FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Big Night for CEILI RAIN at 2010 Unity Awards!

Syracuse, NY, September 1, 2010-Celtic Pop/Rock band CEILI RAIN was recently recognized as a recipient of four (4) UNITY AWARDS presented on Saturday August 28, 2010 by the United Catholic Music & Video Association (UCMVA). The Unity Awards are presented annually and help the UCMVA accomplish its mission by giving public recognition by the members of the UCMVA to those persons who have demonstrated excellence or significant accomplishments in the field of Catholic Evangelization through music, video/DVD and media. The overall award for GROUP OF THE YEAR went to CEILI RAIN. In addition, CEILI RAIN was recognized in two categories for their 2009 CD release titled “I MADE LEMONADE”. The CD won in the MODERN ROCK/ALTERNATIVE ALBUM of the Year Category and ALBUM PACKAGING of the Year. These awards were especially exciting because this CD was a collaborative effort with friends and fans who funded the recording and release of the CD through private donations. Finally, Bob Halligan Jr., front man for CEILI RAIN, was recognized as SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR.

Other 2010 UNITY AWARD recipients included Greg Walton, Sarah Hart, Matt Maher, Tom Booth, and others.

The 2010 UNITY AWARDS were presented this year in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Although it was the 10th year for the awards, this was the first time they were held internationally, outside of the United States. Other host cities have included Minneapolis, Phoenix, New Orleans and Washington, DC. Performers for this year’s award presentation included artists from both Canada and the United States. A single day music conference was also held for the first time in conjunction with the award event. CEILI RAIN was active in all the pre-promotion associated with the Unity Awards and played a series of concerts throughout the Calgary area prior to the award event. Bob Halligan Jr. also presented a Songwriting Workshop at the conference.

The UCMVA is a 501 C3 Not for Profit organization. Their membership is generally composed of the Catholic music and media community at large: publishers, media organizations, industry professionals, musicians, composers, song writers and artists. But, patron members who support this community are also welcome as members.

The streets of New York City were rocking the first week of August when Ceili Rain hit the studio to record their new CD-MANUKA HONEY. The album (due to release in February 2011) will be the 7th studio recording for the band. Just as “manuka honey” is a healing agent…so too are the songs in this new collection. The songs are about love! Radical love, healing love, emotional love, spiritual love, romantic love and more! Of course it wouldn’t be a Ceili Rain record if BHJr didn’t address (as some say) controversial subjects…but the guy writes what is on his heart and on his mind. You’ll still rock as you always do, but the celtic team has much to say (I mean play) on this new release. The album is being co-produced by BHJr and Grammy nominated producer, Roman Klun (who has worked with artists such as Sarah McLachlan, Tony Levin, Joan Osborne, Gino Vannelli and others). The CD was recorded at His House-Innsbruck Studios in NYC. The studio is a partnership between Roman Klun and Aaron Comess (Spin Doctors).
Of course you can still be a sponsor on this new CD…just visit www.ceilirain.com and click on the opening letter for details. Ceili Rain is also looking for business sponsorship opportunities. Contact us for specific details!

Final nominations for the 2010 Unity Awards were recently announced and CEILI RAIN is honored to be recognized in 9 categories. Many of the nominations are directly related to their 2009 release-I MADE LEMONADE including Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year. The track titled I’LL FIND YOU was also nominated in a variety of categories. The 2010 Unity Awards will be held on Saturday August 28 at the Southside Victory Church in Calgary, Alberta Canada. We’ll keep you posted on the results, but nonetheless we are humbled by the nominations!

Joy On

Mima Rekidz is pleased to announce that I MADE LEMONADE by CEILI RAIN was recognized as ALBUM OF THE YEAR at the 2010 KCCM Awards held Saturday, May 22. The KCCM Awards is an ecumenical event hosted by KingCat Music and is held annually in the Kansas City area. This organization serves to recognize artists who are part of the KingCat Music network in a variety of award categories including Artist of the Year (in each music genre), Group of the Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year. KingCat Music includes local, regional and national independent artists that perform in the Christian music genre. The awards are held each spring at a Kansas City area venue. Sponsors for the event include notable businesses, professionals in the Christian music industry, along with several radio stations, and news periodicals. For more information on the KCCM Awards visit www.kingcatmusic.com.

Ceili Rain would like to congratulate St Monica Council 11927 of the Knights of Columbus based in Indianapolis, IN for receiving the 2010 Youth Award for the State of Indiana for their coordination and hosting of the CEILI RAIN concert held at the Pike Performing Arts Center in May, 2009. The award was presented at the Knights of Columbus State Convention where Grand Knight, Mark Stevens was on hand to accept the award on behalf of his council. Congrats to all involved. CEILI RAIN was honored to be part of this event.

If your community is interested in hosting CEILI RAIN…we’ve got references! Write to us at crgigs@aol.com for details.

Ceili Rain music was recently featured on a new and “fresh” global travel show on EWTN called “The Faithful Traveler.” www.faithfultraveler.com

The episode focused on Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC. The creators/producers/hosts Diana and David Van Glahn are Ceili supporters and we are very excited that their show has been picked up for an entire season by EWTN. This show is broadcast globally to hundreds of millions of viewers and thus, is a great opportunity for them and for our music to be heard by a whole new audience. They have worked hard to make sure that their show brings a new energy to this network.

Think of this show as a Catholic version of the Travel Channel and those shows with Samantha Brown(however, you don’t have to be Catholic for it to be interesting). Their vision is to use high quality video, audio and music to capture and accentuate the spirit of the subject in each episode. The concept of the show is to focus on a prominent Catholic landmark in the US or Europe, such as a Cathedral, and give vivid detail and history of it’s architecture, construction, legends, traditions, doctrine etc. Diana does a great job of bringing excitement to the delivery and really draws one in to pay attention to the history and detail that most people don’t know.

So we invite you to tune in to see and hear what they’ve done to incorporate a few CR classics into the show. Then if you enjoyed the program and want to see and hear more, feel free to drop a positive comment to viewer@ewtn.com so the network knows people are watching this new show and want more of it!

Thanks for the ongoing support!

UPDATE:THE FAITHFUL TRAVELER DVD series will be available soon! Watch for details!

The very popular Christian website JESUSFREAKHIDEOUT featuring JESUS, FAITH and MUSIC for over 13 years has chosen to add ALL the CEILI RAIN videos to their website! This is a terrific opportunity for Ceili Rain to gain new fans as “visitors” search for videos by popular artists such as Jars of Clay, Switchfoot, Jeremy Camp and others.

We are so grateful to be included and we encourage you to go and check out this website. In addition to videos they also do album reviews, concert reviews, have a full artist database, include news of the music industry and more. Very cool, very comprehensive!

Go now to www.jesusfreakhideout.com

Paddy Noonan (yep…that’s his real name) founder of IMRADIO recently selected CEILI RAIN as their Featured Showcase Artist for this month. Paddy is not only the creator of IMRADIO but also a musician and has created a new radio web presence with a new radio model for musicians by musicians!

IMRADIO is an Internet radio station playing music from bands in over 75 countries and all 50 states. They play music from over 50 genres, including Spoken Word and Comedy. A recent review of the songs introduced to IMRADIO listeners included this one by MC Rydel…

“Are you looking for an innovative blend of pop rock music with a dash of Celtic/Irish flavor? Then, you will love Ceili Rain The group is led by songwriter Bob Halligan, Jr., who has had over 140 songs recorded by well-known rock artists, including Cher, Michael Bolton, Judas Priest, KISS, and Kathy Mattea. Ceili Rain will simultaneously touch your soul and make you dance with songs like “666 Degrees” and “Stomp”. Look for them on the New York and Celtic stations on IMRadio. ~MC Rydel

To visit IMRadio just go here. www.imradio.com CEILI RAIN music is positioned in the New York and Celtic stations but we bet you’ll get hooked on a lot of additional music by really talented artists as well.

Let’s Do This Thing

Ceili Rain recently established a new radio partnership with AIRPLAY ACCESS. AIRPLAY ACCESS is taking the song titled LET’S DO THIS THING from the CD-I MADE LEMONADE and is introducing it for airplay to a worldwide audience.

Airplay Access is the music industry’s answer for fast, secure music delivery, enabling registered industry professionals, records labels, artist/bands to get their promotional music directly to radio as broadcast quality digital files.

We want to make sure radio programmers have an opportunity to preview this new song and add it to their playlists. We’ve already received feedback from college and internet stations based in the USA as well as AC/Hot AC stations located in Italy, Ireland, Scotland and Spain.

LET’S DO THIS THING is a song about taking risks and chances. A great motivational ditty that will surely want to make you get up and go with the ol fighting heart and spirit within you.

Radio stations interested in adding LET’S DO THIS THING can contact us directly at crgigs@aol.com or albieemail@aol.com

I Made Lemonade

Our newest CD-I MADE LEMONADE is available through ITUNES and other digital distribution channels. A lot of folks are making “Lemonade” part of their playlists these days and we couldn’t be happier.

You also have the option to buy individual singles through our partnership with CD Baby. Maybe there’s one song that really speaks to you, or maybe you just can’t stop dancing to the whole CD. We’ve got you covered.

For itunes visit here…
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/i-made-lemonade/id322545749

For CD Baby visit here…
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ceilirain3

Ceili Rain rocked the overflow room at NCYC (National Catholic Youth Conference) in Kansas City November 19-21, 2009! When NCYC event officials realized they had more registered attendees than they could fit in the space allocated for the NCYC General sessions they quickly contacted CEILI RAIN to provide the music for the “overflow” room for each session. Overflow room attendees were staggered each day of the event so in the end, all 30,000 attendees got the opportunity to join Ceili Rain in the NCYC celebration along with the Overflow emcee host, Jesse Mannibusen.

In addition, Ceili Rain had a “packed booth” in the Thematic Theme Park and sold out of all of their CD’s including their most recent CD titled I MADE LEMONADE. Those who purchased LEMONADE even got a commemorative button featuring the CD cover along with the NCYC tie in.

If you attended NCYC in Kansas City…let us know! We’d love to hear from ya!

Peace-
BHJr and Ceili Rain

We are certainly not abandoning our 6000+ friends on MYSPACE, and our website here is stronger than ever-but we are certainly excited about the gathering of friends (old and new) at our FACEBOOK Fan page too. We’ve learned that many Ceili Rain listeners are enjoying the experience of the Facebook social networking scene so we’re in too. We hope you’ll consider joining with us if you haven’t already done so. For quick updates or to join in dialogue on our “wall” then be a “fan” on Facebook too.

But…one step at a time baby…not quite sure we are ready to “tweet” yet! LOL!

Joy to ya-
BHjr and Ceili Rain

Hey guys-just wanted to let you know there’s a cool place on the web now called BAGPIPE ISLAND. This is your online getaway to the celtic arts! The site just recently went LIVE and guess who they are featuring on the front page? Yep…ye ol CEILI RAIN band! We’re honored they have chosen to help us spread the word about the new CD and all that!

Bagpipe Island is a source for celtic arts on Long Island, the metro New York area and the world. This free online publication will feature stories, news and events about bagpiping, music, dancing and more. You’ll see lots of great events posted and no doubt hear about lots of great artists too.

Please take a moment and check it out would ya? www.bagpipeisland.com and go ahead and share your feedback with them too. Good folk for sure (and they got a really cool logo too).

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ALBIE Entertainment/MIMA REKIDZ

I MADE LEMONADE-A Pop/Rock/Celtic Music Celebration!

Syracuse,NY,July 1, 2009-Mima Rekidz is pleased to announce the new CD Release from critically acclaimed touring, and recording artist-CEILI RAIN.

After five successful “label” projects, Bob Halligan Jr. (front-man for Ceili Rain) took a step away from the traditional industry route and has created a CD that not only encompasses his flair for lyrical creativity and instrumentation, but also embodies a spirit of community in bringing this project to fruition. Halligan took his idea of creating a “sponsorship CD” directly to the people that continue to support his mission-the Ceili Rain fans. Without hesitation, many (from all parts of the world) stepped forward to support the vision of this recording project.

I MADE LEMONADE was inspired by the debates, the troubles, and the love that surrounds this long-time songwriter. Halligan wanted the songs to be simple, without being “dopey”. He wanted a bigger sounding record that listeners could turn up loud. He wanted this collection of songs to crossover, and to stir the senses of a variety of audiences. Although Ceili Rain records have always been upbeat and uplifting, “Lemonade” is sometimes a bit more overt with the spirituality. But, Halligan’s penchant for remaining subtle and below the radar is never fully ignored!

I MADE LEMONADE brings hope to the listener and a feeling of accomplishment to the long list of sponsors and contributors who have faith…in hope. In the simplest explanation, if you TRUST ON-LOVE ON-JOY ON…. you’ll find quickly the answers you may be seeking…and no doubt you’ll dance with delight when you connect with the title track-I MADE LEMONADE.

I MADE LEMONADE and all other titles in the Ceili Rain discography are available at www.ceilirain.com. The CD will also be distributed through CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon, and other digital download distributors.

For additional PR, Promotion, & Partnerships (including magazine, radio interviews and reviews) please contact:
ALBIE Entertainment (615) 294-7396 albieemail@aol.com

For booking inquiries please contact: (615) 500-8627 crgigs@aol.com

TO ORDER VISIT OUR MERCH page at www.ceilirain.com
Also available on CD Baby!

So every once in awhile you come to one of those websites that catches your attention and you find yourself not only “surfing” but REALLY riding the wave. Many Ceili Rain fans enjoy (and often request) our song SHUT UP AND PRAY from the Whatever Makes You Dance CD. Certainly it’s a title that jumps out at you. So, it only seems fitting that a website called SHUT UP AND SMILE would jump back at me. Here’s the general overview on this great site…

The idea for SHUT UP AND SMILE came to Bob Bills after spending one too many days watching people on the evening news blame everybody for their problems-except themselves. …Many people have legitimate reasons to gripe and there are certainly genuine victims in the world, but “chronic whiners”, are a special group of people that can make those around them at school, work and home miserable. They never have minor problems-all their problems, even the weather, are major catastrophes. SHUT UP AND SMILE is not about simply telling people “life is good”, it’s about letting people know “life can be better” once they choose to give up the “ball and chain” and stop playing the victim card. SHUT UP AND SMILE believes life does not truly suck and everyday problems are not the end of the world.

Sounds like JOY to me…don’t cha think? They have fun blogs to read, terrific apparel available for purchase and much more. Please go over and visit this website. No doubt you may end up having the best day ever after you do!

www.shutupandsmile.com

Peace-

BHJR and Ceili Rain

Okee, okee so we missed a blog for July…ouch- August just snuck up on us. So first up we want to say THANKEE to all the fans who signed up on our email list and responded to the personal note sent by BOB HALLIGAN JR regarding the new Ceili Rain CD. What a blessing it has been to communicate with so many of you…

WHAT??? You are asking about the personal letter from BOB? You didn’t receive it? Uh oh…we certainly don’t want to leave ANYONE out…drop us an email here with I NEED THE LETTER” in the subject line and we’ll forward it to ya…there’s no doubt you’ll definitly want to see what it’s all about.

Now,although the gig schedule has been a bit light these days (we have no idea why though…we want to come and play…and we are affordable so if someone is telling you we are out of your ballpark…talk to us…we have options…its a big ol world out there…you need to experience a CEILI RAIN event up close and personal), our favorite songwriter has been busy, busy, busy as usual and some of his crafty writing is coming to light.

First up…if you’re a prospective attendee for the 2009 NCYC event to be held in Kansas City…you might be interested to know that BHjr’s version of the assigned theme song titled CHRIST REIGNS has been selected as a “final four”. Not sure how the youth will vote these days but we wanted to post it somewhere so everyone could take a listen to it. We are still wondering how Bob got a big Gospel Choir in his basement though-while we weren’t looking…hmmmm….you can check it out here…and let us know what you think… but be prepared to dance around the kitchen! www.shoutlife.com/ceilirain

On a more intimate level…Bob is currently featured on THE COMMONS, an online video one on one discussion of his song THE ONE currently appearing on the SpiritandSong website. This song offers a passionate way for us to learn how to pray for each other. Lyrically crafted yes…but his delivery is with true emotion (and in Bob’s true form that we all know and love). Now-viewing THE COMMONS is part of the SpiritandSong MEMBER PERKS program…so if you don’t have a user account-you’ll need to sign up to watch it…but don’t worry…IT’S FREE! Go check it out here… www.spiritandsong.com

All the joy to ya!

The Ceili Boys

Bloggity-blog…bloggity-blog…so we get really psyched when we hear how a Ceili Rain fan jumps into action and does their little ditty to help spread the word about us… and for us…

Just recently-Joanne Brokaw (freelance writer and columnist www.joannebrokaw.com ) received our email about our line-up of summer shows and took the initiative to blog about it on Beliefnet.com! You can view her blog here and jump in on the thread by posting a comment too…it’s viral man! http://blog.beliefnet.com/gospelsoundcheck/2008/06/ceili-rain-in-concert.html

If you’re blogging about CEILI RAIN…we want to know! Drop us a note and we might feature YOUR blog in OUR blog next to HER blog and HIS blog…

And if you’re not on our mailing list…SIGN UP right here on our website…you’ll definitely want to know what’s happening this upcoming year…well…because…WE ARE MAKING A NEW RECORD!!!!!! and YOU will have an opportunity to be involved in the process too! What do ya think of that???

Check back often…the next 6 months are gonna be a cool ride!

Peace & Love-

BHjr and The Ceili Kids

Yep…you read the headline right! The winners of the 2008 WILD GOOSE AWARDS were recently announced and CEILI RAIN gets the nod for CELTIC CHRISTIAN GROUP OF THE YEAR! It may not be a DOVE Award (previous name for the Gospel Music Association Award), but it’s certainly a similar honor (in our eyes) and more so…the Wild Goose Awards are gaining momentum with more voters in this second year than the first!

The Wild Goose Awards are spearheaded by Kathryn E. Darden and sponsored by ChristianActivities.com Celtic Music Page and the Celtic Christian Music Group on YAHOO! Fans can sign up for the yahoo group and then become eligible for voting rights. Our gal pal Moya Brennan won two awards this year for Celtic Christian Artist of the Year and Celtic Christian Project of the Year.

Others nominated this year included Iona, The Crossing, Ric Blair Band, Leahys, Flatfoot 56, Eden’s Bridge, Sheila Walsh, Daniel Nelson, Robin Mark, and Carol Arblaster.

Ceili Rain had a good promo team supporting these efforts including our friends Dan, Paula and Barb! (We love you guys!)

This is the second year in a row that Ceili Rain has received this award!

Looking forward to 2009 for a three-peat!

Peace-

BHJr and the Ceili kids

As more and more online video sites continue to pop up-CEILI RAIN continues to get more and more requests for their videos. Just recently-CEILI RAIN established a video partnership with a new site called VIDEOCELT.COM

VideoCelt is a new site offset of the Celtic Music Radio Network who has been supporting CEILI RAIN music for many years! The great thing about VideoCelt is that it brings to the forefront your music videos. Whereas a potential fan might get lost in the millions of videos on “Your Tube”, VideoCelt.com provides a focused musician-based solution to promote a wide range of Celtic/World/Folk music videos.

Give it a peek and let them know what you think! www.videocelt.com And while you are there…sign up for a FREE account and vote for your CEILI RAIN favorites including STOMP, HALLWAYS OF ALWAYS, LIKE A TRAIN and others!

You can also hear CEILI RAIN music on the Celtic Radio Music Network
www.celticradio.net
…and stay tuned as a new slideshow video will be uploaded very soon!

Peace-

BHJR and Ceili Rain

Well here it is already the mid-point of January 2008! We know, we know…we’ve been getting your emails asking…”Where have the boys been?”

Last year (2007) was a terrific year for us as we toured the country promoting our 2006 release-Whatever Makes You Dance. We made some terrific new radio friends (Did you know Ceili Rain had 2 songs in the top 10 on the KBCU (Kansas) Top 100 list?), we added a few more Unity Awards to our shelf, we received some terrific press (including being listed on CMCentral as one of the Top 10 Christian Rockers), and played some memorable concerts (including NCYC and Youth Specialties). Aside from a few shows we played in December…most of the guys took the time off to spend with their families, which is ALWAYS a great idea. Others…had stuff going on…

BURT (piper)-had the opportunity to walk in the prestigious TOURNAMENT OF ROSES Parade with the Virginia Military Institute Regimental and Pipe Band. Capt. Burt is the Director of the VMI Pipe Band based in Lexington, VA. The parade was broadcast nationally on ABC, NBC, Univsion, the Travel Channel, Discovery HD, as well as local channels in Southern California. HGTV offered live, uninterrupted coverage of the parade. In case you missed it…check out this video footage…our boy BURT is in the very beginning at the far right (while watching the screen) just behind the VMI banner. The parade was viewed by over 400million people worldwide and 1 million spectators on site. Way to go Burt!
http://ktla.trb.com/extras/ktla/roseparade2008/lineup/lineup2008-27-virginiamilitary.html

BILL (drums)-used his time off to record drums for multi-award winning independent artist Christopher Ames. Christopher is releasing his new CD-Everyday With You in 2008 and Bill laid the backbeat. You can check out Christopher’s recording blog and see some of the pictures of Bill in the studio. (…and just a bit of info for our closest friends…Bob Halligan Jr co-wrote a song with Christopher Ames for this CD…and there’s A LOT of buzz about it from the industry…hmmmm…more to come on this…shhhhh) http://christopherames.wordpress.com

And of course there is ALWAYS something going on with Bob…and this something is BIG! For the past couple of years Bob has been for Music Director for the Wednesday night MegaYouth program in the Syracuse area. MegaYouth was started by Justin Fatica, “an unordained Catholic evangelist”. Just recently a documentary about Justin and his Hard As Nails Ministries was released. The film made its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival and was recently picked up by HBO where it made its premier in December. “Hard As Nails” is hi-energy and “different,” (so the Ceili Boys can RELATE!) Bob performs 3 songs in the film, including his original song, “Lord It’s Me Again.” Although there are mixed opinions on Justin’s “techniques” for evangelism, God is certainly using him in a big way. Check your HBO listings for dates and times and if you don’t get HBO, get a friend to record it for you, it’s worth a gander. For more info on Hard As Nails Ministries click here…www.hanm.org

So…over the next 12 months we look forward to getting back on the road and bringing some CEILI RAIN joy to YOUR community! If you’ve been on the fence about hosting a Ceili Rain concert…jump over that fence and join us! We’ll help you make it a great event your audience will remember forever!

Slainte-
BHJR and Ceili Rain