Conference Press Coverage

PRESS COVERAGE RECEIVED:
Irish Times………………………………….....…………................................………...Dublin, Ireland
Irish Voice…………………………………..…...............................…………….New York, New York
Irish Echo……………………………………………….................................……New York, New York
Irish America………………………………..…...............................……………New York, New York
Sunday Times……………………………….………................................…………………..London, UK
The Herald…………………………………...…………………………....................................……….….UK
Belfast News Letter………………....………………..........................Belfast, Northern Ireland
Irish Emigrant…………………………..………………..............................………...Galway, Ireland
RTE News and Television…………..………………………............................…...Dublin, Ireland
Associated Press…………………………..………………………................................………………USA
Times Dispatch……………………………………………………….................................Richmond, VA
Daily Progress……………………………………………….............................…..Charlottesville, VA
The Hook…………………………………………….………...............................…..Charlottesville, VA
Inside UVA………………………………….………………..............................…...Charlottesville, VA
The Downtowner……………………….………………….............................…..Charlottesville, VA
Charlottesville Arts and Entertainment…………………….….......................................................Charlottesville, VA
Newstalk 105………………………………………………...............................………. Dublin, Ireland
WWWV, WINA, Z95…………………………………….............................……. Charlottesville, VA
WVTF ……………………………………………………………......................................……Roanoke, VA
WTJU…………………………………………………………......................................Charlottesville, VA
WNRN……………………………………………………….......................................Charlottesville, VA
WVPT Television…………………………………………...............................……..Harrisonburg, VA
WVIR NBC Channel 29……………………………............................………….Charlottesville, VA

Excerpts & Links

Tommy Sands practices what he sings. The County Down musician didn’t just deliver songs of wit (“Whatever You Say, Say Nothing,” “We’ll Get Married Then”) and wisdom (“There Were Roses,” “Your Daughters and Sons,” “1999,” “Let the Circle Be Wide”) during the May 10 luncheon at “Re-Imagining Ireland”… In a stirring, spellbinding performance, Sands also delivered on those songs’ promise of inclusion and tolerance by inviting three politicians of different viewpoints to come up and sing.
So when Christopher McGimpsey, the Belfast City councilor representing Loyalist West Belfast and member of the Ulster Unionist Party for a quarter century, sang a song of Orange sentiments before the large luncheon crowd, no dissenting murmurs were heard. The same held true when David Ervine, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, sang on stage. He brought a fragile tenderness to his singing, and that emotion was also coursing through “Se Fath Mo Bhuartha” (“The Cause of My Sorrow”), a song in Irish from Brid Rogers, deputy leader of Northern Ireland’s Social Democratic and Labor Party. She confessed her political wonderment at how Tommy Sands can “get people to do what they don’t want to do.”

—Excerpted from Earle Hitchner’s article in the Irish Echo: “Bridges of Understanding: Ireland Re-imagined in the Land of Jefferson, ” May 21-27, 2003