Radio hosts Marianne MacDonald and Vince Gallagher
There are two Irish plays running this week—The Lantern Theatre Company’s “A Skull in Connemara” by Martin McDonagh and Inis Nua Theatre Company’s “Pump Girl” by Abbie Spallen—starting the 2011 theater season off to a Celtic start. As we told you last week, there’s an Irish Theater Festival going on in Philly and this is your chance to experience the works some of Ireland’s finest playwrights.
This Saturday, you can show your support for the WTMR 800AM Sunday Irish Radio Shows at J.D. McGillicuddy’s in Kirklyn while enjoying an evening of music and dancing (and singing if you feel like it). Hosts Marianne MacDonald and Vince Gallagher need to raise more than $30,000 a year to keep the shows on the air.
Also on Saturday, all-Ireland piper Michael Cooney and guitarist and singer Pat Egan will be perfoming in one cozy venue—a livingroom in Lansdale. The two “boys from Tipperary” will be performing at a house concert in the Spring Hill House Concert Series. To get directions, you’ll have to email Bette Conway at bette@betteconway.com because it’s her livingroom.
On Sunday, AOH Div. 87 is having its beef and beer at Finnigan’s Wake at 3rd and Spring Garden Streets starting at 3 PM.
At 6 PM Sunday, poet-priest Father John McNamee will celebrate a Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Philadelphia to remember Michaela Harte, daughter of Tyrone football coach Mickey Harte, who was murdered while on her honeymoon just two weeks after marrying football star John McAreavey. The 28-year-old teacher has family and friends in the Philadelphia area who are organizing the memorial.
Next weekend alert: On Saturday, January 22, AOH Notre Dame Div. 1 is holding a ceili at the AOH Hall in Swedesburg and Blackthorn is playing its annual benefit for AOH Black Jack Kehoe Div. 4 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Springfield. That’s also the evening you can hear popular local performers, Gabriel Donohue (late of County Galway) and Marian Makins at The Shanachie Pub and Restaurants in Ambler.
And big news: Coming to the Shanachie on January 27 are Robbie O’Connell and Aoife Clancy with their Clancy Legacy Show (his mother was a Clancy and her father was Bobby Clancy of the famed Clancy Brothers). They’re two remarkable performers in their own right.
As usual, you’ll find all the details on our interactive calendar.
