That's a caber and it's about to be tossed. You can see this in Bethlehem this weekend.
Get those deely-bobber shamrocks and your best funny Irish t-shirt out of mothballs, folks. It’s that time again.
That’s right, the 19th annual AOH Div. 1 Irish Weekend in N. Wildwood, where the pipe bands will flow like beer and the beer will flow like, well, beer. This annual AOH fundraiser spans four days and features some of the best Irish music talent around, including Paddy’s Well, the Bogside Rogues, the Broken Shillelaghs, the Birmingham 6, the Bareknuckle Boxers—and Blackthorn is also in town, playing at the Anglesea Pub. There’s amateur boxing on Thursday, a golf tournament, and the Brian Riley Pipe Exhibition on Saturday at 8th and Central Avenues. There are also miles and miles of vendors and other music to lure you into any one of N. Wildwood’s many pleasant pubs.
Enjoy the party responsibly. Check out some of previous years’ action in our photo essay.
If you’re up north, this is also the weekend for the Celtic Classic, which has loads of music and vendors and beer, but also highland games like caber tossing and hammer throwing, border collie demonstrations, and haggis eating contests. On stage this weekend will be Enter the Haggis, Timlin and Kane, Barleyjuice, John Doyle and Susan McKeown, Bua, McPeake, Burning Bridget Cleary, the Makem and Span Brothers, and our personal favorite–the Red Hot Chili Pipers (no, that’s not a typo). There’s also a play, Bombshells, from Ireland’s Jasango Theatre, on tap at Foy Hall at Moravian College. It’s described as a wildly passionate comedy—and we like the sounds of that. Great craic–and whatever the Scots call fun.
View some photos from last year’s Classic.
And as they say on late night infomercials, but wait, that’s not all. On Friday night, Immaculata College is hosting Beth Phillips Brown for a talk on how Welsh and Irish literature that influenced the tales of King Arthur. What, we had something to do with Camelot?
On Friday night and Saturday, some of Irish traditional music masters, including Father Charlie Coen, Michael Tubridy, Paddy O’Neill and Lesl Harker, will play and tell stories about the music that harkens back to old Ireland at the Irish Center. “Irish Flute, Music, and Stories” will also feature Irish Gaelic scholar Tom Cahill talking about how sean nos singing—old-time unaccompanied singing—relates to the playing of tunes. Meals are included in the $85 fee for both days. And if you play an instrument, you can count on some of the region’s most serious musicians playing in the sessions so come, sit, and learn.
This has got to be the busiest weekend in all of Irish Philadelphiadom. On Saturday, you have a few other choices:
Irish Network Philly is holding a friendly 5-a-side World Cup Competition at Fox Chase Fields, 701 Rhawn Street in Philadelphia, to help raise money for charity. Participation will cost each player $20 which will be collected on the day. Register individually or register your team on the IN-Philly website. Players must be 18 and over to participate. If you’re 40 or over, fair warning, mate—ambulances are not standing by. There will be a post-game happy hour at Tir na Nog in Philadelphia.
At the Sellersville Theatre, the fiddlers three, Kevin Burke (Ireland), Christian Lemaître (Brittany) & André Brunet (Quebec) combine their musical traditions and spontaneous humor for an evening of dazzling energy, showcasing their regional repertoires.
At Penn’s Zellerbach Theatre, there’s going to be more dazzling fiddling going on—Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul, one of our faves. We talked to Eileen last week.
Then, on Sunday, the lovely and talented Fil Campbell does a reprise of her “Songbirds” show at the Irish Center in which she performs the music of five of Ireland’s top female singers, including Delia Murphy, Maggie Barry, Ruby Murray, Bridie Gallagher and Mary O’Hara. I saw her last year and it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen at this very intimate venue. Have to give this one a “must-see” rating. Read our interview.
