Ivan Goff
Wouldn’t worship services be so much better if, instead of church music, you could get all spiritual to the tunes of U2?
Well, you can. This Saturday, St. Thomas’s Church in Fort Washington will be holding a service that features the music of Bono and friends. It’s part of an Episcopal Church program aimed at rallying support for concepts such as global reconciliation, justice for the poor and oppressed, and the importance of caring for your neighbor. You know, the stuff Jesus talked about. Services start at 4:30 PM at the church, which is known for its Celtic services.
The Philadelphia Ceili Group has an unusual program planned for Saturday. In the afternoon, you can find out how Ireland’s West saved the uilleann pipes, the traditional Irish pipes which have a wider range of notes—and, to my ears, a sweeter sound—than the pipes most people know (accompanied by marching guys in kilts). Dr. Scott B. Spencer, an ethnomusicologist most recently the Visiting Research Scholar at the Centre for Irish Studies at the National University of Ireland at Galway, will talk about the uilleann pipes’ history. Then, in the evening, you can hear one of the world’s premier uilleann pipers, Ivan Goff, an All-Ireland champ from Dublin now based in New York, show you why the uilleann pipes were worth saving. Goff has played with some of the top Irish bands in the land, including Dervish, Danu, Teada, Lunasa, Green Fields of America with Mick Moloney, and Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul. He’s also been in Riverdance and Michael Flately’s Lord of the Dance.
Goff will be accompanied by Eamon O’Leary, singer/guitarist from Dublin, who has likewise performed with many of Irish music’s leading lights, including Paddy Keenan, Mick Moloney, Tommy Peoples, James Keane, Susan McKeown, John Doyle, and Patric Ourceau.
These events are part of a year-long Philadelphia Ceili Group program focusing on music from the West of Ireland. If you’re from Mayo, Sligo, Galway, Clare, Kerry, Limerick, Leitrim or Donegal, this is a wonderful way to get back to your musical roots.’’
If wild Celtic music is your thing, head over to the Radisson in Valley Forge where you can hear the high-voltage Albannach, Brother, and Barleyjuice and the unusual and lovely music of Irish-Native American musician Arvel Bird pretty much all night. This is usually the week of the Mid-winter Scottish & Irish Festival, but casino construction at the Valley Forge Convention Center forced Bill Reid of East of the Hebrides Entertainment to move the fest to the end of March. Since these topnotch groups weren’t available, he brought them in to a new venue for the weekend. Thanks, Bill!
Also on Saturday, Timlin and Kane will be at St. James Pub at the Sands Casino in Bethlehem, and Jamison will be playing at Curran’s Northeast. Timlin and Kane will be at The Shanachie in Ambler on Sunday for family day. Bring the kiddies for specials and music all day.
Don’t forget: The critically acclaimed “Little Gem,” a production by the Inis Nua Theatre Company, continues this week through the end of the month.
On Sunday, classically trained violinist Heather Martin Bixler, who went over to the dark side. . .er, Irish fiddling. . .about 10 years ago, will be offering a free fiddle workshop at West Chester University, thanks to Kildare’s West Chester where she’ll be leading the session later in the evening. A little birdie told us that the amazing Sligo fiddler Brian Conway is coming in from New York to play with her. So that’s two top notch fiddlers for the price of one. Oh right, it’s free!
The first of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day fundraisers happens on Sunday at the Second Street Irish Society where, along with some great celtic rock, you can hear the always wonderful Second Street Irish Society Pipes and Drums and watch their step dancers—a parade unto itself. Two more fundraisers will follow—on February 26 at Insulator’s Hall in Philadelphia, and on March 4 at Springfield Country Club.
For a slight change of pace on Sunday night, Archie Fisher, a leading Scottish folk singer, will be performing with Garnet Rodgers at the Calvary United Methodist Church in Philadelphia on Sunday night; John Byrne of The John Byrne Band will be on the Folk Show with Gene Shay on WXPN 88.5; and a bunch of guys who should know better—the men of Irish Network-Philly—will be taking on their first opponents in a series of 7-a-Side soccer games at Star Finders on Main Street in Manayunk.
Dancers, don’t forget: McKenna’s Gift Shop in Havertown is holding a used dance shoe/gear swap for the rest of this month. Take the stuff you’ve outgrown to McKenna’s and let them sell it for you. Pick up something that fits!
On Monday, historian Gavin Wilk will speak about one of Philadelphia’s leading Irish sons, Joseph McGarrity, a businessman from County Tyrone who was a leader of the pro-Republican Clan na Gael organization. The Philadelphia-based McGarrity provided arms shipments to the Irish Republicans and brought Eamon de Valera to the US for a tour to promote Irish independence.
Speaking of Irish Republicans, next Friday, Derek Warfield and the Youg Wolfetones will be at the Rising Sun VFW in Philadelphia where there will be dancing and fun, and maybe a few rebel songs.
And speaking of dancing, there aren’t that many tickets left for the Delco Gaels fundraiser, “Dance Like a Star,” on Friday night, February 24 at the Springfield Country Club. We’ve been talking to some of the dancers this week and they’re all practicing their waltzes, cha-chas, and swing dances like mad. CBS3 consumer reporter (and very funny guy) Jim Donovan is the host for the evening. We’re going to the last group practice this week so we can give you a preview mid-week. So come on back here for a look at Philly’s version of “Dancing with the Stars.”
And take a look at our calendar, for these and other events. Take a peek at March. It will make your head spin. Or is that just me? Along with parades and pub crawls, we’ve got RUNA, Altan, Enter the Haggis, Black 47, Paddy Moloney and the Chieftains, Dervish, the Saw Doctors (we’ll have an interview coming soon), the John Byrne Band, Grainne Hambley and William Jackson, Lunasa (at Longwood!), the Irish Rovers, Celtic Pride, Moya Brennan, Eileen Ivers, all the fab performers at the Mid-Winter Scottish & Irish Festival, not to mention the Donnybook Cup (USA Tomahawks face off against the Irish Wolfhounds in rugby, followed by Blackthorn), and a Tullamore Dew whiskey tasting. Yes, we’re squeezing all of that into March. And probably more. So keep checking back to see what fun the Irish have in store for you during our month!
