Burning Bridget Cleary

My wife works at our public library.  She helps to coordinate some events, one of which was tonight.  She got the Celtic band Burning Bridget Cleary to play in our local park, and man, did they sound good.  Beautiful harmonies, beautiful (faked) accents, and nothing more than fiddles, a guitar, and some hand percussion were used...besides the sound system, of course, to get their lively music loud enough that all could hear it.
I was given permission by the director of the library to get on stage and get some shots.  So I did.  Quite willingly.  Here are the results of that as well as some photos from the rest of the enchanting evening.
(to learn more about them and hear some of the music check out http://www.burningbridgetcleary.com)

 Burning Bridget Cleary

This is the band.  From left to right is Rose Baldino, Lou Baldino, Pete Trezzi, and Genevieve Gillespie

Lou Baldino

This is Lou Baldino, waiting to get the group shot that you just saw.  The other members of the band were busy signing autographs.

Rose Baldino Playing the Fiddle

Genevieve and Pete watch as father and daughter play together.

The Crowd

Ephrata Park filled up pretty quickly, but at this point, (early on) the crowd was still thin.

John Protopapas

The Ephrata Public Library had a free sitar concert today.  The sitar player was John Protopapas, a very interesting man with an impressive past and a beautiful talent.  He played for about 45 minutes, some on his hand drums, tablas, but mostly on the sitar.  His explanation of the culture that surrounds the music he played, the techniques he used, and the trance he was able to put us all in made for quite an enjoyable evening.

John Protopapas

I only had a second to get my attempt at a portrait.  Throughout the whole evening, the only time he wasn't smiling was when he would get into an intense riff on the sitar.

Deep in the Music

Here is one of the infrequent times that he isn't smiling.  His fingers flew up and down the neck of his sitar.

Tablas

Here is a close up of his hand resting on one of his tablas while he explains the different rhythms and beats to us.