If you go green

If you go green

Here's a look at a few ways to get your Irish eyes smiling. Or at least your Scots-Irish eyes smiling.

Empty Glass Echoes: At 8 p.m. Saturday night, more great guitarists and pickers than should be legal gather as Allegheny Echoes hosts its annual Empty Glass Scholarship Fundraiser. Enjoy old-time and bluegrass music, poetry and singing by instructors and students. Performers include: The Bing Brothers, Poet Kirk Judd, The Brownbaggers, David O'Dell, bassist Jim Martin, Uncle Paul Gartner, guitarists Robert Shafer, Robin Kessinger and Brandon Bentley, Fiddlers Danny Arthur, Jake Krack, John Blisard, The Pickin' Paddlers and others TBA.

All proceeds go toward scholarships for the 2008 summer workshops. Go online at www.emptyglass.com for directions and monthly schedule or call (304) 345-9893.

Blackbirds at the Beanery: The Boston Beanery in Heritage Village, on Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Huntington, hosts its annual St. Patrick's Day party. Local Celtic favorites, Blackbirds & Thrushes (Wendell Dobbs, Linda Dobbs, Odie Parkins, Andrea Parkins & Mike Newman) will fire up the fiddling music starting at 6:30. p.m. Monday. There will also be traditional Irish platters such as Hunter's pie, corned beef and cabbage and potatoes. Call (304) 523-6373.

Going FOOTMAD: Kanawha Valley Friends of Old-Time Music and Dance sponsor a benefit concert of the Appalachian Celtic Consort at 8 p.m. Saturday, at the St. Johns Episcopal Church, 1105 Quarrier St., Charleston. Located at the southeast corner of Quarrier St., and Leon Sullivan Way. Admission is by donation. Go online at www.ACelticConsort.com or call (304) 768-9434.

Bluegrass A Plenty: There's more than a hint of Irishness in the fiddles of contemporary bluegrass. And there's a load of first-class grass in the region this weekend.

The Mountaineer Opry House in Milton hosts Grammy Award-winning banjo picking legend, J.D. Crowe and The New South at 7:30 p.m. The Paramount Arts Center is hosting two powerhouse contemporary bluegrass bands, Mountain Heart and Lonesome River Band.

That show also starts at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 14. Tickets are $23. Call (606) 324-3175.