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March 2013

How to Be Irish in Philly

How to be Irish In Philly This Week

Members of the Ensemble Gallelii will appear in Philadelphia this week.

Members of the Ensemble Gallelii will appear in Philadelphia this week.

Happy Easter! Hope the kids find all the eggs you hid around the house in record time. If they miss one, that’s an event that can call for hazmat suits and a visit from the Environmental Protection Agency. We don’t want that.

On Monday, April 1, the Irish flag will be raised at the Red Bank Battlefield in National Park, NJ, a program sponsored by AOH Div. 1 in New Jersey. There will be a mass celebrated at the division hall followed by a free lunch. The event is open to all.

Also on Monday, tickets will go on sale for the Philadelphia Fleadh Festival, scheduled for June 22, which will features bands including Black 47, the Young Dubliners, Jamison Celtic Rock, the Bogside Rogues, Galway Guild, Raymond Coleman, a bagpipe competition, and a feis stage for dancers. Check their website for the info.

It seemed like a strange event to post on our calendar, but given that so many Irish are involved in the building trades, we approved it. So, on Wednesday, April 3, there’s an outreach event for construction subcontractors at the Hyatt Regency Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing. You can learn about the Pennsylvania Gamin Control Board’s service provide registration and certification process as well as the Whynne Reports and the proposed Wynn Philadelphia Resort. It’s touted as a networking event, so it may be worth the gamble. Uh-oh, bad pun alert. Details are on the calendar.

Also, on Wednesday night, special guests Aine and Bernie McGill from Ardara will be part of the Singer’s Session at the Irish Center. Aine is an award-winning (and world-ranked) Irish dancer from County Donegal.

On Thursday, Professor John Walsh from the National University of Galway will be speaking on new trends in Irish-language acquisition in the US—new speakers of Irish.

On Thursday night, noted Dublin-born publican Fergus Carey (Fergie’s Pub, Monk’s Café, Grace Tavern, Nodding Head Brewery and Restaurant) will be roasted and toasted at an event at The Ruba Club, 414 Green Street in Philadelphia.

If you’re in Delaware, Scottish singer-songwriter Jim Malcom will be appearing at the Blue Ball Barn in Alapocas Run State Park in Wilmington. Old Blind Dogs fans will know Malcom—he was their lead singer for seven years.

In Sellersville on Thursday, catch the Battlefield Band, the “Scottish Folk Band of the Year,” at the theater at 24 W. Temple Street.

On Friday night, April 5, Trio Galilei, which mixes early instruments with Celtic traditional music, will be appearing at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill. The concert will take place by candlelight—which promised to be a beautiful, spiritual experience.

On Saturday, Elizabeth Spellman will be giving up her tiara. She’s the reigning Philadelphia Rose of Tralee and her successor will be chosen at an event hosted by CBS3 reporter Jim Donovan at the Radnor Hotel in St. Davids.

March 29, 2013 by
Music

The CD the Audience Demanded

The John Byrne Band Celtic Folk, available now.

The John Byrne Band Celtic Folk, available now.

Last year, the Philadelphia-based John Byrne Band toured more than 18 states, hitting venues large and small with a mix of original tunes (from their first CD, After the Wake), throwing in “two or three Irish songs,” says Dublin-born Byrne.

“Then invariably at the merch table, people were looking for the Irish songs,” recalls the singer-songwriter. “The only thing we had were some old Patrick’s Head [Byrne’s previous band] which isn’t what we’re doing now.”

When the band—including Andy Keenan (who also tours with Amos Lee), Maura Dwyer and Rob Shaffer—returned home from their Midwest adventures, they started talking about doing an Irish album.

What they put together at Turtle Studio in Philadelphia isn’t exactly an Irish album. In fact, it’s exactly what the photo on the cover says it is. The photo shows a handmade sign on a country road  just outside Lincoln Nebraska, where the band played in an old barn. It reads, in white paint: “John Byrne Band, Celtic/Folk, Tonight 7 PM.”

Packed with traditional songs arranged by the band, honed on stages throughout the US, it includes familiar Irish standards such as “Follow Me Up to Carlow,” “The Parting Glass,”  “The Raggle Taggle Gypsy,” and “The Irish Rover,” as well as roots-style music including the poignant and arresting “The Lakes of Ponchartrain” (rewind alert!) , the ballad of an Irish immigrant smitten by a Creole girl made popular by Planxty, and “The Ballad of The Old Black Pearl,” written by American Jim McGrath (while on a ship by the same name in the mid-Atlantic).

“Andy heard a bunch of guys [The Reprobates] on Block Island singing [McGrath’s song], he bought their CD and learned the song,” says Byrne.

Before going into the studio, each band member made a list of the songs he or she loved. “And the lists turned out to be very similar,” says Byrne. “Some are straight-up barn-burners, pub songs, and some are the really delicate songs that we like to do best, like The Lakes of Ponchartrain.

When I asked Byrne which was his favorite, he paused. Turns out that’s as tough a question to answer as “Which of your kids do you like best?”

“I’m in love with all of them,” he confesses, laughing. “When you’re making the album you’re listening to the songs over and over, and you just have to stop. When I picked up the CDs and stuck one in the CD player in the van, I was really happy.”

As you may be. You can purchase Celtic Folk online at CDBaby and on Amazon or at one of the band’s gigs. They’re at Rosie O’Grady’s, 800 7th Avenue, New York, on Saturday, March 30, and Byrne and his bandmates do the Fergie’s Ballad Session on Sundays (next one, April 7) at Fergie’s Pub, 12th and Sansom in Philadelphia. The band will also be opening for Tempest at the Sellersville Theatre on Saturday April 13.

March 29, 2013 by
News

Bring Him Home

CampbellMichael Campbell is serving time in the notorious century-old Lukiškės Prison in Vilnius, Lithuania. Campbell, alleged to be a member of the Real IRA, wound up in Lukiškės after his arrest and conviction in Lithuania on weapons smuggling charges. Investigators say he traveled to Lithuania with a lethal shopping list: rocket-propelled grenades, plastic explosives, and detonators, cords and timers. Lithuanian authorities cooperated with the British security service MI5 in the elaborate undercover operation that resulted in Campbell’s arrest.

In October 2011, Campbell was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment.

Campbell claims he is innocent; that, in fact, MI5 set him up. Campbell’s defenders allege there are significant flaws in the prosecution’s case.

For Mary Larkin, the question of Campbell’s guilt or innocence is for others to decide. Larkin, of Port Richmond, is focused on just one thing: getting Michael Campbell transferred back to Ireland.

“I feel like this man, whether right or wrong, we’re just trying to get him back to Ireland to serve his sentence,” says Larkin. “He’s being denied his legal rights and his human rights. A European Union directive (EU Prisoner Transfer Agreement of December 2011) says prisoners should serve time in their own land. So right now, it’s about his human rights, and to have him back in Ireland.”

Larkin first came to know Campbell and Larkin as a result of letters she sent to him and to other prisoners. She also corresponds with Campbell’s brother Liam, who was also a suspect in the case. Lithuania spent several years trying to have Liam extradited from Northern Ireland for questioning, but he was just released from Maghaberry Prison following a judge’s finding that he might be subject to the same inhumane conditions currently endured by his brother.

Inmates held in Lukiškės Prison endure some of the worst overcrowding of any corrections facilities in Europe—“sometimes to an outrageous degree,” according to a 2008 report by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Conditions inside are so horrific—filthy, cold, with no running water, and a well-documented history of violent mistreatment by guards—that the European Court of Human Rights recommended that Lukiškės be shut down.

It didn’t take long for Larkin to learn about the horrific conditions in which Campbell is held. His letters told the whole story.

“Theres no running water, they go without it for days, and they just melt snow. He described how prisoners get buckets of water from a horse and carriage that comes around. It’s cold water. In one letter, he told me how they (Campbell and other prisoners) had live electrical cables, and they were trying to heat the water with it. They also have to melt snow for the toilet. The toilet is is just a hole in the ground. People might not believe this, but it is true.”

Campbell’s legal representation, she says, hasn’t been effective, and the appeals process can be a moving target. “He’s due to go back to court on May 15, and then again on the 26th and 27th of June. He’s been waiting so long to go back to court for an appeal. Hopefully these dates will come to be.”

Campbell, she says, doesn’t complain much. In his letters, he typically expresses concern for others—his brother Liam for one, and, on other occasions, Larkin herself. A good deal of time, Campbell displays a remarkable level of mental toughness, she adds, as witness his sense of humor. “He still has his wit. He makes little jokes to me. It amazes me that his spirit is still there.”

On the other hand, Campbell apparently doesn’t see a resolution any time soon. “The man feels his case is pretty hopeless,” Larkin says. “He deserves to feel that people are working for him. He doesn’t deserve that kind of treatment.”

Larkin has set up an online petition to rally support for Campbell’s return to Ireland. You can see it here.

March 27, 2013 by
News

Bring Him Home

mcampbellMichael Campbell is serving time in the notorious century-old Lukiškės Prison in Vilnius, Lithuania. Campbell, alleged to be a member of the Real IRA, wound up in Lukiškės after his arrest and conviction in Lithuania on weapons smuggling charges. Investigators say he traveled to Lithuania with a lethal shopping list: rocket-propelled grenades, plastic explosives, and detonators, cords and timers. Lithuanian authorities cooperated with the British security service MI5 in the elaborate undercover operation that resulted in Campbell’s arrest.

In October 2011, Campbell was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment.

Campbell claims he is innocent; that, in fact, MI5 set him up. Campbell’s defenders allege there are significant flaws in the prosecution’s case.

For Mary Larkin, the question of Campbell’s guilt or innocence is for others to decide. Larkin, of Port Richmond, is focused on just one thing: getting Michael Campbell transferred back to Ireland.

“I feel like this man, whether right or wrong, we’re just trying to get him back to Ireland to serve his sentence,” says Larkin. “He’s being denied his legal rights and his human rights. A European Union directive (EU Prisoner Transfer Agreement of December 2011) says prisoners should serve time in their own land. So right now, it’s about his human rights, and to have him back in Ireland.”

Larkin first came to know Campbell and Larkin as a result of letters she sent to him and to other prisoners. She also corresponds with Campbell’s brother Liam, who was also a suspect in the case. Lithuania spent several years trying to have Liam extradited from Northern Ireland for questioning, but he was just released from Maghaberry Prison following a judge’s finding that he might be subject to the same inhumane conditions currently endured by his brother.

Inmates held in Lukiškės Prison endure some of the worst overcrowding of any corrections facilities in Europe—“sometimes to an outrageous degree,” according to a 2008 report by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Conditions inside are so horrific—filthy, cold, with no running water, and a well-documented history of violent mistreatment by guards—that the European Court of Human Rights recommended that Lukiškės be shut down.

It didn’t take long for Larkin to learn about the horrific conditions in which Campbell is held. His letters told the whole story.

“Theres no running water, they go without it for days, and they just melt snow. He described how prisoners get buckets of water from a horse and carriage that comes around. It’s cold water. In one letter, he told me how they (Campbell and other prisoners) had live electrical cables, and they were trying to heat the water with it. They also have to melt snow for the toilet. The toilet is is just a hole in the ground. People might not believe this, but it is true.”

Campbell’s legal representation, she says, hasn’t been effective, and the appeals process can be a moving target. “He’s due to go back to court on May 15, and then again on the 26th and 27th of June. He’s been waiting so long to go back to court for an appeal. Hopefully these dates will come to be.”

Campbell, she says, doesn’t complain much. In his letters, he typically expresses concern for others—his brother Liam for one, and, on other occasions, Larkin herself. A good deal of time, Campbell displays a remarkable level of mental toughness, she adds, as witness his sense of humor. “He still has his wit. He makes little jokes to me. It amazes me that his spirit is still there.”

On the other hand, Campbell apparently doesn’t see a resolution any time soon. “The man feels his case is pretty hopeless,” Larkin says. “He deserves to feel that people are working for him. He doesn’t deserve that kind of treatment.”

Larkin has set up an online petition to rally support for Campbell’s return to Ireland. You can see it here.

March 27, 2013 by
News

Merry Chris. . . Uh, Happy St. Patrick’s Day from Conshy

What Santa does in the off-season.

What Santa does in the off-season.

It rained, it snowed, it sleeted–but the Conshohocken St. Patrick’s Day went on as planned on Saturday, March 16. While fewer people than usual lined the march route (Conshy’s main drag, Fayette Street), the folks who braved the bad weather had a very good time–a very good time, indeed.

If you need proof, check out our photos!

March 22, 2013 by
Music

Here’s Where to Buy “Ceili Drive”

Tommy Joyner of Milkboy Recording, chatting with uilleann piper Tim Hill.

Tommy Joyner of Milkboy Recording, chatting with uilleann piper Tim Hill.

A funny thing happened on the way to the public sale of our exciting new compilation of Philly Irish music, “Ceili Drive.”

It was a little thing called St. Patrick’s Month, which does tend to distract us a bit, what with all the parties, parades, pub crawls, pomp, and such.

Happily, the craziness is (mostly) behind us now, and we can devote our full attention to introducing “Ceili Drive” to the world. And by “the world,” we mean you.

We created “Ceili Drive” for a couple of reasons:

  • The first and most important: Philadelphia is a total hotbed of great Irish music. A lot of people know that, but trust us, it’s a revelation to some people. So we really wanted to shine a spotlight on some superb local talent—which was hard because there’s so much talent, and we couldn’t possibly capture it all. To do that might take 10 or 20 CDs. Alas, we had bucks for just one.
  • The second and more pragmatic reason: To fill our coffers with filthy lucre. A lot of you already know this—except for the occasional heckler who seems to think we have a staff of 100 and a budget to match—but it’s we happy few cranking out irishphiladelphia.com. We pull in a bit of ad revenue, for which we are deeply grateful, but trust us when we say that no one on the staff of this international media conglomerate is about to retire to the south of France. Not even to the south of Upper Darby. So we hope “Ceili Drive” will help us meet some of our expenses, and set us up with a bit of “mad money” to help make irishphiladelphia.com better. And reimburse us for gas and parking. Luxuries and frivolities like that.

So get ready to exercise your clicker finger because we’re about to direct you to our secure online store. You’ll see all the track listings there.

And even though we’ve said this before, we really can’t say it enough. We owe a lot of you a deep debt of gratitude. So thank you, and thank you yet again. You know who you are.

March 22, 2013 by
People, Religion

Lorna Byrne: Blessed by the Angels

Lorna Byrne Giving a Blessing

On a St. Patrick’s Day that began with Jimmy Lynn’s fabulous and noisy breakfast at the Plough & the Stars and was followed by a solemn and chilly commemoration at the Irish Memorial at Penn’s Landing, I couldn’t have foreseen the sacred and truly spiritual afternoon that would crown my day at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill. But that’s the wonderful thing about being Irish in Philadelphia on March 17th; you never know what the day will bring.

For me it brought Lorna Byrne, an Irish woman whose earliest memories are of the angels who have always been a presence in her life. Lorna sees angels the way most of us see other people; to her, these ethereal beings are a very solid physical manifestation. And, she assures us, every single one of us has our own guardian angel following us at all times.

It’s a comforting thought, and only one of the many encouraging messages that she has been chosen to share with the world.

As a young girl, her relationship with the angels meant she spent her days in almost a cocoon. They talked with her, she laughed with them, they even played hide and seek together. Her separateness from the world around her led to her being given a diagnosis of “retarded.” Lorna was born into a poor Dublin family in 1953, a time when anyone labeled as different in any way was automatically considered to be somehow mentally deficient. Teachers basically ignored her, and it didn’t help that she was actually dyslexic. Although the angels were adamant during those years that Lorna tell no one about them, they also revealed to her that one day when the time was right, she would write a book and share their existence with the world. At the time, Lorna laughed because her dyslexia meant that she couldn’t read and could barely write; she hardly felt she was the one who would write a book about anything. But as with everything the angels told her, they were correct in this, too.

She used to ask the angels, “Why me?” And their response was “Why not you, Lorna?”

This past Sunday, Lorna spoke to a crowd of more than 550 people who attended her free appearance at St. Paul’s, an audience made up of both those who had read her books and followed her for years, as well as others who came because they were hearing about her for the first time and wanted to learn more. The format took shape as a one hour interview, with Lorna being questioned by Rev. E. Clifford Cutler, the rector of St. Paul’s, followed by a 30 minute question and answer period with the audience. But it was the nearly two hours of blessings that Lorna stayed and gave to every single person who wanted one after the 90 minutes of interviewing that left those who had gathered there awash in a wave of peacefulness and tranquility.

The Archangel Michael gave Lorna the prayer that she recites in her blessings, and that she has had it printed on cards for the audience to take with them:

“Pour out Thy Healing Angels,
Thy Heavenly Host upon me
and upon those that I love.
Let me feel the beam of Thy Healing Angels upon me, 
the light of Your Healing Hand.
I will let Thy Healing  begin
Whatever way God grants it…Amen.”

Lorna’s messages are about love, acceptance, and being the best we can be during our physical time here on earth. The God she knows doesn’t have a single religion; His angels are gifts to everyone on earth regardless of the faith they follow. Here are some of the words she shared with those who joined her in Chestnut Hill:

“The angels have always been my best friends, my companions, my teachers,” she explained. “But I suppose the important thing to say to all of you is that each and every one of you, no matter whether you believe, or if you’re a skeptic, or what faith you have, or what religion you have…each and every one of you has a guardian angel that God has given you. And your guardian angel never leaves you for one second. So you’re never, never alone and you’re loved unconditionally.

“But I suppose the other thing is that the guardian angel is the gatekeeper to your soul, and I’m afraid you can’t throw that gift away that God has given you. You can ignore it, and you can do your best and deny it, but I am traveling the whole world and I have never seen any man, woman or child without a guardian angel, and it doesn’t matter what religion you are.

“So it is to be conscious and aware that you have a guardian angel and that has been one of the most powerful messages that has come out to the world since I have written the book, ‘Angels in My Hair.’ Angels, I have to say to you, are neither male nor female. Just sometimes they give a human appearance within themselves so we can recognize them. If they didn’t, we wouldn’t.

“And again, it’s to teach us that…material things are important, we do need material things. But they’re not the most important thing. And, if for some reason, your life, you know, creates a lot of material things, you’re actually meant to share them. Because you can’t bring any material thing with you when you die. Your soul brings no material thing whatsoever, just the love and all of the good things you have done. And even too the hurt and pain, but it’s not as if that hurt and pain at that moment is washed away, straight away, because when your guardian angel takes hold of your soul and brings it forward to come out of your human body, you know God is real. You know you are a spiritual being as well. And you know you are being reborn. And that is an important thing to remember. And that is one of the very strong messages in both books, that when you die it’s only your physical body that dies. You actually live forever.

“And, I’m afraid, God IS real, and so is your guardian angel and all those unemployed angels that are here as well, in hope that you will ask your guardian angel to allow an unemployed angel to help you within your life. And, to me that is fantastic. God is real. Don’t wait til the last moment of your life to realize that. Change the world for the better. We all have that opportunity…lots of adults say to me, ‘But my life is insignificant. I have done nothing.’ But your life is very precious, and the most important gift God has given you is to live life, and everything you do within your life is accountable. But everything as well is that you’re changing everyone else’s life every time you do good. Every time you reach out and help someone, even if it is just a smile. I always have to smile at the angels, you know.”

You can read more about Lorna Byrne at her website and order her books here as well.

March 22, 2013 by
News

Merry Chris. . . Uh, Happy St. Patrick’s Day from Conshy

conshy-paradeIt rained, it snowed, it sleeted—but the Conshohocken St. Patrick’s Day went on as planned on Saturday, March 16. While fewer people than usual lined the march route (Conshy’s main drag, Fayette Street), the folks who braved the bad weather had a very good time—a very good time, indeed.

If you need proof, check out our photos!

March 22, 2013 by