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July 2008

News

Session Surprise: A Visit from Angelina Carberry and Martin Quinn

Angelina Carberry and Martin Quinn settle in next to local fiddler Caitlin Finley.

Angelina Carberry and Martin Quinn settle in next to local fiddler Caitlin Finley.

Banjo whiz Angelina Carberry and her husband, the great box player Martin Quinn, were in town over the weekend for a concert at the Coatesville Traditional Irish Music Series. I missed it, and I was feeling bad about that.

Of course, one way to make yourself feel better when you know you’ve missed out on some choice traditional Irish music is to find yourself a good traditional Irish music session. So I headed off to Shanachie Pub in Ambler on Tuesday night, bodhran in hand, planning to console myself with a couple of pints of Smithwick’s and the odd reel or jIg. (If you’ve ever heard me play bodhran, you know what I mean by odd.)

The place was already jammed with musicians when I got there, including—estimating conservatively—327.5 bodhran players. My partner Denise showed up, with her husband and son in tow. With so many drummers, I sat things out for a while with Denise, Ed and Pat.

Then I looked up to see Dennis Gormley and Kathy DeAngelo, who ride herd over the Three Beans session in Haddonfield, walk in the door. And right behind them … Carberry and Quinn. Kathy manages the two.

I headed back to my seat and waited for an opportunity to jump in on a tune or two. I got the opportunity at last … a blistering set of reels. My right hand fell off at the end. And it was good.

Carberry and Quinn, based in County Longford, play with laser-like precision, and yet they somehow—magic, I’m thinking—sound spontaneous and fresh.

The unexpected appearance caused no end of upset for Denise and me. We’re rarely sans camera. Shanachie co-owner Ed Egan went off in search of a disposable camera (thanks, Ed!), and Denise squeezed off a few shots. Not the quality we’re used to, but workable. Oh, thank heaven for 7-11.

Thanks, too, to Ed for risking life and limb by standing on a chair to capture an aerial view of the proceedings.

Aside from an accidental encounter—and what are the odds of that?—your last chance to see Carberry and Quinn in this neck of the woods is Saturday, August 2, at the Hunting Shanty in Tuckerton Seaport, 120 West Main Street. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15.

July 31, 2008 by
Columns, How to Be Irish in Philly

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

If you count the Lehigh Valley as part of Philly (we do), you have plenty of ways of being Irish this week. It’s Musikfest time and there are Celtic groups, from Eileen Ivers to Scythian to Seamus Kennedy, Terry Kane and John Beatty, and Tempest all sharing the platzes (that’s what they call the stages in Bethlehem—it’s a Moravian thing) with the likes of Avril Lavigne, the Stone Temple Pilots, Kool and the Gang, Jethro Tull, the Dixie Hummingbirds, Roseann Cash, and Earth, Wind, and Fire (for you young ‘uns, that last one is one group, not three).

You can also see the McDade Irish Dancers and the O’Grady Quinlan steppers from the Lehigh Valley while enjoying a local delicacy, like Moravian cake or shoofly pie.

We have all the Celtic listings on our calendar. Many of the concerts are free. Fortunately, they’ve been putting this amazing festival on for the last 25 years so there’s great information on the Musikfest website on where to park and about shuttlebuses (they call them shuttleplatz, in case you don’t speak German) and Musikfest trolleys. You may not even have to dirty the bottom of your shoes with that pesky walking around.

Too early to think about Christmas? You might want to. The Waterford Wedgwod Company Store at the Philadelphia Premium Outlets in Limerick is holding its first in-store warehouse sale this weekend, starting August 1, with savings up to 75%. Waterford crystal on sale? Made us want to check on the temperature in hell. We thought it might have frozen over. If you can wait till Sunday, the Chadds Ford Winery is holding a tasting in the store, and you can cleanse your palate with goodies from Harry and David. Store manager Andrea Vandervort tells us this sale is likely to be a one-time event.

Also over the weekend, the Irish Center is broadcasting GAA sports from Ireland live. On Saturday at 9 AM, you can watch the Down-Wexford match, followed by Tyrone-Mayo at 11. Sunday, watch Fermanagh go up against Kildare at 9 AM, with Monaghan vs. Kerry coming on at 11 AM. Cost is $20. On Sunday, that will also include a full Irish breakfast.

Want to see live live Gaelic sports? The Philly Shamrocks and the Allentown Hibernians are scheduled for another hurling match at 2:30 PM Sunday at Cardinal Dougherty High School. This is the game that requires sunscreen. BYO Irish food.

The crowd-pleasing Paddy’s Well will play a free concert Saturday, August 2, at Norristown Farm Park in Norristown. The last we saw this group, headed by Paul Moore, they were mesmerizing the throngs at the Penns Landing Irish-American Festival. The festivities begin at 6 PM.

Also on Saturday, it’s your last chance to hear fabulous Irish traditional musicians Angelina Carberry and Martin Quinn while they’re here on tour. The venue: the Hunting Shack at Tuckerton Seaport in Tuckerton, NJ. Read about our chance encounter with Carberry and Quinn at a local session this week.

On Wednesday, August 6, get ready for an amazing experience. The Irish Thunder Pipes and Drums will be playing at the Chapel in Valley Forge National Park. If you’ve ever been there, you know It’s a magical place, with views of green, rolling hills all around. When the bells of the carillon ring out, you can feel transported. At 7:30 PM, carillonneur Doug Gefvert will play the Chapel’s bell with the tunes of the British Isles.? After the Carillon concert the members of the AOH Notre Dame Division’s Irish Thunder will march out to the front of the Chapel and play tunes from the Emerald Isle.? The concert is free. Come early—this one draws a huge crowd every year. Bring chairs, blankets, and bug spray.

If you miss Paddy’s Well on Saturday, you get a second chance to hear them on Thursday night at Wentz Run Park in Whitpain. We love free summer concerts! See chairs, blankets, bug spray advice above.

And on Friday, go to the races. Sort of. The Philadelphia Donegal Football Club (Four Provinces) is sponsoring a benefit night at the races at Cawley’s Pub in Upper Darby. Our Donegal team is competing this year against New York teams at Gaelic Park in the Bronx—and making a fine showing, so we hear. This is your chance to support them and meet some of the new players.

Some amazing Irish events are on the horizon (we know, we just entered them on the calendar), including a Philly visit by the High Kings, the annual Philadelphia Ceili Group Traditional Music Festival (with a concert by one of our favorites, Tony DeMarco) , the AOH Irish Festival in North Wildwood, Bethlehem’s annual Celtic Fest, a “Save Irish Radio” benefit concert, and many great Irish acts of every genre coming to the World Café, Sellersville, and other venues.

Wait, what was that? Oh. The calendar wants me to shut up now and send you over there to see for yourself. You know, since it’s been named the best Irish event calendar in the universe by the readers of irishphiladelphia.com and JD Powers and Associates (who are they, anyway?), it’s become a little touchy. Humor it, will you?

Did you know that you can enter your own event on our calendar? Well, you can! Go to the full calendar. Click on “Notify us about your Irish events” and follow the instructions on the next screen. We do reserve the right to edit calendar items. For example, we don’t want you to use it as your own personal calendar. Don’t list the “Kelly Family Dinner” if it’s just you, the mister, and the kids, unless you really want a couple of hundred people named Kelly showing up for barbecued ribs and colcannon. And try to keep it Celtic, which means you folks whose roots are in Scotland, Brittany, Cornwall, Isle of Man, Wales, the Iberian peninsula and Celtic Canada can enter your events too!

July 30, 2008 by
Music

Review: The Big Spree (Compass)

“The Big Spree” is a big darn deal from a hot little Scottish band.

I’ll admit to being hooked from the first track, featuring Breabach’s two pipers Donal Brown and Calum MacCrimmon on a perky little traditional tune, “John MacColl’s March to Kilbowie Cottage,” which gives way to a more contemporary piping number, “Davy Webster’s.” Accompanied by Patsy Reid on fiddle and Ewan Robertson on guitar, Brown and MacCrimmon set just the right tone for a CD that artfully blends the ancient traditions with a more updated approach to Celtic music.

Like most contemporary Irish and Scottish traditional bands, Breabach boasts an abundance of talent. Brown and MacCrimmon also play flutes and whistles; Reid plays cello and viola, and sings; and Robertson is also the band’s lead vocalist. The band invites comparisons to ensembles like Lunasa, Danú, Flook, Old Blind Dogs and Solas. “Super group” is an overused description. But don’t let that stop me. Breabach is super.

Breabach’s debut album features 11 tracks, all firmly grounded in the music of Scotland, whether it’s an up tempo version of a classic piping tune like “Merrily Danced the Quaker’s Wife,” or “Caber Feidh,” a lush version of “Hector the Hero” or Ewan Robertson’s spirited interpretation of Scottish folk singer Matt McGinn’s “Rolling Hills of the Borders.” (With tight, bluegrass-like harmonies from Reid and MacCrimmon on the last.)

I also fell in love with Reid’s sweet vocals on “Lochaber No More,” a classic farewell song with lyrics by the poet Allan Ramsay, written in 1724.

Hope for a tour. And while you’re waiting, “pick up The Big Spree.”

July 29, 2008 by
Sports

Kicking Off Three Days of Championship Youth Football and Hurling

The team from San Francisco making their way up Gay Street.

The team from San Francisco making their way up Gay Street.

Tracy Guerriero was wandering down Gay Street in West Chester, her maple-leaf flag of Canada draped over her shoulder—and looking a bit at half-mast herself.

Guerriero, accompanying the Brampton, Ontario, Rebels, had only just arrived in West Chester that afternoon after a long bus ride. They had just marched in the parade to kick off the Gaelic Athletic Association’s Continental Youth Championships. All the kids had taken off in search of pizza or burgers or whatever they could find to eat.

Leaving Guerriero holding the flag, and with a severe case of bus lag.

“We left this morning at 4:30,” she said. “Ten hours on the bus with the kids—and one bathroom. We’re all a bit punchy.”

Looking only slightly less bedraggled were N. Martin and Miriam Skelly of the Gaeil Colmcille na nOg Club from Kells, County Meath. They’d just flown in from Dublin to Philadelphia the night before. Like all the other teams post-parade, they were checking all of the Gay Street restaurants—opening doors, looking, and seeing huge crowd. Places like Vincent’s, Peace a Pizza and Kildare’s were doing land-office business. The Skellys were hoping for a quick bite before heading back to the hotel. Other than the parade, they hadn’t yet had much time to sample Philadelphia hospitality. “We went to the films this afternoon,” said Martin Skelly, still looking a bit done in.

As night fell—and it was falling pretty quickly even as the parade wound down and the last team made its way up Gay Street escorted by local pipe bands—the town was crawling with kids and families from Ireland, England, and from as far away as San Francisco in the U.S. Ask them what they want to see and do, and the answers are predictable. Like the kid from Chicago standing in line at the Sprazzo gelato joint, who hoped to see the Liberty Bell.

For the group from Brampton, one stop seems essential: “We want to run up the Rocky steps,” said Guerriero. “And we have to have a cheesesteak.”

Of course, the main attraction for the 1,700-plus athletes is the Continental Youth Championships, held today, Saturday and Sunday at Greater Chester Valley Soccer Associations’ Line Road Complex in Willistown, Chester County. For details, visit the CYC Web site.

If you want to see the future of Gaelic athletics in the United States, this is where to see it. The CYC happens but once a year, and this is the first time it has been held in Philly. Check out the games and support the cause of Irish athletics on your home turf.

July 25, 2008 by
News

Irish Radio Pledge Drive Brings in $11,000

Marianne MacDonald, left, assisted at the mike by Hall of Fame President Kathy McGee Burns.

Marianne MacDonald, left, assisted at the mike by Hall of Fame President Kathy McGee Burns.

Who listens to Irish radio on Sunday morning? People like the Philadelphia businessman who called in a pledge last week when I was helping to man the phones for WTMR radio personalities Vince Gallagher and Marianne MacDonald, whose shows are in financial peril.

A widower, he chatted about his Irish-born wife whom he met many years ago at a dance in the city. The music, he said, reminded him of good times.

And then there was Bridget, whose granddaughter called in a pledge for her. “My grandmother is from Newfoundland. She lives in Juniata now and she loves the music,” she said.

And the Italian woman who’s been to Ireland 11 times because she adores the place, the culture, and, of course, the music, even though she’s only a little Irish, “maybe, way back.”

They’re only three of hundreds of people who have called in during the current pledge drive to raise money for the two WTMR Irish radio shows that air on Sunday. Since June 29, more than $11,000 in checks have been mailed in to the station, says Marianne MacDonald, whose “Come West Along the Road” show, featuring Irish traditional music, airs at noon, following the Vince Gallagher Radio Hour. Volunteers from Irish organizations throughout the Delaware Valley, from the Shantys band to the Delaware Valley Irish Hall of Fame, have been taking the pledged donations over the phone. Several local businesses, including The Shanachie Pub and Restaurant in Ambler and Brittingham’s Irish Pub and Restaurant in Lafayette Hill, have donated gift certificates.

“I have been very surprised and gratified, and so has Vince,” says MacDonald, who took over her hour from Irish musician Tommy Moffitt, when he retired (though Moffitt was back at the mike a few weeks ago, filling in for Marianne when she was in Ireland). “It’s really amazing to see that people really do care about the shows and are willing to show that they care.”

MacDonald estimates that airtime alone for the two shows costs about $35,000 a year. The largely religious broadcasting station, located in Camden, doesn’t pay the hosts nor does it sell ads for the Irish shows. Gallagher and MacDonald are expected to bring in their own advertising, which has always been an iffy proposition that isn’t helped by today’s sagging economy. Several long-time advertisers have dropped out, at least two without paying their bills. It’s been up to Gallagher and MacDonald to front the money and they have. Both have spent at least $10,000 of their own cash keeping the shows afloat.

“I’ve done some cold-calling to get ads,” says MacDonald, “and that’s really hard. What’s worse, you hardly every get anything out of it.”

The public-radio-style pledge drive will continue through August 17. In the works for August 24 is a musical benefit to be held at the Irish Center in Mt. Airy. Caterer Mickey Kavanaugh has donated a buffet meal and a number of local Celtic rock bands and traditional musicians have agreed to perform gratis. MacDonald is looking for volunteers to work that day and door prizes. You can contact her at rinceseit@msn.com.

Mail your donation to WTMR Radio, C/O Sunday Irish Radio Shows, 2775 Mt. Ephraim Avenue, Camden, NJ 08104.

July 24, 2008 by
Columns, How to Be Irish in Philly

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

There’s plenty of music this week in case you find you’ve had enough of Gaelic sports (we never feel that way–most action-packed games in the world!).

Of course, the 2008 Continental Gaelic Youth Championships are being held in Malvern all weekend. But on Saturday night, Galway banjo player Angelina Carberry and her husband, Martin Quinn, will be appearing at the Coatesville Cultural Society.

Team Ratty Shoes is holding its second Benefit for Hope at Brittinghams in Lafayette Hill on Sunday. These folks, fans of Blackthorn (they got their name from a Blackthorn song), participate each year in the MS Walk to raise money for multiple sclerosis research. For your $30 donation, you get free eats and beer, plus music and the knowledge that you enjoyed yourself for a very good cause.

On Wednesday, The Young Dubliners are appearing at the Sellersville Theater. We’ve heard that very few people are able to stay in their seats when the group plays. We’re going to catch them next time around.

Speaking of Blackthorn, the local Celtic rockers will be giving at free concert at Rosetree Park in Media on Thursday. Always a good time. Bring your own seats, even if you don’t stay in them.

Coming up next week: the Irish Thunder will be banging the drum quickly at Valley Forge Park and there’s a hurling match scheduled for the weekend.

Meanwhile, please visit our calendar for all the details. And while you’re there, you might want to buy it a pint for all the good work it does for you

July 24, 2008 by
Sports

Youth Irish Athletes From Around the World Take the Field This Weekend

See that tough, determined face? Get set to see a whole lot more of them.

See that tough, determined face? Get set to see a whole lot more of them.

If you’ve never seen Irish football or hurling, this is the weekend to get a ground-level education in these two quintessentially Irish field sports as Philadelphia hosts its first-ever Continental Youth Championship.

More than 1,700 elite players from around the country—as well as Ireland, England and Canada—will converge upon the Greater Chester Valley Soccer Associations’ Line Road Complex in Willistown, Chester County for three days of non-stop Gaelic Athletic Association action. (The games are held Friday, Saturday and Sunday.)

This is the fifth year for the Continental Youth Championships. Previous tournaments were hosted by New York, San Francisco, Boston and Chicago. The CYC committee selects the host city, says Jeff Carty, spokesman for the Philadelphia Divisional Youth Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association.

Although it might be overstating things a bit to say that the tournament is critical to the future of GAA sports in the U.S., let’s just say … it can’t hurt.

“Gaelic football has been played by immigrants from Ireland in the Philadelphia region for over 100 years,” Carty notes. “The increasing size of adult programs can be directly tied to the development of youth programs. These kids are the future footballers in America and abroad.”

For now, though, no one is thinking that strategically. Everything is focused on making the games fun for the kids. Even if a kid does not go on to play Irish sports in adulthood, the skills are transferable to more traditional U.S. sports. “Gaelic football and hurling could help in the development of skillsets used in other sports played here in America,” Carty says. “Gaelic sports could improve man-to-man defense and body positioning used in basketball. Foot and ball control are very similar to what youth soccer programs are instructing. The timing of the (Gaelic athletics) season helps traditionally “off-season” training.”

Proceeds from the weekend will also go to boost development of Gaelic football as an athletic actvity blessed by the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO). Last Year, the Philadelphia Archdiocese approved Gaelic football as a non-sanctioned sport. “San Francisco has successfully developed programs in the CYO, while New York has implemented programs in both CYO and public school systems,” Carty says. “Boston is currently developing additional fields to be able to host all the games necessary for the local programs, which have grown to 21 adult teams. The growth is directly tied to their youth program churning out players for the senior teams.”

The championship tourney is not exlusively focused on purely athletic endeavors. Obviously, fellowship has a lot to do with it–including a big parade Thursday night, starting at 6 p.m., along East Gay Street in West Chester. The players will be escorted through town by local bands. You can get out and support the kids, and have a great time to boot.

July 22, 2008 by
Music

Concert Under the Stars

Theresa Flanagan Murtaugh at the mike.

Theresa Flanagan Murtaugh at the mike.

“We’ve started something tonight that’s going to just get bigger and better,” Paul Murtaugh told his audience over well over 500 concert-goers.

His wife, Theresa Flanagan Murtaugh, put it another way: “Just wait ’til next year … when we’ve got Bono!”

OK, Bono isn’t really going to play under the tent at the Murtaughs’ house in Media. (But if anyone could talk Bono into it, the Murtaughs could.)

As it is, Friday night’s concert featured The Three Irish Tenors, and if anyone missed U2, they didn’t say so. Actually, the standing O at the end spoke volumes: They loved it.

They loved, too, the auction, which included this pretty great prize: a week at the County Mayo farm of Irish-American Chamber president Bill McLaughlin.

And everyone felt pretty good about the reason for the show. It was a benefit for two great schools: LaSalle Academy, a Kensington-based independent school to address the needs of underprivileged kids, and Drexel Neumann Academy in Chester, Delaware County, an independent Catholic grade school sponsored by Neumann College .

It was a blazingly hot night, with fans going full-bore throughout the Murtaughs’ big top.

The Tenors had something for everyone—a mostly Irish repertoire featuring a stunning version of “Danny Boy” and a sing-along version of “When Irish Eyes are Smiling,” but also including a bit of the classical. All performed with style, and under trying circumstances. (It was really hot up on that stage.)

At the end, Irish eyes were smiling indeed.

See for yourself.

July 19, 2008 by