Details are only emerging from Kane County in the Chicago area about an incident over the weekend that ended in an arrest, felony charges and presumably an angry Grammy-nominated fiddle player. Host of WFUV's A Thousand Welcomes, Kathleen Biggins, provides a report from the Daily Herald, and some additional information about what happened.


McNally's Irish Pub on Main St. in St. Charles was hosting Liz Carroll and Jim DeWan for a seisiún on Sunday night. Good pubs have hosted traditional artists for centuries, and in the States, it's becoming more and more necessary for Irish-styled pubs to show credentials by hosting traditional sessions by real traditional players, because the pub is to traditional Irish music what the speakeasy to jazz. As for Carroll, she recently performed for President Obama at a reception in the White House; she has innumerable awards, including this year's Grammy nomination to amplify the chorus of her legion fans who love and respect her music. An out-of-place mouth at the bar was not so much a fan, however, and wanted to play the stereo, hating, as she made clear, the warmly authentic Irish feeling at McNally's.

So she sounded a false fire alarm, killed the music session, and ran out of the establishment, down the road, before being caught by police, identified by McNally patrons, handcuffed, and charged with a Class 4 Felony for wasting fire response services. Her name is Shona A. Lukes--"sona" or "shona" is the Irish word for "happy" incidentally--she's 25, and should find another hobby besides drinking. Music is good for a disturbed soul, and can transport one away from troubles, even if brought needlessly on one's self.