Denise Foley

Kevin McGillian will be playing his umpteenth Ceili Group music fest at the end of the week.

Over the next month, you can pretty much count on an Irish festival every weekend. Along with telling you how to be Irish this week, we’re going to give you a preview of how you can be Irish festival-goers during the month of September.

This is the week that hundreds of traditional Irish music fans from Philly wait for every year—the annual Philadelphia Ceili Group’s Traditional Irish Music and Dance Festival, which opens this Thursday, September 8, at the Irish Center in Mt. Airy with Singer’s Night, hosted by musician and publican Gerry Timlin (The Shanachie in Ambler). Some of the best voices in the area will perform traditional Irish tunes that will transport you to another world and time.

The rest of the festival, which runs through Saturday, September 10, is equally evocative of old Ireland, though this year has some interesting modern touches. On Friday night, Don Issacson’s Simple System will be in from Baltimore with Isaacson who plays flute, uilleann pipes, tin whistle and bouzouki; Aaron Olwell on concertina, fiddle and flute; Danny Noveck on fiddle and guitar; Kelly Smit, a sean-nos dancer, and Matthew Olwell who plays bodhran. They’ll also be doing workshops on Saturday.

Also on Friday evening: a ceili/set dance with a ceili band head by premier box man Kevin McGillian with sons Jimmy and John and friend, Judy Brennan. They are the best around.

Saturday, you’ll have music all day, as well as vendors and workshops on everything from genealogy (taught by our very own Lori Lander Murphy) to Irish folktales for children with Basha Gardner, a local actress to the Irish language with Leo Mohan.

The day starts with the John Kelly Memorial Session. Kelly was a Sligo man who emigrated to the US and led the music for the Philadelphia Ceili Group’s Friday night ceilies from the mid ’70s until 1990 when he died. Many of the performers learned what they knew from Kelly, including Kitty Kelly, her husband, Mike Albrecht, Chris Carpenter, Danny Flynn, Tom Cahill, John Donnelly, Ed Clark, Tom and Marian Gittleman, Tom Kelly, Chris Brennan Hagy, Paraic Keane, and Dave Miller.

On Saturday night, RUNA headed by Shannon Lambert-Ryan will be playing at the evening concert, along with Brian Conway, Brendan Dolan, and Billy McComiskey from The Pride of New York.

This is a first class lineup. Conway, a New York fiddler, was named traditional Irish artist of 2008 by the Irish Echo newspaper in New York. Brendan Dolan, also a New Yorker, is the son of Irish traditional piano legend Felix Dolan. Brendan, however, plays flute and whistles, is a composer and also curator of the Mick Moloney Irish-American Music and Popular Culture Collection in the Archives of Irish America at Tamiment Library in New York. He’s a familiar face at the Catskills Irish Weekend every year. Billy McComiskey is a fixture of the Baltimore Irish music scene and is considered one of the most influential box players in the US.

RUNA, while solidly traditional, usually adds a top note or two of something more contemporary—a little jazz, a little country, a little whatever strikes their fancy. This Philadelphia-based band is not to be missed.

Small but mighty. That describes Brittingham’s 3rd Annual Irish Festival which takes place on September 4 (Labor Day weekend) in the parking lot of the Lafayette Hill Irish pub and restaurant. Jamison, Paul Moore and Friends, Seamus Kelleher (late of Blackthorn) and Seamus McGroary will provide the music. And with two Seamuses on the bill, you know it’s really Irish.

With food and drink, kids activities, and vendors, it’s a great afternoon, particularly if you have young kids who get in free. BYO lawn chair.

Before you go, head over to the Irish Center in Mount Airy for live GAA action from Ireland on the big screen TVs. Or, if you’re in Bethlehem, have a big Irish breakfast (I think they do a mean Ulster fry) at McCarthy’s Tea Room’s traditional Irish music brunch. The Tea Room is attached to the Donegal Square gift shop.

The Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire is on schedule this weekend in Manheim. Travel back in time, meet lots of interesting people who will speak to you in what sounds like a foreign tongue although it’s English.

Love ‘80s music? On Tuesday, The Motels are appearing at the World Café Live. The reason we mention it is that Irish folkers, The John Byrne Band, will be opening for this ‘80s act. We’re not sure about this pairing. We’re kinda hoping John will do his version of “Funkytown.”

There’s more going on next weekend than the Philadelphia Ceili Festival. The Mercer Irish Fest is the latest entry on the September fest scene. Held at Mercer County Park in West Windsor, NJ, the day-long event features live music by The Shanteys, Birmingam 6, the Willie Lynch Band, the Nog Bhoys, Billie O’Neill and Nancy Ferguson, as well as the Moyvale Ceili Band. There will be a beginner’s class for ceili dancing taught by Annie Boyle and, from Ireland, singer Mary Courtney will be performing.

Expect Irish food, vendors (including Newbridge!), and great kiddie activities including pony rides and face painting. For those who will miss the Green Lane Celtic Festival this year (called on account of recession), this is a good substitute.

Also on September 10, the Gloucester County AOH is holding a ceremony and wreath-laying at the Commodore John Barry monument at the Commodore Barry Bridge in Bridgeport, NJ. The event starts with a Mass and is followed by a free lunch afterwards at the Gloucester County AOH/Richard Rossiter Memorial Hall in National Park, NJ. There’s free parking at the Delaware River Port Authority building. Barry, considered the father of the American Navy, was a Wexford native who settled in Philadelphia and distinguished himself in the Revolutionary War.

You can also catch Jamison at Curran’s Irish Inn in Bensalem on Saturday night, September 10.

On September 18, the Boston-based Dropkick Murphys’ “Shamrock-N-Roll” Festival stops in Philly at the Electric Factory with a lineup that includes the Street Dogs (also from Boston, with a DM link—front man Mike McColgan once performed the same duties for DM), Chuck Ragan (an acoustic folkie who was once with a punk band), the Mahones (Irish punkers from Canada), and the Parkington Sisters (five sisters from Cape Cod) among others. You’ll also get a chance to see “Irish” Micky Ward, the Boston fighter immortalized in the Mark Wahlberg bio-pic “The Fighter” who will give a boxing demo and sign autographs.

The Dropkick Murphys are using the Philly gig to kick off the expansion of The Claddagh Fund, a charitable foundation started in 2009 by DM’s frontman Ken Casey. Based on the sentiments of the Claddagh ring—friendship, love, and loyalty—the foundation’s mission is to raise money for the most underfunded charities that support the community’s most vulnerable populations. In Philly, the foundation has chosen Stand Up for Kids, a Georgia-based organization whose volunteers go out into the street to help locate and help homeless children and street kids.

Get yourself ready for two major annual Irish festivals this month. Of course, they occur at pretty much the same time (the weekend of the 23rd and can we tell you how much we hate that?). We’ve been to both and you can’t go wrong no matter which one you choose.

If you head north of Philly, the Celtic Classic in Bethlehem offers acres of activities. It needs to—this fest includes Highland games (caber tossing, and the throwing and lifting of other heavy stuff), sheep dog trials, and a haggis-eating and a pipe band competition. Among the topnotch groups on tap: Solas, the Screaming Orphans, Blackwater, the Paul McKenna Band, Glengarry Bhoys, Comas, Makem and Spain Brothers, Timlin and Kane, and Seamus Kennedy.

If you meander down to South Jersey (starting Thursday, September 22), the AOH Cape May Division 1 is throwing its big party in North Wildwood with miles of vendors, a boxing match, great bands (Bogside Rogues, Paul Moore and Friends, Sean Fleming Band, Derek Warfield and the Young Wolfetones, the Broken Shillelaghs, Belfast Connection, Secret Service, the Barley Boys, Bare Knuckle Boxers. Philly’s lucky charm, Timmy Kelly will be there, and the Brian Riley Pipe Exhibition will take place, as usual, at 8th and Central Avenues. There’s also a parade after Mass on Sunday.

Check our calendar for all the details.

We put together a little retrospective of Ceili Group Festivals of the past we thought you’d enjoy. View them here. 

Photo from last March's Donnybrook Cup in Philadelphia.

Weather alert: Some of the events listed on our calendar may be washed out this weekend by Hurricane Irene. For example, Blackthorn will NOT be playing in Avalon on Saturday because no one is supposed to be IN Avalon when the hurricane comes ashore. They announced the cancellation on their website, but other bands with shore gigs—the Broken Shillelaghs at Tucker’s in Wildwood, Jamison at Shenanigans in Sea Isle—may not be playing either. Check back here or at the bands’ websites for updates. We’ll let you know what we know.

Saturday events in Philly and environs should be okay, including the USA-Canada rugby match at Northeast High School on Saturday afternoon. This one is cheap thrill—it only costs $5 to get in and kids under 18 are free. Late Friday the kickoff was moved back to 2 PM.

But if there’s flooding, be sure to call ahead to your favorite pub to see if sessions are on schedule or if they’re still bailing.

Fortunately, this is a quiet week for Irish events (it’s traditionally a big vacation week). We like to think of it as a chance to rest up for September, when you have the Philadelphia Ceili Group Traditional Music Festival, the Wildwood Irish Weekend in North Wildwood, Brittingham’s Irish Festival, and Bethlehem’s Celtic Fest. This year, we’re one fest down: The Green Lane festival was cancelled this year—not because of lack of interest, but lack of money. What will they do with the sea monster in the reservoir?

We’ll be telling you about September’s fests next week. Till then, stay dry.

Burning Bridget Cleary

Happy Birthday, Philadelphia Folk Festival!

This grand old dame of music festivals turns 50 this weekend and will be celebrating, as usual, at the Old Poole Farm in rural Schwenksville. A fair smattering of Irish acts, including RUNA, Tempest, and Burning Bridget Cleary, will be on stage, doing workshops, or hanging out. Some of our talented Philadelphia Ceili Group friends will be showing off their folky side, including Courtney Malley with Full Frontal Folk.

Check the Folk Festival website for times and places. Enjoy!

This is a big weekend all around. St. Patrick’s Church in Norristown is holding its 18th annual Irish festival on Saturday with the Hooligans and Celtic Pride providing the musical accompaniment.

Also on Saturday, the Gloucester County Irish Society is sponsoring an “Adult Swim” at the Gloucester City Swim Club to raise money for the swim club. They’re also offering an intriguing drink called “Celtic lemonade.” Hmm, wonder what that is. And can we get some?

The Ren Faire is also in full swing this weekend so you can get all medieval on it at Mt. Hope Winery in Manheim, PA.

Irish music star Sean Wilson will be performing at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Newtown Square on Saturday night—and dancing is encouraged.

If you’re at the shore (everyone who isn’t at the folk festival can probably be found there), Jamison is on stage at Casey’s on Third in North Wildwood. While you’re down there, scout out a room for Irish Weekend—it’s coming up in September. Jamison hops over to Sea Isle on Sunday to play at Shenanigan’s.

Pray for good weather for Sunday. There two Our Lady of Knock masses where you can do such a thing—one at St. Patrick’s Church in Norristown at noon, and the other sponsored by the Philadelphia Mayo Association at the Irish Center in Mt. Airy at 2:30, both with food afterwards. But it’s also the day that the Philadelphia GAA championship games take place on Cardinal Dougherty Field. The winners earn a berth in the nationals which are in San Francisco this year. These folks will play in the rain and mud (Rain delay? We scoff at your rain delay!) but it’s so much better for the people with cameras on the sidelines if there’s no wetness.

For some reason, McGillins Olde Ale House in center city is launching an Oktoberfest Celebration this week. This Irish pub will be serving German beer and food from August 22 through October 1. Ach du lieber!

On Wednesday, there won’t be a dry eye in the house when the Irish Thunder Pipes and Drums plays outside the Washington Memorial Chapel in Valley Forge Park. The setting is magnificent—a Gothic revival chapel overlooking the rolling battlefields of the Park. Add pipe music and you can’t help but think of the sacrifices ordinary men made on that terrain, all in the cause of freedom. Get there early and bring a lawn chair.

On Thursday, join Irish Network-Philly at Tir Na Nog at 16th and Arch for an end of summer celebration that will raise money for the Inis Nua Theatre Company, which is taking its production of “Dublin By Lamplight” to the New York Irish Theatre Festival in September. The happy hour will also serve as a farewell to IN-Philly founding board member Mairead Conley (who is also the 2009 Rose of Tralee as well as in charge of programs at the Irish Immigration Center). Mairead is heading to school this fall to get her master’s degree in social work. (BTW, In-Philly has some amazing things planned for the future—more on that later!)

Also Thursday night, stop by the AOH Division 87 HQ on Wakeling Street in Philly for their happy hour—it raises money for the Hibernian Hunger Project, a national AOH program, started in Philadelphia, that provides meals to the needy.

As usual, all the details are on our calendar. Take a look.

RUNA: At Musikfest in Bethlehem.

It’s a grand week for music, but Saturday night poses some seriously difficult decision-making. What to do, what to do? You’ve got Moya Brennan with Cormac de Barra at Sellersville, RUNA at Musikfest in Bethlehem, and Tempest, that crazy Celtic-Norwegian rock band from California, at John & Peter’s in New Hope.

One thing you can do is catch Tempest on Monday instead—they’re performing at the Hatfield Music Feast at School Road Park in Hatfield. As for Moya Brennan and RUNA—you’re choosing between the two de Barra brothers (Fionan plays with RUNA). Family feud anyone?

And as they say on late-night infomercials, but wait, there’s more! The Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire happens this weekend too at Mount Hope Estate Winery in Manheim, PA. Go back to medieval times, when things were so much better than they are today (oh, except for the wars, the poverty, and the plague, but who remembers those things?).

On Sunday, the GAA action starts at noon at Cardinal Dougherty High School field in Philadelphia, with championship games between St. Patrick’s and the Young Irelands, and the Kevin Barrys and the Naomh Peregrine, and Eire Og and St. Patrick’s. The Youth Football teams–the Delco Gaels, Delco Harps and Philadelphia Shamrocks–will be playing starting at 1:30 PM.

Irish dancer alert: A new play debuts at the New York City Fringe Festival. “The Bad Arm: Confessions of a Dodgy Irish Dancer,” is an account of the daughter of an Irish dance teacher who is English in Ireland and Irish in England and her flirtations with sex, booze and rock. Um, this one is not for the wee ones.

If you’re in Wildwood, Jamison is performing on Sunday at Shenanigans and there’s a fundraiser at Keenan’s Irish Pub to raise money for a foundation established in the name of Joanie Logan, a Delaware County three-year-old who drowned in a Memorial Day accident this year.

Closer to home on Sunday, catch Blackthorn at Rose Tree Park in Media on Sunday night, and look for David Browne-Murray, a graduate of St. Malachy’s College in Belfast (they’ve marched in the Philly St. Patrick’s Day parade), at Maggie O’Neill’s in Drexel Hill. Browne-Murray is trying to raise money to get out to Montana to play in an international guitar competition.

On Monday, the kids are headed to Club Cultur at Sacred Heart Catholic School in Havertown to learn how to be Irish this week. Donegal’s Tina McDaid is running the summer camp for kids 5-14 who will be learning the Irish language, plus picking up on the history and geography (and saints and games, of course) of the land of their ancestors.

On Tuesday, head down to the lovely estate of Glen Foerd on the Delaware in Northeast Philadelphia to hear the musical and comedy stylings of Timlin and Kane (two of our very best favorite peeps), along with the Cummins School of Dance, the John Shields dancers, and piper Del Campbell. Frank Hollingsworth will be your host.

The Inis Nua Theatre Company continues to find fun ways to raise money. On Wednesday, all cash tips from happy hour at Chris’ Jazz Café on Sansom Street in Philadelphia will go to help send the company’s production of “Dublin by Lamplight” to the New York Irish Theater Festival in September. There are free appetizers, drink specials, guest bartenders (St. Patrick’s Day Parade Director Michael Bradley, 2009 Philly Rose of Tralee Jocelyn McGillian and 2010 Rose, Mairead Conley, and Siobhan Lyons of the Irish Immigration Center—do not, repeat, do not ask her for an Irish Car Bomb or you will be mightily sorry), music (guitarist Jim Fogarty) and the Tullamore Dew cocktail ladies with free samples.

On Thursday night, the Young Dubliners along with the John Byrne Band will be appearing at World Café Live. On Friday night, the Irish Anti-Defamation Federation will be meeting at the Irish Center.

Also this week: Look for the opening of the new movie, “The Guard,” starring the always brilliant Brendan Gleeson as a salty garda in Connemara who teams up with an FBI agent (the always wonderful Don Cheadle) to investigate an international drug smuggling ring. It’s at  the Ritz5 in Philadelphia.

As always, the details of all of the above are on our calendar.