Have you ever heard of Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin?  What about  Enya , that Irish composer/singer of Celtic music? Born in 1961, sixth of nine children.  At the age of 4 to the right. Her father was leader of an Irish showband named the Slieve Foy Band, including her mom, who also taught music. Took up the piano at 4. Left the family at 11 for a convent boarding school. In 1979 several members of her family formed Clannad, a Celtic folk band, which she informally joined in 1980.  Band had six albums. During this period she experimented with layering vocals into a choir of one, inspired by Phil Spector's Wall of Sound. Left the band in 1982 with their manager Nick and his wife Roma, and moved back home.  Lived with them for seven years. She continued performing, but was mostly petrified being on a stage. First gained following for composing the majority of the soundtrack for  The Frog Prince  in 1985.   Rotten Tomatoes  score of 76%. H...

Tomorrow is 20 years after 9/11/01, when terrorists traumatized the USA.  My wife Pearl sometimes woke up in the middle of the night to watch TV.  On that morning, she nudged me soon after American Airlines 11 flew into the North Tower of the 110-story World Trade Center.  I awoke at around 2AM Hawaii time to then see United Airlines 175 hit the South Tower. What a trauma for us, as immediately coming to mind was an incredible dinner we had in a restaurant called  Cellar in the Sky,  located inside Windows of the World at the top of the North Tower.  A very private space with 35 seats, it had a prix fixe menu hand-written on a ceramic page, and featured a guitarist.  We recalled another couple trying to sneak out the menu and being caught.  Our waiter gave us ours, and we kept it until....don't know what happened to it. There was once a time in our history when life-changing events brought our country together.  Witness the Civil War, where w...