Author: Mike Dooley
March Appearances
It’s always gratifying this time of year to turn the calendar page from February to March in anticipation of the milder weather on the way. Plus we have our traditional St. Patrick’s Month public appearances coming up: Goldyburgers in Forest Park on Saturday March 2 (7:30pm); FitzGerald’s St. Patrick’s Fest in Berwyn on Saturday March 16 (5:00pm); and the St. Patrick’s Day Fest at the Irish American Heritage Center on the northwest side of Chicago on Sunday March 17 (4:30pm). We’ve been playing at these three venues virtually every March since the early 1980s and it’s always a blast! Check out the Schedule section on this website for all of the details.
Read MoreSaturday February 3 at IAHC
We’re all going a little stir crazy in the middle of these winter doldrums, right? There will be music, merriment and laughter this coming Saturday February 3 at the Irish American Heritage Center Fifth Province Pub! (Please note: the previously scheduled date of February 17 has been reset to February 3.) It’s a perfect casual place for family and friends to get together. The Fifth Province Pub serves food and your favorite beverages and of course there is no cover charge. There’s plenty of free parking in the big lots right next to the building too! It’ll be a great way to dispel some of that cabin fever! Music will get underway at 8:00 p.m.
Happy New Year to you!
We sincerely hope that the beginning of this new year finds you in good health and good spirits and that you have enjoyed quality time with family and friends throughout the recent holidays.
Over this past year it was wonderful to see so many of you at our performances at clubs, festivals, libraries and various outdoor shows. There were lots of memorable and fun times at our regular venues such as the Irish American Heritage Center, Goldyburgers and FitzGerald’s. Then among the many concerts were the Brookfield Street Festival, the River Forest Public Library, the Long Grove Irish Fest, and Dominican University (where the concert was moved indoors to their auditorium because it was 100 degrees outside on that sweltering day in August!)
The band is excited for what this new year will bring! During the month of January we will be in the recording studio doing more songs for our new album which is planned for be release in the months ahead.
We do appreciate your coming out to our live shows and expect to be doing more of the same during the coming year! Our next appearance at the IAHC Fifth Province Pub is Saturday February 10. And we are scheduled to be back at FitzGerald’s in Berwyn for their annual St. Patrick’s Celebration on Saturday March 16! Many more show dates are on the way too!
As always, please know how grateful we are for your continued support and friendship over the past five decades and we look forward to sharing our music with you for years to come! You are the biggest reason why we sing! Thank you!
Our best wishes to you for a happy and healthy 2024!
The Dooleys – Jim, Mike, Mick and Claire
June concerts
Here we go. Summer at last! . . . On June 10 we’ll kick off our summertime concert season at the Irish American Heritage Center Fifth Province Pub (8pm) . . . June 17 it’s the Deerfield Farmer’s Market (9:30am) . . . June 24 we’ll be onstage in Brookfield for their street festival called “Music on Grand” (4:30 pm) . . . And peeking ahead, on July 5 we’re at the Dominican University “Summer Concert on the Quad” in River Forest (7pm) . . . Check out all of the details in the Schedule Section of this website. Hope to see you all this summer!
Read MoreMarch Activities
It’s always a most welcome time of the year as the calendar turns over to March and we launch into our “St. Patrick’s Month” of performances. On Saturday night March 4 we’ll be at Goldy’s in Forest Park, where we’ve been playing practically every year in March going all the way back to 1980 . . . . Friday March 17, St. Patrick’s Day itself, takes us to the Irish American Heritage Center. Lots of activities going on at the Center that day, and our show will run from 6:30 – 8:15 that evening . . . . The following day, Saturday March 18, the band will be back once again at FitzGerald’s in Berwyn, for our 38th year at their annual St. Patrick’s festivities. The band will be on stage at FitzGerald’s that day from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. . . . . For further details on these public performances check out the Schedule section on this website. So, we hope to see you at one of these venues or perhaps even at one of the many private luncheons and shows we’ll be doing!
A Happy St. Patrick’s Month and a Happy Spring to one and all!
September Concerts
It’s been a great summer and now we are looking forward to playing several concerts in September – two outdoors and one indoors: Saturday September 3 at Long Grove Irish Days from 1:30 – 3:30; Saturday September 10 at the River Forest Public Library from 7:30 – 9:00; and Sunday September 18 from 6:15 – 7:15 at the Irish American Heritage Center’s Halfway to St. Patrick’s Day Fest. All of the details are in the Schedule section on this website. And speaking of this website, we keep adding new items to the photo and poster and newspaper articles sections in the Archives so take a look when you have a chance. Hope to see you at one or all of our September appearances!
Read MoreNew Features Added to Website!
There are some new features we just added to the Archives section on our website which we think you will enjoy. Just click on Archives, and you will see four options. In the Photo Galleries section of the Archives we have sorted our photos by decades, going from the present decade all the way back to the 1960s. Click on individual photo to enlarge image and read caption. The Newspaper/Magazine Articles section in the Archives contains selected stories and articles about the band from various publications over the years. In the Posters Gallery in the Archives there are dozens of band posters and flyers from the very first one from the sixties all the way up to the most recent. The posters are arranged more or less in chronological order starting from the earliest to the present. We will be adding lots more photos, articles and posters in the future so be sure to check back from time to time.
And in the new Clubs/Venues Through the Years section in the Archives we have compiled a list of nightclubs and restaurants and music venues where we have appeared from 1967 up to the present day. Included are capsule descriptions of each place. If you have any additions to this list or a story or two to share please email us at dooleyinfo@dooleybrothers.com/ We’d love to hear from you! . . .
Our next date at the Fifth Province Pub at the Irish American Heritage Center is Saturday June 18 at 8:00 p.m. That also happens to be “Father’s Day Eve”. It’s never too early to start making plans to come on out with family and friends!
New Website!
Hello again everybody! We were thrilled to be a part of the festivities last Sunday April 10 for the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the old-time radio program Those Were The Days on 90.9 WDCB. We sang some old-time songs from the 20s and 30s, including a Bing Crosby medley (When the Blue of the Night/From Monday On), Old Shantytown, The Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me, and a barbershop number, Lida Rose/Will I Ever Tell You from the Music Man. Also we sang a special version of the old song Those Were The Days as a tribute to the hosts of the radio show, Chuck Schaden, Ken Alexander and Steve Darnall. The highlights from that fun afternoon will be aired on the radio at some point in the future – we will let you know when that gets scheduled. A big thanks to those of you who came out that day! Proceeds will go to support public radio station 90.9 WDCB . . . .
On March 13 we did a livestream Facebook casual “living room concert.” In case you missed it or just want to watch it again, the entire show is posted on our Facebook page for viewing at www.facebook.com/TheDooleyBand.
. . . . Then on St. Patrick’s Day March 17, Jim, Mike, Mick and Claire had a blast doing a show at the Irish American Heritage Center. Visited with many friends there that night, before and after our show. Some folks we talked to go way back with us to the Kilkenny Castle Inn days of the late 70s and early 80s! We’ll be back at the Irish American Heritage Center Fifth Province Pub on Saturday April 23 at 8:00 p.m. so make plans to come out that night if you can . . . .
Our new website is up and running! Check out the Schedule section of the website for details of upcoming performances. And we are particularly excited about building our band Archives and history section on our new website. As time goes on all sorts of things will be added to the Archives – more than 50 years of photos, videos, audio clips of songs and radio interviews, newspaper articles, tributes to band alumni, a posters archive, a history of the band, stories of the people we’ve met and the places we’ve played, and on and on. We hope you will enjoy it all as much as we will! So check back from time to time and take a look at what’s been added.