Its Grand to be Irish….
well, I was blown away when I saw this video:
then I saw THIS ONE, and it was NO CONTEST:
I find I cant keep my eyes off of that Bodhran player. After much searching and whatnot, I’ve discovered his name is Ray Fean. I also discovered I am not alone. This comment I found on Amazon.com from a review for the Celtic Woman DVD:
“If I had to pick my favorite Celtic Woman artist – it wouldn’t be one of the girls. Drummer Ray Fean has been drumming professionally for 17 years that I know of, maybe more. He has also done soundtrack arrangements and has a history of giving back to the community. When I paid for my front row ticket and “meet and greet” pass, it wasn’t to see the girls even though they are great. I go to see the Drummer!!!! He does more for most women in the last 45 seconds of Dulaman than most husbands/boyfriends can do with their tippers in an entire night.”
(you said a mouthful lady!)
Here he is with Mairead Nesbitt:
OH MY GAWD! That man puts IDEAS in my head….
UPDATE: So, he has a BLOG, and Ive commented on there, and linked back to here and and and…..he’s going to see my impure thoughts. Well, I considered deleting them but then I realized, its how I FEEL and I need to accept responsibility for what I said. So, Ray, if you ever read this, in my own defense, all I can say is, if a man is gonna move the way you do, with a body like yours, (and I like the ponytail too!) you better expect the kind of responses you’ve seen here. Im sure Im not the first….nor the last. DAMN, there goes my chance for an autograph š¦
Its ALL Blarney!! 
Yep, yep, yep… He is definitely a HOTTIE… here is a link of him several years ago — playing with Donal Lunny & Coolfin, Sharon Shannon, and a few KODO drummers… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7xTgFBLUbc&feature=related
Notice how YOUNG and CUTE he is with his shirt off!!! Mmmmmm, what I wouldn’t give for a piece of THAT!
HELL YEAH! Thx for sharing š Ray is a GOD! this vid is awesome, I particularly like seeing the various cultures’ music intermingling š
oh yeah, and Ray’s chest is YUMMY!
Isnt it great that Irish/Celtic music can embrace other input?
I’ve found a few other great vids of him — be happy to send you a list… or just search YouTube for “Coolfin”. I’ve posted a couple to his blog (didn’t get a reply) so there’s a start. I also have a vid of him from his No Sweat days — I think from 1990 so he would have been about 27 then… I have managed to collect most of his discography, but am still trying to find a copy of The Divine Ryans (he wrote the soundtrack) and I can’t afford the Black Velvet cd he played on (sellers want upwards of $165 USED!!!)… Anyway, glad you enjoyed the video — chest, arms, shoulders — ALL yummy — I’d LOVE to embrace THAT Celt!
Oh YEAH! Im sure he has no shortage of female admirers….dangit!
please, go ahead and post your list or email it to irishgrl@ssbcglobal.net (yes, I just gave out my email! fortunately not many folks are watching the “its Grand to be Irish” thread!!!!
anywho….I think you are gonna be my new bestest friend š
by the way, I dont know when you posted your vids but Ray is currently on tour with Celtic Woman, and I believe he is right now located in Southern Californa. (dang. I live in NORTHERN CA) hope he remembers to send those drumsticks to my son š
Yeah, I know he’s been busy (but he HAS been logging in to MySpace pretty regularly)… NJ yesterday (my old stomping grounds), PA today, Indiana tomorrow, and Friday night he’ll be in Kansas City, MO which is actually only about 4 hours south of me — but short on bucks and gas is too expensive so I had to pass up tickets this time around. I would have gone out and picked up pop bottles to return for deposit so I could buy a ticket if CW was going to be in Des Moines again!!! What I wouldn’t give to be at Red Rocks for July 1 & 2!!! Colorado is another of my favorite play places — in days gone by I spent a lot of time 4-wheeling in the mountains out that way!
I have to get my grandson to bed — he won’t lay down for anyone but me — so I’ll put together that list of links and send it to you tomorrow… Have a great night!
Well, HELL. why did I think he was gonna be here on the west coast in June? I tried sync’ing it with the CW projected play dates so I guess I was pretty off???? oh well………..its WHO know, I’ve always believed that š
Well, you don’t have to worry about getting a lot of spam since your email bounced so I can either cut and paste my email — it is REALLY long — and post it here or you can send me an email at ademing@mchsi.com so I get your return addy right… Your choice…
*scratches head* Im confused……….we “spoke” ok last night???
OK, I didn’t get an email from you so I am posting my email in it’s very long entirety for your viewing pleasure… I hope all the links come through right…
Hi Mary (and Brendan since Iām sure heāll be checking these out with you!),
Been a looonnng day ā seems now that I am not working anymore, I work harder than ever ā mostly as chauffer for my busy family! Finally get a couple of hours to myself and I think my grandson may actually already be asleep!!!
This first link is to an interview and it has a couple cute pics:
http://www.emi-premier.co.uk/commonground/mi/fean/fean.html
The Common Ground album he worked on has a lot of great artists and is one of my absolute favorites. He has worked on so many and they are all greatā¦ another favorite is Luca Bloom Between the Mountain and the Moon ā Ray plays drums on most of the tracks, but he plays GUITAR on the Rainbow Day track and it is probably my favorite song on the whole album (although I do love most everything Luca does)ā¦
One of my favorite vids is on this link:
http://hardrockhideout.com/2007/05/11/no-sweat-st-release-year-1990/
This one I actually remember from MTV in 1990 (my daughter was a teenager and while she thought I was horrible, all her friends thought I was the coolest Mom in town because I liked rock-n-roll, even the hard stuff!!! I used to take her and her friends to all the cool concerts that came within 100 miles of here). Anyway, like me, youāll probably have to watch this one a few times to catch all Rayās goofiness ā at one point he is hanging from a boom on the ālorryā (keep in mind the three trucks are running down the road at about 25 miles an hour or so)ā¦
It is interesting that the review says the album was made BEFORE Ray was in the band, the video came out after, and he did tour with them until they went defunct in about a yearā¦ BUT, Ray is in the credits on the disc and it is HIS picture in the artwork with the discā¦. Iād like to ask him about it sometimeā¦
Another thing I just spotted in the video ā they must have done several takes making this video as I counted at least three different shirts on Ray!!!! Evidently the continuity editor wasnāt paying attention ļ
Found a few more for the same song on YouTubeā¦
Interesting, the first vid is the older one ā before Ray joined the band ā and it is recorded in a big warehouse with some concert shots thrown in (I noticed about 1 sec about 2/3 the way through that the drummer is dark-haired instead of blonde ā hmmmm)ā¦
The second one seems to be the same as the one on hardrockhideout but Iām not absolutely sureā¦ Iād sure like to set up a second monitor and run them both at the same timeā¦ Also, note on this one that Ray is micād and is actually SINGING backup!
The third one is the actual vid from MTV and the sound quality doesnāt seem as good. Iām still not quite convinced that these three (hardrockhideout and the second and third from YouTube) are actually the exact same video, there may have been some ātweakingā here and there before the MTV one actually came out here in the US.
Back to Celtic musicā¦ I think I posted this one but here it is anywayā¦
This is the Cavan Potholes one with Donal Lunny and Sharon Shannon and the Kodo Drummersā¦
This one was recorded at the same place, I believe the RDS in Dublin as part of the Donal Lunny, Coolfin, and Friends tour in Europeā¦
This one is also part of that same tour, but performed at Merion Square in Dublin on New Yearās Eve 1999ā¦
This one is from the Meteor Awards in Ireland ā the album Coolfin won an award and they played at the show. I have the disc and it Is a great oneā¦ I absolutely fell in love with Donal Lunny because of Ray Fean and am now working on collecting his work as well ā I have all of the Bothy Bandās albums and also Moving Hearts and am starting on Planxty nextā¦
Side note if you are interested, Donal Lunny and Christy Moore (another artist I am absolutely in love with) originally played together in Planxty then Moving Hearts (both Donal and Christy have GREAT voices) but they were moving in different directions hence the birth of the Bothy Bandā¦ Iām going to have to work on collecting more of Christyās work as well ā he is on the Common Ground album with Ray and Donalā¦
Iām still searching YouTube for other videos Ray may appear inā¦ He has played with so many performers and I am sure there are some videos out there that I havenāt found yetā¦ maybe some that havenāt been posted since I find recent posts all the timeā¦ Iām going to start searching out the other bands he played with for videos in the hopes that I will turn something upā¦
Also, I just ordered two DVDs and an old VHS that will be interesting ā the first is Donal Lunny, Coolfin, and the Kodo Drummers in East Meets West. The second is the Kodo Drummers One Earth Tour (probably no Ray in this one but I love the Kodo Drummers and am working on collecting their DVDās ā I donāt bother with the soundtracks in this case since more than half the experience is in watching the performance not just listening to it. Iāll bet Brendan would LOVE these guys since he wants to be a drummerā¦
The last one, the old VHS video ā a used library copy no less ā is of Donal Lunny, Coolfin, and friends (including Sharon Shannon Elvis Costello, Carlos Nunez, and a bunch of other greats) playing the Irish Gala Festival at the Kennedy Center in 2000…
I had better bring this to a close ā I just noticed I have been working on this for nearly two hours now!!! Thatās what happens when I send someone links to videos ā I just HAVE to watch the video again myself, maybe even two or three times… LOL
I think Iāll search out a few more videos with Donal Lunny to see if Ray is lurking around in any of themā¦
OMG, look what I just found!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAR3KtpTk_k This is absolutely hilarious ā a country song sung in Gaelic — and Ray is drumminā and grinninā through the whole thingā¦
Hereās another one that I think was recorded at the same time ā all the greats are there and Ray is lurking on the drums in the back ā donāt see much of him, but this is one of my favorite songs so it gets bookmarked anwayā¦
And one more from the same venue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siFQEirRC7o Again, Ray is lurking on the drums in the back but at about 3:30 there is a good shot of him just grinning and obviously enjoying himself. I have to say his drumming style hasnāt changed much in 20 years
OK, last one from this venue (at least for now)ā¦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6zqb3gf5aA
I just love Sineadās voice ā She sings this one on Common Ground album alsoā¦
BTW, I read some of the comments and found out these were all recorded as a Tribute to Donal Lunny back in 1996ā¦ but don’t read the comments with Brendan — some of them are just too nasty for young minds…
This one doesnāt have anything to do with Ray other than the fact that he is responsible for me finding Donal Lunny and getting all interested in his historyā¦ This link is for a playlist of 54 videos from the mid-70ās to early 80ās all of Planxty with Donal Lunny, Christy Moore, Liam OāFlynn, and Andy Irvineā¦ Now I REALLY want the Planxty cdās in my collection!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z3A5Tgy47M&feature=PlayList&p=94D4C1D898415462&index=1
Iām going to have to figure out how to create my own playlist on YouTube because there are absolutely HUNDREDS of great videos ā like a huge family tree of great Celtic artists from the 70ās to the presentā¦ each one connected to or thru the othersā¦
Oh hey, do you know anything about MySpace? Ray has a page out there http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=135325396 and I have sent a friend request twice now and he has not responded . I subscribed to his blog but it wonāt let me read anything because I havenāt posted anything? Or is there just nothing to read because he isnāt blogging??? The page shows his last login date and I check the page daily ā he logs in every few days but I sure donāt know anything moreā¦ I have no idea how to post to MySpace having never done it before ā and my own page is frighteningly bare ā no pic and only very scanty infoā¦. I really need to work on doing better with this new technology or I will REALLY start feeling like a dinosaur (which is what they call us old legacy programmers these days)ā¦
Anyway, his profile shows only that he is a Virgo (September 6, 1962), Married , and a Proud Parent (how can he possibly have a family with his busy schedule???? Whenever he isnāt touring with CW, he is involved in several different projects, and he still tours with Riverdance in his āoff timeā)ā¦. and from the volume of music he has put out in the last 20 years, I don’t know when he had the time or energy left over to…
Of course, Iām not in any position to criticize ā my last husband was a trucker and we only saw each other once every 3-6 weeksā¦ It was a fresh honeymoon every visit (along with loads of dirty laundry ) and I got along better with him than any of my other husbands or boyfriendsā¦ He passed away back in 1998 from advanced cancer ā I didnāt even know he was sick until they airlifted him to the University Hospital in Oklahoma City when he fell ill while visiting his sister and taking a short vacation from trucking. All he had told me was he was visiting family and taking a week off because he was tired. He planned to be home the following week when he got a new load to Minnesota or Wisconsinā¦ He was dead 7 days later bless his heart.
Interesting thing ā he had smoked since he was 5 years old and the only organs in his body that DIDNāT show evidence of cancer were his lungs and brain ā go figureā¦ If he hadnāt gotten sick, weād probably still be together and since my daughter is now grown, weād be āprofessional touristsā again like we were when she was littleā¦. Mama Turtle and Hobo tooling around the planet in a fine āchicken haulerā house-on-wheelsā¦ of course, everything happens as it is meant to be and I probably wouldnāt have found Ray Fean again if I were still immersed in country music and southern rock!!! I seriously doubt I could ever have gotten Hobo to go to a Celtic Woman concert!!!
OK, probably more info than you ever wanted to know, but if we are going to be ānew best friendsā we have to tell all ā so now itās your turnā¦.
Later,
AmyD
Hi Amy, Im sorry I didnt get back to you yesterday, I was helping a friend with some family law issues š¦ I decided to go ahead and post your comment as is, so the links would be available for any other Ray Fean fans, Thanks so much! I also sent you an email so you have that as well š I think we have a LOT in common š
ttyl Im sure!