By Karen Wolitzer
There will be musical performances by Black 47, The Prodigals, Drop Kick Murphy's, The McCabes, Finbar Furey, Paddy Reilly and Shillelagh Law.
On Sunday, August 18th at 10:00 a.m., top runners will compete in the 7th Annual Eamonn Coghlan 5K Classic Run for fun and cash prizes. Then in the afternoon, The New York City Feis (dance festival) will take place. This Feis (pronounced fesh) attracts several thousand competitors including some of the best Irish championship step dancers from around the world...and this year they'll be trying to set a new record for the Guiness Book of World Records by assembling the largest number of set dancers on a floor at the same time.
But the highlight of this year's festival is the headlining band The SawDoctors, who will be rocking the crowd both Friday and Saturday nights. Leaving a rainy summer in Ireland, (the worst in forty years) the band is happy to be making the journey to America.
I recently had the chance to speak with Davy Carton, lead singer of The SawDoctors about his music and the background of the band.
Our music is hard to describe because it's changing as we go along, says Davy. But at the heart of it is kind of pop/rock Irish style. We write songs about where we come from and the people around us. We try to represent the fun and humor of our area. Everyone said our music would never travel, but that's what makes us distinctive our songs have a universal appeal. We might wear different clothes and speak with a different accent, but the sentiment, the laughter, humor and love speak to everyone. Boy meets
girl is the same in America as it is in Ireland.
One of the big songs in Ireland that we had is called the N17, it refers to the road that takes you from the west of Ireland down to Shannon and out to America. (Shannon is where you fly to America.) The chorus is I wish I was on the N17. I wish I was home, and people can relate to that. We have a song called Clare Island, it's a romantic song about a man going to this island and meeting his loved one there and now we have people writing to us saying they're getting married on Clare Island...and they're from all over the world Ireland, Scotland, even Chicago. So, our songs seem to have struck a chord.
The group has been together for 15 years and they have developed a strong following in America. Their second record became the biggest selling single ever in Ireland. It was just one of those things, Davy says with a smile. It was catchy and people wanted to hear it on the radio.
So, what is a sawdoctor? It's a person who goes around sharpening saws at sawmills. There's a sawmill on the edge of the small town where they come from, and when they were first starting out, they had to come up with a name. Their friend was a sawdoctor and they liked the name.
We didn't realize we'd have to explain it so often, Davy laughs. But we met a guy in New York one time and he came to a show we did and he said, I like you guys and that name is so appropriate. Saw is to cut through the bull and doctors because you have the healing power,' he laughs. I like that explaination better than ours.
We have fun and our audiences have fun, too, he adds. We're a good live band. Our music is simple, old-fashioned rock and roll. We enjoy what we do and that seems to get across.
Come see them in person Friday night at 9:45 or Saturday night at 9. Or just come during the day for the food, workshops, crafts, rides and Irish fun.
Pepsi Irish Festival
August 16, 17, and 18
Belmont Race Track
2150 Hempstead Turnpike, Elmont
Friday: 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Saturday: 12 noon to 11 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Admission: Friday and Saturday: $20; Sunday: $15.
For tickets call (212) 686-1210
For more info visit www.nyirishfestival.com
