Sister James Anne Feerick tears up the dance floor at the 2010 Mayo Ball.
Pop some extra vitamins today. You’ll need them for this week which is jam-packed with Irish events, so many in fact that if you attended them all, you’d have to hit the kids’ college funds. And it’s going to be hard to choose wisely—they’re all good.
Friday:
You’ve got Enter the Haggis and Scythian at Union Transfer, Philly’s newest music venue. Last time there was that much energy in one building the atom was smashed.
Crossroads School of Irish Dance is holding its fundraiser at McFadden’s 3rd Street so they can afford to look great at the Mid-Atlantic Oireachtas, the annual Irish dance competition, that comes to Philadelphia on Thanksgiving weekend.
And in Trenton, trad performer Derm Farrell will be at Tir na Nog where you can listen to some fine music as well as hear Farrell’s stories about his grandfather, Richard McKilkenny, one of the famed Birmingham Six, men who were arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment for the alleged IRA bombing of a pub in Birmingham, England, in 1974. The men’s convictions were overturned in 1991.
Timlin and Kane – that’s Gerry and Tom—will be performing at St. James Gate Pub at the Sands Casino in Bethlehem.
Jamison Celtic Rock will be taking the stage at Brownies 23 East in Ardmore.
Saturday:
Tune in at 11 AM to WNJC 1360AM to hear the new installment of the Vince Gallagher Irish Hour. Vince also has a show on Sunday at 11. That’s two times the Irish music and twice the Vince.
Irish-American comedian Joe Conklin is headlining at the Sellersville Theatre, with two other jokesters, Pat Barker and Dennis Horan. (I’ve heard Dennis Horan perform and he’s a scream.)
Speaking of comedy, that’s what it’s all about at the Richard Rossiter AOH Hall in National Park, NJ. This night of comedy is a fundraiser for AOH charities in Gloucester County.
The 106th Mayo Ball and the crowning of Miss Mayo is Saturday night at The Irish Center, 6815 Emlen Street, in Philadelphia. The county balls are an Irish tradition with staying power. Mayo is one of the oldest.
The Church of the Holy Family in Sewell, NJ, is holding an Irish-themed indoor festival for the Feast of All Saints with entertainment by Celtic Cross.
Head over to Paddy Whacks Irish Sports Pub on Comly Road in Philadelphia for the annual beef-and-beer benefit for the Sgt. Patrick McDonald Scholarship. Jamison and Mike LeCompt are providing the music, and there are raffles, silent auctions, and discounted beers. Sgt. McDonald of the Philadelphia Police Department was shot and killed in the line of duty on September 23, 2008.
Bob McQullien and Old New England—purveyors of New England dance music that has its roots in the UK, France and beyond—will give a house concert in Lansdale. By their nature, house concerts have limited seating, so go to our calendar and email the host to see if there’s still room.
Sunday:
The secret word for Sunday is “holy moly.” That’s because there’s just so much going on.
Mick Moloney and Friends are set to do their 23rd annual Concert for St. Malachy’s at St. Malachy’s Church in North Philadelphia. Always topnotch entertainment, this concert raises money for St. Malachy’s School, which is not financially supported by the Archdiocese. It’s usually a standing room only event. Moloney is the founder of Cherish the Ladies and several other powerhouse musical groups, a folklorist, musician, radio and TV personality, and advisor to dozens of Celtic music festivals and concerts internationally.
The Irish Immigration Center is celebrating winter (it dropped in last week, remember?) with the Bogside Rogues at Finnigan’s Wake in Philadelphia. The $40 event, which features open bar and buffet, will raise money to pay for a social worker to provide outreach to the region’s elderly Irish.
And at Molly Maguire’s Pub in Phoenixville, a host of performers will help raise money for the “Come West Along the Road” radio show, which airs on Sundays at noon on WTMR 800AM. Host Marianne MacDonald has assembled much of the local talent–The Jameson Sisters, Paraic Keane (fiddle), Fintan Malone & Co., The King Brothers, Kane & Beatty, Matt Ward, Mary Malone & Den Vykopal (fiddle & pipes), and Galway Guild, among others—and some fabulous raffle prizes, including hand knit Irish sweaters and concert tickets. This is always a good time.
Blackthorn’s former guitarist Seamus Kelleher is releasing his second album and he’s throwing a part at Puck in Doylestown. He’ll be pouring Irish coffees for the first 50 fans and there’s a CD signing at 6 PM.
Monday:
Poet Peter Fallon, winner of the O’Shaughnessy Poetry Award from the Irish American Cultural Institute and the inaugural Heimbold Professor if Irish Studies at Villanova, will be reading from his work at Immaculata University, starting at 7:30 PM.
Tuesday:
Irish playwright Marina Carr’s “Woman and Scarecrow,” a mesmerizing play about a feisty woman who intends to die as she lived, debuts at Villanova University. It runs through November 20.
“Endgame,” by Samuel Beckett, tells the story of an aged and blind man and his servant who live with the elderly man’s legless parents. This “Theater of the Absurd” work as interpreted by Dublin’s Gate Theatre comes to the Harold Prince Theater of the Annenberg Center for the Performing arts for four performances, ending November 13.
Thursday:
Enjoy Frankie Gavin and De Dannan at the Sellersville Theatre. In its various permutations, De Dannan has included such singing greats as Mary Black, Dolores Keane and Maura O’Connell. Gavin, who founded the group 40 years ago, is a Guinness World Record holder—“fastest fiddle player in the world.”
Friday:
This is the famous 11-11-11 day. Magical things are sure to happen.
You can catch Blackthorn at the Media Theatre in Media, starting at 7:30.
You can also catch—for free—a performance of “Hunger,” a play by Eamon Grennan, poet and former Heimbold Chair of Irish Studies at Villanova, at the Vasey Theater at Villanova at 4 PM.
“Watt,” another Gate Theatre of Dublin production of a Samuel Beckett play, starts a three-performance run at the Harold Prince Theater at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. It stars Barry McGovern as Watt, an itinerant worker who finds employment at the remote country home of one Mr. Knott. If you know Beckett, absurdity ensues, along with much laughter.
Celtic Thunder’s Paul Byrom is making a stop in Philadelphia at the World Café Live with his “This is the Moment” tour.
The John Byrne Band is all set to play at The Shanachie in Ambler, starting at 9 PM.
Some week, eh? We’re kind of inclined to offer a special prize to the person who went to the most Irish events this week. Now, you’ll have to prove it. We’re not going to take your word for it. We want to see ticket stubs and receipts. But if you really knocked yourself out, I bet we have tickets to another event we can offer for the most over-achieving Irish person in the Philadelphia area. Email me at denise.foley@comcast.net and I’ll tell you where to send them.
