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By Maire Peters

It seemed like just one week had passed since I last saw the Tenors
in Naples last year. I had been at home in the Irish Tenors living
room, Dublin Airport, but I only met Anthony on that trip.

This concert was all about getting to see Finbar again to tell him
how much he has been in our thoughts and prayers in recent times.

It is not necessary for me to do a review on the actual songs
sung on this tour as this website is blessed to have a resident
expert, the Juilliard trained soprano Berta Calechman.

If it seemed like a week since I last heard the tenors, the last week
waiting for Saturday to arrive seemed like an eternity. My beautiful
Hispanic coworker Mary was trying very hard to feign enthusiasm
for my daily countdown of the hours.

In a phone call from his studio on South Beach, fashion
photographer Roberto Alas assured me that he would help me
choose what to wear. He would be in Naples three or four hours
ahead of time to solve this dilemma.

Finbar's Blog on his website had informed us that fashion police
are out inspecting visitors to Paris as everyone there now must
wear black. They even have a prison for offenders called The
Bastille Noveau. Yes, I would have to be very careful. A trip "flying
home to Aherlo" can often mean a stop in Paris.

Roberto arrived very early to choose from my 'nothing to wear'
collection. He said to wear my tiger rather than my Cu Chulainn
pin as the boys represented the Celtic Tiger.

He may be the guy who is considered one of the most talented
photographers on South Beach but his navigation skills leave
a lot to be desired. We were lost for ages in Fort Meyers.
Then some genius got our names wrong and we had another
delay at the box office for the tickets.

We had just sat in our seats when the Orchestra enhanced
my feelings of severe homesickness by playing Mise Eire of all tunes.

Mise Eire was one of Ireland's first films in Gaelic. I was working
at CBF, the Meat Marketing Board, when I got a call from the
late Dr. Donal O Morain, the director of Gael Linn asking me
what did I think I was doing over there speaking English with
them, when I should be his employee speaking Gaelic.

Donal O Morain and his assistant Roibeard McGowran decided
to produce the film Mise Eire. They had recorded a great Cork
musician called Sean O Riada and his Ceolteoiri Chualann
on their record label, so the late great Sean O Riada wrote the
music for Mise Eire. Ceolteoiri Chualann later became known
as The Chieftains. Of course that happened many years
before I was employed by Gael Linn as I am still only a young wan.

Dr. O Morain was the man who created a festival called Slogadh.
The winner one year was a group called Clannad, the Brennan
family from Co. Donegal. Enya Brennan is world famous.
Her sister Moya is well known too. He also had a singer from
Cork called Sean O Se record "An Poc ar Buile" which must
have been resurrected by Finbar as it has been recorded by the Tenors.

Hearing the orchestra play Mise Eire transported me back to
the very happy times I spent at Gael Linn and my immediate
supervisor Diarmuid O Donnchada who managed the Irish
College at Machaire Rabhartaigh in Donegal, and Colaiste
Iosagain, in Baile Bhuirne, Co. Cork, not far from where Finbar
lives. Diarmuid wrote the Irish Language Course for Linguaphone.

It used be my task to type up every single utterance of those
children who were expelled for being bold and the comments
of the teachers word for word, not an easy job when falling
out of one's seat laughing.

To make matters worse Finbar had to sing "When You were Sweet Sixteen'

This song was usually sung by the Furey Brothers when I first
arrived in Dublin. I had spent a few very happy years being
taken to Folk Clubs by Mick Moloney and his then girlfriend
who were my close friends.

Mick sang with the Johnstons, Paul Brady and the famous
Donal Lunny. He went on to pursue a career as a Folk Lore
Professor here in the United States where he has been honored
by Hilary Clinton. He has recorded hundreds of radio shows
and recordings and brings tour groups to Ireland.

Mick had his wedding at my home in Dublin and introduced
me to the Furey Family. He had classified the late Ted Furey,
the father of this wonderful group of musicians as one of the
finest gentlemen ever to exist.

The Furey family had been traveling folk. Ted settled down
in Dublin and reared his family to be gentlemen like himself.

Mick Moloney's wedding at my home lasted three days and
three nights with some of the great musicians of County

Clare keeping my neighbors rather unhappy.

The Furey ancestors did important work in rural Ireland, as
they mended tin items for farmers such as the buckets used
to milk cows. They were the true royal families of Ireland
who were told by Cromwell "to hell or Connaught" so those
who set off walking for Connaught, kept on walking but
collected some 'batty' horses on the way.

Here in the United States these horses are called 'paint'
horses. They also owned and bred Connemara ponies.

The Irish Government tried to have the traveling people settle
down in little homes they built for them called "tigins". That
word is mentioned by Anthony in one of the recordings
where he mentions settling down in a nice little tigin.

I was one of the very few people to own a picture of the
father, Ted Furey, which I took at a Feis Ceoil in Cashel.
I sent it to the boys when he passed away. He certainly
revived an interest in the ancient songs and music of Ireland.

A singer called Red Hurley recorded a tribute to him,
called "The Furey Man".....'the Furey Man from us is gone,"
Indeed a tenors concert evokes memories for so many
people of those they have loved and lost.

Thank God I never had a boyfriend from anywhere near
the Lagan to set off the floodgates of tears when Karl sang
My Lagan Love so beautifully. I did think of my dear friend
Paul Brady who used cook mushrooms for me when I lived
across the road from him on Palmerstown Road in Dublin.

To this day he sends me regular emails. He was born
somewhere near the Lagan River in Northern Ireland. My
Lagan Love was often sung by another great friend of mine,
Brian Byrne of the Emmet Spiceland who now resides somewhere
in Australia. He used to sing Bunclody, too, and I wonder why
Anthony never sings that beautiful Wexford song.

Brian Spiceland as we called him, married the famous
choreographer, Mavis Ascott and left a few of us with broken hearts.

I often said I wished that the guy who wrote Amazing Grace had
stayed at the bottom of the ocean and never surfaced but when
the Tenors sing it, all is forgiven.

Anthony's Ave Maria was amazing as usual.

The concert finished with the boys bringing the house down with
Feliz Navidad and of course Danny Boy.

After the concert I was fortunate to spend some time with my
three heroes. Every time I meet Karl, I just get to love him
more and more. He is totally adorable and I just wish I could
put him in a bag and bring him home to someone of my single
nieces and sing "Bean Paidin" to his girlfriend, if he has a girlfriend.

Much to my surprise and the delight of Roberto, dear darling
Finbar presented me with his Rose.

How lucky can one lady get, the Rose from Finbar this year and
last year Anthony touched my heart when he handed me his
freezing cold Rose. He must have had it in a fridge for me as
he was not wearing it in the second half of the show.

Later on in the night at Dinner, tears turned to a fit of laughter
as Roberto was trying to cheer me up dangling Finbar's rose
at me, it seemed like a person dangling a rattler at a baby to
try and make it shut up.

It amuses me to think that my Irish Tenors are inside in the
same camera with Marc Anthony, Jay Lo and Paris Hilton. That
might be some consolation for poor Paris who probably is not
very much in love with Mr. Alas as he published a very
unflattering picture of her. Somehow I feel that if Anthony did
meet Paris in reality, he would not be inclined to bring her home to Kiltealy.

The beautiful Shania Twain would be my choice for him and
I hear she lives in Naples.

Perhaps she might show up to see him perform in Romeo and
Juliet at the International Design Center for Opera Naples.
Already the countdown has begun for that event and the next
Irish Tenors concerts here in the sunshine state.