MEANWHILE, the annual American Conference for Irish Studies (An Chomhdhail Mheiriceanach do Leann na hEireann) presented myriad opportunities to enjoy some panels on Irish music topics and some concerts that spun out of it as well.

The amiable hosts at CUNY's Institute for Irish-American Studies under the direction of Professor Thomas Ihde with help from staffers Martin Burke, Mary McGlynn and Elaine Ni Bhraonain looked after the 400 registered guests who offered 200 topics for examination over three full days in a highly organized fashion.

On Thursday night, Brian Conway led a fantastic troupe of young musicians taught by him and his colleagues Patty Furlong, Rose Conway Flanagan, Patty Furlong and Heather Martin Bixler in concert at the CUNY Graduate Center where the conference was held and there was some serious schooling going on there.

Clearly the highlight for me, though, was watching three talented musicians who taught as well as they played over the last two days of the conference. Dr. Gearoid O'hAllmhurain holds one of the Smurfit Chairs at the University of Missouri in St. Louis but has long been known for his role in traditional Irish music as an All-Ireland champion on the concertina and uilleann pipes.

His colleague, Tim Collins, is on a Fulbright Scholarship at NYU studying the New York Irish music scene with a focus on the Galway musicians who immigrated here and he also plays the concertina. A visiting colleague from Ireland, Deirdre Ni Chonghaile, a UCC grad student and RTE Radio na Gaeltachta presenter/producer also plays the fiddle.

Sandwiched around two concerts at Glucksman Ireland House and the Fairfield home of Gregg and Clare Burnett was a crisp and targeted panel at the ACIS, which was one of the best that I attended as I learned a lot about the East Galway/Clare influence in New York, Irish Music in Canada and an obscure American music collector named Sidney Robertson Cowell in the Aran Islands in the 1950s.

Joined at Ireland House by the keyboard player Brendan Dolan last Friday, they produced one of the most sublime concerts that I have ever witnessed in the glorious history of the Blarney Star Concert Series.

The interplay of the dueling concertinas (not dueling in any sense) was exquisite and enhanced when joined by fiddler Ni Chonghaile shortly before the intervals. It was so good that it was a pleasure to witness it again in the newly renovated parlor of Shamrock Irish Traditional Music Society's Chair, Gregg Burnett on Saturday evening after the Conference.

It was one of those weeks where I feel truly privileged to be able to view events like this "From the Hob" or the seat by the fire reserved for those guests who receive special hospitality.