There’s a lot of great new music this month from Irish artists with decades of experience and those just starting out.

For 22 years Joanie Madden and her female troupe Cherish the Ladies have toured the world with their Irish music and dance. Last week was one of those tour-de-force barnstorming series of shows stretching from Virginia to Connecticut.

The latest traditional Irish music releases

If it's cultural stimulation that you are looking for as March and St. Patrick's Day approaches, the choices abound. Here is a tour of the horizon for upcoming shows with a trad bent.

A the Green Fields of America Ensemble finished the Banquet entertainment program at the recent Ireland in Dixie Weekend in Atlanta, the capacity crowd rose to their feet with spontaneous joy at the marvelous music they had just witnessed.

It was a highlight of the Comhaltas annual gathering in North America, whose mission statement proscribes the preservation and promotion of Irish traditional music.

There can be no contesting CCE importance in Ireland itself since 1951.

IT certainly hasn't been smooth sailing for the ambitious Broadway production of The Pirate Queen produced by John McColgan and Moya Doherty.

It has managed to stay afloat despite the nearly universal pans from the professional critics while entertaining a number of people who have seen it and given standing ovations to the cast.

From my own informal sampling and I have seen it twice myself I sit squarely in the middle on its achievements plus and minus.

THE Gaelic American Club (GAC) based in Fairfield, Connecticut has found an outstanding way to mark its 20th anniversary festival this coming Father's Day Weekend June 15-17 in Indian Ledge Park in nearby Trumbull, its home for three years now. Under the aegis of its charitable wing, Feile, the GAC benevolently is helping out New Orleans' recovery efforts after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina two years ago, in raising funds directly for some organizations that have been hard at work since then.

New Orleans was the second leading destination for the famine-stricken Irish in the 1840s after New York, so the Irish have a soft spot for the southern melting pot that became one of America's cultural treasures.

IN August, Tommy Makem was scheduled to perform at two large Irish Festivals (ICONS in Massachusetts and the Milwaukee Irish Fest) where his memory will be invoked often by the many performers at each festival.

Coming up this weekend on August 10, 11 and 12 is the newly reorganized Irish Connections Festival at Canton, Massachusetts under the new title of ICONS: Irish Cultural Festival on the grounds of the Irish Cultural Center of New England. On Saturday evening there will be a tribute to Makem at 8 p.

THE 27th annual Milwaukee Irish Fest closed out Sunday night literally with a bang with the usual fireworks display over the Lake Michigan shores alongside the Henry W. Maier Festival Park. Usually it provides the final memory for those who stick it to the very end of the four-day event every August that represents the largest Irish festival in the world on the spacious and convenient grounds just made for an outdoor summer festival that has attracted 140,000 in the past for Irish Fest.

AS the summer season approaches Labor Day and most of the outdoor Irish festivals have happened already save for some September events where usually the best weather awaits, I am looking back at some general notions about what makes some festivals tick. Spurred on by some debate out in the Midwest about the "rockification" of Irish festivals raised by the Irish American News trad music columnist Bill Margeson, it got me thinking about some trends that are out there shaping decisions made by respective committees.

You're seen this old codger complain about sound bleed from tent stage to tent stage, and maybe wondered if I should turn down the hearing aid in one ear and turn it up in the other depending of sound flow.

IN Massachusetts, the native state of one of the most respected of the Cape Breton fiddlers, Jerry Holland, a mighty array of talent has been amassed for a benefit for the musician who was stricken with cancer earlier this year and is undergoing treatments currently. The illness left him unable to work in the normally very busy spring, summer and fall festival season, so a group of friends in the Celtic music scene have organized fundraising activities for him.

On Sunday, September 9 there will be a massive concert to provide assistance and show some support to lift his spirits.

THE World Music Institute of New York City is recognizing the 25th anniversary of the National Heritage Award winners for folk arts in America with a series of concerts all year. Of interest to readers of this column would be the upcoming "A World of Fiddles" concert that will feature Kevin Burke, one of the finest fiddlers in the Irish tradition who was selected in 2002 for his outstanding achievements in this country, and also Joe Cormier (1984), one of the foremost French Canadian and Cape Breton fiddlers who has made Massachusetts his home like many Cape Bretoners.

The concert takes place in Manhattan on Saturday, October 13 at 8 p.

YOU couldn't really fit many more people into the Shamrock House on the Thursday night of the Catskills Irish Arts Week in East Durham. Numbers won't really tell the story when traditional Irish music and the friendship and camaraderie that go with it combined to transform the historic old roadhouse into a living testament to the hold the music has over us at times.

We have gotten used to the Thursday evening ceili orchestrated by Billy McComiskey operating on another level each year, but this year would be hard to top no matter how long that custom continues.

ANOTHER very important community for traditional music in America is the mid-Atlantic town of Baltimore, Maryland where they turned out in full force to pay homage to -- and hear some mighty chunes from -- a stellar ensemble led by local citizen and box player Billy McComiskey. It was the hometown CD launch for his Outside the Box recording (www.compassrecords.

Top 100 Irish America's Finest in Dance . Music . Acting

The Irish have had a long history in the entertainment business, from the days when actors Errol Flynn and James Cagney graced the silver screen, Gene Kelly danced his way into hearts, and crooner Bing Crosby brought joy to millions with his heavenly voice. So too, our Top 100 honorees, dancers, musicians, stars of stage and screen, light up our lives with their particular talent.

They have made us laugh, cry, sit spellbound in our seats, and gasp in awe at their enormous talent.