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Jeff Meade

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

Because there’s not as much happening as in pre-Covid times, we’re looking forward a bit.

First up—and this is a don’t miss—the John Byrne Band is taking the stage for a socially distanced drive-in concert Saturday, August 1, in the People’s Light parking lot, 39 Conestoga Road in Malvern. John and the band are always a guaranteed good time. If you can, go.

Coming up sooner:

On Facebook Saturday, July 18, at 8 p.m. Irish time, 3 p.m. Eastern, our own Raymond Coleman is part of a huge cast of musicians worldwide playing for an NHS Fundraiser Gig. Check it out here. Donate here: https://gf.me/u/yfjb55

Jamison Celtic Rock will present its acoustic act Sunday, July 19, at Keenan’s Irish Pub, 113 Olde New Jersey Avenue in North Wildwood. The tunes begin at 6 p.m.

July 17, 2020 by Jeff Meade

How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

Little by little, we’re getting into the Irish swing of things again. Not a lot, but a few events worth mentioning as we head into the next couple of weeks.

We’ll start with Saturday, July 11. John Byrne and Andy Keenan will be playing at Burlington County Farmers Market, 500 Centerton Road, Moorestown, New Jersey. The tunes start at 8:30 a.m. John says they’ll be tucked away in their chicken cage—not completely sure what that means—safely distant from their audience. Details here.

If you’ve missed Jamison Celtic Rock—who hasn’t?—check out the band’s acoustic act Sunday, July 12, at Keenan’s Irish Pub, 113 Olde New Jersey Avenue in North Wildwood. Otherwise known as the Irish Riviera. The music starts at 6 p.m.

July 10, 2020 by Jeff Meade

News

Calling All Philly Irish: Time to Help the Irish Center

This was supposed to be the Commodore Barry Arts and Cultural Center’s big year.

The Mount Airy-based center makes most of its money from hosting events—from ceili dances and Irish language courses to big banquets and wedding receptions that typically fill the center’s spacious ballroom to capacity. For 2020, the calendar was so crowded with paying events, there was a waiting list.

And then in mid-March the pandemic hit, and the center had to close.

“In January, we were preparing the budget. We were booked solid the entire year,” says Center board member and vice president Lisa Maloney. “This has been years in the making. We really thought we were on a positive plane. We had a lot of different events coming in, and we were very excited—and then Covid came in. We now have no income coming in at all. We don’t have big expenditures, but we do have the monthly costs of running the building.”

July 10, 2020 by Jeff Meade

History

The Great Hunger and the Dust Bowl: A Tale of Two Tragedies

On the one hand, the Great Hunger in Ireland and the Dust Bowl in the United States would seem to have little in common. On the other hand, well … you’d be wrong.

True, The Great Hunger, or An Gorta Mór, in the 1840s—commonly known as the potato famine, but it was more complicated than that—resulted in the death by starvation of a million Irish people, and the emigration of a million more. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s, while incredibly tragic, resulted in the deaths of comparatively few—roughly 7,000—but also resulted in new migration patterns amounting in the tens of thousands of Americans, many of them to California, and unparalleled poverty.

But it’s not as simple as that, says Bill McCray, volunteer with a background in training and development and facilitator of a new two-week virtual Irish Diaspora Center study group called “The History of An Gorta Mór and the Dust Bowl.”

The group meets by Zoom Tuesday, July 28, at 7 p.m. and Tuesday, August 4, at 8:30 p.m.

July 10, 2020 by Jeff Meade

Arts, Music

Local Drummer on a Roll With a Pandemic-Inspired Musical Project

When the great covid-19 shutdown began, percussionist Sean J. Kennedy went back to school.

Way back.

A Lower Gwynedd resident and band director at Sandy Run Middle School in the Upper Dublin School District, Kennedy is also an award-winning author of percussion texts whose work has been performed at Carnegie Hall and a working musician who has performed with many orchestras over the years.

One of the first tunes he learned as a kid was “Downfall of Paris,” dating back to the 1700s, said to be one of Ben Franklin’s favorites. It’s taught to young drummers everywhere because it blends many, if not most, of the basic drum rudiments that form the building blocks of percussion. Rudimental drum exercises like the paradiddle—right left right right-left right left left—and rolls.

July 1, 2020 by Jeff Meade

How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

As the Philly area goes green, beginning to emerge from statewide pandemic restrictions, the very good news is that your favorite watering hole or restaurant might have opened already, at least on a limited basis, and even begun to expand from the outdoors to the indoors. Same as the good old pre-Covid days? Nope, but we’ll bet it’s going to be plenty good enough for those of us who have missed our normal routines … and our favorite dish or brew.

All of them are taking the state-mandated precautions—for example, requiring masks of patrons while waiting and when not at the table; taking the temperatures of staffers before each shift; requiring staffers to wear masks at all times; and spacing tables six feet apart. Some require reservations; some don’t. A few place time limits on how long you can stay, or restrictions on how many people can be seated at a table. And you’ll find more variations on that theme, all designed to keep staff and patrons safe. Hours may be subject to change.

Some of these places have entertainment lined up. You might even find happy hour, karaoke, quizzo, or a guy with a guitar.

What follows is by no means an exhaustive list. We’d advise you to check with your local pub, bar or restaurant to find out their status. Those that haven’t opened up yet often have pickup and delivery available. For that matter, even if the following are now offering street or patio dining, they’re usually also offering pickup and delivery, as they have for weeks.

For now, here’s what we’ve got:

June 26, 2020 by Jeff Meade

News, People

Remembering Muriel Prickitt

Irish dancers and musicians will have no trouble remembering Muriel Prickitt, who passed away at age 87 on June 7 at Samaritan Hospice in Voorhees, N.J ., following a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease. She was simply everywhere and had a hand in virtually everything relating to Irish music and dance.

An exquisite set dancer and legendarily fast accordion player, this force of nature was known by all. She is mourned—and celebrated—by friends and relations almost past counting.

One of those who honors her memory is Gerry Buckley, of Ardagh in County Limerick, Ireland. Buckley was a founding member of the Delaware Valley chapter of Irish music, dance and cultural organization Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. In 1989, the newly wed Gerry and wife Fiona moved to Voorhees, N.J., where they met Muriel Prickitt through the set dance community.

“My wife was a set dancer before she moved over,” Buckley recalls. “She was looking for someplace where she could go set dancing, and she met Muriel and (Prickitt’s companion) Tom Quinn. I forget where they actually met, but they got to talking and Muriel mentioned that she was going for set dance lessons in Jenkintown. She said, ‘Why don’t you come along?’ and that was it.”

June 12, 2020 by Jeff Meade

Music

Pandemic Inspires Jamison Fiddler Alice Marie to Push the Bounds of Creativity

If you see Jamison Celtic Rock fiddler Alice Marie busking outside a Target, don’t surprised.

She’s half-serious about it, but for most Irish musicians who lost a lot of work in March and afterward, she’s doing whatever she can to keep body and soul together.

March is Christmas for Irish musicians in the area. It’s when they earn a significant amount of money. The coronavirus pandemic put an end to that.

It was no different for Alice Marie, who also makes a living as a jazz violinist and singer, and whatever else requires the talents of a gifted string player.

“I was on tour with Jamison in Florida, she recalls. “Then our tour was cut short and we had to come back due to Covid-19. So we came back and we were able to get a gig together at Currans Tacony, and that was our last show. It was a big night, and after that, we were pretty much quarantined. Our last major activity was in March. I had at least 20 shows canceled in March, so that was crazy.”

May 29, 2020 by Jeff Meade

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