Denise Foley

Leo and Anto will be at the Tin Angel with the John Byrne Band this weekend.

Saw Doctors fans, you probably already know that Leo and Anto (Leo Moran of the Saw Doctors and Anthony Thistlethwaite from the Waterboys) will be at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia all weekend, with the John Byrne Band opening for them. I say that because Saw Doctors fans always know when their boys are in town. Now the rest of you do too.

Also on Saturday, the Monaghan brothers, Bill and Jim, of Celtic Pride, will be remembering their late brother, Michael, who died in 1998 while serving in the US Navy, at a fundraiser to raise money for the Michael S. Monaghan Memorial Scholarship. The event will be held at Archbishop Wood High School Sophia A. Friedman Auditorium, starting at 7 PM. The scholarship is given to an incoming ninth grader at Wood from Nativity of Our Lord or St. Vincent de Paul parishes.

On Sunday, there’s a ceili at the Irish Center in Wilmington, and you can get your dancing fix at J.D. McGillcuddy’s in Upper Darby where the Theresa Flanagan Band is playing.

Also on Sunday, musicians from Cape Breton and Newfoundland will be showing off the Canadian side of Celtic music at Calvary Center in Philadelphia, another Crossroads concert bringing the best of international music to Philadelphia.

On Wednesday, relive the best moments of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade at the Second Street Irish Society Hall on Third Street in Philadelphia. The Bogside Rogues and the Second Street Irish Society Step Dancers will perform as winners of the various prizes awarded to groups in the parade get their just due.

The play, Penelope, by Enda Walsh, and produced by the Inis Nua Theatre Company, continues this week at the Prince Theater in Philadelphia. Also on stage this coming Friday, The Muse and Mr. Yeats, a “play for voices,” which introduces each of the women with whom the famed Irish poet William Butler Yeats was involved. You can see the play by Eamon Grennon at the Vasey Black Box Theater at Villanova University.

On Saturday, the new Shamrocks Youth Camogie Team – camogie is the female version of hurling—will hold a beef-and-beer fundraiser at Daly’s Pub on Comly Street in Philadelphia.

As always, check the calendar for more information.

Ceremonies remembering the 1916 Easter Rising are this weekend in Yeadon.

It’s definitely a crazy busy week if you’re trying to set a record for being Irish. Here’s what’s going on:

On Sunday, the annual Easter Rising Ceremony, takes place at Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, commemorating the war for Irish independence that started with the proclamation of 1916—the equivalent of the US Declaration of Independence some 140 years before. There will be ceremonies at the graves of Clan na Gael heroes “Dynamite” Luke Dillon and Joseph McGarrity, the latter of which was one of the financiers of the rebellion. See photos below of last year’s ceremony.

On Saturday, get in touch with your Irish ancestors with a little help from genealogists at the Irish Genealogy Seminar at the Irish Immigration Center in Upper Darby. It starts at 10 AM.

At 6 PM on Saturday evening, Scythian will be performing at a fundraiser for the Little Sisters of the Poor at Villanova University.

At 8 PM, Blackthorn will be doing the same for the charities of the Black Jack Kehoe Division of the AOH at the Regal Banquet Hall in Prospect Park.

The AOH Dennis Kelly Division of Havertown is hosting a Back to the 80s Dance Party on Saturday night with live music from the tribute band, Weird Science, at the St Denis (Cardinal Foley) Gym on Eagle Road in Havertown. Proceeds from the event, which costs $40 and includes gourmet food from McShea’s of Narberth, beer and wine, goes to the AOH Charity Fund which supports programs such as Wounded Warriors, Make-a-Wish, and the home heating oil program. To get tickets or for more information, go to www.aohdenniskelly.com or email division president Tim Kelly at tim_kelly17@comcast.net.

If you’re in Wilmington, catch Burning Bridget Cleary at the World Café Live at the Queen.

Lafferty’s Wake, the interactive play set in a pub, continues its run at Soceity Hilly Playhouse.

This week also marked the opening of “Penelope,” a play by contemporary Irish playwright Enda Walsh, produced by the Inis Nua Theatre Company on stage at the Prince Theater.

On Sunday, the Sunday Irish Radio Shows on WTMR 800 AM are holding their Spring fundraiser and taking pledges on-air starting at 11 AM. You can call in at 856-962-8000 and listen in on the web at www.wtmrradio.com.

There’s a painting fundraiser for the Divine Providence Village Rainbow Irish Dancers on Sunday at Dish and Dabble in Havertown. I hear through the grapevine that this almost sold-out event has had a few more spots open up. Give a call and reserve a space.

On Sunday evening, two great Irish singers, Len Graham and Brian O’ hAirt, will be performing together in concert at the Irish Center in Philadelphia. This is a Philadelphia Ceili Group event.

On Tuesday, folks up north can pick up a few Irish phrases at the Irish Gaelic for Beginners class at Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The Irish conversation group—not for beginners—continues at Villanova University this Thursday.

Also on Thursday, feel like a little Irish bingo? I do. I’m going to try to make the Irish Network-Philly’s Irish bingo night at Maggie O’Neill’s in Drexel Hill. I don’t know what makes it Irish—perhaps the folks playing—but IN-Philly is also a great way to mix and mingle with a lot of class people. The bingo is just the icing on that cake.

We’ve been hearing great things about the two new sessions at the Sligo Pubs—Monday night in Media and Thursday night in Glen Mills. We’re going to be checking them out.

Let us know if we forgot anything. All the details for these events and more are on our calendar. If your event isn’t on our calendar. . .well, what are you waiting for? Put it there! Just click on “events calendar” at the top of the home page, click on “submit your event,” and just do what we tell you to do. It won’t appear right away. The calendar sends us an email letting us know you submitted your event and we have to give it the okay to tell everyone else. It’s always been that way.

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Spend an evening with Gerry Timlin.

I’ve spent an evening or two with Gerry Timlin, and let me tell you, he’s a hoot. A great singer, wonderful musician, but it’s the hoot part that’s going to win you over if you’ve never heard him before. The former Shanachie Pub owner is appearing at Act II Playhouse in Ambler on Saturday night in a show billed as “An Evening with Gerry Timlin.” I highly recommend this evening of music and comedy from the Coalisland, Tyrone-born Timlin who, with his musical partner of 40 years, Tom Kane, performed at the White House last year.

Lafferty’s Wake, the interactive play set in a pub, continues its run at Society Hill Playhouse due to popular demand.

If you’re planning on buying Easter plants this weekend, consider a trip to Terrain in Glen Mills. The new perennial Irish primroses, all the way from Fitzgerald Nursery in County Kilkenny, have arrived there, according to our friend, nursery owner Pat Fitzgerald. Read about these completely Irish plants.

If you’re in the Bronx, catch Philly fave Raymond Coleman (also from Tyrone) at Behan’s Pub on Sunday.

Seamus Heaney is the feature poet on the live Comcast 66/966 and Verizon 29/30 poetry talk show hosted by poet Warren Longmire on Tuesday night from 6:30 to 7:30 PM.

On Wednesday, two remarkable talents, Grainne Hambly and William Jackson, two of the foremost harpers in the Celtic world, will be at the Markeim Arts Center in Haddonfield, NJ. They’ll be doing a house concert in West Chester near the university on Friday—seating is limited so call the number on our calendar to reserve your spot.

Also on Wednesday, uilleann piper David Power will be performing at the Coatesville Cultural Society. I’m a uilleann pipe fan and have heard Power play live. He’s amazing.

On Thursday, you can still talk Irish at Villanova—the conversation group continues.

On Friday, there’s a special evening Mass at Sacred Heart Church in Havertown to celebrate Irish heritage and remember the deceased. There will be refreshments served after the service.

We’re going to give you a peek at what’s coming up beyond this week since it’s never too early to plan ahead.

On Saturday, April 11, the Irish American Genealogical Society of Delaware Countywill be holding a special Irish genealogy seminar at the Irish Immigration Center in Upper Darby. It runs from 10 AM to 2 PM. Now’s the time to learn how to find Great-Uncle Fergus.

There are also a couple of fundraisers on April 11 you should know about:

Blackthorn will perform at the Black Jack Kehoe AOH Div. 4 fundraiser for AOH charities at the Regal Banquet Hall in Prospect Park.

Scythian, the DC-based Celtic-Balkan group, are reprising their annual fundraiser for the Little Sisters of the Poor at Villanova.

Burning Bridget Cleary will be playing at the World Café Live’s venue at the Queen in Wilmington.

On Sunday, the annual Easter Rising Ceremony takes place at the graves of Clan na Gael heroes Joseph McGarrity and Luke Dillon at Holy Cross Cemetery. It’s a very moving event, particularly poignant during this 99th anniversary year of the 1916 uprising for Irish freedom, that features guest speakers, pipers, and the 69th Irish Brigade re-enactors.

Also on Sunday, two fabulous singers, Len Graham and Brian O’ hairt combine their prodigious talents and blend their voices on stage at the Irish Center.

Sunday is also the date of a painting fundraiser for the Divine Providence Village dancers at Dish & Dabble in Havertown and the annual Joseph E. Montgomery AOH Div. 65 Fleadh an Erraigh, honoring AOH members and others. The group Fair Trade will perform at Di Fabio’s Spring Valley Banquet Facility in Springfield.

Check our calendar for all the details and come back during the week to see who posted their events on Irish time.

Dr. Maureen Murphy’s book, Compassionate Stranger: at Villanova on Monday

Thanks to March’s terrible weather, the month is not only going out like a lamb, it’s going out with a parade. Two of them, in fact. The Mount Holly, NJ, St. Patrick’s Day Parade, usually the first of the season, will be the last, on Sunday, starting at noon. The Conshohocken parade will precede it on Saturday, starting at 2 PM.

Also on Saturday afternoon, the Theresa Flanagan Band will be playing a fundraiser for St. Lucy School, which is for children with visual impairments, at the gym of Holy Innocents Parish in Philadelphia.

The Plough and the Stars in Philadelphia is holding an organic vegan workshop at 6 PM. Restaurant professionals get a discount.

Lafferty’s Wake, an interactive comedy, continues its run at Society Hill Playhouse all weekend.

If you happen to be in Yonkers on Saturday night, catch local favorite Raymond Coleman at Moriarity’s. He’ll be at Behan’s Pub in the Bronx on Monday night.

On Monday afternoon, Dr. Maureen O’Rourke Murphy, author of Compassionate Stranger, will talk about Quaker Asenath Nicholson, the subject of her book, and his involvement in An Gorta Mor, the years of the Irish starvation, at Villanova University.

On Thursday, the Elders come to the Sellersville Theater with their mad combo of Irish jigs and American roots and rock.

Then on Friday, catch the local Paul Moore Band at First Friday at Brittingham’s in Lafayette Hill.