The Hooligans, acting up at Penns Landing.
The annual Molly Maguires’ street fair in Lansdale—known as Molly O’Ween– s on Saturday and the music will be wild, to say the least. You can hear the heart-throbbing percussion stylings of Albannach, those kilted purveyors of barbarian rock from Scotland. And the only thing that might be wilder than that is Luke Jardel who is bringing his Hooligans to the party. All fabulous musicians. It’s free, there’s a costume contest with prizes, and loads of activities for the kids. You can’t go wrong.
Blackthorn also has two gigs this week—on Friday night, October 21, at the Blarney Stone in West Chester and on Saturday, at JD McGillicudy’s newest spot in Roxborough. Get there early—there’s always a crowd. These guys can fill a room and then some.
AOH Div. 61 is having it’s Crab Night and Derby at St. Dominic’s Hall in Frankford. For $30 you get all the crabs you can eat plus hot roast beef, wine, and beer. Wish they’d let us know what the Derby part of the event is. We have images of crab races, but that’s probably not right. Go and find out and report back to us.
The John Byrne Band will be rocking Cherubini Yachts in Delran on Saturday night too, part of the Circle of Friends house concert series. Go, listen, pick out a boat.
Feeling goodly? The Irish Memorial Garden at Front and Chestnut needs some work and you can help. They’re looking for volunteers for clean-up, planting, mulching, and getting the garden ready for winter. Pauline Hurley-Kurtz, an landscape architect from Temple, will be giving and overview of the garden and its plants at 11 AM. And you don’t need to bring tools or snacks—they’ll be provided by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Work details start at 9 AM.
Next Friday, October 28, Julie Fowlis—Gaelic singer of the year in 2007 and 2008—will be at Bryn Mawr College. This talent from Scotland has performed with a wide variety of musicians including James Taylor, Martha Wainwright, Ronan Browne, Liam O’Maonlai of the Hothouse Flowers, Mariead Ni Mhaonaigh of Altan, and Karen Matheson of Capercaille.
And on Saturday, another treat—Kevin Burke and Cal Scott in concert, a Philadelphia Ceili Group production at the Irish Center in Philadelphia. Burke is a master of Sligo style fiddling (just try to keep your feet from tapping—not possible). He’s often teamed with Scott who pretty much plays everything—and does it all well.
Coming up: Mick Moloney’s annual concert at St. Malachy’s Church in Philadelphia is on tap for November 6. Moloney will be back in Philadelphia on November 12, along with New York’s Billy McComiskey, master of the East Galway accordian style, and violin virtuoso, Athena Tergis. Billy and Athena will also be giving workshops and Moloney, a folklorist, will provide an illustrated talk on “Into the West.” This is part of the Philadelphia Ceili Group’s year long series, “Irish Traditional Music: Influences from the West of Ireland.”
Also on November 6: The Irish Immigration Center of Philadelphia will be holding a fundraiser at Finnigan’s Wake in Philadelphia and there’s also a fundraiser the same day for the “Come West Along the Road” radio show with Marianne MacDonald at Molly Maguire’s in Lansdale.
Some great theater happening in November too—but more about that later (unless you want to sneak a peek at the calendar now, always a good thing).
