Galway singer Don Stiffe is looking for the help of people in his neighbouring county of Mayo as he finalises his plan of attack for the All-Ireland Talent Show. Don is a rising singer songwriter on the Irish folk scene whose musical talents have been favourably compared to the likes of Sean Keane, Sean Tyrell, Dolores Keane and

The TF Royal Theatre, Castlebar, welcomes back Imelda May this June bank holiday weekend. Imelda last played the Royal with Sharon Shannon last Christmas and having played Glastonbury and Electric Picnic last year, it's now Castlebar's turn to get a 'boom boom' as Imelda belts out some of her addictive tunes, including 'Big Bad Handsome Man', 'Falling In Love With You Again' and, of course, 'Johnny's Got A Boom Boom'.

Over the next several Mondays, John Hoban will be reading from his book From the Plain of the Yew Tree: The Lifetime Journey of a County Mayo Musician on The Monday Documentary on CRC, with music inserts both live and recorded.

Castlebar native Gerry Carthy, from Main Street, will make a welcome return to his home town over the end of the year and the beginning of the next. The versatile musician, who now lives in Sante Fe, New Mexico, with his wife Laura and son Michael, is a regular visitor to Mayo. He has been on the faculty with the music department at the college of Sante Fe for a number of years where he has taught classes and private lessons in tin whistle, banjo, guitar and Celtic Ensemble.

Christmas is almost upon us so this must mean one thing. That's right – it's time to get out those silly Christmas jumpers you have received over the years. All you have to do is wear a silly Christmas jumper to Bar Ritz (Mulroy's Bar) in Castlebar on Wednesday, December 29, and you could be in with a chance of winning an amazing prize of €100 euro!

Tommy Fleming doesn't do things by half. Take the time he and his wife Tina decided to take control of Tommy's business (as I'm sure you know, he's in the entertainment trade); they didn't just take over management but took control of the whole shebang. Then, when they deciding to do an album, they didn't go down the normal studio route but hit upon the idea of doing a live album recorded in – of all places – the basilica in Knock Shrine.