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September 2010

Music, News

Singing for the Swells

John Byrne at a recent World Cafe Live performance with his band.

By John Byrne

I had just landed in Dublin in late July. My wife, Dorothy, turned on her phone and saw that there was a message from Laura, the booking manager from World Café Live, inquiring as to whether or not we might be free for a gig on Monday, September 13th. Now, I run the Trad and Ballad Session at Slainte every Monday—and I don’t like to mess around with regular gigs at a place where we have a great relationship with the owners and staff. So I told Dorothy to tell Laura that I do have a booking that day but if it’s a big deal we can definitely look at working something out. Laura replied, “Oh, it’s a big deal.”

Zoom forward about 6-weeks and we were at the Constitution Center on 6th and Arch setting up the sound for our performance at the Presidential Reception for the Liberty Medal Presentation. The Liberty Medal folks had contacted the World Café folks and asked them to recommend a band for the show; they had recommended us. The room was pretty bare and some workers were milling about moving tables and chairs out of the room. We finished setting up the sound and ran through a few songs to make sure everything was quality. We were set to play from 5pm until just before 7pm when all the VIPs would move outside for the presentation itself.

All of our background checks came out clean (ha!) and all that was left for myself, Maura Dwyer, Andy Keenan and Chris Buchanan was to show up respectably dressed and do what we do. There were rumors of Bono showing up although the official word was that he would show up only on the giant video screen to the right of the stage – this turned out to be the case.

On the day we arrived about 3:30 PM, escorted through the waiting crowds by big blokes in black suits, and couldn’t believe the transformation that the room had made. An area that functions as the cafeteria had been completely transformed into an indoor English country garden complete with park benches, fountains, patio furniture, excellent English-themed food, and an enormous arrangement of flowers and trees. At 5 PM we were given the signal to begin and as the VIPs were led into the room we began with the tradition tune “Merrily Kissed the Quaker” following it with one of my own compositions “A Song With no Words.”

There were politicians and faces from local and national news, photographers from Philadelphia Style Magazine, and all-in-all a very polite and appreciative crowd. About 6:45 PM, President Bill Clinton, former Prime Minister Tony Blair, Mayor Michael Nutter and others were ushered past the room to the stage. The guests followed to their section as we played “I’m a Man You Don’t Meet Everyday”….and that was it.

We got to stand to the left of the stage and watch the speeches, the moving video tributes from Bertie Ahern and Bono and the beautiful performance given by the Irish Tenors. A little after 8 pm we were asked to move our sound equipment as the VIP Room was to be transferred into the Press Room after the presentation. Once again, the big blokes in the black suits appeared to escort us, and by 9pm we were playing “Merrily Kissed the Quaker” again, this time at Slainte, preparing for our show the following night at World Café Live with The Young Dubliners. One of the TVs in the corner was showing highlights of the presentation—by then it all seemed just a little surreal.

September 15, 2010 by Guest

Music

Philadelphia Ceili Group Festival Ends on a High Note

Kevin McGillian was honored for his 30-plus years playing at the festival.

They’re going to be talking about this one for a long time. The Philadelphia Ceili Group’s annual festival of Irish dance and music ended a three-day run on Saturday night, September 11, at the Irish Center in Mt. Airy with a concert that audience members were calling magical—even before it was over.

Headliners Liz Carroll—the only Irish trad artist ever nominated for a Grammy award—and Daithi Sproule, best known for his work with the Irish group, Altan, invited the performers who preceded them on stage for the finale which brought the audience to its feet before the last note sounded.

It was an appropriate finish for a festival that couldn’t have gone any better. There were crowds for the Singers Circle on Thursday—dedicated to the late Frank Malley, who ran the festival for many years—for the Gary Quinn and Anthony McGrath concert on Friday night, the ceilis on Friday night and Saturday and the workshops, from the fiddle session with Carroll to the St. Brigid’s Cross lessons and the drama workshop for kids.

The kids were well taken care of. In fact, many stayed for the entire afternoon, having their faces painted, coloring, learning to act, blowing bubbles, and making new friends.

On Friday night, the Philadelphia Ceili Group recognized musician Kevin McGillian, who has been playing at the festival for almost its entire 36 years, with a plaque and a lifetime membership. They also surprised festival organizer Anne McNiff—the emcee of Saturday’s concert—with an award for her work.

Check out our photos of the event.

September 15, 2010 by Denise Foley

Music

Five MORE Questions for Eileen Ivers

The acclaimed fiddler Eileen Ivers.

The fire-breathing fiddler Eileen Ivers has deep Irish roots. Her parents are from Ireland. She learned fiddle from the great Martin Mulvihill. She won the All-Irelands nine times. (Yikes.)

But if you know Ivers at all, you know she’s profoundly influenced by other musical genres, from jazz to Afro-Caribbean roots music. She was the featured fiddler in the megahit Riverdance, which brought Irish music to the fore in the United States and throughout the world (and which many purists regard as not at all Irish).

If you’ve ever attended an Eileen Ivers show, you know that her performance (and that of her band Immigrant Soul) can be both exhilarating and exhausting. She pours absolutely everything into a show—blood, sweat, tears, shredded bow hair and all. I attended an Ivers outdoor summer concert a few years back and, at the end, she was just drenched. (I hugged her, anyway.)

We chatted once before, and her upcoming show (Saturday, September 25, at 8 p.m. in the Zellerbach Theatre on the Penn Campus) gave us an opportunity to touch base once again. So we just picked up where we left off the last time. Here’s what she had to say.

Q. How often do you get into traditional Irish music sessions these days?

A. Not nearly as much I would like. Were going to Ireland in October and I seem to play in more sessions there than I do at home. We have a little house in Mayo, and there are a couple of really good sessions that I try to get to. It totally rejuvenates me. Sometimes, at festivals, there are great sessions on when you get back to the hotel. They’re always good to sit in on, of course.

Q. Is playing in sessions something you do, mostly, when you’re home? Or something you fit in when you’re on the road?

A. Definitely more on the road. When you’re home. you’re in a “home” mode. When I’m out and about, that’s when I hang out in sessions.

Q. What do you get out of sessions that you don’t get from performance?

A. It’s really all part of being an Irish traditional musician. It’s a wonderful privilege to be traveling around and playing Irish music. The venues that are looking to book Irish artists are really spectacular. We’re blessed to be able to perform, to do the symphony work. But at the same time, it’s important to get off the stage and sit in where the music is really living and breathing, playing with friends and remembering tunes, playing tunes that you haven’t played in years. You have to get back to that. It brings back why you’re playing in the first place.

Q. I don’t play fiddle, but if I did, I’m not sure I’d be able to play with you sitting next to me. My guess, though, is that you’re not really all that scary … or that’s not how session etiquette would dictate that people respond to you.

A. I don’t feel like that at all, and I would hate to have anybody think that or feel that. What I love about this music and our culture is that you’re part of a much bigger thing. And when you’re sitting down with a bunch of folks, and you look around and see the smiles, it’s healing. You’re just a part of it, and it’s so cool.

Q. How much time do you spend in teaching and workshops these days?

A. Not as much as I would like. That’s such a great feeling to put the music out there, especially to kids. I actually love when the band is in stage with me for the master class. They talk about the history of the music and the rhythms, and each musician will show how his instrument works. All of sudden, they’re inspired by this stuff. They see the fun, the joy of it. They think it’s the coolest thing ever. We do it as much as we can. We always offer it and we love doing it.”

September 14, 2010 by Jeff Meade

News, People

Honoring Franny Rafferty

Mike Callaghan with Franny Rafferty.

Anyone who knows Philly politics knows former Democratic councilman-at-large Francis W. Rafferty. Suffice to say, he was no shrinking violet in the exercise of his official duties.

People who serve on the St. Patrick’s Day Observance Association know Franny Rafferty in an entirely different light. Rafferty has served on the association board, which oversees the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, for over 30 years. For two years, he was president. (Those are recalled by current president Mike Callaghan, somewhat ruefully, as the two years in which the parade enjoyed some of its best weather—sunny, with highs in the low 70s.)

So let others dwell on the colorful history. His colleagues on the board know him as one of their hardest-working, most forward-thinking members. Recently, they honored Rafferty for his long years of service.

Callaghan says the accolades are well-deserved. “Franny’s a sweetheart,” says Callaghan. “He’s very focused and very zealous about what he believes in. He was a tremendous board member.”

Rafferty himself is grateful for the kind words, but he’s characteristically reluctant to toot his own horn. Instead, he redirects the very public attention to those who have served before him. “the guys that created the Observance Association, they deserve all the credit,” he says. “They’re the ones who brought us recognition. They’re good guys, good people. I was just proud to serve with them.”

He singles out the late board member Marie Burns for particular praise. “Marie Burns was my mentor,” he says. “She just took me under her wing. When i came on the board, I would just lay back. I was a councilman and younger then. I just wanted to be part of what they were doing. Marie took me under her wing. She said, ‘Someday, we’re gonna make you president.’ She was just a nice person to be with. I really miss her.”

Rafferty’s appreciation of his Irish heritage didn’t come naturally. In some families, Irish cultural awareness is front and center. In others, it’s rarely discussed. Rafferty’s family fell into the latter category.

Still, his family history is every bit as colorful as the man himself. His grandfather Pete Rafferty came from County Tyrone and established a horse manure business and, with hard work, came to own many properties along Washington Avenue. “He was supposed to have had the first bottom-drop wagons,” Rafferty says. “He worked a lot of construction jobs with it. He was just a hard-working little guy. He would haul stuff, and people would ride his horses on Sunday.”

Rafferty’s own Irish awakening came with the onset of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. As a member of Philadelphia’s City Council, he felt it was time for him to become involved, and he pursued his interest in the cause of Irish unity with characteristic vigor–even visiting Irish political prisoners in the infamous Maze Prison in County Down. He also stayed in private homes with Northern Irish families. “I really started to learn what these people were going through,” he says.

To Rafferty, service to the St. Patrick’s Day Observance Association is all a logical outgrowth of that deep and abiding passion for history and tradition. He recalls his time in the center of things with great fondness. “”It was just a beautiful time,” he says. “Now it’s time for the younger guys to take over.”

September 14, 2010 by Jeff Meade

Columns, How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish in Philly this Week

You might run into these guys from Irish Thunder in Wildwood.

Lace up your running shoes, kiddies. You are going to be oh, so very busy this coming week.

Honestly, we’re not this crazy busy with Irish and Celtic stuff in March.

First, this weekend. There are three festivals. Let me start by saying that Irish people could not possibly have planned any of this weekend’s events, or they would all be on the same day, and you’d have to figure out which one to go to, and which two to blow off. Fortunately, such good planning hardly ever happens.

All you have to know is, they’re all in Jersey:

Dublin Square Pub over in Bordentown is hosting its Halfway to St. Paddy’s Day event Friday night, starting at 8 and continuing until whenever. Live Irish tunes with the Broken Shillelaghs, and lots of fun.

The Gloucester City 2010 Shamrock Festival kicks off on Saturday, starting at 12 noon, in Proprietor’s Park & Marina on the waterfront at 225 South King Street, in Gloucester City, one of our favorite towns. The Broken Shillelaghs will be there, too, with Jamison, Beautiful Day and the Misty Dew’rs. Vendors galore, and plenty of activities for the kiddies.

On Sunday, starting at noon and going until 5, Mount Holly launches its Halfway to St. Patrick’s Day Music Festival at the High Street Grill. Music by Paul Kennedy, Celtic Connection and the debut of O’Farrelly’s Whiskey. Bonus: Find out who the 2011 Mount Holly St. Patrick’s Day Parade grand marshal is going to be.

After the weekend festivals are over, shoot back over to Pennsy—Norristown, to be specific— for the Ciara Kelly Higgins for CP 5th Annual Fundraiser at Plymouth Country Club (Belvoir and Plymouth Roads) on Monday. It’s an all-day event, including breakfast, golf, music by Paddy’s Well, dinner and the comedy of Joe Conklin. There’s also a silent and live auction. All to raise money for 7-year-old Ciara Higgins, who has cerebral palsy, and other kids with CP, to make sure they get the therapy they need. Learn more here.

Knock off for a couple of days after that. You’re really going to need your rest because …

Irish Weekend down in North Wildwood—one of the biggest such events on the East Coast—gets under way with live amateur boxing Thursday night at 7 in the Music Tent at New Jersey and Spruce Avenues. The main celebration kicks in on Friday from 8 in the morning until 7 at night with music and vendors, and no small amount of food and drink.

It continues on Saturday, with the Brian Riley Pipe Band Exhibition at 8th and Central at 10 a.m., and more entertainment and vendors all day, and a ceili at Anglesea Firehouse from 7 to 11 p.m.; and a big, splashy parade on Sunday. Lots of your favorite bands will be booked down the shore that weekend.

But wait! The annual Celtic Classic, Highland Games and Festival—another event that also easily fits the “one of the biggest” description—kicks off Friday, runs throughout Saturday and wraps up on Sunday. We’d tell you what’s happening hour-by-hour, but there’s just so much going on, we would fall down from exhaustion before we got midway through Saturday.

Suffice to say that many of the top Celtic bands will be performing, including some of our particular favorites: Bua, the shy and retiring (not!) Timlin & Kane, Burning Bridget Cleary, Enter the Haggis, and the Jameson Sisters. Plus, the great John Doyle and Karan Casey team up for concerts Thursday and Friday night. Their CD “Exiles Return,” was one of the best Irish traditional recordings of the year. They’re just terrific together. This is an absolute “don’t miss.”

(UPDATE Sept. 18, 2010: Karan Casey will not be appearing, due to a family emergency. Taking her place is the marvelous Susan McKeown.)

The Classic also features enough pipe bands to cause ringing of the ears for weeks, Highland games (think beefy tattooed dudes in kilts tossing telephone poles … the dudes, not the kilts), sheepdog trials, haggis … it’s a jam-packed weekend.

With all the festival fun going on, you run the risk of missing two very good concerts: the Celtic Fiddle Festival Saturday at 8 p.m. at Sellersville Theatre, and Eileen Ivers—a one-woman fiddle festival in her own right—the same night and time at Zellerbach Theater on the Penn Campus. If you can see your way clear, either one is likely to be a rock-solid hit.

I don’t know about you, but after all that running around, I might sleep until March.

September 14, 2010 by Jeff Meade

Sports

GAA Ladies Bring It On Home

Woo-hoo! The Notre Dames cheer their trophy. Photo by Eileen McElroy.

The Mairead Farrells (Máiréad Ní Fhearghail) Ladies Football Club of Philadelphia became the 2010 North American Senior Football Champions over Labor Day weekend at the national GAA games at Chicago’s Gaelic Park. The footballers had already won the Philadelphia senior football title a few weeks before.

The team they beat in the city match-up, the Notre Dames, also brought home a trophy from Chicago. This team is now the 2010 North American Intermediate Football Champions. They’ll both be defending their titles next year in San Francisco.

Notre Dames player Eileen McElroy is also a talented photographer and she shared some photos from the ladies’ competition and the men’s matches featuring Philly GAA teams the Kevin Barrys and the Young Irelanders. The men didn’t bring home trophies, but they fought like Celtic tigers.

Check out Eileen’s photos:

Thanks to Peadar McDiarmada for reporting the results from Chicago.

September 14, 2010 by Denise Foley

Music

A Night of Songs and Memories

Everyone had Frank Malley on their mind. Standing alongside the photo is his daughter Courtney.

“This is like having a big night in your own living room,” said singer and publican Gerry Timlin as he looked out on the crowd gathered in the Philadelphia Irish Center for Singers’ Night at the Philadelphia Ceili Group Festival.

It was hard not to think of the Fireside Room as Frank Malley’s living room. Frank was, for many years, the driving force behind the Ceili Group Festival. He died of cancer last July. Singers’ night was dedicated to him. In fact, a large colorful portrait of a smiling Frank Malley was propped on an easel just to the right of the stage.

Standing alongside the portrait, Frank’s daughter Courtney said she was sure her father would have approved of this year’s Singers’ Night. “He would have been thrilled,” she said. “My dad was a singer, and there were so many other singers he enjoyed. He loved all of these singers.” Courtney, a well-known singer herself, confessed to also being partial to Singers’ Night. “For me, this is my favorite night of the festival,” she said.

It was evidently a favorite of many other Irish music fans. Most of the chairs in the Fireside Room—and at the nearby bar, of course—were filled. Surely no one could have been disappointed by the showing of singers, starting with Gerry Timlin himself, who also threw in a funny little story about what would have to be the ultimate handyman, Dixon from Dungallen. (Ask him to recite it. It’s a hoot.) And he shared memories of some of the greats who have gone before, including the late musician and radio host Tommy Moffit, who died in May.

There were several superb singing performances from the likes of Marian Makins, Rosaleen McGill and Karen, John and Michael Boyce. If you came hoping for the old standards, you couldn’t have been disappointed by Karen Boyce’s tender rendering of “Skibbereen” or all the Boyces’ superb harmonies on “Peggy Gordon.” Marian Makins sang a lovely version of “Green Grows the Laurel,” and everyone loved Rosie’s take on “The Emigrant’s Farewell.”

Couldn’t be there? We have photos and videos!

Here are the videos:

September 10, 2010 by Jeff Meade

News

2nd Annual Brittingham’s Irish Festival

Little Daniel wants to get in on the act.

It would have been hard to find a better day for this popular little event at Brittingham’s in Lafayette Hill.

Bright and sunny, but not too hot, and breezy. Bands and dancers all afternoon, Hot dogs and burgers hot off the grill … and cold beer to wash it all down. It’s always hard to see summer ending … but if it has to end, this is the way to do it.

The main attraction was the music: Paddy’s Well, Jamison, Oliver McElhone, all taking turns on the stage, with the Coyle Dancers performing in between sets. It was bright and warm enough for pale-skinned Celts to do a slow burn, but the promoters made sure there was a big tent, and plenty of room underneath.

Several vendors also seemed to attract their fair share of attention throughout the afternoon—as did Yo-Yo Man (“Tim,” for short), who had no shortage of kids buying his toy.

We have photos and lots of videos.

Check out the videos:

September 9, 2010 by Jeff Meade

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