1. Damian on Glee
Damian McGinty was on a TV show called The Glee Project, in which the people who make Glee were looking for a new actor for a seven-episode arc on the next season of Glee. Damian managed to defy elimination and co-won the show, which means he (as well as another guy) will be on seven episodes of Glee!
I found out he was going to be in the fourth episode of the season which sounds early but was really hard to wait for. Especially since they aired the first three episodes and then took a break for three weeks!
Damian plays Rory, an Irish exchange student who is staying with Brittany's family. On The Glee Project they threw out the idea that Brittany wouldn't understand Rory's accent. That sounded perfect, so I was pleased when they opened the episode using that. They also had Brittany think Rory was a leprechan and had him grant her three wishes (which he played along with, to amusing effect.) I thought Damian performed quite well. He got not one but two solos in his first episode. In one of them he busted out a falsetto I didn't even know he had! For the other he sang "It's Not Easy Being Green" because the students were picking on him because he was new/Irish. That did not make sense to me. Come on, what American doesn't love an accent? (Well, I know girls dig them at least.) When a guy I know from Australia went to school in America for a while all the girls wanted to hear him talk. And one time in my college biology class a guy from Scotland sat at my lab table. BEST SCIENCE CLASS EVER! (Sadly, he never came back after that day.) So why are none of these kids excited to have a kid from Ireland at their school?
Episode #5 briefly had Damian in it as a small part in the school musical. (He sang one line.) That had better not count as his second episode, because we barely saw him! Either way, I'm excited to see a lot more of him this season. Episode #6 had him in for an average amount of time. He was still getting picked on and got beat up with dodgeballs though.
2. Band Member Changes
In my last post I mentioned that Paul and Ryan were leaving the group. That was half right. Paul announced his resignation Nov. 28, 2010. Ryan announced his May 12, 2011. But now that Damian is on Glee, he's not touring with Celtic Thunder anymore. He announced his resignation Aug. 21, 2011. The very next day, Ryan announced he was rejoing! Coincidence? I doubt it.
So instead of losing Ryan, we lost Damian. (No word yet on whether he'll come back after he's done Glee.) So now the members are Ryan, Keith, George, Neil, Emmet, and Daniel. Daniel Who? Ah yes, now that Damian is out, they replaced him with a new kid, Daniel Furlong, who is also Irish. (Why is George the only Scot?) He's around the same age Damian was when he joined, I think.
3. News CDs/Shows
I mentioned Heritage, which came out Feb. 22, 2011 (my birthday!), and Storm, which just released Sept. 20, 2011. I'm excited for the Storm DVD because it has a storyline! They usually just do a concert, but I think this will be more like a musical. I saw them in costumes. Next up will be Voyage, out in Spring 2012. They recorded some of these earlier, so past members will still be in some and the newer ones won't.
4. My Experience
Mike took me to one of Celtic Thunder's shows when they came to Philly. It was so cool to see them perform live and in person! We were fairly close to the stage. It was weird seeing them in person, having only seen them on TV or online. Also, I was able to definitively find out who is actually in the group now, since there's been so many changes lately. Since Paul left to go solo and Damian left to be on Glee, I sadly didn't get to see them. But Ryan still being there totally makes up for it. I hadn't seen the new boy, Daniel, at all before this show. He sang "Somewhere over the Rainbow," and "You've Got a Friend In Me" -- Keith was on the stage for that one, pretending to be annoyed by the kid, which was amusing. Keith sang "The Dutchman," Neil sang "Noreen," and together they sang "Whiskey In the Jar-O," which I love! George sang "500 miles" (another of my favorites), "Red Rose Cafe," and "Cats in the Cradle," which was cool. Just about every song Ryan does is my favorite. He did "Desperado" and "Black Is the Color," which were incredible to see live! For one song Ryan came out with a guitar--I didn't know he could play! In fact, a lot of them surprised me with instruments they were playing--and sang "Friends in Low Places," which surprised me because they don't usually cover country songs. Then there were some group songs, like "Ireland's Call," "A Place In the Chior," and "Galway Girl," all of which I adore. They performed a fair amount I didn't recognize as well. At one point a heckler called out something like "Sing something Irish" or "Don't you know any Irish songs?" right before they started singing "Danny Boy." Then he was like "Perfect. That's better."
After the show, we were hoping to see the guys, but that didn't seem likely. As we walked to the car we heard cheering, so we hurried back and joined the crowd oustide by the stage door and buses. Boy am I glad we came back! The guys were helping pack up, so after they stowed their luggage in the bus they came over to the fans. Keith was the first one I saw. I pulled out one of my Celtic Thunder CDs and I got it autographed by Keith Harkin! And then I got my picture taken with him, too! :D Next I really wanted to get Ryan Kelly (he and Keith are tied as my favorites since I just can't choose). So I got Ryan's signature and a photo with him too! After that I could've been content, but I kept going to collect as many as I could. So I got Emmet and Neil signatures and photos as well. I could've gotten Daniel but I didn't since I don't really know him. Last, I was waiting around to catch George. Finally he wandered by and I was able to complete my autograph and photo collection of the men of Celtic Thunder! That was such a fantastic experience to meet them, and now I have five great profile pictures for Facebook. :)
