How to Be Irish in Philly

The Irish Memorial is celebrating its 10th birthday this week with a re-dedication ceremony at the site at Front and Chestnut at 4 PM on Saturday followed by a gala event at the nearby Hyatt’s Penn’s Landing. The sculpture by Glenna Goodacre, designer of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial on the Mall in Washington, DC, features 35 bronze figures arranged in vignettes portraying each phase of the Irish immigrant’s path to the new world, from the famine to prosperity in America. The rededication ceremony is free to the public.

Snag some great bargains (think Christmas) at McKenna’s Irish Shop’s annual parking lot sale on Saturday from 11 AM to 3 PM in Havertown. Some items are up to 80 percent off! They’re only doing this one day a year, and it’s rain or shine. So load up!

On Sunday, kick up your heels at the AOH Ceili at the AOH Notre Dame Div. 1 hall in Swedesburg between 2 PM and 5 PM. And if you see any of the members of Irish Thunder Pipes and Drums, which calls AOH Div. 1 home, give him or her a pat on the back. The band raised money through the sale of special t-shirts for the Susan B. Komen Foundation—to the tune of $2,500.

You can combine your love of Irish music and help raise money for breast cancer research on Sunday by attending a special benefit at The Irish Center in Philadelphia featuring Cletus McBride, Tom Brett, McHugh and O’Neill, Clyde Croasdale, Oliver McElhone, Andy Maher and his band, with a special reading by 2010 Bucks County Poet Laureate, Bernadette McBride Duffy.

On Sunday evening, there will be a spooktacular event at St. Malachy’s Church in Philadelphia. A group of local actors, including Mal Whyte, Dr. William Watson, Thom Nickels, and Marita Krivda Poxon, will provide an evening of Irish ghost storytelling—all local ghosts of course. Poxon is the author of several books of Philadelphia history, including her most recent, “Irish Philadelphia, “ as well as one on historical ghosts, “Oak Lane Ghost Stories.”

On Tuesday, Mick Moloney will be back in town to continue the “Two Roads Diverged” lecture at Villanova University along with Lenwood Sloan, Pennsylvania film commissioner.

On October 29, The musical play, “Once,” based on the hit movie, will launch a run at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia through early November. The play tells the story of a Dublin street busker who meets a young Czech woman who is entranced by his music.

Next weekend, the Mayo Association will be crowning its new Miss Mayo for the 50th time and celebrating a dancing through the night for the 108th time at the Irish Center.

The Philadelphia Rose of Tralee Centre is the first to yell “Boo!” this year. They’re holding their Halloween Party at the newest Irish pub in town, St. Declan’s Well on Walnut Street in Philadelphia on Saturday, October 19, and while there will be a prize for the best Halloween costume (for kids), you older folks are encouraged to bring formal dresses for all ages and sizes for The Fairy Godmother. The Cheltenham-based organization provides gowns for junior and senior high school students who might not otherwise be able to attend their proms.

Saturday is a busy day. At the Irish Center, dancer Shannon Dunne will teaching sean nos dancing—that’s Irish step dancing but without the gymnastic moves. There are two classes, one for beginners and one for more advanced dancers.

There’s a fundraiser in Port Richmond to provide the dependents of Irish political prisoners with money at Christmas time. See our story.

And the Shanty’s are playing at Paddy Whacks on Roosevelt Boulevard in Northeast Philadelphia.

On Sunday, musician and folklorist Mick Moloney, who was recently honored by the Irish government for his lifetime of work promoting the Irish culture, will be performing at St. Malachy’s Church in North Philadelphia, an annual fundraiser to which he invites some of the best Irish musicians from around the world to play with him. This is a standing-room only event every year, so get there early.

Moloney and mates will be doing a session later in the evening at Maloney’s Pub in Ardmore. On Monday, Moloney will be giving a lecture at Villanova University on Monday evening on “Two Roads Diverged: African and Irish Mornings and Afternoons.” There will be a reception afterwards.

Also on Sunday, there’s a ceili and potluck at the New Castle County Irish Society in Wilmington. On Wednesday, learn Irish ceili dancing from teacher Mary Collins and set dancing from Bud Burke also at the New Castle County Irish Society.

Kudos to the Irish Thunder Pipes & Drums of AOH Notre Dame Div. 1! They raised $2,500 for the Susan G. Komen Foundation of Philadelphia to help fight breast cancer through the sale of a pink version of the band’s t-shirt. You can see the shirt at www.irishthunder.org. They’re making the donation on Wednesday at the AOH hall in Swedesburg.

That same night, musician Mike Brill will be perfoming at AOH Div. 61 in Philadelphia—all are welcome.

On Friday, there will be a tribute to the late Irish poet laureate Seamus Heaney, featuring Inis Nua Theatre Company, Barn Star Productions (which does house concerts), and Irish-American writers and artists from the region.

Olive McElhone will be performing Friday night at Tip O’Leary’s in Havertown.

And next weekend the Irish Memorial will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a gala at the Hyatt Penns Landing in Philadelphia. It all starts with a rededication of the Memorial at Front and Chestnut Streets.

Another jam-packed week in Irish Philadelphia. Yay us!

On Saturday, you can support the Claddagh Fund, which raises money for underfunded nonprofits in the Philadelphia region, at the fights. The main event is a matchup between national amateur champion and 2008 Olympian Danny O’Connor and former world champion Vivian Harris. You can also see Three of Ireland’s best young boxers: Anthony “Anto” Cacace, Irish prospect of the year for 2012 and, despite that name, from West Belfast;former Irish super-featherweight champ (and former child actor) Tyrone McKenna, and super middleweight Ray “Irish Sugar” Ginley.

Oh, and you can expect to hear a little Dropkick Murphys too—lead singer Ken Casey is the brains behind the Claddagh Fund. They’ll be playing an acoustic set before the main event to get everyone into the fighting spirit. It all takes place at The Electric Factory. You can meet Ken Casey, Danny O’Connor, and the others fighters at Xfinity Live on Friday night at 6, prior to the Flyers’ game.

Beneficiaries of this event: The Hero Thrill Show, Inc., which raises money to pay for the college education of the children of police or firefighters who have died in the line of duty.

The Claddagh Fund will also honor two local men they say “exemplify the Irish fighting spirit:” former boxing commissioner, philanthropist and litigation lawyer, James J. Binns, and John Kane, business manager for the Plumbers Union Local 690.

That same night, a couple of more champs are performing at the Irish Center—that would be James Keane, one of the finest Irish box players in the world and Michel Tubridy, known for his prowess on the flute, tin whistle and concertina. Tubridy is one of the founders, with Keane’s brother, Sean, of The Chieftains. We would not be surprised if Keane’s nephew, Paraic, a remarkable fiddler whose home base is Philadelphia, showed up too.

On Monday, join the lively seniors for lunch at The Irish Center, where there’s sure to be some music and dancing too.

On Monday evening, The Coatesville Traditional Irish Music Series welcomes uillean piper Emmet Gill, who learned his craft in his native London though his roots are County Galway, and his partner of 10 years, Jesse Smith of Baltimore, a fiddler who learned to play from the acclaimed Brendan Mulvihill.

On Thursday, it’s time to fiddle around. The Celtic Fiddle Festival comes to Sellersville Theatre with Celts from all over: Kevin Burke from Ireland, Christian Lemaitre from Brittany, and Andre Brunet from Quebec, accompanied by master open tuning guitarist Nicola Quemener. You can hear Celtic music three different ways from some of the finest performers on the planet.

On Friday, our good friend, writer Liz Kerr, will be one of four Irish authors reading from their works at the Fishtown Tavern on Frankford Avenue in Philadelphia. Liz’s short stories and poetry have appeared in Philly Fiction, City Paper, Rust Belt Rising and The Galway Review. She’ll be joined by novelist Shawn McBride, writer/teacher Corinne Kelly, and poet Sean Kearney.

Another good friend and sometime contributor, photographer Brian Mengini, is offering specially priced photo sessions next Saturday at Ridley Lake in Ridley Park, with 15% of the session fee going to support The Irish Immigration Center. Now’s the time to get those Christmas photos done by a really remarkable photographer. And you get a 5 X 7 for free!

See our calendar for more information about all these events.

It’s a tough call for Sunday night. At Quest Fest 2 in Philadelphia, you can see All-Ireland fiddler Haley Richardson, 11, with her fiddling friend, Paraic Keane on stage, along with singer Marian Makins who will do a tribute to the late poet Seamus Heaney.

At the Irish Center, Portland, Oregon’s Colleen Raney has chosen the City of Brotherly Love for the release party for her new CD, “Here This is Home.” Raney sings traditional music from the Celtic tradition and will be performing with Dublin-born accordionist Johnny B. Connolly and bouzouki and guitar player Sean Ernest.

Either way, you can’t lose.

On Monday, the Irish American Business Chamber and Network and the German American Chamber are co-sponsoring a luncheon with the German Ambassador to the US, Peter Ammon, at the Union League. There will be networking opportunities for those inclined.

On Monday night, the first of many events leading up to the centennial of the 1916 Easter Uprising in Dublin: A lecture on the 1913 Dublin lockout, when members of the Irish Transport and General Worker’s Union were locked out of their jobs until they signed a pledge not to unionize. The Irish Citizens Army, an outgrowth of this fight, played a pivotal role in the 1916 uprising. Patricia Campbell, president of the Independent Worker’s Union in Ireland, is the guest speaker at the event, being held at Finnigan’s Wake in Philadelphia.

The John Byrne Band will be performing next Friday night at the Irish Center to benefit the Center, which is in dire need of repair. The popular band will be doing its Pogues’ show, which sold out at the World Café Live. Tickets are $15 and are available at the door or by calling 215-843-8051.

Also on Friday, Blackthorn is headlining a benefit at the FOP Lodge #5 for the Fallen Officers Fund; Irish country music performers Ally Harron and Marian Curry will be at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Newtown Square (wear your cowboy boots and be prepared to dance); and Olive McElhone is appearing at the newest Irish pub in the region, St. Declan’s Well, at 3131 Walnut Street in Philadelphia (where we hear they have a lovely breakfast on the weekends).

Enjoy the week!

This weekend, bringing up the rear of Irish festival month is one of the largest festivals of all, the Bethlehem Celtic Classic, which features Barleyjuice, Burning Bridget Cleary, Jamison, RUNA, the Makem and Spain Brothers (yes, that Makem), and Timlin and Kane, among others, amid caber tossing, sheepdog demonstrations, and haggis-eating. There are more kilts than you can shake a shillelagh at from Friday through Sunday in the Christmas city.

We’re closing out September on a high note all around. Harpists Grainne Hambley and William Jackson will perform for Crossroads Concerts (which brings ethnic music to Philadelphia) on Saturday.

At The Irish Center in Philadelphia, it’s the second year for “The Gathering,” which brings music, local authors, dancers, and vendors to the ballroom where local radio hosts, Vince Gallagher and Marianne MacDonald (WTMR 88 AM) will be doing their shows starting at 11 AM. Who knows? Maybe you could make some announcements!

At 12:30 PM Sunday, there will be a memorial Mass commemorating the 32nd anniversary of the Irish Hunger Strike, celebrated by Father Ed Brady at his parish, St. Anne’s, on E. Lehigh Street in Philadelphia. This is one of a number of events over the next few weeks that will highlight the Irish fight for freedom. On October 7, there will be a lecture commemorating the 1913 Dublin Lockout Centennial, a labor strike that laid the groundwork for the 1916 uprising, at Finnigan’s Wake in Philadelphia and on October 19, there will be a fundraiser to support the dependents of Irish Republican political prisoners at Bobby T’s in Port Richmond. Raymond Coleman will be performing and there will be a raffle and buffet.

Live Irish music—Scanlin & O’Leary—at the Farmhouse in Doylestown may make you want to while away this Sunday afternoon indoors even if it’s gorgeous outside.

Are you a Celtic supporter? That’s the Celtic Football Club, a Glasgow-based team that’s taking on Barcelona next week. There’s already a huge fan base in the US and it’s just getting bigger. On Tuesday, October 1, a new club, The Second Street Plough Bhoys Celtic Supporters Club, will have its first meeting at The Plough and the The Stars in Philadelphia to watch the game. It’s an afternoon meeting—starting at 2:45 PM—so lay some groundwork for calling out on Tuesday. Sniff, cough, I think I’m getting a cold.

On October 8, at Villanova University, National Book Award Winner Colum McCann (Let the Great World Spin) will be reading from his book, Transatlantic, a tale of three iconic and historical crossings—two aviators attempting the first nonstop flight across the Atlantic, an international lecture tour by abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and the journey of Senator George Mitchell to shepherd Ireland’s peace talks to their then uncertain conclusion. The event starts at 7 PM in the Connelly Center Cinema.

Later in October, musician/folklorist Mick Moloney will be speaking at Villanova and performing “with friends” at St. Malachy’s Church in North Philadelphia, his yearly fundraiser for the acclaimed mission school.

This is the weekend when just about every Celtic rock band—and even some trad players–in the region is booked at the shore, either in N. Wildwood, Wildwood, or Sea Isle City. That’s right, it’s the AOH Irish Fall Festival, with nonstop music and merchandise along Olde New Jersey Avenue and at Moore’s Inlet, not to mention every Irish pub, all weekend long.

We counted nearly 100 gigs everything from the AOH tent to Keenan’s, Owen’s Pub, the Shamrock, and Tucker’s. Among the performers and their locations:

The Bogside Rogues (AOH tent, Anglesea Tent, Flip Flopz)
Raymond Coleman (Westy’s Downstairs)
Blackthorn (La Costa in Sea Isle)
The John Byrne Band (Owen’s Pub, Flip Flopz)
Birmingham 6 (Street stage)
2U (AOH tent)
Broken Shillelaghs (AOH tent, Tucker’s)
Secret Service (AOH tent)
Celtic Pride (with All-Ireland fiddler Haley Richardson on the street stage)
The Paul Moore Band (Westy’s Deck)
Jamison Celtic Rock (Keenan’s, Casey’s)
Belfast Connection (AOH Tent)
5 Quid (Flip Flopz)
The Hooligans (Westy’s Deck)
The Shantys (Anglesea Tent, Anglesea inside)
Celtic Connection (AOH Tent)
Slainte (Keenan’s)
The Sean Fleming Band (AOH Tent, Anglesea Tent)
Neil and McHugh (Anglesea inside)
Willie Lynch (Anglesea inside)
No Irish Need Apply (Owen’s Pub)
The Barley Boys (Street stage, Owen’s Pub)
The First Highland Watch (Street stage, Shamrock in Wildwood)
Essex Pipe Band (Owen’s Pub)
Sullivan’s Bridge (Owen’s Pub)
Ballina (street stage)
Kilmaine Saints (AOH tent)
The Screaming Orphans (all the way from Donegal in the AOH Tent)
Derek Warfield and the Young Wolfetones (AOH tent)
Galway Guild (Keenan’s, Tucker’s)
Oliver McElhone (Anglesea inside)
Jamie and the Quietman (Anglesea inside)
Moira Maestra McKenny (street stage)

But there are actually other things happening this week—if you have the strength for them or didn’t go to the shore. Premier Irish step dancer Colin Dunne brings his one-man show to the Painted Bride as part of the Philly Fringe Festival (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday this weekend). Read our interview with this amazing performer.

On Sunday, the Irish Center is hosting a pay-per-view event–the Mayo Vs. Dublin football finals. There will be folks wearing blue (the Dubs) and others wearing red and green (Mayo) and each cheering for their team to win the Sam Maguire Cup. A full Irish breakfast is being served. Get there early–there’s likely to be a crowd!

On Wednesday, the Battlefield Band, one of Scotland’s leading fusion bands, comes to the Ardmore Music Hall in Ardmore with Burning Bridget Cleary, a Celtic fiddle band once described as “like the Allman Brothers only prettier.”

On Thursday, the Boston-based band Long Time Courting, an all-women group featuring Shannon Heaton, will be performing at the Blue Ball Barn in Wilmington, DE.

Then on Friday, get ready to gear up again for lots of music and merch at Bethlehem’s Celtic Festival, featuring highland games (watch the caber toss), border collies, haggis, and a host of topnotch performers, including said Burning Bridget Cleary, Barleyjuice, the Glengarry Bhoys, Jamison, Kilmaine Saints, RUNA, Seamus Kennedy, Slainte, The Elders, Timlin and Kane, and The Makem and Spain Brothers. Have some laughs too with the Irish comedy tour.

Also next weekend, harpists Grainne Hambley and William Jackson will perform at Crossroads Concerts in Philadelphia.

There’s a lot of craic going on in the next two weeks—have fun responsibly!

After a packed house for Singers Night on Thursday, the Philadelphia Ceili Group’s 39th Festival for Irish Music and Dance continues on Friday night with a Rambling House event (read: bring your party piece) at the Irish Center, 6815 Emlen Street, in Philadelphia, hosted by top Irish musicians Gabriel Donohue and Cherish the Ladies’ Joannie Madden.

And on Saturday, loads of free (if you’re a member–and you can be) workshops on everything from digging up your ancestors (no shovels required) to the Kensington Nativist Riots (which happened back when being Irish in America was a bad thing) as well as really free kiddie activities. The evening concert features an all-star band headed by noted New York-based Sligo fiddler Tony De Marco, as well as Martin O’Connell, Sean Earnest, Donie Carroll and Siobhan Butler), along with Nuala Kennedy and Eamon O’Leary.

Also this weekend, the 7th annual Gloucester City Shamrock Festival takes place along the Delaware in this New Jersey town just across from Philadelphia. There’s also an Irish music sail—a real sailboat, real Irish music—on Saturday leaving from Penns Landing near the Olympia.

On Saturday, The Farmhouse Tavern in Doylestown is having its “halfway to St. Patrick’s day” party featuring live music at 8 PM with Jack O’Leary and The Broken Shillelaghs are playing at the Dubh Linn Square Pub in Bordentown, NJ.

The Old Timers Dinner and Dance is slated for Sunday at the Irish Center. We hear from organizers that you don’t have to be that old to attend. Vince Gallagher is providing the music and he’s only a few years older than me and I’m not old.

On Monday, another annual event: the Ciara Kelly Higgins for CP benefit to raise money for this adorable 10-year-old, daughter of Tom and Dee Higgins, who was born with a former of cerebral palsy (but doesn’t let that or anything else stop her—you should see her Irish step-dance!). There’s a golf outing during the day at Plymouth Country Club in Plymouth Meeting and a dinner at the club at 6, featuring music by The Paul Moore Band, comedy by Joe Conklin, and more than 200 live auction and raffle prizes. The money from the event helps defray the cost of Ciara’s treatment.

On Wednesday, another benefit at a golf course: The Claddagh Fund and The Hartnell Down Foundation are sponsoring a fundraiser at the Scotland Run Golf Club in Williamstown NJ to raise money for both charities. Hartnell Down was founded by the Flyers’ Scott Hartnell to help support nonprofits, similar to the mission of The Claddagh Fund, founded by The Dropkick Murphy’s front man, Ken Casey. Both celebs will be there along with some other celebrity golfers.

On Thursday, “Riverdance” star and step-dance prodigy Colin Dunne will present his one-man, multi-media show on the evolution of Irish step-dancing. Read our interview with Dunne, who will be performing nightly through Saturday at The Painted Bride in Philadelphia.
And it’s what you’ve all been waiting for: Thursday is also the first day of the AOH Irish Fall Festival in North Wildwood! It starts every year with a boxing match at the Irish Music Tent at The Point at Moore’s Inlet, which, for three days, is the scene of much music and merry-making. There are miles of vendors, a pipe and drum exhibition, a run, free Irish dance lessons, and more Irish people and wannabes than you thought possible to squeeze into one town outside Ireland. All the pubs and clubs in N. Wildwood and Wildwood have booked Irish acts too. Check our calendar for more information.