O'Loughlin and Friends Perform to Benefit Blackwell Library

SALISBURY, MD---Dr. Michael O’Loughlin, chair of Salisbury University’s Political Science Department, teams with other local musicians to present “An Evening of Irish and American Songs with Mike O’Loughlin and Friends,” a fundraiser for Blackwell Library.

The performance is 7:30 p.m. Saturday, February 28, in the Black Box Theatre of Fulton Hall.

O'Loughlin has been singing for audiences since high school. When not studying politics, he sang second tenor in the Men’s Pitt Glee Club at the University of Pittsburgh. In Salisbury, he has been singing Irish songs for nearly 20 years with local band The Folk Heroes. He says, however, that his toughest crowd was always his three children, who expected concert-level performances of their nightly lullabies.

Joining him is one of those children, son Shane, along with pianist Susan Zimmer and instrumentalist Mickey Justice.

A senior at James M. Bennett High School, Shane O’Loughlin has a long list of theatrical and musical credits, including The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Diary of Anne Frank, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Butler Did It, High School Musical, All My Sons, concert choir, All-Shore Concert Choir and Bennett’s popular annual Rock and Roll Revival show. When not singing with his father, he often performs with his own band, Don’t Call Me Buddy.

Zimmer has been an adjunct faculty member at SU since 1993, serving as staff accompanist and teaching courses in accompanying, music theory and music appreciation.  She holds a Bachelor of Music from Texas Technical University and a Master of Music from Yale University School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music, and is pursuing a doctorate in music education at Boston University. She has performed solo and collaborative keyboard recitals in New Mexico, Texas, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, and Virginia. At SU she has performed with the university choirs, wind ensemble, musical theatre workshop, Salisbury Symphony Orchestra and numerous senior recitals and other student performances. She is the director of music for Wicomico Presbyterian Church in Salisbury. She also serves as dean of the Salisbury chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

Justice is a local musician who brings to the stage an unusual array of instruments: Irish bouzouki, mandolin, Irish whistles, the bodhran, and Irish and traditional Scottish bagpipes.  An Eastern Shore native, he spent 13 years as a touring and studio musician in Nashville and now performs with several local bands including The Folk Heroes, Lindisfarne and The String Dusters.

Tickets for the performance are $15 and may be purchased in advance at the library’s circulation desk. The public is invited. To have tickets mailed or held at the door, send payment to Karen Wilson, Blackwell Library, 1101 Camden Ave., Salisbury, MD 21801 and indicate a preference of mail or will-call. Checks should be made out to the SU Foundation, Inc.

For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu.