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Denise Foley

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

A Screaming Orphan, screaming.

Expect cancellations and delays this week—and possibly through Spring this year—as you attempt to be Irish. Here’s what our calendar says it’s going on, but be sure to call ahead to see if an event is still on:

One event that’s definitely on—the annual Midwinter Scottish and Irish Festival at The Valley Forge Convention Center. An incredible lineup of acts—and, for those of us who are winter weary, whiskey tasting classes—will make you forget that you just shoveled two tons of snow in five days and boy are your arms tired. Here’s the lineup—print it out and plan accordingly.

Friday night:
8:00 – 8:30 Angus and Didgeridrew
8:45 – 9:45 The John Byrne Band
10:00 – 11:00 Jamison
11:15 – 11:59 Albannach

Saturday
STAGE ONE 
10:00 – 10:30 The MacLeod Fiddlers
10:35 – 11:00 Cummins Irish Dancers
11:15 – 12:00 The Bogside Rogues
12:15 – 1:00 Albannach
1:15 – 2:15 Brother
2:30 – 3:30 McLean Avenue Band
3:45 – 4:45 Mick McAuley and Winifred Horan

5:00 – 6:15 Screaming Orphans
6:30 – 7:30 Rathkeltair
7:45 – 8:45 Brother
9:00 – 9:45 Albannach
10:00 – 11:00 Hadrian’s Wall
11:15 – 11:59 Neil Anderson leads the Band Jam

STAGE TWO  
11:15 – 11:30 Campbell Highland Dancers
11:45 – 12:30 Colleen SearsonL
12:45 – 1:30 The Brigadoons
1:45 – 2:30 Rathkeltair
2:45 – 3:30 Hadrian’s Wall
3:45 – 4:15 The MacLeod Fiddlers
4:30 – 5:30 The Bogside Rogues
5:45 – 6:30 The John Byrne Band
6:45 – 7:30 The Brigadoons
7:45 – 8:30 McLean Avenue Band

Seminars and Whiskey Tasting

12:00 – 12:45 Irish Language Workshop
with Casey O’Connor
1:00 – 1:45 Scots Gaelic Workshop with John Grimaldi
2:00 – 2:45 What the Heck is a Bagpipe?
with Kent Wires
3:00 – 4:00 Whiskey Tasting (21 & up)
with Frank McDonald
UPSTAIRS
Casino Food Court

12:00 – 1:00 Olive McElhone and Frank Reed
1:15 – 2:00 Colleen Searson
2:15 – 3:30 Oliver McElhone and Frank Reed

THE WATERFORD BALLROOM
12:00 – 1:15 Scottish Step Dance Class
with Lynnette Brash
1:30 – 2:30 Ceili Dancing
with Rosemarie Timoney
2:45 – 4:30 Bagpipe and Highland and Irish Dance Tattoo
Featuring: The Washington Memorial Pipers,
Campbell Highland & Cummins Dancers

Trousers, a play by Paul Meade and David Parell about two Dubliners reminiscing about their summer in New York, continues this week at the Off Broad Street Theatre at First Baptist Church in Philadelphia, an Inis Nua Theatre Company production.

The 2014 CRN-USA North American Open Irish Dance Championships will be jigging and reeling at the Newark Liberty International Marriott Hotel in Newark.

On Monday, Donal Clancy, son of the late Liam Clancy of the Clancy Brothers, will be performing tunes from his new CD, “Songs of a Roving Blade,” at the Coateville Cultural Center.

On Thursday, Irish Ambassador Anne Anderson will present the Ambassador’s Award to the SAP company at the Hyatt at the Bellevue, an annual event sponsored by the Irish American Business Chamber and Network. The Taoiseach Award will go to Denis P. O’Brien, senior executive vice president of Exelon, and the Uachtaran Award will go to Ann Claffey Baiada, RRN, director of Bayada Home Health Care.

Ambassador Anderson will also meet with Neumann University students to discuss the Irish economy and fields that might provide promising career opportunities before the luncheon at Neumann, which is in Aston.

Then, on Friday, the fundraiser you wait all year for (well, I do, at least), the Delco Gaels “Dancing Like a Star” show in which 16 non-dancers dance their way to the trophy. It’s a fabulous show, the money goes to the Delco Gaels Gaelic sports program, and it sells out quickly so this is your last chance. Go to our calendar for the details on this and all of this week’s events.

February 14, 2014 by Denise Foley

How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

Jamison Celtic Rock at Archbishop Ryan on Saturday.

Brrrr, it’s cold out there. And it’s also cold in here. Irishphiladelphia.com lost power during the recent ice storm so we’re borrowing wifi to update the site. For those of you with power—and without—here are some places where you can warm up this week.

On Saturday, Jamison will be Celtic rocking at Archbishop Ryan, a fun fundraiser for the school’s scholarship fund.

In Collingswood, NJ, Saturday night, the amazing Irish group, Clannad will be performing.

And you can catch the Broken Shillelaghs at Nipper’s Pub in Westville, NJ.

On Wednesday, take your honey to the Birdhouse Center for the Arts in Lambertville, NJ, for an evening of love songs by Annalivia, Justin Nawn, and Bronwyn Bird.

On Thursday, the Irish guitar band Kodaline is performing at World Café Live in Philadelphia.

A heads up for next weekend: The CRN-USA North American Open Irish Dance Championships will take place at Newark Liberty International Airport Marriott Hotel in Newark. Chairwoman of the CRN-USA is Olivia Hilpl, who runs the award-winning Rince Ri Irish Dance School in Bucks County.

And Donal Clancy will be performing at the Coatesville Cultural Center on Feb. 17.

Please check our calendar for other regular events, like the many sessions, and dance lessons in both Philadelphia and Wilmington. But check first before you set out. Some events may be cancelled because of the power problems in the area. We just learned, for example, that the regular AOH Ceili in Bridgeport was cancelled for this week because of power outages.

February 7, 2014 by Denise Foley

How to Be Irish in Philly, Music, News, People

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

Timlin and Kane

This Sunday, join Gerry Timlin and Tom Kane and a host of other Irish musicians, including All-Ireland fiddler Haley Richardson and her guitarist brother Dylan, for a special concert at Sacred Heart Church in Camden. This annual “Celtic Spring Concert” raises money for The Heart of Camden, a nonprofit that provides homeownership opportunities to people who live in the waterfront area of Camden. It is a ministry of Sacred Heart Church. The late Sister Peg Hynes, a well-known figure in the Irish community, was its executive director for many years.

This Wednesday marks the beginning of a run of Paul Meade and David Parnell’s play, Trousers, the story of two 30-something Dublin men who reminisce about the summer they spent working as busboys in New York, at the Off Broad Street Theater at First Baptist Church in Philadelphia. It’s a production of the Inis Nua Theatre Company.

Martin McDonagh’s dark and comic play, “The Pillowman,” continues its run through February 8 at the Luna Theater in Philadelphia.

Also on Wednesday, it’s Irish Heritage Night at the 76ers. Appropriately, they’re playing the Boston Celtics—an age-old rivalry. If you use the promotional code IRISH when ordering tickets, you get special ticket prices. It all happens at Wells Fargo Stadium on South Broad Street in the city.

Wednesday also marks the start of a special lecture series—with music—by Tyrone-born musician Gerry Timlin, at McCarthy’s at Donegal Square in Bethlehem. Timlin will talk about modern Irish history and song—starting in the 15th century. Gerry is a fine singer and musician, but most importantly, a very funny man, so don’t expect dry lectures in between song stylings. It’ a six-week series that runs through March 19 ad is limited to only 40 participants.

On Thursday, catch Slainte—Frank Daly and CJ Mills from Jamison Celtic Rock—at Con Murphy’s on the Parkway in Center City.

On Friday, the supergroup from Donegal, Clannad, featuring Moya Brennan, will be in concert at the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg, and on the following evening at the Scottish Rite Auditorium in Collingswood, NJ.

Also on Friday night: Galway Guild is at Tir na Nog in Trenton, NJ, and Jamison Celtic Rock is at Curran’s in Tacony. Jamison is also doing a big fundraiser on Sunday at Archbishop Ryan High School in northeast Philadelphia.

Coming up: The Scottish & Irish Midwinter Fest, with an astounding lineup as usual, will be in King of Prussia on Valentine’s Day weekend. Bring your honey and stay for all three days. Donal Clancy, carrying on the musical tradition of his father and uncles, The Clancy Brothers, will be at Coatesville Cultural Center on February 17 and the first of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade fundraisers is scheduled for February 23. And some interesting Irish acts are coming to the World Café Live. Check out our calendar for more details.

January 31, 2014 by Denise Foley

News, People

2014 St. Patrick’s Day Parade Ring of Honor Chosen

Tom Walsh, second from left, and Sarah Walsh, far right, will march in the parade

The Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Observance Association has announced its 2014 Ring of Honor. Traditionally, the president of the organization—this year, Bob Gessler–chooses the Ring of Honor, who march in the parade which will be on Sunday, March 16.

This year’s Ring includes:

Rev. Edward Brady, pastor, St. Anne’s RC Church, chaplain for the Irish Memorial and several other Irish organizations

Father Ed Brady

Susan Campbell, executive director of Ronald McDonald House, founded by Grand Marshal Jim Murray 40 years ago

Ed and Emily Gallagher. The late Ed Gallagher was a longtime member of the executive committee of the St. Patrick’s Day Observance Association

Alana Barry-McCloskey, marketing coordinator for the Irish American Business Chamber and Network board member of Irish Network-Philadelphia

Kevin McCloskey, wounded Afghanistan War vet from Mayfair

Dr. James Murphy, founder of Villanova University’s Irish Studies Program

Mark O’Connor, owner of the Irish Pub and co-founder of the Tour-de-Shore charity

Kathy Orr, meteorologist at CBS3 and co-host of the station’s parade coverage for many years

CBS3 meteorologist Kathy Orr

Becky Puchalski- Member LAOH 61- tireless worker for the homeless, those in need and vets

Joe Shay Stivala, writer for The Philadelphia Record

Tom and Sarah Walsh. He’s manager of the Commodore Barry Club and both are involved in the Irish Center senior luncheons, GAA Games, and a number of other Irish groups.

January 31, 2014 by Denise Foley

Music

Local Band Makes Good–Really Good

RUNA

Last week’s snowstorm temporarily put a crimp in their plans to travel to Cape May to record their fourth CD, but when the members of RUNA, the Philadelphia-based Celtic band, finally got there, they had to kick themselves into gear again.

They got some help. On Saturday, they learned that they had won two awards from the Irish Music Association—top group and top traditional group in a pub, festival, concert, beating out the likes of Solas, Lunasa, Altan, and popular local band, Burning Bridget Cleary.

“We were thrilled just to be among the other groups that were nominated,” said lead singer, Shannon Lambert-Ryan. “This was just wildly exciting. We were kick-started for the week.”

It was validation for a band that’s never been easy to slide into a specific niche that it’s a player on the Irish music scene. As one critic put it, “RUNA sounds like no one else,” which is both a blessing and a curse.

“We describe ourselves as Celtic roots music,” explains Lambert-Ryan. “We took a little while to get there in terms of figuring out our brand. We used to describe it as contemporary Celtic music but we were concerned that that connoted Celtic rock or new age sound which we’re not. But we’re not strictly traditional either. We’re somewhere in between niches,” she says laughing.

Blame it on–or credit it to– the widely differing musical styles and background of the band members. “Each of us bring something different and that keeps it balanced,” says Lambert-Ryan, who grew up as a step-dancer in the Philadelphia area, and majored in classical singing and acting. (She’s worked on several M. Night Shyamalan films.)

At the Philly Folk Festival in 2006, she met Dublin-born guitarist Fionan de Barra and, around the same time, percussionist Cheryl Prashker, a Canadian-born classically trained drummer who played the same folk scene as Lambert-Ryan and de Barra, who still lived in Ireland at the time. “I kept in touch with Fionan for a year and a half, then went to Dublin to work on an album with him and the rest is history between the two of us,” says Lambert-Ryan. They were married in 2009 and now live in the Philadelphia area. In addition to his work with RUNA, de Barra also performs with Clannad’s Moya Brennan.

When they decided to perform, they asked Prashker to join them. “After the first time we played together, we all looked at each other said, ‘Well, we need to do a whole lot more of that,’” recalls Lambert-Ryan. And RUNA was born.

And reborn. Eventually, fiddler Tomoko Amura joined them, bringing her bent for the classical and jazz to the mix.

And now, with Amura off pursuing a jazz career, born again. Recently, singer-dancer-multi-instrumentalist Dave Curley from Slide—incidentally, the group to which Fionan’s brother, Eamonn belongs—became part of RUNA, as has Maggie Estes who, despite a freshly minted college degree, is an in-demand bluegrass fiddler from Kentucky and Nashville.

“We met Maggie in Nashville where Fionan and I work frequently with Keith and Krystin Getty, Christian singers from Belfast originally. Fionan tours with and writes for them regularly. She’s one of those sunshiney bubbly people you’d love to work with and she is just spectacular,” says Lambert-Ryan. She blew them away regularly during this past week’s recording. “She’s a lot younger than we are, but she has that kind of chutzpah that just says, ‘Let’s go!’”

So, layered on the strong percussive jazzy sound that both Prashker and Fionan bring to RUNA, Lambert-Ryan’s actor’s penchant for song-stories , and Curley’s eclectic talents (including step-dancing, which Lambert-Ryan says has “kicked my butt into gear” to resume dancing), will be a touch of bluegrass on their next offering, which should be finished in time for the summer festival season.

“Bluegrass is similar in some ways to traditional Irish and Scottish music, but different in other ways. Being able to delve in and out of different genres makes the music exciting for us—it means we don’t have to stay in one ‘pocket’ or genre,” she says.

Touring takes RUNA all over the country, but they have two shows coming up in the Philadelphia area. They’ll be playing at the Mid-Winter Scottish and Irish Festival in King of Prussia on Sunday, February 16, from 3 to 4 PM. And they’ll also be featured at a special St. Patrick’s Season Show at the Irish Center, 6815 Emlen Street, Philadelphia, on Sunday, March 9 at 7 PM.

It’s your chance to find out what makes them the top in Irish music.

January 31, 2014 by Denise Foley

How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

Photo by Gwyneth MacArthur

This Sunday, the Derry Society is sponsoring a Mass to commemorate Bloody Sunday, an incident on January 30, 1972 in which 26 people involved in a peace march were shot by British soldiers in the Bogside area of Derry in Northern Ireland. The Mass takes place at 2 PM at the Irish Center, 6815 Emlen Street, in Philadelphia.

The Luna Theater’s production of Martin McDonagh’s “The Pillowman” continues at the Luna Theater, 620 S. 8th Street.

Slainte is performing at Paddy Whacks Pub on Roosevelt Boulevard on Saturday afternoon, then rejoining their fellow musicians with Jamison at Curran’s Tacony on Saturday night.

On Monday night, Inis Nua Theatre Company’s production of “High Noon in Grays Ferry, Twilight on Falls Road” by Tom Reing will take place at the Off-Broad Street Theatre at First Baptist Church at 1636 Sansom Street.

Harpist Maeve Gilchrist and dancer Nic Gareiss will be doing a house concert together in Center City Philadelphia on Wednesday night. Seating is limited, so contact concert hosts Marian Makins and Gabriel Donohue at barnstarconcerts@gmail.com to make your reservation.

Got a head filled with useless information? Then Trivia Night, a fundraiser for the Cummins School of Irish Music on Friday night, is for you. It will cost you $25—that covers beer, wine and food—and you can be part of a team competing for money and prizes at the VFW North Penn Post 676 on Jenkintown Road in Glenside.

Check our calendar for all the details.

January 23, 2014 by Denise Foley

Arts

A Tale of Two Cities

The poster for Inis Nua’s latest play.

Tom Reing was education director for InterAct Theater Company in 2002 when, as part of a fellowship, he started working with a group of Catholic school kids in Gray’s Ferry, a traditionally Irish enclave in South Philadelphia that regularly ignited with racial violence because of its proximity to a low-income housing project known as the Tasker homes.

“A lot of my work involved using theater to teach conflict resolution skills. We would rehearse a confrontation and how to get out of it,” recalled Reing, now artistic director of the nonprofit Inis Nua Theater Company, in a phone interview this week. “The kids were dealing with feeling threatened by the African-American neighborhood surrounding them. We would create improv out of what they did during the day, I would record them, and then sculpt it into a scene. The Gray’s Ferry neighborhood is very territorial. You can tell you’re on an Irish block by the lace curtains and leprechaun Hummels in the windows. One of the great lines that came up was from one of the African American students who told an Irish student, ‘Your block is not a continent,’ meaning that it doesn’t drop off once you pass 29th street.”

In 2003, in Belfast, Ireland—also part of his fellowship project—he worked with a group of teens who were similarly living with daily violence, though sectarian rather than racial. “Of course at the end of the day, they were both groups that didn’t like one another, fearful because they didn’t know each other and didn’t want to know each other and both living with the fear they weren’t going to make it out,” he says.

He took those scenes he recorded—gritty dialogue and high drama—and turned it into a play. “High Noon in Gray’s Ferry, Twilight on Falls Road,” will debut on Monday at Inis Nua as five actors do a staged reading, each playing characters from both communities “so the same actor plays two parts with two different accents,” explains Reing. “It was a way to compare and contrast the two groups, with the same lines repeated in both worlds.”

The trip to Ireland—his first—produced more than a play. It sowed the seeds for what has become the Inis Nua Theatre Company, which produces plays by contemporary Irish and UK playwrights at the Off Broad Street Theater at First Baptist Church in Philadelphia. “I flew into Dublin and saw some theater while I was there. I saw some theater in Belfast too, and I really liked the work. I wanted it to come to America, but it never did,” says Reing.

There was no venue in the US for contemporary plays by Irish and UK playwrights, except for a few—the big ones, like Brian Friel, Martin McDonagh and Conor McPherson. “The usual route for an Irish play was to go to the West End (in London), then to Broadway, then the regionals would take it,” says Reing, who got his MA in theater at Villanova and now teaches at Temple. “I went to other artistic directors and asked if they would do one of these plays and they said, ‘It’s not really in our mission.’ So I did it myself.”

Ten years ago, he founded Inis Nua to produce the kind of provocative new plays he now sees in Ireland, Scotland, and the UK on his far more frequent trips.

“I was naïve, but I would talk to playwrights and say, ‘would you be okay with me doing this play in America and if it isn’t too much trouble, can I get a script?’ I was working at the Abbey Theater one summer doing a theater-in-education program, saw a play, met the playwright, and the next day the script was waiting for me. At that point, we had a company that didn’t have two dimes to rub together and we maybe had a website. I was oblivious to the fact that they really want their plays done in America. We do a lot of American premiers of new plays. The last show we did was ‘Blink’ by Phil Porter, an English playwright. He emailed me last week to tell me that a production of ‘Blink’ was coming to New York, and we beat them to it.”

The success of Inis Nua surprised even Reing, who thought the best he was going to be able to do was bring one new play a year to the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. “I never though we’d get to 10 years with a three-show season in a permanent home,” he admits. “Right now I’m talking to you from living room surrounded by all my own furniture,” he says laughing, “not the bed from [the play] ‘Bedbound’ and the other stage props I didn’t want to spend the money to store somewhere. Now we have a rehearsal room, office space, and a place in the basement to build sets and store them.”

See a staged reading of “High Noon in Gray’s Ferry, Twilight on Falls Road” on Monday, January 27, at 7 PM, at the Off-Broad Street Theater at First Baptist Church, 1636 Sansom Street in Philadelphia.

“Trousers,” a play by Paul Meade and David Parnell, is set for a run of 16 performances starting on February 5. It’s a story about the friendship between two Dubliners—one a mailman, the other unemployed–who reminisce about the summer they spent in New York when they were in college.

To order tickets, go to the Inis Nua website.

January 23, 2014 by Denise Foley

How to Be Irish in Philly

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

They’re heeeere!

Expect a wild weekend in Philly: The Celtic supporters are here!

Fans of the Celtic Football Club of Glasgow are descending on the city for a series of events, many of them at The Plough and the Stars on Chestnut Street, home of the 2nd Street Plough Bhoys Celtic Supporters Club. They’ll be watching a game—Celtic Vs. Motherwell—and holding a sing-song in front of the Plough’s fireplace afterwards. A couple of Tyrone guys—Patsy Ward and Raymond Coleman—will be performing, as well as members of the Irish Thunder Pipe Band. Check the calendar for a list of events.

On Saturday, get your tux out and head to the Sheraton Downtown for The Hair O’ The Dog black-tie party which this year benefits The Claddagh Fund, founded by Ken Casey of the Dropkick Murphys. The Fund supports underfunded nonprofits in Boston and Philadelphia.

If you’re in Upper Darby this weekend—and it’s not a bad idea—head to Cawley’s Tavern on West Chester Pike to help this popular Irish pub celebrate its 40th anniversary with specials and music through Sunday night. The food is good and you may see someone you know there (I always do).

Paddy Whacks Pub has live Irish music almost every weekend, and this Saturday you can catch the Shantys with fiddler Paraic Keane at the Roosevelt Boulvard sports bar.

Martin McDonagh’s darkly comic play—does he do anything else?—“The Pillowman” debuts at Luna Theater in Philadelphia on Saturday. It’s the story of an author of grisly short stories who becomes the suspect in a rash of child murders that bear an uncanny resemblance to those in his works. It runs through February 8. Check our calendar for a schedule of dates and times.

On Sunday, tune in at noon to 800AM, WTMR, to call in your pledge to Marianne MacDonald’s “Come West Along the Road” Irish radio show. Marianne works tirelessly (in her spare time) to produce the show and relies on pledges to keep it going. You can win tickets to hear Clannad, Solas, the John Byrne Band, and Derek Warfield and the Young Wolfetones, as well as CDs, DVDs, and gift cards to local Irish shops. Tune in online at www.wtmrradio.com and/or call in your pledge at 856-962-8178. Let’s keep Irish music on the air, and Marianne out of trouble.

On Wednesday, performer Billy McGovern will be doing an acoustic show at the AOH Div. 61 Clubhouse at Rhawn and Frankford in Philadelphia. Stop by for a pint even if you’re not a Hibernian.

A head’s up for the coming weeks:

A Mass to commemorate the 42nd anniversary of Bloody Sunday will take place at the Irish Center on Sunday, January 26.

The Inis Nua Theater Company is doing a staged reading of director Tom Reing’s “High Noon in Grays Ferry, Twilight on Falls Road,” about the lives of teens in Philadelphia and Belfast, on Monday, January 27, at the Off Broad Street Theater at First Baptist Church on Sansom Street in Philadelphia.

Ever seen sand dancing? You can, done by dancer Nic Gareiss, who will be performing with harpist Maeve Gilchrist, in a house concert in Philadelphia on Wednesday, January 29. Gareiss, a Michigan native, has perofmed with The Chieftains, Dervish, Beoga, Teada, Martin Hayes, Liz Carroll and more. Gilchrist, who is from Scotland, has shared the stage with everyone from Alasdair Fraser to Kathy Mattea. Here’s your chance to share a livingroom with two great performers. Since it’s a house concert—and there needs to be room for sand dancing—space is limited. To reserve your spot, email barnstarconcerts@gmail.com.

January 17, 2014 by Denise Foley

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