Summer 2002 EXORNA is the newly
adopted name of Illinois-based Celtic band, Doon The Brae. December 2002 We had a successful first
year together, playing a variety of festivals and gigs in Illinois, Missouri, & Ohio.
Fall was spent in the studio recording our first CD together... soon to be available from
our sounds page. On Sunday 15th of December we'll be at WWHP
radio station in Farmer City, IL chatting with radio host Dave
Johnston on his Leprechaun's Gate Sunday show. We'll also be performing a few tracks off
our new CD. The radio show will be streamed over the net from WWHP's website from 1-3pm. January 2003 On Sunday 15th of December we took our instruments over to the WHHP radio station in Farmer City... performed some tracks off our new CD, ate salmon, mashed potatoes & soda bread and generally had a bash with DJ Dave Johnston and his crew. Here are a couple of sound clips from the radio show... "A Rebel Song", The Silver Spear, "More than one dog" Thanks to the boys at WHHP for making us feel at home. On the evenings of December 27th and 28th we played at the Castletown Geoghegan Pub in Belleville, Illinois near St. Louis. Had a lot of fun with a high energy receptive crowd, and have been invited back to play at the end of February. The Gagen brothers, Thom, Kevin, & Ed, owners of the pub, are committed to promoting live Celtic music every weekend. Hats off to you guys!! Come along to the pub at the end of the month... mix some good home-style Irish/English cooking with live Celtic music. We recommend the Shepherd's Pie- made Victor and Mark a bit homesick though... February 2003 We kicked off the New Year with a benefit gig at The Knights of Columbus in Bloomington, IL. After a hearty dinner of corned beef and cabbage we got down to playing some music. Victor gets the MVP award for pulling out some 'old chestnuts' from his song repertoire... the largely Irish-American audience invited us back to play at their St. Patrick's Day party. Late January saw us at the Springfield Arts Center helping the St. Andrews Society of Springfield celebrate their Burns Night supper. Thanks to the society's Irish and Scottish dancers for making playing that much more fun. On February 12th the CDs arrived! They're on sale for a cheerful $10 from the sounds page. They'll also be hawked shamelessly at gigs throughout the year. Well, we're off to Springfield again on the 16th of Feb to Bernie & Betty's Pizza Restaurant, and on Feb 28 we'll be back at The Castletown Geoghegan in Belleville for some more English and Irish 'pub-grub', oh and er.... to play a bit of music. Hope to see you there...!
Thanks to all of you who braved the heavy snowfall and came along to Bernie & Betty's Pizza Restaurant on the evening of Sunday Feb 16. Fuelled by fresh hot pizza we played to a friendly and receptive crowd- a few of whom were running on another fuel! A troupe of costumed Irish & Scottish dancers from the Springfield St. Andrews Society helped to keep the night hopping along with some jigs, reels, and the famous sword dance. We were invited back to play at Bernie & Betty's on March 30th. We saw February out with a trip down to Belleville, IL on Friday the 28th. The folks at the Castletown Geoghegan Pub once again proved to be very receptive to our brand of Celtic music.
March will be
a busy month as EXORNA help celebrate St. Patrick's Day with gigs at Galva, Bloomington,
Peoria & Springfield, IL... April 2003 Our run up to the St. Paddy's Day weekend began with a trip to Galva, Knox County, IL for the Galva Arts Society Concert Series. Forrest was a happy lad, being just a stone's throw or two from his home town. We got to meet his folks and taste his mom's famous cherry pie! Some 70 folk packed out a small coffee shop in downtown Galva for the concert. The gig was officially christened the "Galva Warm-up" as we'll be back there next year to gear up for another St. Paddy's season. In mid-March we played at a couple of nonpartisan private fundraisers for both the Democrats & Republicans, before landing at the Knights of Columbus Hall to entertain Bloomington's Irish-American contingent on their Day. There were some of Peggy Flynn's dancers present to help keep the night jigging and reeling away. At the end of the month we returned to Bernie and Betty's Pizza which is fast becoming our 'home from home'. A great crowd once again really got behind the music and kept the adrenaline pumping away. The St. Andrew's Society came along to show off their fine Scottish dancing talents backed by pipe major Tom 'Spike' Ogilvy... May 2003 In early April we were down at the Castletown Geoghegan Pub in Belleville, IL for a Friday night only special before heading back up north to entertain a packed Forest Park Nature Center in Peoria, IL. Each month the Nature Center hosts a concert which is partially funded through a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. There's news about future concerts in the series at the Peoria Park District's website. We started out May with a private party at the First Presbyterian Church in Bloomington, helping to celebrate several '50th or more' wedding anniversaries. Victor was chuffed with the ideal setting for singing his 'Golden Jubilee' and for reflecting on his Scots-Irish heritage. On Friday May 9th (Birthday of our Mark) we're back on the road to Belleville for another 2-night slot at the Castletown Geoghegan Pub. This is a trip well worth making if you like good Irish/English food and music (of course!). The pub is just off the City 'circle' at 104 West Main. The weekend of May 16th is a great one for celebrating Scottish heritage. The 78th Frasers Highlanders, a Grade 1 pipe band from Canada, will perform in Concert at the Sangamon Auditorium in Springfield, IL on Friday the 16th at 8 pm. Later that evening EXORNA will provide entertainment at a private party for the Celtic 'ancient athletes' and pipers ...who'll need plenty of rest for their appearances at the annual Springfield Highland Games and Celtic Festival on Saturday 17th. The 'Games' will be held as usual at Springfield's State Fairgrounds. EXORNA will be performing on Saturday evening sometime around 8pm. There'll also be performances from Central Illinois Celtic bands... Bloomsday & The Roundstone Buskers. Come along, bring the family and have a special day out. If you miss the Highland Games then be sure to come along to Bernie & Betties Pizza Restaurant in Springfield on the night of Sunday 25th. This will be our 3rd visit this year. We'll play from 7:30-10pm. Throughout the show there'll be special appearances from a few of the St. Andrew's Society's Irish & Scottish dancers along with one or two accompanying bagpipers. You might even catch our Victor doing the famous Scottish Sword Dance, and Forrest singing in French... can't be beat that, ey? June 2003 We saw out the merry month of May with 2 Springfield gigs at The St. Andrew's Society Highland Games & Celtic Festival & Bernie & Betty's Pizza Restaurant. After a rainy start to the day of the Highland Games, the skies cleared and the crowd swelled to enjoy a wide assortment of Scottish and Irish cultural stuff. Congrats to the St. Andrews society pipe band and our man Victor's bass drum section for picking up competition medals. Central Illinois Celtic bands Bloomsday & The Roundstone Buskers joined us with fine musical performances in the entertainment tent. We were lucky to have plenty of Scottish & Irish dancers charged up from their day's competition to dance along to our tunes. It's always a treat to play at Bernie & Betty's Pizza Restaurant in Springfield, IL... thanks to the complimentary mix of good pizza, beer & crowd. Bernie & Betty's will be switching their live music nights to Saturdays in the future... we're looking forward to another visit soon. June will be a fairly quite month for the band with Forrest tanning his hide off in Colorado somewhere, but we're all excited about our trip up to Chicago on June 21st for an appearance at the Chicago Highland Games. Forrest will also be giving a workshop on Scottish fiddle playing earlier on in the day. AUGUST 2003 We've a busy month ahead with gigs in Springfield, Peoria, Chatham, & Columbus, MO. Come along to the Illinois State Fair's Ethnic Village on the 13th. We'll be accompanying the Thistle & Shamrock Dancers at 6pm before going on stage at 8:30pm. We've a lot of new tunes and songs which have been brewing over the past couple of months and are now up and bubbling with the usual EXORNA energy. Next stop will be a return trip to Erin Feis, Peoria, IL for 2 nights in the O'Neill Pub Tent. On Saturday local bands Stewart & Boucher and The Roundstone Buskers will also perform in the O'Neill tent. There's a full schedule of events at the Erin Feis website. At the end of August we'll be back at the annual Chatham Celtic Festival in Chatham, IL. Along with live music, there'll be Scottish & Irish dancers, bagpipes, ancient athletics, + arts/crafts/food vendors. See you there for some fish & chips and a Newcastle Brown Ale.
WINTER 2003-4 Here we are in 2004 and the start of EXORNA's 3rd year together... with lots of exciting new material which we're looking forward to unleasing. Forrest has been busy delving into the repertoire of Donegal fiddler John Doherty and coming up with some chestnuts. Victor has a fresh bunch of well-chosen songs from his homeland that have been treated to an EXORNA workover, and Mark is dangerously close to finally learning the chorus for Forrest's rebel song, The Battle of New Orleans... "We fired our guns and the ???? ARRGGGHHH!!" We've also begun work on our creatively-titled second CD, EXORNA II which will be out some time in 2004 no doubt to be hawked as shamelessly as EXORNA I at a festival near you! Our 'Gigs' page will be updated regularly now as the big festival organisers scramble to get a piece of us :) See you there... SPRING 2004 Hello to all! We're gearing up for another spring/summer season with gigs across Illinois & beyond... Chicago, Peoria, Springfield, Urbana, Kentucky... & Galesburg (where?). We're also half-way through our second CD (the yet more creatively titled, EXORNA II) which you can get your hands on in the summer. There'll be a suprise guest vocalist, a music student of Millikin University, Decatur, IL who volunteered to help out on a recent recording session after an interview with the band (We need all the help we can get!). This March we performed some of the material from EXORNA II on WGLT Radio's Accousticity hosted by Bruce Bergethon. With any luck we'll soon have a copy of this broadcast up on the website, which includes a 'BS behind the band' interview and our man Victor lowering the tone of public radio with his version of Galway Bay. On St. Paddy's day EXORNA played up in Peoria helping the IVY club folk celebrate... and on April 2nd we headed back up to Chicago for some lunch-hour Tartan Day celebrations at the Daley Plaza. On April 10th it's back to Peoria, IL for EXORNA's annual visit to the Forrest Park Nature Center. Last April we had a full house, so if you plan to come along, get there early and claim your seat. See you there... Forrest, Victor & Mark |
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