If you missed him the first time he was here, your second chance to hear Gabriel Donohue at the Irish Center happens Friday night, February 19. Donohue, who has played at Carnegie Hall, at the Clinton White House, and on CNN, and the network morning shows, is a singer and multi-instrumentalist. He’ll be performing with Marian Makins and Pairac Keane.
If your bent is comedy, there’s an evening of it to benefit Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia at Maggie O’Neill’s in Drexel Hill on Friday night.
And it’s a jam-packed Saturday night:
The Rose of Tralee Winter BBQ which was postponed because of the snow is going on at The Willows Mansion in Villanova on Saturday night. Meet the reigning Rose of Tralee Jocelyn McGillian and many other lovely ladies while you pretend you’re out in the backyard eating grilled stuff. Well, you won’t have to pretend you’re eating grilled stuff—that will be there—but it might be a good idea to stay out of the back yard. It’s $20, all you can eat, with DJ Bucky Scott, Quizzo with prizes, kids’ activities and proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure (the Roses participate).
Singer Danny Quinn is making a special appearance at The Irish Times, one of our favorite pubs in Philly, down in Queen Village. We’ve seen Quinn perform at the Shanachie in Ambler and he’s also one of our favorites.
John Byrne is trotting out his newest CD, After the Wake, at World Café Live on Saturday night. Byrne, Enda Keegan, and Damien Byrne will be performing, but the event is sold out. You gotta move on these things people. We told you about John Byrne a week ago.
AOH Division 1 in Bristol Borough is hosting a benefit for Project Children, a program that brings kids from Northern Ireland to the US during the summer. There will be music by the Birmingham Six, members of the band Jameson, The Shanty’s, and Susie and the Sizzlers.
Wish we could be everywhere.
On Sunday, don’t forget that the WTMR 800AM Irish radio shows are holding their on-air fundraiser. Lots of great gifts and prizes. Tune in at 11 AM.
The second of four St. Patrick’s Day Parade fundraisers is scheduled for Sunday at 3 PM at the Mayfair Community Center. This one honors Grand Marshal Seamus Boyle, national president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and the Ring of Honor recipients. It features music by The Shanty’s (they’re having a busy weekend), Ballina, The Gallagher Brothers, and the Irish Dance Group Celtic Flame. Plus food and drink and prizes and all the usual frivolity, all for a good cause.
The Jameson Sisters—that’s singer Teresa Kane and harper Ellen Tepper—will be performing at the Molly Maguire Pub and Restaurant in Phoenixville. We could go on and on about the Jamesons, the Molly Maguire Pub, and Phoenixville, but suffice it to say (as Sister Silvanus used to put it) that it’s a fabulous combination.
On Monday night, the Inis Nua Theatre Company, which produces plays from the UK and Ireland, is starting its reading series with “O Go My Man,” a play by Sheila Feehily at The Playground at the Adrienne Theatre on Sansom Street in Philadelphia.
Then on Tuesday—Parade Fundraiser #3, this one at Con Murphy’s Pub on the Parkway at 17th with the group, Slainte. Gourmet hors d’oeuvres are promised and it’s an open bar, all for $50 which goes to help the Philly St. Patrick’s Day Parade make up a $100,000 shortfall.
And it’s not over yet. On Wednesday, join Sarah Conaghan of the Rose of Tralee Center and Alan Farrelly, vice consul of Ireland, at Tir na nOg, for a discussion of what it means to be Irish these days. All with Irish food and drink, sponsored by International House’s Culture and Cuisine program.
Or, join RUNA, a multinational Irish group HQed in Philly at the World Café Live, also on Wednesday night.
And the week’s entertainment is not over. On Friday night, Derek Warfield and the Young Wolfetones will be performing at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Glenside at a benefit for the charities supported by the Sean McBride Div. 2 of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
Also on Friday, Irish artist Sarah Iremonger’s mixed media exhibit opens at the University of the Arts in Broad Street in Philadelphia. It includes a mural, a video continuing original and found footage and digital photography and runs through March 17.
And it’s not even March.
TIVO ALERT: Just set it up for the next month, starting next week. Next Friday, the Irish Tenors are coming to the Liacouras Center, and Irish singing sensation Annemarie O’Riordan is kicking off her first American tour at the Irish Center on Friday, March 5. Wait, that’s not all. The Mount Holly St. Paddy’s Day parade is on Saturday and BUA, the super Irish trad group, will be on stage at the Irish Center that night, Ronan Tynan will be at the Keswick in Glenside, and that’s the weekend of Gael Scoil in Lawrenceville, NJ, where kids 7-17 can learn Irish history, language, music, sports and all things Celtic.
And wait, it’s still not over. On Sunday, the fourth Parade fundraiser with Blackthorn is at the Springfield Country Club, fiddlers Alasdair Frasier and Natalie Haas will be doing workshops and performing at Brittingham’s in Lafayette Hill, and Kevin Crawford and Cillian Vallely from Lunasa will be in Coatesville.
An embarrasment of riches, or bad planning? You decide.
