How to Be Irish in Philly

Seamus Kennedy will be at Musikfest in Bethlehem.

Musikfest opens in Bethlehem this week (August 7), and while there aren’t loads of Celtic acts, it’s worth a visit for the nonstop music that goes on for two weeks in this pretty little city about an hour north of us. Headliners include Culture Club (I was reminded that lead singer Boy George is of Irish descent!), Reba McIntire, Duran Duran, Alice in Chains, ZZ Top, Snoop Dogg, and Jerry Seinfeld, who as far as I know isn’t singing or playing an instrument.

On the Celtic side, Seamus Kennedy will be performing on Tuesday afternoon and Fisher & Maher on Tuesday night, while Scythian, a Celtic-Gypsy-Balkan fusion band from DC, will be doing the Tuesday night concert at SteelStacks. Seamus Kennedy—who, while he’s a wonderful singer, is also quite a comic—will be back on Wednesday afternoon with one of the Lehigh Valley’s terrific Celtic bands, Blackwater, on Wednesday night.

Heads up for the Philly Folk Festival. It doesn’t start till Friday, August 14, but there are two Irish events you’ll want to catch: One is Wexford’s Irish Mythen on Saturday, August 14 at 11:20 PM, and Celtic Afternoon on August 16 starting at noon featuring the John Byrne Band, Sylvia Platypus, Cassie and Maggie MacDonald, Tim Britton, the Old Ways, Mist Covered Mountains, and Allan Carr. If you stick around at night, you’re also likely to encounter many local Irish musicians who will be camping out for the fest and singing and playing into the evening. I’d also go for Lyle Lovett with his Big Band. You won’t be sorry.

The Broken Shillelaghs will be playing on Saturday, August 8, at the Anglesea Pub in North Wildwood.

On Sunday, singer Diarmuid MacSuibhne (that’s McSweeney to you) will be substitute hosting the “Come West Along the Road” show on WTMR 800 AM while Marianne MacDonald is in Ireland. The show starts at noon. Call in and get him to sing and speak in Irish. He does both very well. Diarmuid will also be performing this Saturday at Laurita Winery in New Egypt, NJ.

And on Thursday, catch Blackthorn at Rosetree Park in Media.

Don’t say no one told you what was going on.

Raymond Coleman: The boy is back in town

Have you seen our new calendar? I think it’s kind of pretty. And it’s very easy to use—you can put all your own events on it and you can add pictures. How cool is that?

I’d love to see more events on it. I put them on when I can, but it would sure be helpful if everyone pitched in. We’re a volunteer organization and could use more volunteers. Some of us aren’t getting any younger.

This Saturday, Raymond Coleman will be playing at Paddy Whacks on Welsh Road in the afternoon, then at the Ashburner Inn on Sunday afternoon. We’re happy he brought his wonderful voice back to Philly.

While Frances Black is appearing in a house concert on Saturday with her kids, Aoife an Eoghan Scott, there are sadly no more seats left. The best you can hope for is that Marianne MacDonald will play some of Frances’ songs on her radio show on Sunday at WTMR 800AM, starting at noon.

Paul Moore and his band will back at their usual haunt, Brittingham’s in Lafayette Hill, on Friday night for first Friday.

Next week and beyond, we’ve added the few Irish acts that are playing at Musikfest in Bethlehem to our calendar. But don’t just go for the Irish acts. Jerry Seinfeld is performing (comedy—he doesn’t sing), along with Reba McIntyre, Duran Duran, Alice in Chains, Culture Club (I loved Culture Club back in the day!), ZZ Top, and Snoop Dogg. How’s that for eclectic?

Summer is the slow season for Irish restaurants and pubs, unless they’re downashore. So if you have some time this week, stop in at your local and give them your business. It’s our community—let’s keep it alive!

Frances Black and her kids, Aoife and Eoghan Scott.

Frances Black’s sister, famed Irish singer Mary Black, made her farewell tour last year accompanied by her ultra-talented daughter, Roisin O. And this year. Frances, herself an acclaimed singer, is returning to the US for the first time in 20 years to tour with her two musically talented children, Aoife and Eoghan Scott. It’s a family thing.

They’re at the Cleveland Irish Cultural Festival this weekend, then performing in Massachusetts, upstate New York, and at the New York Irish Center in Queens. But they’ll also make a stopover for a house concert in Philadelphia on Saturday, August 1 at the home of singers Gabriel Donohue and Marian Makins.

In interviews, Frances Black, the youngest in a family of five musical children, says she never thought she’d become a singer. “It was never expected of me,” she told the Belfast Telegraph in January. “Everyone expected it of Mary, because she was singing from a very young age. But I didn’t think I was a very good singer.”

Many others would disagree. Singer Nanci Griffith once described Black’s voice as “the sweetest in Ireland.” Black produced her first album, Talk to Me, in 1994 and the awards and accolades followed.

Her daughter, Aoife Scott, is a singer-songwriter as well as a song collector whose interest is in the Irish language—she lives in the Gaeltacht and has made frequent appearances on Irish language TV shows. Son Eoghan Scott is also a singer-songwriter whose recently released EP has garnered positive reviews. He’s played guitar on stage for his Aunt Mary as well as other leading lights, including Sharon Shannon, Paddy Keenan, Mary Coughlan, Tommy Fleming, and with the Irishband, Slide. He’s also playing on his sister’s upcoming release.

Since this is a house concert, seats are limited but there are still a few open. Price of admission is $20, all of which goes to the performers. Email barnstarconcerts@gmail.com to reserve your seat for this one-of-a-kind, very intimate performance.

This Saturday, you downashore people can hear Jamison perform at Casey’s in North Wildwood. Those of you on your way home from the shore on Sunday should stop in at Ashburner’s Inn in Philly to hear McHugh and O’Neill. The Irish duo will be on stage from 4 Pm to 8 PM.

If you come home earlier from the shore and want some good craic, join the 2nd Street Plough Bhoys as they launch the beginning of the Celtic FC season at the Plough and the Stars, with music, football talk, and some of the young coaches from the Glasgow team (which is Irish—and they’ll be happy to explain that all to you over drinks). That starts at 2 PM. And we hear Raymond Coleman may be back in his old haunt singing some songs.

If you’re home all weekend, head up to Limerick to watch some football and hurling. The Notre Dame Ladies GFC will be playing at 11 on Saturday, with the men taking over the field later and on Sunday.

Jamison will be back at the shore on Thursday, playing at The Wharf in Wildwood.

Then on Friday, Sean Wilson will be getting dancers on their feet at another on the Roy Lynch Nights of Music and Dance at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Newtown Square.

We’re putting the Celtic lineup for Bethlehem’s annual Musikfest on our calendar. It runs from August 7 to August 16. Look for that right here next week.

Timlin and Kane: in Gettysburg this weekend.

Combine an historical excursion with some Irish music on Saturday by heading to the Adams County Irish Festival near Gettysburg. Local duo, the popular Timlin and Kane, will be performing, along with the Kilmaine Saints, Irishtown Road, and Across the Pond. You can also see the 69th Pennsylvania Volunteers re-enactors and head to the battlefields where the original 69th fought like the wild Irish legends they were.

If you’re in Wildwood, and we know so many of you are, catch Blackthorn at Fox Park on Saturday night.

Next Friday, The Shantys will be at Tir na NOg in Trenton with special guest Diarmuid McSweeney on banjo.

If you’re a Celtic supporter—the Celtic football team from Glasgow—and even if you’re not, there’s a kickoff party for the season on Sunday, July 26, hosted by the 2nd Street Plough Boys at The Plough and the Stars in Philly. Tim Mac Mathuna will be performing (then there’s a session afterward) and you can meet Celtic FC Youth Academy coaches Mick McCahill, Ross Hester, Liam Murphy, and Dylan Johnston.

This Tuesday, see a film about two brothers wrongfully hanged for a post-famine murder in Ireland–at the Irish Center.

The second of several fundraisers for the Irish Center is scheduled for Saturday—wine glass painting with the artists from dish & dabble in Havertown. It starts at 2 PM, but first contact Lisa Maloney to make sure there will be enough wine glasses. Contact her at at lisamaloney29@yahoo.com.

Also on Saturday, the golf outing that benefits the Charlie Dunlop Memorial Fund that was postponed last week takes place at Five Ponds Golf Club in Warminster.

On Saturday night, Slainte—that’s Jamison’s Frank Daly and CJ Mills—will be on stage at the Anglesea Pub in North Wildwood.

On Sunday, the John Byrne Band and the Birmingham Six are appearing at the 9th Street Italian Market in Philly. Yes, it’s Irish flavor day in the land of mozzarella and prosciutto.

On Monday, a special workshop on suicide awareness and prevention is being held at the Irish Immigration Center of Greater Philadelphia in Upper Darby.

On Tuesday, screenwriter and producer Alan Brown will be at the Philadelphia Irish Center to introduce his new short film, The Cormack Brothers, the true story of two Irish brothers wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death in 1858 for the murder of a local Protestant land agent in Loughmore, County Tipperary. Clearly, it is not a comedy.

On Wednesday, catch all of Jamison at the Ed Kelly Amphitheater in Pennypack Park, a very pretty location for an evening concert.

On Thursday, you downashore people can catch The Derry Brigade at the Anglesea Pub in North Wildwood.

Then on Friday, scoot over to Keenan’s (same great New Jersey town) to hear Jamison playing.

A heads up: Performer Frances Black of the famed Black family will be doing a house concert in Philadelphia with her two musical offspring on Saturday, August 1. Book early—there are only 49 seats available in the livingroom of Gabriel Donohue and Marian Makins in Center City. Contact barnstarconcerts@gmail.com to reserve your place. Admission is $20; everything goes to the artists.

Opening this weekend!

There’s really no such thing as a slow week in Irish Philadelphia—there are regular sessions all over the city and environs—but this is a slowish week for one-off events.

However, the new McKenna’s Kitchen and Market—the restaurant that is taking over the spot once occupied by McKenna’s Irish Shop on Eagle Road in Havertown—opens officially on July 5 and the early reports are that it’s going to become one of our favorite spots. We’re getting a chance to try it out tonight in advance of the opening, so we’ll keep you posted! And we’ll have photos of our food, because, well, that’s the way it goes these days.

Then on Friday, July 10, No Irish Need Apply will play at Danube Swabian Association, 1277 Southampton Road, in Philadelphia. This private club that fosters German culture in Philly (with special emphasis on soccer, which is hot this week) is sponsoring concerts all summer. Danke for including an Irish Band, DS!

Next weekend, the Charlie Dunlop Memorial Golf Outing, postponed last weekend because of rain, will be held at Warminster Township’s Five Ponds Golf Club on July 11.

Also on July 11, the second of several Irish Center Fundraisers that will go on through fall: a painting party (wine glasses!) at The Irish Center.

On Monday, July 13, the Irish Immigration Center, motivated by events here and in Ireland, is hosting a special workshop on suicide awareness and prevention, starting at 8:15 PM. For further information, contact Leslie Alcock at lelie@icphilad.org, phone 610-789-6355 or Ciaran Porter, Ciaran.porter.gda.philadelphia.usa@gaa.ie, phone 267-581-9394.

On Thursday, July 16, there will be a month’s mind Mass for the Irish victims of the Berkeley balcony collapse at St. Laurence Church, 8245 West Chester Pike, Upper Darby, starting at 7:30 PM.

Check our calendar for any late breaking items.

No Irish Need Apply are performing at the Irish Center fundraiser on Saturday.

Sometimes it seems like it’s all fundraisers, all the time, but the Irish are a generous people so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there are at four of them this weekend, all for good causes.

The one I’m involved in is the Irish Center fundraiser at McGillicuddy’s in Upper Darby on Saturday, June 27. I hope you’ll come out and say hello, listen to the music (including the fabulous No Irish Need Apply who always make me feel safe—several of them are cops!), have something to eat and drink, and buy a raffle ticket. The raffles are amazing: two bikes, including a darling Hello Kitty bike for your favorite little girl; two free passes to see Emmett O’Hanlon of Celtic Thunder when he comes to Philadelphia on August 21; four tickets to the Phillies Vs. the Atlanta Braves (and they’re great seats!); dinner for four at the new McKenna’s Kitchen and Market which opens on July 5; free tuition to Act One, the two-week summer theater camp for kids in Ardmore; a spa basket of goodies for those of us with Irish skin from Celtic Complexion; and much, much more.

There will also be a silent auction for exquisite handmade chiming mantle clocks from local artisan and musician Tom Gilbride (who will also be performing). I hope to see you all there!

On Saturday, The Charlie Dunlop Memorial Fund is holding its annual fundraiser, a golf outing and dinner at Five Ponds Golf Club. This organization honors the memory of a man who was always ready to help someone in need—and it continues his work.

On Sunday, there’s a fundraiser at the Plough and the Stars at Second and Chestnut in Philadelphia for some of the young musicians from our area who qualified to go to the All-Irelands music competition in Ireland this summer. We regularly send four or five kids who come back with trophies bigger than they are, and we’re thinking that this year will be no exception.

Also on Sunday, starting at 5:30 PM, there will be a fundraiser at Tir na Nog at 16th and Arch in Philadelphia to raise money for victims of the Berkeley balcony collapse which killed five young Irish people in the US on J1 visas to make money for school. The money will go to help their families and the other victims, several of whom were critically injured and will require lengthy hospital and rehab stays.

Sunday is also Celtic Day—19th version—in Bristol Borough, with the Bogside Rogues, Bristol’s own River Drivers, the Philadelphia Banjo Society and the Fitzpatrick Irish Dancers on the scenic waterfront. Festivities start at 1 PM.

Next Friday, catch the Paul Moore Band in their favorite spot, doing First Friday honors at Brittingham’s in Lafayette Hill.

Also next Friday, there’s a beef and beer fundraiser for the Young Irelands Gaelic Football Club at Paddy Rooney’s in Havertown. Even if you don’t care for Gaelic football, go for the food. It’s always terrific. Hats off to you Paddy and Una!

Then on Saturday, while you’re being Irish in Philly, be American in Philly. It’s our national birthday! Happy Birthday to you, home of the free and the brave! Cue the fireworks.