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June 2010

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

Some serious networking going on here—at the first get-together of the Irish Network-Philadelphia at Tir na nOg.

Irish Ambassador Michael Collins makes an appearance in Philly this week at the official launch of Irish Network-Philadelphia, an organization that brings together Irish and Irish-Americans from every walk of life for networking of every stripe. It all takes place on Thursday night, June 24, on the rooftop of the Phoenix Building at 16th and Arch. The first round of tickets ($50) were sold out, so a second batch was issued and they’re going fast.

Don’t forget—this weekend is the 10th annual Penn-Mar Irish Festival in Glen Rock, near York. Enjoy music by Amhranai Na Gaeilge, Barleyjuice, Irish Blessing, Martin Family Band, Raining Hearts, Rossnareen, The Spalpeens, and Susquehanna Pipes & Drums. Irish dance performances will be presented by Broesler School of Irish Dance, Hooley School of Irish Dance, McGinley School of Irish Dance, Ni Riain School of Irish Dance, and Oh! Gill’s Irish Dancers. There are children’s activities, vendors, prize, food, and you get points because the proceeds goes to fund Penn-Mar Human Services, a nonprofit that provides support for people with disabilities and their families.

On Tuesday, go to happy hour at the AOH Div. 87 hall on Wakeling Street in Philadelphia and help supply food for the needy: To get in, you need to bring a food card or a money donation for the Hibernian Hunger Project.

On Wednesday, author Tom Lyons will be at the Irish Immigration Center in Upper Darby to talk about his new book, “You Can’t Get To Heaven on the Frankford El” during the regular 12:30 lunch.

On Friday, Green Willow is bringing Scottish musician Paul McKenna and his band to Timothy’s at Wilmington Hall on the riverfront in Wilmington. This is the first U.S. tour of this band that combines traditional music with original songs and tunes. You can have your dinner at Timothy’s and enjoy the river breezes while listening to the music.

And don’t forget—get your tickets now for the 2010 Mid-Atlantic Rose of Tralee Selection Gala on Saturday, June 26, at the Irish Center. Four Philadelphia-area women will be competing with Rose winners from the Mid-Atlantic states to be crowned the Mid-Atlantic Rose. The winner will go to Ireland this summer to vie for the international crown on national TV in Ireland—it’s the most watched program on Irish TV!

The 2009 Rose of Tralee, Charmaine Kenny, of London, will be coming to Philadelphia for the event.

For $35, you get a buffet dinner, entertainment, and a chance to be part of a real reality show! And you can order your tickets online.

June 17, 2010 by Denise Foley

Music

Blackthorn Does a Freebie in Collegeville

A young listener gets into the act. Photo by Brian Mengini. (Click on the photo for more.)

One of the great things about summertime in the Delaware Valley are the free concerts where you can bring your blanket and your baby and occasionally your bucket of beer, to steal a line from James Taylor.

Blackthorn played a freebie this week in Collegeville (look for them July 7 at Central Park in Doylestown and July 8 at Prospect Park’s Park Square Summer Concert series). Fortunately, photographer Brian Mengini was there and captured these moments.

Click on the photo at right to see Brian’s excellent photo essay.

June 17, 2010 by Denise Foley

Columns

How to Be Irish In Philly This Week

June 16, 2007: Bloomsday at the Rosenbach.

Do other ethnic groups celebrate their heritage as much as we do?

Just this weekend, you can attend an entire day of Irish language immersion (no English allowed, at Philly’s Irish Center), head out to hear some Irish music at the annual New Jersey Irish Festival in Lakewood, NJ, and another Celtic Festival in Cochranville in Chester County. You can tune into Irish music on the radio (on Saturday to John Buckley at 1540 AM and Michael Concannon at 740 AM, then on Sunday to Vince Gallagher and Marianne MacDonald at 800 AM). You can even watch the rough-and-tumble game of hurling (between the Philadelphia Shamrocks and the Allentown Hibernians) at the late, great Cardinal Dougherty High School.

And this is Bloomsday week, when James Joyce lovers around the world celebrate Joyce’s masterpiece, “Ulysses.” They’re celebrating it in the Philadelphia area too, with a primer at Fergie’s Pub on Monday, a lecture at the Rosenbach Museum on Tuesday, and celebrity readings (including Inquirer food columnist Rick Nichols and Mayor Michael Nutter) at the Rosenbach on Bloomsday itself, June 16, the day main character Leopold Bloom wanders the streets of Dublin, chronicled by Joyce in stream of consciousness style. The Rosenbach has an original, signed manuscript of “Ulysses” in its collection, available for viewing and worshipping. Later in the week, you can sign up for a tour of the Rosenbach’s English literature collection where you may be able to actually touch it!

Do the Ukranians have all this? What about the Liechtensteiners? Are the Italians doing the tarantella and serving up cannoli at a festival every other weekend? I think not. We are way ahead in the heritage wars.

As they say on cable, but wait, there’s more.

On Saturday, head down to the Irish Immigration Center in Upper Darby for a nice cool drink of lemonade. The Rose of Tralee Centres is sponsoring an Alex’s Lemonade Stand to help raise money for research into childhood cancers. The nonprofit Alex’s Lemonade Stand was founded by the parents of little Alex Scott who died of brain cancer. She set up her own lemonade stand to raise money for cancer research. If you can’t make it to Upper Darby, you can donate here.

On Saturday, you can also light up a stogie and watch the US Vs. England in World Cup Soccer at McFadden’s Ballpark World Cup Cigar Party. For $45 to $55, you get an open bar, appetizers, sandwiches and, of course, a cigar, as well as a chance to view the action on wide screen TV. Of course, you’ll cheer for US.

Don’t forget next Friday’s Gas Pump Ceili at the Irish Center. Radio host Marianne MacDonald and musician Luke Jardel are sponsoring this fundraiser for the people of Kingston Springs, TN, who were literally deluged during the May flooding of the Nashville area. At the time, MacDonald was leading a group of local Irish dancers and others on a tour of the Nashville area when their bus was stranded on the flooded highway. Eventually they made their way to Kingston Springs, where they were again stranded for several hours.

“The folks in this little town offered us food, water and lodgings,” explains MacDonald. “They have lost many homes, businesses and a school as a result of the floods. We ended up having a ceilidh in the parking lot of the gas station where we were stranded, which was filmed and eventually made its way to YouTube. We would like to raise money to donate back to them to thank them for their gracious hospitality.”

Next Saturday is the annual Penn-Mar Irish Festival in Glen Rock, PA, near York. Yes, it sounds far away, but maybe the musical lineup will lure you: Barleyjuice, Amhranai Na Gaelige, the Martin Family Band, Raining Hearts, Rossnareen, the Spalpeens, and Susquehanna Pipes & Drums. There’s a traditional Irish session in the afternoon (bring your instruments!) and loads of Irish dancers and some terrific vendors.

The Penn-Mar Irish Festival is also a chance for some good-deed-doing. Proceeds from the event benefit Penn-Mar Human Services, a nonprofit that provides support services to families and people with disabilities and other human service needs throughout southern York County and northern Baltimore County, MD.

June 11, 2010 by Denise Foley

News

Hot, Steamy, Windy—But the Crowds Got All Irish at Penns Landing

We caught this little miss clambering on the Irish Memorial during the Mass that preceded the Irish Festival. Cute, but don't do it again! (Her parents spotted her and put a stop to it.)

When it comes to the annual Penns Landing Irish Festival, the crowds never let a little heat, wind, or even rain stop them. They load up on “Irish Ice”—what water ice is called this one day a year—and enjoy the day.

On Sunday, June 6, the crowds came. . . to hear Paddy’s Well, the Hooligans, Round Tower, and Blackthorn; see 11 Irish dance schools strut their stuff; and play “duck hunt” in one of the many fountains that dot the multilayer amphitheatre where the event is held each year.

As in previous years, the festival opened after a Mass, celebrated by Father Ed Brady of St. Isidore’s Parish in Quakertown, at the nearby Irish Memorial. This year’s Mass paid tribute to the recent Inspirational Irish Women awardees. Members of the committee that planned the May 23 event participated: Keira McDonagh and Emily Weideman were readers, Jocelyn McGillian, a mezzo-soprano, sang to the accompaniment of harper Ellen Tepper. Honoree Liz Kerr of LAOH 25 and her husband Pearse brought the gifts. Honoree Kathy McGee Burns, vice president of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Observance Association, participated in the raising of the flags over the Memorial park.

We were there and have photos from both events.

View the Mass at the Memorial.

View the Penns Landing Irish Festival.

View more of the Penns Landing Irish Festival.

June 11, 2010 by Denise Foley

Music

Review: “The Ravishing Genius of Bones” by Brian Finnegan

Brian Finnegan’s new solo CD is not so much a departure from his other gig—as the whistle and flute front man for the modern trad ensemble Flook—as a huge, breathtaking elaboration on many of the unique and daring themes he has explored with that band over the years.

On “The Ravishing Genius of Bones”—an obscure reference to an accompanying poem about an old accordion player—Finnegan is joined by two of his Flook bandmates, bodhránist John Joe Kelly and Ed Boyd on guitars. You might be tempted to look upon this recording as just a variation on a theme—a kind of “Flook Not Flook.” That would be a mistake.

“The Ravishing Genius of Bones” is Finnegan’s “Lawrence of Arabia,” a musical epic with a cast of thousands. Well, maybe not thousands—but well over 20 world-class musicians representing a variety of genres. In addition to Kelly and Boyd, members of Finnegan’s other band KAN (Aidan O’Rourke on fiddle and guitarist Ian Stephenson) form part of the large, rotating cast of players, along with co-producer Leon Hunt on banjo and dobro (he’s a former student of Bela Fleck), alternative bluegrass band Crooked Still and the St. Petersburg Strings.

Virtuoso mandolin player Rex Preston, part of The Scoville Units with Boyd and Hunt, sits in for a couple of numbers, and banjo player Damien O’Kane (he played on Flook’s “Haven,” and John Joe Kelly accompanied him on his solo album “Spring Hill”) drops in as well.

With so much cross-pollination going on (heck, even steel drums make an appearance), “Bones” was bound to defy easy categorization. Is it Celtic? Jazz? Bluegrass? Indie? Pop? Symphonic? Answer: Yes. It’s all that and more, which is probably just how Finnegan likes it.

There are just nine tracks on the album. Most of the compositions are Finnegan’s own—including my favorite, an evocative air called “Last of the Starrs,” with Finnegan on flute and accompanied by the St. Petersburg Strings. It floats along with gravity-defying lightness and beauty.

The second set features Hunt shifting back and forth on banjo and dobro, accompanying Finnegan on tunes that probably will remind you of some Flook numbers. I’ll tell you the titles—“Lunchtime Boredom,” “Bok-Espok,” “Rusty Gully” and “Superfly”—but I’m not sure they’ll mean anything to you. (They didn’t mean anything to me.) But … no matter. The set starts out slow, syncopated and jazzy—a kind of easy shuffling rhythm. It all ends up scary fast, even more scarily syncopated and jazzy. (Is that helpful?) Anyway, all this bluegrass-tinged Celto-jazz is some of the cleverest work on the album.

Boyd and Kelly charge into the “Back to Belfast” set (with Lucy Wright twanging away on mouth harp), Finnegan jumps in on whistle, and before you know it, we’re all motoring along at, oh, say, 85 mph. Call it a reel set, but most dancers would be dead of heart attacks by the end.

There are other barn-burners on the recording, including “Castlerock,” a Damien O’Kane tune in the sixth set, the appropriately titled “Joy.” It too features some rapid-fire percussion by John Joe Kelly, with Leon Hunt on banjo.

What most stands out about this album is Finnegan’s attention to every detail. “Bones” is not a collection of sets and tunes that merely go together–it’s a complete and unified vision, a kind of giant wall mural of musical ideas and themes.

One last thought. I rarely take note of CD artwork—it always seems to be four or five guys standing in a field with mountains in the background. Inevitably, the guys are holding their fiddles and button accordions, as if a concert is about to begin in the middle of Killarney National Park. “Bones” boasts perhaps the loveliest artwork I’ve seen on an album cover in a long time. It’s all misty twilight blues, an enchanting firefly-lit dreamscape with koi swimming in the grass and fantastical birds sprouting translucent insect wings. Credit Germano Ovani, an Italian illustrator of children’s literature who lives in Edinburgh, for this enchanting vision.

Clearly, Brian Finnegan left not one detail to chance—not even the cover. These “Bones” are fully and exquisitely fleshed out.

June 10, 2010 by Jeff Meade

Dance

Day of the Dancers

Little Coyle dancers get a bit of coaching.

If you love Irish dance, most of the major Delaware Valley-area dance schools take to their tappy little toes at the annual Penn’s Landing Irish Festival. The 2010 festival was no exception.

Irish dance schools such as McDade, Timoney, Rince Ri, Cara, Coyle,
McHugh, Cummins, Celtic Flame, Gibson, Campbell, 2nd Street, Emerald
Isle, and Christina Ryan-Kilcoyne performed in the music tent and at the
main stage.

Some of the schools chose to wear the full regalia, flouncy wigs and all; others chose to dress for the weather … which was, of course, really hot.

Festival-goers just plain loved it all, either way.

Here are a few quick peeks at their performances.

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June 6, 2010 by Jeff Meade

Genealogy

The 1901 Irish Census Goes Live Online

Waiting for the census taker? Image from iStockphoto digital restoration by Steve Wynn Photography.

Where was your Irish ancestor on the night of March 31, 1901?

If you thought that was a question you might never see answered, think again. Thanks to the National Archives of Ireland, the 1901 census for all 32 counties North and South, is available online.

This is Ireland’s earliest surviving set of census records (the 1911 census also survived intact and was put online a few years ago), but all others beginning with the 1921 records were destroyed long ago. The loss of so many population records, particularly in the 1922 fire at the Public Records Office, makes the existence of the 1901 census all the more precious to researchers today.

Ireland’s unique approach to census taking—the forms were filled out and signed by the actual head of each household on the night of March 31st, known as “census night”—means that the information was provided directly by the family. If the head of household couldn’t write, an enumerator filled it out in front of a witness.

Initially opened to public perusal beginning in 1961, those original forms are now transcribed and indexed exactly as they were filled out, and in this age of immediate internet access, both the transcripts and the originals are able to be accessed 24 hours a day by researchers worldwide.

The records are searchable by any member of a given household, and able to be narrowed down by county, townland or street, district electoral division (DED), and age (plus or minus 5 years is automatically tallied). In fact, if you were so inclined, you could enter just a county name, and call up all the people living in, say, Waterford, in 1901. If you were so inclined…

But the information found on the actual forms themselves is the true gold. Birthplace, marital status, religion and any physical disabilities are all noted. In addition to the basic family page, there are three more forms included for each return; they deal with “religious denomination, classification of buildings and out-offices and farm-steadings, filled out by the Enumerator for that townland/street.”

And just because your ancestors may have already emigrated before 1901 doesn’t mean you won’t find family. All those who stayed behind—parents and grandparents, siblings and cousins—they’re all there in the records, waiting to be discovered at 2 a.m. by a thrilled descendent.

So what are you waiting for? Go see where your Irish ancestor was on the night of March 31, 1901!

June 4, 2010 by Lori Lander Murphy

Columns, How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

The smile says it all: Daniel Spahr at a past AOH Notre Dame Div. 1 Irish Festival. It's going on all weekend.

Like festivals? Have we got a weekend for you.

The Montgomery County AOH Notre Dame Div. 1 Irish Festival kicks off on Friday at St. Michael’s Picnic Grounds in Mont Clare, not far from Phoenixville. Plenty of music (Bogside Rogues, Paddy’s Well, Misty Isle, Oliver McElhone, Celtic Spirit), food, vendors, fun for the kids, and $2 beers all weekend long. Only $5 to get in and free parking to boot. And it goes on for three days, sorta like Woodstock but without Wavy Gravy.

The annual Appel Farm Arts and Music Festival happens on Saturday. Not a lot of Celtic acts (Enter the Haggis), but plenty of other great music including Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings; kids events; and “Poets on the Grove” featuring some hot poetry acts like Napam de Bomb. It’s all going on in Elmer, NJ.

On Sunday, Penns Landing goes all green and shamrocky with the annual Irish Festival, with Paddy’s Well and Blackthorn headlining; 11—count them—11 Irish dance troupes, vendors galore, and food. It follows the annual 10:30 AM Mass at the Irish Memorial at Penns Landing. Mezzo soprano Jocelyn McGillian, the 2009 Rose of Tralee, will sing.

This week also kicks off some early Bloomsday (June 16) events in Philadelphia. On Sunday, when you take a break from festivalling, head to the Rosenbach Museum on Delancey Place in the city where there will be a Hands On Tour of the museum’s James Joyce collection (there’s a Ulysses’ manuscript!) and other English literature holdings, including works by Bram “Dracula” Stoker. And when they say hands on, they mean it. You get to touch!

If you’re into cramming your schedule tight, stay in town and have dinner at McGillin’s Olde Ale House on Drury Street where they’re having a black tie beef-n-beer to celebrate turning 150. The Budweiser Clydesdales—all six-feet, 2000 pounds each of them—will be there. No pony rides.

Don’t forget to tune in to WTMR 800AM on Sunday starting at 11 AM to make your pledge to the Sunday radio shows—the Vince Gallagher Irish Radio Hour and Marianne MacDonald’s “Come West Along the Road.” This is week 3 in the pledge drive and your chance to keep Irish music filling the radiowaves every Sunday morning.

Looking ahead: Brush up your Irish at an all-day Irish language immersion program at the Irish Center next Saturday. There are also classes for the curious or beginners too at Satharn na nGael, or “Gaelic Saturday.” The Philadelphia and Mid-Atlantic Rose of Tralee Centres are sponsoring an Alex’s Lemonade Stand to raise money for research into childhood cancers next Saturday at the Irish Immigration Center in Upper Darby. The Mid-Atlantic Rose of Tralee will be chosen on June 26 at a gala event at the Irish Center. Order your tickets now—they’re going fast.

Check out our calendar for times, directions, and other important details.

June 4, 2010 by Denise Foley

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