At the tender age of 23 in 1987, Irishman Steve Conway began the adventure of a lifetime onboard a leaky ship called the Ross Revenge, the floating home of legendary “Pirate Radio” station Radio Caroline, which originally started broadcasting during the 1960s. He talks about the real life experiences that inspired the film “Pirate Radio” which opens this weekend, and his new book “Shiprocked”.

A sudden family death in Ireland, an upcoming wedding and all kinds of emotional upheaval. Irish Voice reporter April Drew has had an eventful week, and here, as she prepared to leave New York for Ireland, she describes the sad scenes at the JFK departure lounge.

SLIDESHOW / IRISH SIDE OF ELLIS ISLAND / CLICK HERE The outside world is a scary place. Especially when outside is New York

U2 have dumped Apple and taken a huge bite out of BlackBerry instead. The Irish rock giants have switched sides in a major new deal with Research in Motion which makes the ever-popular BlackBerry. The BlackBerry U2 deal was announced in March but the first ad only started appearing over the July 4 weekend.

Luka Bloom returns to the U.S. in a few weeks to support his new CD, “Eleven Songs.”

Mike Farragher takes a nostalgic look at the album era as music stores close in their droves

Slingbox is a simple to use device that enables you to remotely view your home cable, satellite, or personal video wherever you go, and soon it may do for your T.V. what

As you’re probably well aware by now, U2 announced details of their upcoming world tour, “U2360,” on Monday. It’s going to last for the guts of two years, so there should be plenty of opportunity for fans to catch them live. The hometown crowd in

On a freezing night in January, the line went around the block to see The Script perform at the Mercury Lounge concert venue in Manhattan. After more than a decade in the music business, the band, whose music is a fine mix of rock, pop and R&B known as Celtic soul, has officially broken into the U.S. pop scene.

Jimmy Fallon grew up in an Irish-American home in New York State that was always full of laughter, music and fun. Now that Fallon is the new host of NBC's "Late Night," the venerable talk show that made stars out of David Letterman and the newly departed Conan O’Brien, he plans to draw on his roots - both standup and Irish.

Not since Sinead O'Connor tossed me out on my butt after a two-hour interview 10 years ago have I written about the same artist two weeks in a row, so you know I must be hooked on The Script. Am I embarrassed by how hard I fell for this music? As Sarah Palin said, "you betcha!" As I wrote last week, their self-titled album has more hooks than a prizefighter, offering Irish music fans a nice break from the sometimes maudlin acoustic singer songwriter scene overseas at the moment. With the state of the Celtic Tiger, I don't expect the tunes from the Emerald Isle will be this sunny anytime soon.

I got a few emails during our break from distraught readers who got iTunes gift cards from Santa with no idea how to spend them. We should all have such problems! Santa put some of those gift cards in my stocking this year as well, and I always see them as an opportunity to either round out my music collection with back catalogues of my favorite artists, or guilty pleasures that are not worthy of my cash in normal circumstances. A word to the wise - never mix Scotch, a computer and iTunes at 4 a.

Fresh from the Irish set of the upcoming second season of the Showtime smash The Tudors, Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers is trading in his lusty Henry VIII role to show a much more romantic side in August Rush, an unabashedly weepy new love story that dares you not to cry. CAHIR O'DOHERTY talks to Rhys Meyers, his co-star Keri Russell, and to the film's Irish director Kirsten Sheridan.

Once inside the legendary hotel they're quickly whisked away from crowds of gawkers and paparazzi that stalk their every move, and then the rounds of interviews take place.

From her Grammy-winning album with the Klezmatics last year, to the series of exciting new concerts planned for spring, Irish singer Susan McKeown is back in the limelight, so prepare to be dazzled all over again. CAHIR O'DOHERTY asks McKeown what's in store in 2008.

A CATHEDRAL filling voice like Susan McKeown's only comes along once in a generation.

SO disgraced former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer paid a hooker for sex? So what, says Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who takes the helm again as King Henry VIII in the second season of the Showtime series The Tudors on March 30.

In a funny interview with New York magazine, the Irish actor says "men will be men" when it comes to sex, no matter how good they may appear to be.

JRM was asked by his interviewer if he had heard about the Spitzer scandal in London, where he's currently based.

LET the countdown begin to seeing Pierce Brosnan dancing around in spandex and singing ABBA tunes. The film version of the musical Mamma Mia! opens in London on June 30, with U.S.

It's not easy being an Irish Catholic dad watching his young girls grow into womanhood, writes MIKE FARRAGHER, who's unable to come to grips with dealing with the birds and the bees and the school puberty video.

"THIS is the big change that signals you are growing from a child to an adult. It's a whole new experience, but it doesn't have to ruin your day.

"I have a great plan this year," 10-year-old Brian Costello told the Irish Voice as he awaits the arrival of Santa Claus on Christmas morning.

"I'm going to borrow my dad's camera, if he lets me, and I'm going to stay up all night and watch for Santa," said Brian, whose father Donnchadh hails from Co. Kerry and his mother Angela from Co.

Over the past three years, Mick Lynch and Kevin May of pop/folk act the Guggenheim Grotto have touched U.S. and U.

One of the occupational hazards of being a music critic for an Irish newspaper is the ear splitting banality one has to suffer through when a major Celtic rock outfit decides to get in touch with "their roots" with a trad song.

For one thing, the song selection could not be more unimaginative. Do you have any idea how many versions of "Fields of Athenry" and "Rocky Road to Dublin" I've amassed on my iPod in the 10 years I've written for the Irish Voice?

If that doesn't kill the project, the paint-by-numbers arrangements will.

For those of you who can't make it to a decent Irish festival this summer, you will likely miss a fiery performance by Enter the Haggis, the legendary Toronto-based jam band that mixes everything but the kitchen sink into a decisively Celtic vibe. While the band must be seen to be believed, they are offering something for fans that may not be able to brave the heat to see them. Northampton is their phenomenal new disc, and it is packed with all the hairpin turns of a summer beach blanket mystery novel.

That majestic voice is front and center as bells and choirs garnish the familiar melodies that warm the soul. The only question out there is why Ronan Tynan hasn't come out with a solo Christmas CD sooner. Now he has, thankfully, and it's called I'll Be Home for Christmas.

I always look forward to the report that comes from the American Dialect Society each January. They are the ones who name the buzzword of the year.

This year's word is "subprime," which became a dreaded adjective in some households financed through questionable mortgages.

Van Morrison was born in Belfast in 1945, the son of a shipyard worker who collected American blues and jazz records.

According to his press kit that accompanies his new CD, Keep it Simple (Lost Highway Records), Van grew up listening to the music of Muddy Waters, Mahalia Jackson, Lightnin' Hopkins and John Lee Hooker. Surrounded by every kind of musical influence - country, blues, jazz, and folk - from 13 he was playing guitar, sax and harmonica with a series of local Irish showbands, skiffle and rock'n'roll groups.

These days, Bono has been known as much for his global giving efforts as he is for his music. He's a Nobel Prize-nominated activist who uses his considerable star power to shine a light on the plight of Africa.

With the release of a new CD, Africa is now giving something back to him.

The Saw Doctors recently released "That Takes the Biscuit," a collection of rarities, live tracks and oddities from the band's long recording history. Typically, these albums of studio scraps are half-baked ideas that should have stayed in the oven.

But by and large, this "biscuit" is hot and satisfying throughout.

Is The Answer the answer to the ailing music business?

That might be a tall order, but 2009 is set to be the year for The Answer, a group of retro rockers that have been making waves ever since their formation in Newcastle, Northern Ireland.

They've just released the EP "Never Too Late" to capitalize on the buzz they've generated from mentions in Rolling Stone and high profile supporting gigs they've landed recently.

Lead singer Cormac Neeson is more like the lead screamer of the band, hitting notes only heard by dogs and hummingbirds on "Never Too Late.