It's bingo afternoon at the Irish Immigration Center! Photo by iStockphoto.
This Saturday, you can combine some good-deed-doing with fun at the Eighth Annual Project Children fundraiser at Gloucester County AOH Richard T. Rossiter Memorial Hall in National Park, NJ. (It’s just over the bridge from Philadelphia.) The Broken Shillelaghs and O’Farrelly’s Whiskey will provide the music in support of this organization that brings children from Northern Ireland to the US for four weeks in the summer.
And while you’re in Jersey on Saturday, check out Enter the Haggis, a Canadian group with a huge local following, at the Appel Farm Arts & Music Center in Elmer. On Thursday, the Appel Farm is kicking off its annual June music festival at a free event at Fergie’s Pub on Sansom Street in Philadelphia with performers, giveaways, and drink specials. There will be buses leaving from Fergie’s to take festival goers to Elmer for the day-long event (featuring our own local phenoms, RUNA) on June 4. It’s never too early to celebrate.
Scots folk singer Archie Fisher and Canadian singer-songwriter Garnet Rogers are coming together in concert for Green Willow on Monday at the Lower Brandywine Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, DE.
On Wednesday, it’s Bingo! afternoon at the Irish Immigration Center of Philadelphia in Upper Darby. Bring your bingo markers and join in the fun.
Later in the afternoon, enjoy an “Afternoon of Irish-American Poetry” with Dr. Joseph Lennon of Villanova and Dr. Nathalie Anderson of Swarthmore at the Falvey Library on Villanova’s campus.
Beginner ceili dance classes, taught by local dance celebrity Rosemarie Timoney, are being held at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Glenside every Wednesday for the next 13 weeks. It’s open to anyone, 12 and up.
On Thursday, genealogist John McDevitt will be offering tips and advice for anyone looking for their Irish ancestors at the Irish Immigration Center. Ooops, adventures in grammar—you probably won’t find your Irish ancestors at the immigration center, but John will help you find them wherever else they may be.
Dublin alt-folk songwriters Kevin May and Mick Lynch of The Guggenheim Grotto will bring their own brand of folk-acoustic stylings to the World Café Live on Thursday.
On Friday, kick up your heels with The Shantys at the Gloucester County AOH Hall in National Park, NJ. That place is rockin’ this week.
Also on tap this week: The paintings of Irish T.C. Murphy at the Rowan Gallery in Philadelphia, and “The Pride of Parnell Street,” a Sebastian Barry play, on stage at ACT II Playhouse in Ambler.
One change to our calendar—the Jam for Japan scheduled for Saturday was cancelled because of flu. They’re going to reschedule when they get well.
Coming up next week—tax day! Boo! Think about celebrating it with the John Byrne Band and Citizens Band Radio at the Tin Angel on 2nd Street in Philadelphia. Or with the crazy Norwegian-Celtic group Tempest at The Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, with their special guests, Full Frontal Folk, one of the area’s best folk groups. The Bristol Theatre is bringing Late Night Catechism II to the stage for those of you who missed Sister. And the Irish Pubs Global Conference is coming to Philly—but it’s only open to pub owners and staffs. Our own Dave Magrogan (founder of the Kildare’s empire) will be a speaker.
Later this month—Irish Night at the Reading Phillies, Fiddler Randal Bays and guitarist Davey Mathias, a visit from a celebrated Belfast choral group (we’ll have more on them later), and much, much more. Stay tuned! And read the calendar for all the details.
