Karen and Jim: She said yes!
RUNA, winner of the top Irish group in the Irish Music Awards last year, debuted its brand new CD, “Current Affairs,” on Friday, June 20, at the Sellersville Theatre. Gene Shay, the grand old man of Philly folk, introduced the group along with opening act, singer-songwriter Michael Braunfeld.
And one audience member used the occasion—with the collusion of the group—to propose. Karen said yes to Jim!
We were there and caught it all on camera!
Look for this guy (Jamesie of Albannach) and more Celtic acts at the Ren Faire this weekend.
Dig out your flowing dresses and your buckskin vests—it’s Celtic Fling weekend at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire in Manheim (near Lancaster). The three-day event features top Celtic acts such as Gaelic Storm, Albannach, Barleyjuice, the Screaming Orphans, Rathkeltair, and Scythian, with both Irish and Scottish dancers, freckle, kilt, and haggis-eating contests, and highland games.
On Saturday, flute player John Blake will be performing at the Coatesville Cultural Society. Blake, who grew up in London, has been influenced by his Connaught roots and now lives in Dublin. A former member of the group Teada, he has performed with other top traditional musicians including Angela Carberry, John Carty, and the Kane sisters.
On Sunday, it’s Celtic Day in Bristol Borough, down along the scenic Delaware River. On tap: the Philadelphia Police and Fire Pipes and Drums, No Irish Need Apply, and the Hooligans.
Also on Sunday, The Plough and the Stars in Philadelphia is hosting a fundraiser for the six local Irish musicians who are heading to Sligo in August to compete in the All-Ireland championships. They include two of last year’s winners, fiddler Haley Richardson and harpist Emily Safko, both of New Jersey. Several of the kids play regularly at The Plough session.
Sunday is a very busy day for the Irish. There’s also a fundraiser at Maggie O’Neill’s in Drexel Hill for the 2015 Mary from Dungloe event which is held at the Donegal Ball in November. You can meet the current Philadelphia Mary, Kelly Devine, before she leaves for Ireland to compete and a few other former Marys, including International Mary from Dungloe of 2013, Meghan Davis.
There are still a few seats available for the Kevin Crawford and Cillian Vallely house concert in Center City Philadelphia on Wednesday, July 2. That’s three-fifths of Lunasa (one of my favorite groups, in case that means anything to you) and not only will the music be fabulous, so will the craic (Kevin Crawford is a hoot). To reserve, email barnstarconcerts@gmail.com. It’s a house concert, so seating is limited.
Enjoy the Fourth!
Noreen Donohue McAleer offers a few pointers on toe pointing.
When there were no jigs and reels playing, the Irish Center’s cavernous ballroom echoed with little girl giggles. Last week, the Cummins School dancers were having their summer camp—a lot of dancing, which also served last-minute cramming for the five Cummins dancers heading to the national championships in Montreal next week, and, for the littlest ones, crafts involving glue and glitter and tie-dyed socks. Oh, and ice cream sundaes, the only thing that brought dead silence to the room.
The Cummins School has been teaching kids to step dance in this ballroom for the last 12 years; a second class, mainly for the youngest, is held at the VFW post in Glenside.
“We’ve been so lucky,” says Frances Cummins Donohue, who runs the school with her daughter, Noreen Donohue McAleer. Donohue started dancing herself when she was an 11-year-old in Dublin and scored a second in the All-Irelands. “Dancing was my life and I loved it and when I came over here, I instilled that in my girls, Kerri and Noreen,” she says.
The Cummins students learn more than beats, cuts, lifts and sevens. “Because we’re in the Irish Center, we’re also exposing kids to the Irish culture,” says Donohue. “The bagpipers [The Emerald Society Pipe Band] are here on Wednesdays and they love that. Then John Shields is in here with his ceili dancers and they enjoy that too. This space is amazing. We’d miss it terrible, we really would.”
Donohue is talking about the current financial crisis facing the Irish Center, a combination of an increased tax burden brought on by Philadelphia’s citywide reassessment last year and kitchen upgrades required by the city’s board of health—expenses estimated to total $100,000 or more over the next two years.
Cummins dancers will be participating in a fundraiser on July 19 at Maloney’s Pub of Ardmore in an effort to save their home.
But this week, it was all fun and games—except for the extra dance instruction from Donohue, McAleer, and teachers Brittany Kelly and Theresa McElhill. We stopped by on Thursday and took some photos of the fun.
Irish Thunder tenor drummer Bernie Murray loads his gear onto the bus.
At this moment, members of Irish Thunder Pipes and Drums are in Galway City, less than a day away from leading the parade that is the centerpiece of one of the largest and most important cultural events in Ireland: The Galway Sessions.
Irish Music Magazine, in an online promo story about the event, described Irish Thunder as “famed.”
Drum Major Pete Hand doesn’t know where that description came from, but he’ll take it.
Standing by the side of the bus that would take him, the rest of the band and family members from the Sacred Heart Church parking lot in Swedesburg down the Philadelphia International Airport, Hand said all of the pipers and drummers are looking forward to the honor.
Other pipe bands will be in the parade, too. “There will be a Scottish band and an Irish military band, as well.”
That performance is just one of many exciting moments the band expects to experience in Ireland during the weeklong trip.
Actually, they were scheduled to experience one exciting moment already, en route from Dublin Airport to Galway. “Of course, we were planning on stopping at the Tullamore Dew Distillery for a little break,” Hand said. He was grinning when he said that.
Another highlight: A visit to an Ancient Order of Hibernians hall in Derry for a night of fun with their AOH brethren.
“They’re holding a ceili that night (music, dancing, and all-round partying),” Hand said. “Their hall is a short walk from our hotel. And then there will be some entertainment at a nearby pub.”
Along with band members, a lot of folks who wanted to travel with the band (I’ve done it, and it’s memorable) are on the trip. Together with the band members, it’s a substantial crowd—about 120.
After Derry, the tour heads further north, where everybody will get a chance to see the Giant’s Causeway, one of Ireland’s true wonders, and the relatively nearby Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge from the mainland out to a little island. Both tourist sights are in County Antrim. A visit to the Titanic Museum in Belfast comes later.
After that, it’s back home to Philly.
Several families are making the trip together. One of the biggest is the Murray family.
“There’s a whole passel of Murrays,” said Bernie Murray, a longtime Irish Thunder tenor drummer.
This is Bernie’s second trip to Ireland. The first was in 2000, when the band played at the All-Ireland Pipe Band Championship in Kilkenny. He expects this to be an even better trip.
“I know more now than I did the first time,” he said. “Plus, I’m going to be playing a lot. I love it.”
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John Boyce gets all rock ‘n roll.
It was a beautiful night for a free Blackthorn concert on Thursday at Park Square in Prospect Park, part of the community’s free summer concert series.
If you missed it, you can catch Blackthorn again on Saturday at Tom n Jerry’s Sports Pub, 1006 McDade Boulevard in Milmont Park start at 4 PM or on Sunday, June 29, at the City of Wildwood, NJ’s Fox Park at Ocean and Burke Avenues in Wildwood.
They’ll be down the shore in July and back in Delco in August.
Or, you can pop in a CD and check out Brian Mengini’s excellent photographs of this week’s concert, below, and pretend you were there.
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The Commodore John Barry Center, familiarly known as The Irish Center
It’s the place where, since 1958, Philadelphia’s Irish community has gathered to talk, laugh, eat, drink, sing, dance, celebrate and mourn. Located in the Mt. Airy section of the city, and known officially as the Commodore Barry Club, the Irish Center–the heart of all things Irish for over 50 years–is now in imminent danger of having its doors shut forever.
The Irish Center has weathered its share of financial emergencies in the past.
But this financial crisis is different.
At the crux of the recent crisis is a recent change in tax rates by the city. The building at 6815 Emlen Street was just re-assessed at $1.2 million, which means an annual tax bill of $16,000. Added to that expense are annual regulatory and insurance fees of $7,000, monthly utilities of $4,000, and upkeep and maintenance costs–including $25,000 to purchase up-to-code appliances in the kitchen. “It’s been years of struggling with the routine maintenance costs, but these new costs go beyond the cushion we’ve relied on in the past,” Irish Center Board Member Sean McMenamin explained. “The city regulations require we upgrade the hood in the kitchen to stainless steel. We applied for a variance, and our kitchen certificate is good for two years. By then, we have to have the new hood in place.”
All of this means an immediate need to raise $50,000 in the next few months in order to keep the Irish Center doors open, and an ultimate goal of raising $100,000 as part of a two-year plan. Without this money, the Center will be gone by the end of the year, and the Irish community will have lost its home.
And a big home the Irish Center is. It’s home to an impressive and ever-expanding historic library; to an incredible array of Irish musicians and dancers; to Gaelic sports fans; to one of the city’s leading folk societies, the Philadelphia Ceili Group; to many county Societies; and to the Philadelphia Emerald Society Band. And that’s just to name just a few.
The Irish Center is both past and future to the Philadelphia Irish community, and this summer is all about celebrating the memories and guaranteeing it will continue and flourish well beyond 2014.
To do that, the Irish Center needs the help and donations of everyone who has ever celebrated their culture or embraced their heritage, so that generations to come can have the same opportunity.
Here’s how you can help save a beloved institution:
Donate money immediately via PayPal, you can visit the Irish Center web page at www.theirishcenter.com. Click on the “Donate” button on the left side of the page. Donations can also be made by check, made out to “The Society of Commodore John Barry, Inc” and sent to 6815 Emlen Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19119.
Keep on the lookout for a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign. It’s launching on July 15. Details to follow.
Toddle on over to Maloney’s Pub in Ardmore on Saturday, July 19, for a big fund-raiser.
Mark your calendars now for The Gathering, a celebratory day at The Irish Center on September 28, featuring many more ways to give.
While this fundraising is immediate and paramount to the current and continued survival of the Irish Center, plans are already under way for the direction that the Center will take beyond the two-year plan. The ultimate goal is to evolve the Irish Center into an Irish Arts and Cultural Center. This will allow the Center to become a non-profit organization, and thrive as a showcase for the history and heritage of the Irish in Philadelphia.
The Commodore Barry Center has always been about the people who gather there, but now this beautiful and historical building needs those people to save it so it can continue on for future generations to also call it home.
“The survival of the Irish Center is based on how we structure ourselves in the next two years. We need this money to keep the Irish Center afloat and the community together as we develop the Irish Center into an Irish Arts and Cultural Center,” Sean said. “When you hear the story of the struggle to keep this place open, you know how much people must love it.”
The Duffy’s Cut Fundraiser on Sunday in Lansdowne not only hit its goal of $15,000 to pay for fees related to retrieving the last 50 bodies of Irish immigrants who died while working on the railroad in 1832, it exceeded it—by at least double that.
“We’ll be able to do the work and finish up the DNA testing,” said the Rev. Frank Watson who, with his brother, Bill, a history professor at Immaculata University in Malvern first brought to light the hidden graves of the 57 immigrants who died during a cholera epidemic.
Frank and Bill Watson
Their work revealed that at least some of those 57 had likely been murdered, probably by a vigilante group worried that they would spread the disease through the wider community. Seven bodies have already been recovered; six were interred at West Laurel Hill Cemetery and the seventh, tentatively identified (via a dental anomaly) as John Ruddy, was buried in a donated plot in Ardara, County Donegal, last year. Ruddy came as a teenager from Inishowen Peninsula in Donegal to work on the railroad.
For more information about this phase of the Duffy’s Cut Project, click here.
A diverse group of individuals and organizations planned and sponsored the event at the Twentieth Century Club on Sunday afternoon. One sponsor was Kris Higgins, a former nun and a public school teacher, who donated $10,000 in the memory of her partner, Mary Pat Bradley, who died last year of ovarian cancer. When asked why, she responded simply, “Because I can. I’m no Lewis Katz [the late philanthropist] but I can do something.”
Other donors included The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, Bringhurst Funeral Home and West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Wilbraham, Lawler & Buba, The Irish Memorial, Kathy McGee Burns, Peter Burns on behalf of his children, the Delaware Valley Irish Hall of Fame, Infrastructure Solutions Services, Chris Flanagan and Brian McGarrity of Mid-Ulster Construction, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 542, the Irish American Business Chamber and Network, the Philadelphia Ceili Group, the Ladies Ancient Order of Hiberians, Trinity Div. 4, Vince Gallagher of Loughros Point Landscaping and the Vince Gallagher Radio Hour, Marianne MacDonald’s “Come West Along the Road” radio show, Ann Baiada, AOH Notre Dame Div.1, Simple Clean, Curragh LLC Newbridge Silverware, Brian Mengini Photography, The Plough and the Stars, Maggie O’Neill’s Irish Pub and Restaurant, Con Murphy’s Irish Pub, Twentieth Century Club, Conrad Obrien, and Tir na Nog Bar & Grill.
Check out the photos below.
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Joan Diver of The Screaming Orphans
York is less than a couple of hours drive from Philadelphia, and it’s worth it to make the trip this gorgeous weekend if only to see and hear The Screaming Orphans. Four sisters named Diver from Donegal play everything from trad tunes learned from their parents to Celtic pop and rock that they make their own with those tight sisterly harmonies. They’re also a hoot on stage and they’ll be lighting up said stage at the annual Penn-Mar Irish Festival on Saturday at the Markets at Shrewsbury in Glen Rock.
It’s the 14th annual festival but the first year for festival organizer Mary Yeaple to take the whole shebang over on her own (with an army of volunteers, of course). And The Screaming Orphans aren’t the only draw. Expect to hear accordionist and all-round good guy John Whelan, the wild and crazy Barleyjuice, and six award-winning representatives of the next generation of Irish trad including three of the local kids heading to Sligo this year to compete in the All-Irelands. Of course there will be Irish dancers, Irish food, and a chance to get a leg up on your Christmas shopping with dozens of vendors.
It only costs $10 to get in and kids under 12 are free.
In Philly on Saturday, catch Friends of Eric, a local band that plaus Irish and old time music, at a free concert at 4th and Bainbridge—all part of the Make Music Philly outside event this weekend.
The Shantys will be providing the Irish tunes at Paddywhacks on the Roosevelet Boulevard on Saturday afternoon.
“The Toughest Boy in Philadelphia,” a gender-bending play based on a true story, continues this week at the Luna Theatre, as does the Joyce-Shakespeare exhibit at the Rosenbach Museum.
On Sunday, the St. Patrick’s Gaelic Football Club is holding a fundraising beenf and beer at Nineteen 19 at 1254 W. Chester Pike in Havertown.
Break up your week with a little bit of Irish music. On Wednesday, listen to NJ singer Bill O’Neill at AOH Div. 61 Clubhouse at 4131 Rhawn Street in Philadelphia.
If you’re in Bethlehem, break up your week with a little Welsh music. Jodee James will be singing the music and telling the stories of Wales at the Bethlehem Public Library on Wednesday, a program sponsored by the Celtic Cultural Alliance.
Next Friday, Jamison will be playing at Curran’s in Tacony.
And get tickets now to hear traditional Irish flute player, guitarist and pianist John Blake at the Coatesville Traditional Irish Music Series in Coatesville on Saturday.
Sunday, June 29, is Celtic Day at picturesque Bristol Riverfront Park along the Delaware. The Philadelphia Police and Fire Pipes and Drums, No Irish Need Apply, and the Hooligans will be playing.
Check our calendar for all the details—and don’t forget to add your event!