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January 2011

News

It’s … Aliiiiiive!

Mad scientist

BWA-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaa!

Ain’t it pretty?
 
We hope you’ll think so. The redesign of irishphiladelphia.com started way back in April–when, presumably, we had recovered from the rigors of St. Patrick’s Day.
 
Why’d we do it? Well, in part for the same reason people buy new living room furniture, paint the bedroom, or install a new granite kitchen countertop. After nearly five years of web wonderfulness–yes, five!–we kind of got tired of the old look and thought it might be nice to spruce things up a bit.
 
But we also did it for the same reason people clean out the hallway closet, get rid of all the old baby clothes, and sort out their file drawer. We wanted to get rid of clutter and organize things so they’d be easier to find.
 
We think we’ve done both.
 
So on the surface, of course, you’ll see a new look, including a snazzy logo and our stunning St. Patrick’s blue. (Bet you didn’t know there was such a color.) But under the slick new surface, you’ll find improved organization of all of our topic areas, better organized and more useful presentations of our pub finder and gift shop finder, easier ways to share our stories on social media like Facebook, more intuitive display of comments, and a spiffy new “carousel” at the top of the home page that lets you see our latest stories at a glance. There’s more than that, of course, but it’s almost too geeky for even us to go into.
 
We’ve also installed two stunning ways to–ahem–buy advertising on the site, with one big fat honkin’ ad space at the top of every page, and a really large ad space at right. If you want to know more (and we hope you will want to know more), check out our advertising page.
 
We’ve also improved how we look on smartphones. So anytime you want, you can yank out your Droid, plug “irishphiladelphia.com” into your browser, and–voila!–even more geeky coolness.
 
We sincerely hope you like what you see. And you can share your comments with us, below.
 
Thanks!

January 7, 2011 by
Music

Review: “A Galway Afternoon”

A Galway Afternoon“A Galway Afternoon” would be a priceless gift to Irish music listeners under any circumstances, filled as it is with tunes that encapsulate and preserve so many examples of box player Joe Madden’s boundless energy and the apparently limitless joy he took in playing.

Joined and supported by his famous daughter Joanie on flute and whistle on 13 of the 14 tracks, Joe Madden packs a sound that seems to well up from some deep place to expand and fill the room, sucking up every last ounce of oxygen. Joe Madden is a commanding presence, and “A Galway Afternoon” is very much his own.

What makes the release of this CD (at Catskills Irish Arts Week) so poignant and precious is the fact that Joe Madden is no longer with us. All the tracks on which he is featured are the result of Joanie’s crafty plan to pull him into Charlie Lennon’s Cuan Recording Studio in Spiddal, County Galway, in June, 2008. At the time, he was just shy of 70.

Like a lot of traditional players, Madden apparently was not the type to leap at an opportunity to record. That he was lured into the studio for such an all-encompassing exposition of his powerful skills was an act of providence. In November of that year, Madden fell down the stairs in his home, resulting in spinal cord damage and paralysis. Those mighty hands were stilled. Shortly thereafter, he died.

The Irish music community was left to cope with grief over Madden’s loss. But at the same time, it also was left with something wondrous to remember him by.

To be sure, Joanie Madden makes her presence known on “A Galway Afternoon,” setting her usual blistering pace on the reels and jigs and painting a lush, vibrant musical mural on the slow air “Sliabh geal gCua.”

But mostly, she seems content to play a supporting role, and the passion and energy of Joe Madden takes center stage. From one set of tunes to the next, it is Joe Madden’s playing that commands your attention. Maybe “demands” is a better word.

“A Galway Afternoon” is jammed with well-worn old tunes with colorful names like “Sault’s Own Hornpipe,” “The Little Thatched Cabin,” “Pussy Got the Measles” and “The Spike Island Lassies.” Madden obviously was one of those players who had forgotten more tunes than most of us will ever know.

There’s absolutely nothing fancy or fussy about how Madden plays. It’s just straight-ahead dance music, played with a sure hand. There’s a purity there, along with razor-sharp precision. 

Also joining the supporting cast are Charlie Lennon on piano, John Madden on drums (he’s flat-out wonderful) and Gabriel Donohue on guitar.

On the final track—a set of reels, including “Dinny O’Brien’s and “Sean Sa Che”—we’re treated to a glimpse of Joe Madden’s sparkling personality. After the music ends, we hear his laughing voice echoing in the recording studio: “The hell with the last couple of notes. That’s it.”

No, Joe. As long as we have this recording, that’ll never be it.

January 7, 2011 by
Columns, How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

Martin McDonagh, whose play is starting up next week at Lantern.

Martin McDonagh, whose play is starting up next week at Lantern.

Some great events coming up this month, including the exciting Philly debut of “Pumpgirl” a play that comes from Northern Ireland, and a Martin McDonagh classic, “A Skull in Connemara,” all part of a particularly rich season for Irish plays in Philadelphia. You can even save money on tickets if you see two or more of these topnotch productions

The play, “Pumpgirl,” which opens on Tuesday, January 11, at the Adrienne Theatre in Philadelphia, takes place in a post-Troubles world, specifically in a border town rural Northern Ireland. It’s the story of a homely, tomboyish “pump girl” at a gas station who develops an obsession with a handsome, married race car driver. It’s being produced by the Inis Nua Theatre Company, which presents modern plays from Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales.

“The play really presents a different side of Northern Ireland,” says Inis Nua Artistic Director Tom Reing. “Most works about the north are very Troubles-focused. It’s definitely there in ‘Pumpgirl,’ but the references are all in the past, like ‘it’s that hotel that was bombed in 1994.’ It’s also filled with weird things about Irish country music and stock car racing, which is huge over there and
which most people aren’t going to really be familiar.”

The January 13 performance is a fundraiser for the Irish Immigration and will feature a post-performance discussion with Irish playwright Abbie Spallen, who has been working with Reing during the play’s rehearsals.

“A Skull in Connemara,” one the McDonagh Leenane trilogy, goes on stage in preview at St. Stephen’s Theater at 10th and Ludlow Streets on January 13. The production by the Lantern Theatre Company is directed by M. Craig Getting and Kathryn McMillan, whose most recent show was the critically acclaimed production of “Uncle Vanya.” Official opening night is January 19.

Bonus for Irish theater lovers: These plays are part of the Philadelphia Irish Theatre Festival and Irish Mix Tix. Six local theater companies are presenting works by Irish playwrights now through May and you can save 20 percent off ticket prices if you order tickets to two or more productions at http://www.theatrealliance.org/irish-theatre-mixtix.

Other plays upcoming: Terminus by Mark O’Rowe with the Abbey Theatre of Dublin at the Harold Prince Theater, February 16-20; “The Lieutenant of Inishmore,” another of McDonagh’s Leenane plays, at Plays and Players February 17-March 13; Sebastian Barry’s “The Pride of Parnall Street,” at Act II Playhouse in Ambler March 22-April 17; “Dublin by Lamplight,” by Michael West,
at Broad Street Ministries in Philadelphia, another Inis Nua Production; and The Druid Theatre of Galway’s “The Cripple of Inishmaan,” the third Mc Donagh play this season, at the Zellerbach, May 19-May 22.

Now, let’s take a peek into next week:

On Saturday, January 15, three bands will be playing at J.D. McGillicuddy’s in Kirklyn at the first of two fundraisers to bring in bucks to support the Sunday WTMR 800-AM Irish Radio Shows, hosted by Vince Gallagher and Marianne MacDonald, aired every Sunday from 11 AM to 1 PM.

That evening, guitarist and balladeer Pat Egan and all-Ireland piper Michael Cooney will be performing in the cozy living room at Spring Hill House in Lansdale for a house concert. They’re calling their duo “The Boys from Tipperary” because they are both boys from Tipperary. Now that’s clever.

And on Sunday, join AOH/LAOH Div. 87 for their annual beef and beer at Finnigan’s Wake. We’ve partied with this crew and they are fun, fun, fun. And you can hear the new Paul Moore and Friends band, featuring a few folks from the late great Paddy’s Well. Of course, everything the AOH/LAOH does is for charity so you can have fun while patting yourself on the back for doing a good deed.

January 6, 2011 by