You can catch Shannon Lambert-Ryan and Runa at two venues this week.
Just back from 10 days in Ireland. Did you miss me? What, you didn’t notice that I was gone? Okay for you.
But you won’t want to miss any of the great events on our calendar this week. Good segue, eh?
“The Early Bird,” a play by Irish playwright Leo Butler, opens this Saturday at the Adrienne Theatre in Philadelphia. Produced by the Inis Nua Theatre Company—the city’s finest purveyor of new plays from Ireland and the UK—“The Early Bird” is, like many Irish plays, dark, disturbing and humorous. Hey, we know Irish people like that too. The story: Debbie and Jack blame one another for the disappearance of their child and their exchanges uncover the inner secrets of their relationship. I know it’s hard to imagine how that could be funny, but if past experience with Irish plays is any indication, you will be laughing—at least, some of the time.
If it’s some good music you’re after, RUNA, a Celtic fusion band based in Philly, will be playing at the Tinicum United Church of Christ in Pipersville on Friday, October 22. Tickets are only $10. RUNA will also be opening for Barleyjuice at the Sellersville Theatre on Saturday, October 30.
On Saturday, catch Burning Bridget Cleary at Chaplin’s Music Café in Spring City. This young band has been collecting fans and gigs like nobody’s business over the past couple of years.
Harper Robert Mouland returns to the tri-state area on Sunday with his one-man show, “Before the Dhoul Knows Yer Dead,” at the East Jersey Olde Towne Village in Piscataway, NJ. He plays Michael Keane, a harper who came to American in 1754. He’ll be playing a wirestrung harp and a variety of antique instruments.
Also on Sunday: Blackthorn appears at a fundraiser at the Palombaro Club in Ardmore for the Havertown Republicans. Do Celtic rock and politics make strange bedfellows? We’ll see.
Back for a second year: the (we hope) annual Samhain Rambling House at the Irish Center. Samhain is the Irish version of Halloween (since it started in Ireland, technically Halloween is the American version of Samhain). Last year, a coven of witches, some great performers, and even a Celtic tarot card reader made for a fun, spooky night at the Irish Center which, some folks say, is haunted. The Malones—Fintan Malone and Luke Jardel—will be providing the music (everything from Irish trad to reggae) for dancing, but they’ll surrender the mike to anyone who wants to perform their party piece. That includes stand-up comedy, story telling, singing or dancing. Your $5 admission fee covers all that and some eats too.
Looking ahead: The Irish Immigration Center is holding its first ever gala at the Hyatt Regency at Penn’s Landing on Saturday, October 30. The first ever Mathew Carey Hibernian Award is being given to Anne O’Callaghan, executive director of the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians, a nonprofit serving the region’s immigrant community. In the 1700s, Mathew Carey was the driving force behind the organization of the Hibernian Society for the Relief of Emigrants from Ireland, one of the first societies of its kind in Philadelphia. A portrait of Carey hangs at historic St. Mary’s Church in Philadelphia, his burial spot (along with that of Commodore John Barry, one of the Revolutionary War’s most famous immigrants).
The John Byrne Band will be playing. For more information on the event, go to www.icphila.org.
Irish guitarist and singer/songwriter Sarah McQuaid will be appearing at the PSALM Salon in Philadelphia on Saturday, October 30. McQuaid will also be conducting a guitar workship before the show, which starts at 8 PM.
I’ve spent the past week updating the calendar, and there’s plenty of good craic coming, including “Irish Christmas in America,” with the band Teada and singer Seamus Begley, returning to the Irish Center on December 12.
But November is jam-packed with Balls (Donegal and Mayo) and the Mary from Dungloe Pageant, Mick Moloney’s return (to Delaware County Community College on November 6 and his always standing-room-only concert “with friends” at St. Malachy’s in Philadelphia on November 7, and at Wilmington Hall in Delaware on November 7); the Delaware Valley Irish Hall of Fame (November 14), the Philadelphia Gaelic Athletic Association All-Star Banquet on Nov. 21 (with two national championship teams, that’s a lot of all-stars), and, of course, the annual Oireachtas—top notch Irish dancers from the Mid-Atlantic competing to be the best—on the Thanksgiving Day weekend.
