Kevin McGillian, the heart and soul and accordion player of most ceili bands in the Philadelphia region, will be honored with a lifetime achievement award on Saturday night by the Delaware Valley Division of the Comhaltas (Coal-tus) Ceoltoiri Eireann, an international organization that promotes Irish music and culture.
McGillian, a native of Legfordrum, County Tyrone, who has lived in the Philadelphia area for about six decades, was previously inducted in the Mid-Atlantic CCE Hall of Fame. A shy, soft-spoken man, McGillian moved to Philadelphia at the age of 26 where he met and married Mary Boyce. The two raised six children, all of whom play instruments.
When I think of Mary Frances Fogg, whom I dearly love and respect, I think of the phrase “indomitable spirit.” If you look up this term you would see that it is defined as “a spirit that cannot be subdued or overcome; unconquerable, impossible to defeat”. Some synonyms would be virtuous, upright, decent, and honorable.
Now, she would be kicking and screaming at me for saying this but I’m not the only who does. Her son, Jason, said, “She has the strength of 10 lions, is forthright in her ideologies and will fight for the cause she believes in.”
Mary Fogg or Frassee (as she’s known) is being honored at the 15th Annual Delaware Valley Irish Hall of Fame award dinner. She is the daughter of Helen McCann (Port Richmond) and William Fogg (Kensington).Helen, who attended Moore College of Art was a musician (violin and piano) and an artist. Her Dad played AAA professional baseball (Phillies, Red Sox).
Sharon Shannon is talking on the phone from her home in Galway and she is surrounded by cats. “I have 11 of them,” she says, “and one is a kitten who’s very playful making the rest of them play.”
She also has eight dogs, all of which live in the house. “You can imagine there is a lot of cleaning,” she says.
But she’s waiting for the arrival of her animal minder who will be staying with her menagerie while Shannon, a legendary accordion player, heads off on her US tour that will bring her to the Tin Angel in Philadelphia on Wednesday, October 7. Opening for her is the John Byrne Band, which is fronted by a Dublin-born singer-songwriter who now calls Philadelphia home.
Philadelphia’s Irish community is known for its musical family dynasties.
There are the Boyces—brothers Michael and John are the linchpins of the Celtic rock group Blackthorn, while sister Karen, formerly with the group, Causeway, still sings solo at many Irish events. The McGillians—they’re Boyce cousins—include accordion player John and guitarist Jimmy. Sister Mary will burn up a keyboard now and again. There’s John, Judy, and Eugenia Brennan, a perfect trio of guitar and fiddle, keyboard, and voice. And siblings Dylan and Haley Richardson, a guitarist and fiddler respectively, have already produced their first CD and they’re not even out of their teens.
Now, these musical siblings have to make room for the McGroarys. Donegal brothers Seamus and Raymond are well known in the area. Both singers and guitarists, they’ve played most of the Irish musical pubs in the city and suburbs though, Raymond says, “Seamus play a lot more bars than I do. I mostly play events and people’s parties.”
Had you heard? The Pope is coming to Philly this week. Welcome to the City of Brotherly Love, Pope Francis! And the AOH Irish Fall Festival starts on Thursday. And Bethlehem’s Celtic Fest starts on Friday. So, if you were hoping for a nice, quiet Fall week, you are so out of luck.
Blackthorn will be rocking Norwood Community Day and Music Festival on Saturday, September. The day starts at 8 AM with the Ed Snyder 5K Run. There’s a craft fair, moon counces, rock climbing, pony and horse rides for the kids, a food court serving everything from mini-stromboli to crabcake sandwiches, a beer garden, and cow pie bingo—ewww—to round out the day. Blackthorn will be preceded by many other bands. The lads take the stage from 7 PM to 10 PM. BYO lawn chairs and sunscreen.
It’s been sold out for weeks, but we need to mention that the John Byrne Band is holding its CD release party at World Café Live on Saturday night. Their newest offering is “The Immigrant and the Orphan,” and features “Dirty, Used Up, Chewed Up, Screwed Up Love,” which is getting airplay on WXPN. Check out the video below.
On Wednesday, Father Ed Brady of St. Anne’s Catholic Church on Lehigh Street in Philadelphia will be concelebrating an “Irish Peoples Mass” at the church where he’s the pastor with various priests from around the region and visitors from the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference in the city for the World Meeting of Families. This is the organization meeting in Philadelphia that drew the attention of Pope Francis, who will be in the city to address them.
On Thursday, enjoy a private concert by young musicians Haley Richardson, Dylan Richardson, and Keegan Loesel in the privacy of your home thanks to Concert Window. You pay what you want, but what you contribute will help defray the costs of 13-year-old Haley’s trip to Ireland in October to compete in the Fiddler of Dooney competition. Haley, who lives in New Jersey, has won an All-Ireland for her fiddle playing. Go to the Concert Window link to have a look and listen starting at 8 PM.
Also on Thursday, the AOH Fall Irish Festival kicks off with a round of golf, followed by three days of nonstop music, vendors, parades, a pipe band competition, a 5K and Mass on Sunday. It’s billed as the largest Irish festival on the east coast, and the interest in this AOH fundraiser never seems to lag. Along with the musicians on the bill, including Cathy Maguire, Haley and Dylan Richardson with Keegan Loesel playing as the new trio, Meara Meara, Ballina, the Birmingham Six, the Broken Shillelaghs, and Galway Guild, most of Philly’s Irish musicians are booked into the pubs that line the route. If you hate Irish music, this is not the place to be.
On Friday through the weekend, find out if your haggis-eating skills are primo by entering the contest at Bethlehem’s annual Celtic Fest. You can also learn how to do the perfect pour of Guinness, watch big men throwing big objects (those are highland games) and thrill to border collies herding sheep.
There’s also a fantastic array of musical entertainment (I’ve heard most of them and can vouch for them) including Timlin and Kane, Seamus Kennedy, Killen Clark, Blackwater, Matt and Shannon Heaton, Emish, Celtic Spirit, the Mudmen, Tempest, Burning Bridget Cleary. Poor Man’s Gambit, Jamison, McPeake, Kilmaine Saints, Bastard Bearded Irishmen, the Gothard Sisters, Glengarry Bhoys, Archie Fisher, No Irish Need Apply, and many more. The Celtic Cultural Alliance doesn’t do anything by halves. I didn’t even mention the pipe bands, fiddle contest, Irish dancers, Highland dancers, crafts, vendors, and workshops. This is worth a trip. There’s almost too much to do and see.
The German duo Milli Vanilli got in trouble for it in the ‘80s, but Jimmy Fallon has made lip synching a viral sensation. Fallon’s popular Tonight Show segment pits celebrities against one another to pretend sing recorded music—and it’s become so trendy there’s talk of giving the skit its own show.
On Friday, October 9, lip synching is getting its own live performance in Delaware County, thanks to the Irish Immigration Center of Greater Philadelphia. In the crowded seas of fundraisers, they’re hoping this one will be a standout.
The idea came from Maura McGee, a friend of Immigration Center social worker Leslie Alcock. “We mentioned it to Katrina Stafford, a chef who provides lunch once a month for our seniors,” says Alcock, “and it just went from there.”
The 41st Philadelphia Ceili Group Festival of Traditional Music and Dance drew to a close last Saturday night with a rousing concert by the young group Girsa, whose name means “young girls” in Irish. And the group, from Pearl River, NY, is usually composed of all young girls, but prior commitments for some of the talented young women meant there was a place on the stage for amazing Irish step dancer and flute player Sean Tierney.
You’ll find videos on our homepage, and plenty of photos below of Friday night’s annual ceili and rambling house, hosted by John McGillian, and the nonstop music and fun of Saturday afternoon.
Marcie McComb of Broomall had her three young daughters in tow at the grand opening last Saturday of the brand new home of the McDade Cara School of Irish Dance in Edgmont. Her middle daughter, Riley, five, was signing up. “She and her sister Morgan (7) went to the dance camps in April and Riley wanted to do it. And she’s good too. Riley really gets it.”
In fact, Riley seemed ready to go right then, swinging her hips and arms as the first reel played in one of several vast studios that are replacing the school’s two previous locations. A few lessons and those arms will be as still as tree trunks.
