Feb 24, 2011

Gaelic Storm draws crowd

The Celtic quintet Gaelic Storm performed for an audience of nearly 700 winter-weary fans Wed., Feb. 23 in Tornstrom Auditorium at the Washington Education Building in Brainerd. The concert was sponsored by the Cultural Arts Series at Central Lakes College. The audience included fans who drove from Grand Rapids, Hinckley, St. Cloud and beyond, young and old alike, to enjoy the performance by an internationally renowned ensemble whose other Minnesota stop on the Shamboozle Tour would be Thurs., Feb. 24 at the Fitzgerald Theatre in St. Paul (and admission was twice the ticket price in Brainerd). After a start playing monthly gigs for friends at Santa Monica’s O’Brien’s Tavern in 1995, the band’s popularity skyrocketed when it appeared in James Cameron’s Titanic as the Celtic party band in the ship’s steerage. Band guitarist-singer Steve Twigge said it best: “We are first and foremost a live band. We got together to play music. To enjoy ourselves and enjoy being out with the audience. As the world has gotten darker, people have come and found us as a means to escape.” For information about the Cultural Arts Series, e-mail clctheatre@clcmn.edu or go to http://www.clcmn.edu/theatre/CulturalArtsSeries.html