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How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

It's almost here!

It’s almost here!

The first fundraiser for Philadelphia’s St. Patrick’s Day gets the season off to a good start, with Jamison, the Bogside Rogues, and No Irish Need Apply providing the music at The Heroes Ballroom at the FOP Lodge 5 in Philadelphia on Sunday. A second, set for March 3, has moved from the Springfield Country Club to Cardinal O’Hara High School on South Springfield Road in Springfield. It features the music of Slainte and Round Tower, with performances by the McDade, Cara, and McHugh Schools of Irish Dance.

Also this weekend: Gael Scoil! That would be Irish school, an annual two-day event during which kids between the ages of 7 and 17 learn about Irish history, sports, dance, mythology, and language at Notre Dame High School in Lawrence Township, NJ.

On Sunday, the Burlington County St. Patrick’s Day Parade is holding its grand marshal dinner at the High Street Grill in Mt. Holly, NJ. This year’s grand marshal is Francis X. McAneny, EdD, a longtime educator and currently the principal at St. Mary School in Bordentown, NJ. He is also a longtime Irish dancer who has appeared with the Crossroads School of Irish Dance and won many awards. The parade, always the first in the region, is scheduled for Saturday, March 2.

Irish language lessons are available in the Glenside area starting on Monday. See our calendar for more details.

“Jimmy Titanic,” a new play from Belfast-born playwright Bernard McMullan debuts at the Second State at the Adrienne in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Feb. 27. It explores “the Irish side” of the Titanic disaster through the eyes of a former shipyard worker turned sailor who died on the voyage. Colin Hamell stars in this one-man play which runs through March 10.

And Lunasa will be on stage at the Sellersville Theatre on Wednesday night.

At a luncheon on Thursday at the Hyatt at the Bellevue in Philadelphia, the Irish Ambassador to the US, Michael Collins, will present the annual Irish American Business Chamber and Network’s Ambassador’s Award to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), the Taoiseach Award to James and Frances Maguire and the Uachtaran Award to Sr. Marguerite O’Beirne, OSF. The Maguires are principals of the Maguire Foundation, a philanthropic organization that funds education. Sister Marguerite O’Beirne, OSF, is vice president of mission and ministry at Neumann University.

If you didn’t get a chance to get your copy of “Irish Philadelphia” signed at the Irish Center a few weeks ago, author Marita Krivda Poxon will be autographing again on Saturday at McKenna’s Irish Shop in Havertown.

Also next Saturday, March 2, the Glenside Gaelic Athletic Association is holding a beef and beer at the Irish Center on Emlen Street in Philadelphia.

Don’t forget: The Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade is coming up on March 10. Stake out your chunk of curb now.

February 21, 2013 by
How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

The Campbell’s Highland Dancers and the Washington Pipe Band at last year’s Midwinter Scottish and Irish Fest.

The really smart people have booked rooms for the weekend in the Valley Forge area because it’s that time again—the Philadelphia Mid-winter Scottish and Irish Festival.

It’s all about the music. Festival favorites Albannach, Barleyjuice, Brother, Hadrian’s Wall, and Seven Nations will be joining groups like Donegal’s own Screaming Orphans, a very hip sister act, and Searson, an equally hip sister act from Canada, both of which have a huge fan base in the Mid-Atlantic region. There’s dancing. We’re hoping for a dance-off between the Fitzpatrick Irish Dancers and the Campbell Highland Dancers. Bring it! And you can dance too—there’s plenty of dance music for rockers, ceili dancers, and step dancers. You can even sign up for a few lessons!

You can learn to speak Irish or Scottish Gaelic, taste some aged whiskey, buy some CDs, a kilt, a new sporran, a crazy t-shirt, or some stunning jewelry, and taste some Scottish ice cream, fish and chips, or meat pies. Seriously, this is the most fun you can have with your clothes on, and most people do keep their clothes on so you can bring the kiddies.

We’ll be there all weekend, hawking Ceili Drive: The Music of Irish Philadelphia, our newly minted CD featuring some of the region’s top Irish musicians which was crowd-funded, as they say on public radio, by listeners just like you. Any money we make from the sales of the CD, which we hope will become a piece of Irish Philadelphia history, will go to making a second featuring some of the musicians we didn’t capture the first time around. So, stop by and see us, and buy a CD (they’re only $15 and will also be available online).

There’s an incredible bounty for Irish music lovers this week. At the Irish Center on Sunday, and at the Coatesville Cultural Center on Sunday, you can hear Laura Byrne, Rose Flanagan (sister of noted fiddler Brian Conway), and Eamon O’Leary on flute, fiddle, and guitar. The three will be offering workshops at the Irish Center before their show, which starts at 8 PM.

The John Byrne Band will be appearing at the Winter Doldrums Folk Fest (we do love that name!) at World Café Live, along with many other local folkies.

On Sunday, Galway’s own Don Stiffe, fresh from “The All Ireland Talent Show,” will be making his second appearance at The Irish Center in Philadelphia. Go early for the traditional Irish meal prepared by Tullamore Crew at 5 PM.

The first parade of the region is always Burlington County, and they have the first fundraiser too—at the High Street Grill in Mt. Holly, NJ, on Wednesday, 7-10 PM, with Irish music provided by Slainte.

Philadelphia’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be holding its first fundraiser (of two) on February 24 at The Heroes Ballroom, FOP Lodge 5, in Philadelphia—appropriate since this year’s grand marshal is retired Philadelphia Police Officer Harry Marnie, who has been active for many years with the FOP and the Emerald Society, an organization of police and fire personnel of Irish descent.

Then, on Friday, February, 22, the fundraiser you’ve all been waiting for—the Delco Gael’s “Dancing Like a Star,” which pits 8 amateur couples against one another in a dance-off that last year drew more than 700 people to the Springfield Country Club. The event, which is fun personified, raises money to support the Gaels, who are helping keep Gaelic athletics in Philadelphia alive through youth teams.

There are loads of events on our calendar—more and more every day as we approach St. Patrick’s month. Keep checking back!

February 15, 2013 by
How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

That’s the lovely Angus from the popular group, Brother, in Valley Forge on Friday.

It’s the quiet before the storm. Just a few new things going on this week, but all Irish is going to break loose very soon (we know, because we’ve just updated our calendar and we’re not finished yet!) in preparation for OUR month.

If the snow doesn’t stop you, catch the Broken Shillellaghs at Lazy Lanigan’s Publick House on Saturday night (oh, it will all be plowed to the side by then) in Sewell, NJ.

AOH Div. 1 in Bridgeport is holding a ceili on Sunday at 2 PM (calling all dancers!).

On Tuesday, learn about the Irish Census of 1901 and 1911 with John McDevitt at the regular meeting of the Irish American Genealogy Society at the Irish Immigration Center in Upper Darby (starts at 11 AM).

Then, Friday marks the beginning of the incredible festivities at the Philadelphia Mid-Winter Scottish and Irish Music Festival in Valley Forge. The opening concert features the Paul Moore Band, Angus and Digeridrew from Brother, Albannach (the remarkable percussion band from Scotland) and Barleyjuice, homegrown Celtic rockers.

Also on the bill for this weekend extravaganza: the MacLeod Fiddlers from Canada, The John Whelan Band, Seven Nations, Brother, Hadrian’s Wall, the Screaming Orphans, the Rovers, Searson, Killen Clark Cantrip, Jamey Kelly, Olive McElhone, The Washington Memorial Pipers, the Campbell Highland and Fitzpatrick Irish Dancers, and Paddy Kelly and friends. You can sign up for a whiskey tasting, learn a few words in Scottish or Irish Gaelic, pick up a few steps of ceili or Scottish step dancing, or do a little fencing. It’s total Celtic immersion.

Check our calendar regularly for any late-breaking events and find out more about what’s going on this week.

February 8, 2013 by
How to Be Irish in Philly

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

John Byrne and his band will be appearing with Lily Anel this weekend in Newtown Square

If you or your peeps came from Philly, you’re going to want to get yourself a copy of “Irish Philadelphia,” a new book by local author Marita Krivda Poxon which chronicles in words and pictures the history of the Irish in the city since before the Revolutionary War. You can meet Poxon and Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffrey, who wrote the forward to the book, on Saturday afternoon at the Irish Center in Philadelphia.

Saturday is also very musical: Slainte is at Paddy Whacks Pub on Roosevelt Boulevard in the afternoon and at Maggie’s on Delaware Avenue at night. Busy day for this offshoot of Jamison Celtic Rock.

You can also hear the John Byrne Band with local singer-songwriter Lily Anel at Burlap and Bean Coffee in Newtown Square on Saturday night.

Start your day off right, though, by catching some 6 Nations Rugby. Watch Ireland Vs. Wales and English Vs. Scotland on the big screens at The Plough and the Stars in Philadelphia on Saturday starting at 8:30 AM.

Get information on these events and others—and keep checking back for late breaking news—on our calendar.

January 31, 2013 by
How to Be Irish in Philly

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

Meet the author of a new book on the Irish in Philadelphia.

One of the most poignant annual events in Philadelphia’s Irish community is the Bloody Sunday Mass, which honors the 26 civil rights protesters, many in their teens, who were killed by British soldiers during a peaceful march through Derry’s Bogside neighborhood on January 30, 1972. The dead will be remembered on Sunday, January 27, at the Irish Center in Philadelphia’s Mt. Airy section. It’s sponsored by the Sons and Daughters of Derry, the County Derry association in Philadelphia.

There’s music aplenty around the region this week. Singer Oliver McElhone will be performing at Maloney’s Pub in Ardmore on Saturday night, while Blackthorn is rocking Ryan—that’s Archbishop Ryan High School, an annual fundraiser—in Philadelphia on Saturday night.

You can catch Jamison at Curran’s in the Tacony section of the city on Saturday night too.

Mark your calendars for Sunday, February 2. Writer Marita Krivdon Poxon, along with Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffery and longtime Irish Edition photographer Tom Keenan will be at the Irish Center to launch Poxon’s new book, Irish Philadelphia, an historical look at the role the Irish played in the city. McCaffrey wrote the intro to the book and Keenan helped with the photography.

For more information on these events, please check our calendar.

January 25, 2013 by
How to Be Irish in Philly

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

Poet Robert Burns, who celebrates a birthday on January 25.


We’re already hearing from folks about their St. Patrick’s Day. . .er, month. . .gigs, so if you have something planned, get it on our calendar.

Get in a little practice this week. Timlin and Kane are at Brittingham’s on Friday night, January 18 (that’s where I first saw them about a million years ago) and Irish singer Mary Courtney is performing for the Princeton Folk Music Society on Friday night as well.

“The Beauty Queen of Leenane,” the award-winning Martin McDonagh play that opened to rave reviews in Philly at the Lantern Theatre Company at St. Stephen’s Church continues this week.

On Saturday afternoon, spend a nice four hours of bliss, nursing a beer and listening to Blackthorn at Tom & Jerry’s Sports Pub in Folsom, and catch the Shanty’s at Reed’s Tavern on Frankford Avenue in Philadelphia on Saturday night.

On Sunday, AOH 87 is holding its annual fund-raising beef-and-beer at Finnigan’s Wake in Philadelphia. The very active Port Richmond group has the Paul Moore Band to provide the music and for $30, you get a buffet meal, with draft beer, wine and soda, plus reduced prices for other drinks.

Dinner plans on Sunday? If not, the Tullamore Crew is whipping up an Irish feast at the Irish Center.

And all you wandering dancers who miss Emmett’s Place—Emmett is going to be at the Rising Sun VFW Post in Philadelphia on Sunday with the Hooligan’s Luke Jardel providing the music.

On Monday, catch John Byrne at the Lickety-Split Singer Songwriter series in Philadelphia.

Since we welcome all Celts to our pages, head over to the 8th annual South Jersey Burns Supper to honor Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns on Friday. The party is being held in Mt. Laurel, NJ, sponsored by the Burlington County St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee. And yes, there will be haggis, but that’s no reason to stay away. There will be other food too.

Also next Friday, a group of young trad performers will be featured in a Philadelphia Ceili Group House Concert in Havertown. They include three-time all Ireland fiddle champion Dylan Foley, multiple medal-winner accordionist Dan Gurney, and acoustic guitarist and bouzouki player Sean Earnest whom we’ve known since he was a teenager and who is now an in-demand Celtic traditional accompanist. Since it’s a house concert, space is limited so you must RSVP. And that’s the only way you’ll find out the address. That’s the way it works.

Next Saturday, Blackthorn is rocking Ryan (Archbishop Ryan High School in Philadelphia) for the fifth year in a row to raise money for the school’s scholarship fund. This is usually a sellout, so check our calendar for ticket information (for this and other events of the week).

January 18, 2013 by
How to Be Irish in Philly, Music

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

Gerry Timlin will be performing with Danny Quinn and Gabriel Donohue on Sunday.

Congress may be dragging its feet on helping out the victims of Hurricane Sandy, but not the Irish. Three local Irish musicians—Danny Quinn, Gerry Timlin, and Gabriel Donohue—will appear on stage on Sunday at Catherine Rooney’s Pub in Wilmington, Delaware, to raise money for those left displaced by the super storm that ravaged the East Coast.

On Saturday afternoon join the irrepressible Fergus Carey and a group of musicians at Fergie’s Pub on Sansom Street in Philadelphia to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its traditional Irish music session (the first one I ever went to, by the way). It’s a fun place to be even when they’re not celebrating.

On Monday, hear the John Byrne Band at the North Star Bar—also a fun place to be—and this one is for free.

Martin McDonagh’s award-winning play, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, opens at the Lantern Theater Company at St. Stephen’s Church in Philadelphia.

Mark your calendars! On January 13, musicians Jay Ungar, Molly Mason, Alasdair Fraser, Natalie Haas and Dirk Powell share the stage at the Sellersville Theatre in Sellersville for what’s billed as “A Fiddlers Feast.”

And check out the website of our friends, Blackthorn, who have a great post-St. Patrick’s Day trip planned down to Clearwater, Florida, where you can watch the Phillies at spring training and hear one of Philly’s favorite Irish rock bands–for many Irish, a dream come true.

January 4, 2013 by
How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

New Year’s Eve at the Irish Center

The week between Christmas and New Year is always slow, particularly for those of us who had to work. But fortunately, it’s still possible to be Irish in Philly. For example, you can hear Slainte, a Jamison offshoot featuring Frank Daly and CJ Mills, at Reedy’s on Frankford Avenue in Philly on Saturday night.

There are sessions galore, including a ballad session with Paraic Keane and John Byrne at Fergie’s Pub on Sansom Street on Sunday. Go, hear these two Dubliners turned Philadelphians, and enjoy the beers and great menu at this cozy pub.

Many local pubs and restaurants are having New Year’s Eve parties, but there’s always the old favorite—New Year’s Eve at the Irish Center, which features the Vince Gallagher Band.

Coming up: local musicians Gerry Timlin, Gabriel Donohue, and Danny Quinn are teaming up to raise money for Hurricane Sandy victims at Catherine Rooney’s Irish Pub in Wilmington on Saturday, January 6.

On January 7, the John Byrne Band will be playing at the North Star Bar (where I once saw Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jew Boys, whom I’m sure left lingering mojo on that stage).

Also coming up for you Irish theater fans—the Lantern Theatre Company is mounting a production of Martin McDonagh’s “The Beauty Queen of Leenane,” at St. Stephen’s Church, starting on January 10. It’s a Tony Award-winning satire of the skirmishes and silent feuds between mothers and daughters. Take your mom.

December 28, 2012 by