Concert for Jerry Holland at Boston

Event Description

Date: Sunday, 2007 September 9
Time: 14h-
Venue: Boston University’s Jacob Sleeper Auditorium, 871 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston
Description: A benefit concert to raise funds for Jerry Holland, sponsored by Boston College, Harvard University, and Boston University, hosted by Earle Hitchner of the Irish Echo and Wall Street Journal, and featuring Séamus Connolly, Alasdair Fraser, James Keane, Joe Derrane, Eileen Ivers, Mick Moloney, Kieran O’Hare, Joe Cormier, Andrea Beaton, Kimberly Fraser, Troy MacGillivray, Doug Lamey, Hanneke Cassell, Liz Knowles, Julee Glaub, John McGann, Jimmy Noonan, Laura Risk, Janine Randall, Cliff McGann, Dedo Norris, Cape Breton Step Dancers/Christine Morrison & Pamela Campbell, Laura Scott, Ed Pearlman, The Rita O’Shea/Chaplin Dancers, Barbara (Johnnie Archie) MacDonald Magone and a host of other fine musicians from Ireland, Cape Breton, and North America. See this web site for additional information.
Admission: $30

Context

Jerry Holland was born and raised in the Boston area, but has lived in Cape Breton since the fall of 1975. As most by now know, Jerry Holland is battling cancer and, as he has been unable to work for some time, needs help in meeting his expenses. Friends across the world have been organizing benefit concerts for him since his plight became known earlier this spring. The Jerry Holland Fund web site lists scheduled events that have not yet taken place. The Concert for Jerry Holland described here was one in that series of events, organized by his many friends in the area of his birth.

Mary Lamey chaired the committee which organized this concert, gaining the sponsorship of Boston University, Boston College, and Harvard University, The Irish Echo, and radio stations WUMB and WGBH. The committee attracted a who’s-who of the American Celtic music community to perform in this concert, held in the Jacob Sleeper Auditorium at Boston University and emceed by Earle Hitchner of The Irish Echo and The Wall Street Journal. Information about those performers is at the top of each page of pictures and, where known, links to their web sites are given for those who would like further information about them.

Since Jerry could not attend in person, he sent his sister, Ann Holland, to represent him there. A video hook-up was present at the concert so that Jerry could attend virtually; a brief phone call allowed him to speak to the audience. As can be imagined, that audience was highly emotional as performer after performer paid tribute to the great contributions Jerry has made to Cape Breton music. His compositions have found favour world-wide and many are now part of the standard Cape Breton repertoire (indeed, many are also now played in other Celtic traditions). His playing is universally agreed to be of the highest calibre and the individual expression he puts into his music sets it apart. His teaching across the North American continent and beyond has won him admirers everywhere and his winning personality has brought him friends in every place he has visited. Everyone present had been touched by Jerry in one way or another and the message to Jerry was loud and clear: we love you, Jerry, and we stand with you as you work through this ordeal.

Photos

Thanks to Marcia Palmeter, I had a front row seat and got over two hundred shots of the concert, most of them all I could have hoped for. There were the inevitable problems with microphones getting between my camera and the performers, which occur no matter where one is seated. From these, I have selected the photos shown here. Take these photos for what they are: my best attempt to capture what was going on at a live event, not professional photographs.

I would also like to thank Marcia for her helpful assistance in identifying names of both performers and tunes; my thanks also go to Mary Lamey, Laura Scott, and Anna Brown Massey for providing leads and helpful information and to Terry Eagan for a correction.

To begin looking at the photos of the concert, click on the “First” link in the navigation bar at the left and continue through them in sequence by clicking on the “Next” link on each subsequent page. (The “Previous” link, which appears on pages after the first, will take you to the previous page in the sequence. The “First” and “Last” links take you to the first and last pages of the sequence, respectively.) Alternatively, click on any picture in the “Picture(s)” column of the Performance Listing below to jump directly to that picture.

Performance Listing

Id	Performance	Picture(s)
1	Séamus Connolly on solo fiddle
2	Ann Holland and Séamus Connolly conversing with Jerry Holland
3	The Boston Kiltics: Doug Lamey on fiddle, Cliff McGann on guitar, and Nathan Silva on djembe with Dedo Norris on piano joined by step-dancers Pamela Campbell and Christine Morrison
4	The Boston Edge: Joe Derrane on button accordion, John McGann on guitar, and Séamus Connolly on fiddle
5	Ed Perlman on fiddle and Neil Perlman on piano with Anna Massey Highland dancing and Laura Scott in the Sailor’s Hornpipe
6	Julee Glaub on vocals and guitar
7	Eileen Ivers on fiddle, James Keane on accordion, and Mick Maloney on vocals, banjo, and guitar
8	Kimberley Fraser on fiddle and piano and Troy MacGillivray on fiddle and piano
9	Laura Risk on fiddle, Hanneke Cassel on fiddle and piano, and Liz Knowles on fiddle
10	Julee Glaub on vocals and guitar and Meg Flanagan on fiddle
11	Joe Cormier on fiddle, Janine Randall on piano, and Troy MacGillivray on guitar
12	Liz Knowles on fiddle, Kieran O’Hare on uillean pipes, Jimmy Noonan on wooden flute, Owen McQuinn on bodhràn, and the Rita O’Shea Irish Dancers
13	Barbara MacDonald Magone on solo piano
14	Alasdair Fraser on fiddle, Natalie Haas on cello, Barbara MacDonald Magone on piano, and Laura Scott dancing
15	Finale