New York

Lankum are audience hit in NYC

~ Michael Stevenson ~ Leave a comment

Lankum pictured before a performance at Berlin on New York’s Lower East Side in October.  PHOTO BY PETER MCDERMOTT

Award-winning Dublin ballad group Lankum played at New York City’s Mercury Lounge last week, and I had a lovely time checking them out.  The band, which had encountered visa issues that required the cancellation of a few gigs prior to their New York show (a circumstance that is far too common these days), had arrived in that day and were experiencing severe jet lag, but performed stoically, with fortitude, to a packed and very appreciative crowd of young New Yorkers.

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The Scottish islanders conned by a new life in New York

~ Michael Stevenson ~ Leave a comment

18th c map New York province
18th c map New York province

Around 450 people from a Scottish island packed up their houses and sailed to New York province on the promise of a new lucrative life – but were to find themselves without homes or promised land after the shaky scheme to get them there went awry.

Dozens of families from Islay fell victim to the manoeuvres of the royal governors of New York who were accused of roguery, deception and heartlessness in their attempts to attract a new settlement of Protestants to the colony. Leading the bid to attract Ileachs to this new frontier was Lachlan Campbell, an army officer from the island who led a company of government soldiers during the 1745 rising.

Read more at: The Scottish islanders conned by a new life in New York – The Scotsman