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October 2015

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

The beautiful 19th century St. Malachy’s Church in North Philadelphia will be the setting on Sunday, November 1 for the annual Mick Moloney and Friends concert to benefit the church and school founded by Irish immigrants and the Sisters of Mercy.

Limerick native Moloney, who is both a musician and historian, first started the concert more than 25 years ago when he was living in Philadelphia and working at the University of Pennsylvania. The catalyst for the concert was his friendship with then pastor, Father John McNamee, whose book, “Diary of a City Priest,” chronicled his years ministering to the poor in North Philadelphia.

Moloney has been credited with renewing interest in traditional Irish music in the Philadelphia region. McNamee turned a small Catholic parish school into a showpiece for the benefits of a Catholic education: Most of its graduates go on to higher education; even its kindergartners test out at 10 percent above grade level in reading.

October 30, 2015 by Denise Foley

Music, News, People, Videos

Video: The Emerald Pipe Band, from Then Till Now

It started out as a police and fire band—only there weren’t really enough cops and firefighters to fill out an entire band. So membership in the Philadelphia Emerald Society Pipe Band was opened up to civilians.

From that point on, the band has moved from its humble beginnings in an American Legion hall, marching in parades throughout the Delaware Valley, to its longtime practice hall in the ballroom at the Philadelphia Irish Center/Commodore Barry Club. After that move, the band became an integral part of the Irish community, playing for everything from county banquets to the annual Joe McGarrity memorial in Holy Cross Cemetery to—of course—the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day parade.

October 23, 2015 by Jeff Meade

How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish In Philly This Week

Before Halloween meant going from house to house in costume demanding candy, it was Samhain (Sah-win), a Celtic festival that marked the end of the year and, most important, a time when the curtain between the living and the dead, the flesh and the spirit, grew thin enough to permit passage between them. Ancient Celts left food for their dead ancestors and participated in rituals to honor the dead and any protective spirits hovering nearby.

It’s a harvest festival, the remnants of which remain in our carving of pumpkins and bobbing for apples (does anyone really do that anymore?).

October 23, 2015 by Denise Foley

News, Videos

For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow

When the Delaware Valley Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (CCE) presented County Tyrone-born accordion player Kevin McGillian with its Lifetime Achievement Award, we captured video of his big moment.

CCE Chairperson Katherine Ball-Weir presented opening comments, and led the tribute.

October 17, 2015 by Jeff Meade

News

Irish Heritage Theatre Takes on a Big Challenge

Sean O’Casey’s “Juno and the Paycock” is a staple of Irish theatre. Of all the plays of that genre that could possibly be presented onstage, it is one of the most difficult.

Compared to the Irish Heritage Theatre’s recent production of O’Casey’s “The Shadow of a Gunman,” “Juno and the Paycock”—the second play in O’Casey’s Dublin Trilogy—is a very different play, says producer, playwright and actor Armen Pandola.

For one thing, “there are a lot of different characters,” Pandola explained one night earlier this week as he awaited the start of a rehearsal at Plays and Players Theatre, where “Juno” is now playing through October 31. “Nobody wants to do plays with 14 characters. This is a very communal effort. It sounds cliché, but those chains are only as strong as their weakest link.”

October 16, 2015 by Jeff Meade

How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

It’s the beginning of Ball season in Philadelphia, an Irish tradition started by the various county societies to raise money for causes at “home” dear to the immigrants’ hearts. This Saturday, the Cavan Society starts it off with music and dancing at the Irish Center. You might see the Philly Rose of Tralee, Mairead Comaskey, there. She traces some of her roots to Cavan.

The Cavan event is followed by the Mayo Association Ball on November 7—which includes the selection of Miss Mayo—and the 129th Donegal Ball on November 28, which incorporates the crowning of the next Mary from Dungloe who will compete for the international title in Dungloe, Donegal next summer.

If you’d like to compete in the Miss Mayo Pageant, open to young women 17-27, contact Eileen Barrilli at 215-205-3221. The Mary from Dungloe pageant is open to women of Irish descent 18-29. For more information, contact Meghan Davis—herself a former Philly and International Mary from Dungloe—at 570-574-7966.

October 16, 2015 by Denise Foley

Food & Drink, Music, People, Photos

It’s All About the Lip Sync

Jimmy Fallon, eat your heart out! You may have made lip syncing cool, but last Friday night the Irish Immigration Center of Philadelphia filled the ballroom of the Paxon Hollow Golf Club in Broomall with its Lip Sync Challenge. Over 300 people turned out to cheer on the ten acts who performed like the entertainers they were channeling.

And the theme of the night was FUN.

One of the most important missions of the Immigration Center is its work with the seniors in the community, including a monthly lunch at the Irish Center in Mt. Airy, so it was only fitting that two of the acts, The Jailbirds and Seniors in Sync, were composed of seniors. Proving age has no season, they brought the house down with their performances, including interpretations of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” and Beyonce’s “Single Ladies.”

October 16, 2015 by Lori Lander Murphy

News, People, Photos, Videos

Tribute to Kevin McGillian

Dozens of people crammed into the tiny MacSwiney Club last Saturday night to pay tribute to Kevin McGillian, who has been playing Irish music on his button accordion at ceilis far and wide since he arrived from Tyrone in the 1950s.

The Comhaltas Ceoltiori Eireann Philadelphia-Delaware Valley Division gave McGillian its lifetime achievement award, appropriately during a break in a ceili at the Jenkintown club. Playing button accordion in the ceili band was Billy McComiskey, a four-time all-Ireland champion who drive up from Baltimore to be part of the event. Later in the evening, he gave McGillian his accordion to hold and the octogenarian, who has been battling cancer, coaxed a tune out of it. McGillians sons, Jimmy and John, also joined in the music making.

October 16, 2015 by Denise Foley

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