's Guitars - Carbondale, CO
March 12 - Oklahoma City, OK - The Blue Door
March 13 - Dallas, TX - Double-Wide
March 19 - Austin, TX - SXSW - The Rio @ 9pm, Habana Calle after 11:15pm
March 26 - Nashville, TN - The Basement
March 29 - Decatur, GA - Eddie's Attic
March 31 - Raleigh, GA - Berkeley Café
April 2 - Easton, MD - NightCat
April 3 - Thomas, WV - The Purple Fiddle
April 7 - Asbury Park, NJ - The Saint
April 8 - New York, NY - The Canal Room
April 9 - Brooklyn, NY - Union Hall
April 10 - Philadelphia, PA - World Café Live

Black 47 is on a huge St. Patrick's celebration tour. From Irish pubs to festivals and rock venues, the band will be raising a glass and kicking it out almost every night during the month of March.

"St. Patrick's Day Season is always a time to cut the rug and kick up your heels," says front man Larry Kirwan. "We'll perform 'Downtown Baghdad Blues,' 'Sadr City,' 'Southside Chicago Waltz' and a couple of others off last year's record, but we're also working out songs for a new CD and, of course, playing a bevy of rollicking old favorites to help people forget their blues for a night."

Highlights of the tour include two nights (March 15, 16) playing with The Dropkick Murphys at the new House of Blues in Boston during Dropkick's annual week-long St. Pat's celebration in their hometown, and Black 47's annual B.B. King Blues Club St. Patrick's Day gig in NYC on March 17.

Black 47 will be playing the following dates:

February 27 – Asbury Park, NJ – Stone Pony
February 28 – Bay Shore, NY – Nutty Irishman (9pm, $17adv/$20door)
March 3 – Columbus, OH – Byrne’s Pub
March 4 – Dayton, OH – Dublin Pub (9:30pm, $10)
March 5 – Chicago, IL – Beverly Art Center (8pm, $30)
March 6 – Manhattan, IL – Manhattan Irish Fest (8pm, $6adv/$7doors/under age 7 free)
March 7 – Grand Rapids, MI – The Intersection
March 8 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom (6pm, $16adv/$18door)
March 12 - Philadelphia, PA - World Café Live
March 13 - New Haven, CT - Toad's Place
March 14 - Charlotte, NC - Epicenter
March 15, 16 – Boston, MA – House of Blues
March 17 - Boston, MA - Black Rose MA (daytime)
March 17 - New York, NY - B.B. King Blues Club
March 24 - North Adams, MA - Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
March 27 - Concord, NH - Capitol Center for the Arts

Enter The Haggis will be playing dates in the Northeast and Canada during the month of March as part of its annual month-long St. Patrick’s Day celebration. March is a big month for the band and this March is even bigger as ETH will release its much-anticipated seventh studio album, Gutter Anthems, on March 24.

Catch Enter The Haggis if the band is in your town.

March 5 – Buffalo, NY – Shannon Pub
March 7 – Troy, NY – Revolution Hall
March 11 – Somerville, MA – Johnny D’s
March 12 – New York, NY – The Mercury Lounge
March 13 – Waterville, ME – Waterville Opera House
March 14 – Northampton, MA – Pearl Street
March 15 – Rochester, NY – The Keg
March 17 – Toronto, ON – The Mod Club
March 20 – Wakefield, QC – Black Sheep Inn
March 21 – Saranac Lake, NY – Harrietstown Town Hall
March 28 – Berwyn, IL – FitzGerald’s

Maiysha is gearing up to travel to the West Coast for Grammy Week starting with a February 4 Hotel Café performance in Los Angeles, as well as a special guest performance for RnB Live LA, during which she'll do two cover songs. On February 6 Maiysha will do an acoustic performance and interview with NPR's News And Notes before a performance at the famous Whisky A Go Go later that night. And on February 8th Maiysha will be attending the 2009 Grammy Awards, for which she’s nominated in the Best Urban/Alternative Performance category.

February 4 - Los Angeles, CA - Hotel Café
February 6 - Los Angeles, CA - Whisky A Go Go

Tonight’s The Guggenheim Grotto show at The Living Room in NYC will be taped for XM Radio’s new series Live at The Living Room. The show starts early at 7:30 p.m. Come out and be part of it if you’re in town!

Hi from The Guggenheim Grotto!

We just thought we'd write and tell you all about the fantastic things
we've been doing over the past month or so here in America. First off,
our new record, Happy The Man, just hit stores today in the U.S.  This
album hit No. 1 on the U.S. iTunes Folk Chart back in October, and
we’ve been getting a great reaction from fans and press over here in
the states about it.  Not only did we get a little experimental with
some new sounds on it, but the songs seem to really be resonating with
people during live gigs.

You can buy the CD (and mp3s) from Amazon here:

http://bit.ly/happytheman

Also, over the past month we've been doing weekly residencies in New
York City, Boston and Philadelphia.  It's been great fun to mix things
up each week and give a preview of what's to come. This is our last
week now with Tuesday at the World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, Wednesday
at The Living Room in NYC and Thursday at The Lizard Lounge in
Cambridge.

We spent the end of last week in Park City, UT for a gig at the
Sundance Film Festival.  It was very exciting for us being in the
center of such a cool event.  The weather was rainy and oddly warm
compared to the Northeast at this time so it definitely reminded us of
being home in Ireland.  We did a great set at the ASCAP Cafe on the
23rd, along with several interviews, including Park City TV and
Palestra.com.  We also got to take in a good amount of films.  It's
great to watch a film at a festival because everybody is extra into it
and laughing and cheering.

That's about it until next week.  (We're trying to start doing these
updates weekly now since we’re here in the U.S. for a few months and
we’ll have lots going on.)

Before we go though, our label also wants us to tell you that...

Happy The Man is available now in stores and on all the major online outlets, including Amazon.com (http://bit.ly/happytheman).

Our gig this Wednesday, January 28 at The Living Room in NYC will be
taped for XM "Live at the Living Room."  Show up early as taping will
start at 7:30 p.m.

We'll also be doing a high definition filming of our show in
Burlington, MA on January 30 at The Real Music School.  Please come out
and support, and you may be in the video.

So you can start planning ahead, here are our upcoming tour dates:

January 27 - World Cafe Live - Philadelphia, PA (9pm, all ages, free)
January 28 - The Living Room - New York, NY (7:30pm, 21+, free)
January 29 - The Lizard Lounge - Cambridge, MA (7:30pm, $5)
January 31 - Wilde Auditorium - West Hartford, CT (7:30pm, all ages, $17)
February 3 - Jammin' Java - Vienna, VA (8pm, all ages, $12)
February 4 - The Thunderbird Cafe - Pittsburgh, PA (8pm, 21+, $10adv/$12door)
February 5 - The Ark - Ann Arbor, MI (8pm, all ages, $13.50)
February 6 - Come 2 Go - Fort Wayne, IN (8pm, all ages, $10)
February 7 - Vernon Club - Louisville, KY (8:30pm, 18+, $8adv, $10door)
February 8 - Mountain Stage - Charleston, WV (7pm)
February 20 - High Dive - Seattle, WA (6pm, 21+, $10)
February 21 - The Alberta Pub - Portland, OR (7pm, 21+, $10)
February 24 - Hotel Utah - San Francisco, CA (8pm, 18+, $10
February 25 - Hotel Cafe - Los Angeles, CA (7pm, 21+, $10)
February 27 - Y1 Studios - San Diego, CA (8:30pm, all ages, $12adv/$15 door)
February 28 - Zoey's Cafe & Loft - Ventura, CA (8pm, all ages, $12adv/$12door)
March 7 - Steve's Guitars - Carbondale, CO (8:30pm, all ages, $15)
March 29 - Eddie's Attic - Decatur, GA (8pm, all ages, $12adv/$15 door)

Cheers,

Mick and Kevin

http://www.guggenheimgrotto...com
http://www.myspace.com/..guggenheimgrotto
http://www.UFOmusic.com/tgg