The West Coast musician travels to the Pioneer Valley next month to play with the YankCelt Band.
Craig EastmanFor those of you wondering what musician Craig Eastman is up to these days, this missive comes via email from the West Coast.
“I'm gearing up for another St Pat's season with Bo and the fellas,” he writes.
Eastman is of course referring to his annual return trip to the Valley where he gets to take the stage with Bo Fitzgerald and the YankCelt Band, a group formed in 1990 with Fitzgerald and Jeff Sullivan of the Dustmen joining Guy DeVito from FAT, Billy Klock, Eastman, and Galway’s Mixie Clarke.
“As you know, I am Bo's biggest fan, and have been coming back home each year to be a part of this wonderful and unique cultural experience,” Eastman said. “This will be our 21st year and there is nowhere else I would rather be.”
That’s quite a statement from the man who has been “holed up” in California working on film scores for movies like “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Rango” (he played all the violin parts for the Mariachi Owls), and Harrison Ford’s recent “Cowboys and Aliens.”
He has also had the opportunity to tour and record with some of the music industry’s most prominent names.
“My musical life out here in LA brings me into many diverse musical situations, from Ray Charles, to Steve Martin, to Slash, and everything in between,” he said. “So this year I'm branching out and doing a couple of solo fiddle shows on the off nights from the YankCelts. I want to share these other facets of my fiddling and stories about my musical life that they don't get to hear when I'm playing with Bo.”
Eastman will perform solo at the New England Youth Theater in Brattleboro, VT on March 8 and at the Majestic Theater in West Springfield on March 12.
“I also will be giving a fiddling workshop,” he noted. “I will be sharing some of my knowledge of improvisation on the fiddle on March 11 at Stamell Strings in Amherst.”
For more information on the shows, check out craigeastman.com