You could be having this much fun. From last year's Wildwood weekend.
I hope very few people are reading this because they’re making their annual trek to North Wildwood for the Cape May AOH’s annual Irish Fall Festival, with Paddy’s Well, Searson, Derek Warfield and the Wolfetones, the Bogside Rogues, the Sean Fleming Band and many other terrific bands rocking the Music Tent by the sea.
I hope you’re pub-hopping, practicing for the Tink Haldeman 5K Run/Walk on Saturday morning (sign up at the AOH Tent between 1st and 2nd Streets on Olde New Jersey Avenue to benefit Shriners’ Hospital for Children), or spending what little money you have left after this week’s momentous financial crisis on some funny t-shirts or bumper stickers available from the hundreds of vendors (because you just gotta laugh, it’s the Irish way). Proceeds from this annual festival go to AOH charities, which number many.
Two bits of bad news for long-time festival-goers: No Blackthorn this year, and no Keenan’s Pub.
We spoke to several members of the popular Irish rock group that has been holding its Irish weekend at the shore as long as the festival has been around. They told us that the band had some gigs lined up for the summer, including Irish Weekend, at a venue in North Wildwood, but decided not to play when a bit of a political “quandry” seemed to be shaping up after word got about over their potential return to that end of the Cape May Peninsula. For the past few years, Blackthorn has operated from the Borgata in Wildwood. No word on whether the tradition will pick up again next year, but we hope so.
And Keenan’s, the block-long North Wildwood pub where you could always wet your whistle and attend Mass (though not at the same time), was closed for 55 days for underage drinking violations, according to the Philadelphia Daily News, though it sounds like the family-owned bar got snookered by some legit-looking fake IDs.
If you’re sticking closer to home, you still have lots of choices. The incredible group, Solas, is appearing Sunday at the World Café Live. They’re one of our favorites.
If you want to get some great tips on tracing your family history (where did those Murphys come from anyhow?), the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is sponsoring a day-long conference called, “Genealogy: The Basics and Beyond.” There are more than 20 sessions to chose from and more than a dozen exhibitors to visit. There’s a $10 fee and it includes a boxed lunch! It’s happening on Saturday, September 20, at the Valley Forge Family History Center in Broomall.
On Tuesday, you can meet Ireland’s Consul General Niall Burgess up close and personal at the September networking happy hour sponsored by the Irish American Business Chamber and Network, held on The Moshulu (sailing ship turned restaurant) on Penns Landing. You need to RSVP, so check the calendar for details.
After rubbing elbows with the Irish consul, head over to Villanova University’s Vasey Theatre for the opening performance of Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” the Pultizer Prize-winning play that chronicles the unraveling of a tight-knit Irish-American family. A laugh riot it is not (though there is some humor!), but it’s truly an unforgettable story. My favorite quote from the play: “There is no present or future, only the past, happening over and over again, now.” Sadly, true. It’s always been my contention that it’s important to not make the same mistakes over and over again when there are so many new mistakes to be made.
That same evening (lots going on for a Tuesday), you can hear Julie Fowlis singing Gaelic songs of Scotland’s Hebrides at The Grand in Wilmington, or, if you’re in the Quakertown area, attend the CD release party for the Canadian all-girl Irish band, Searson, fresh from their gig in North Wildwood.
On Thursday, it’s Tool Time at McGillin’s Olde Ale House in Center City: TV host and writer Joe L’Erario, host of TV’s Furniture on the Mend, Furniture to Go, and Men in Toolbelts, will be signing his new book, Wood Finishing. You can see more of his work upstairs at McGillin’s too—L’Erario refinished a 20-foot antique oak bar for the bar’s newly refurbished second floor.
Still reeling from this week’s Wall Street meltdown, our calendar, which will never be able to retire, has all the answers, except for the big philosophical ones, like, “What is the meaning of life?” Pay it a visit.
