How to Be Irish in Philly

Although it’s more than a month late, this is the weekend that hundreds of Celtic music fans look forward to—the Scottish & Irish Festival in Valley Forge, which had to forego its usual “Mid-winter” moniker this year because of casino construction at Valley Forge Convention Center.

On tap are some groups with a huge local fan base, including the percussion-heavy Scottish group Albannach, the Screaming Orphans (four beautiful girl rockers from Donegal), Searson, Jamison, and Rathkeltair. Also on the bill, The Brigadoons, the Sean Fleming Band, Hadrian’s Wall, Charlie Zahm, and a host of Irish dancers as well as the Washington Memorial Pipe Band.

But it’s not just music. There are fencing lessons and demos by Companions of the Cross, mead and poitin tastings, Scotch and Irish whiskey tastings, both Irish and Scots Gaelic workshops, and delicious Celtic food and a host of vendors.

The rest of the week is fairly quiet, though The John Byrne Band will be on stage at The Shanachie in Ambler on Saturday night and the IN-Philly 7-A-Side soccer team is taking on another opponent at Star Finders in Manayunk on Sunday night.

If you love the Shanachie, this would be the week to stop in, have a pint, listen to some music and say goodbye. The Irish pub will be closing on March 31.

Don’t let this week’s quiet fool you. It’s just everyone waiting to get their second wind after two weeks of nonstop St. Patrick’s parading and partying. Pretty soon, you’ll have so many choices for Celtic entertainment, you won’t know what to do.

St. Patrick’s Day dawns bright and early with the annual Judge Jimmy Lynn breakfast at The Plough and the Stars (7:30 AM) in Philadelphia, where you’ll hear music, singing, recitations, and, if you pay close attention to the conversations around you, some interesting political gossip. This is the go-to party for city pols.

Afterwards, there’s a lovely ceremony at the Irish Memorial at Front and Chestnut Streets and ceremonial planting of shamrocks in the raised flower beds.

If you have the energy, join the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 5 K on Forbidden drive in Fairmount Park. You can park at the Valley Green Inn. Proceeds from this charity run go to St. Malachy’s School in Philadelphia.

If you’re from Delaware County, however, you may need to rush right back to Springfield, which holds a spirited parade every year right there in the heart of Irish territory. There are so many Irish immigrants living there, you’ll think you’re in Ireland.

Likewise, Trenton is having its St. Patrick’s Day Parade right on the holiday.

Mass and festivities are being held at the Irish Center in Mt. Airy. We’ve heard there’s a huge feast planned by two of our favorite chefs, Geraldine Quigg and Sarah Walsh. And if I wasn’t going to the Donnybrook Cup—the annual faceoff between the USA Tomahawks and the Irish Wolfhounds in League Rugby—that’s exactly where I’d be.

The two teams last year resurrected The Donnybrook Cup which is being held this year at Quick Stadium at Widener University in West Chester. Afterwards, Blackthorn will be hold court at a post-rumble party at Harrah’s in West Chester. The Irish team, which arrived in town on Thursday, comes to the scrum with last year’s trophy. The national anthem will be sung by John and Michael Boyce of Blackthorn, and the Irish national anthem by their sister, Karen Boyce McCollum.

Also, the Erin Express pub crawl starts at noon on Saturday and goes to 15 pubs. Buses are provided. Remember, you don’t have to drink at all 15 pubs to make this a worthwhile day.

This is the last St. Patrick’s Day celebration at the Shanachie in Ambler. Owners Gerry Timlin and Ed Egan have sold their popular Irish spot after 7 ½ years in business. You probably can’t get reservations for dinner (you can try), but you might be able to squeeze inside to say goodbye to this great Irish pub. Some of us are really going to miss it.

There will be live music all over the place, but of the groups who’ve made use of our calendar, I can tell you that The Shantys will be playing at Reedy’s Tavern in Philadelphia, the Broken Shillelaghs will be at McMichael’s Pub and Grill in Gloucester City, NJ, and Blackthorn will be following up its gig at Harrah’s at Brownie’s 23 East in Ardmore. Bogey Phillips will be singing traditional Irish folk songs at Kennett Flash in Kennett Square.

There’s also a St. Patrick’s Day Party at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Glenside, sponsored by AOH Div. 2. There will be live music, dancing, and activities for the kids.

Things don’t grind to a halt after St. Patrick’s Day, but they do, mercifully, slow down a little.

On Sunday, for example, the St. Malachy’s College Orchestra from Belfast will be teaming up with the Temple University Newman Center and the St. Malachy’s Philadelphia choir for the 11 AM mass at the church in North Philadelphia. This could a religious experience like you never had.

IN-Philly, not letting a few trouncings stop them, will be heading back to Star Finders in Manayunk for their next 7-a-side soccer game. They’ll be playing AC Philly.

A total treat on Wednesday: Celtic Thunder’s George Donaldson will be joining Raymond Coleman live at the Plough and the Stars in Philadelphia. This is a great, intimate setting for hearing live music.

On Thursday, enjoy a real old-fashioned Irish Ceili at the Falvey Memorial Library at Villanova University with musicians and dancers from the Philadelphia Ceili Group and the Villanova Irish Step Dancers.

Then on Friday, the great Scottish & Irish Music Festival and Fair comes to the Valley Forge Convention Center a month late, but with the same great bands and vendors. Expect to see Rathkeltair, Albannach, Searson, the Hooligans, the Bogside Rogues, Andy Cooney, the Mac Leod Fiddlers from Canada, and many, many more. It’s all weekend, and oh what a weekend it is.

Genealogists and wannabes take note: The Ulster Historical Foundation will be at the Irish Center on Saturday to help you find you Irish and Scots-Irish ancestors. Ulster is one of the four provinces o Ireland and includes Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan in the Republic, as well as Antrim, Armagh, Fermanagh, Derry, and Tyrone in Northern Ireland.

We say it every year: If you don’t know how to be Irish in the next two weeks, we are drumming you out of the clan.

This is a huge parade weekend, so we’ll start there:

On Saturday, both Conshohocken and Bucks County are having their parades in the afternoon. They’re both popular little parades with lots of kid-friendly events, so whichever one you choose, get there early.

On Sunday, the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade gets going at noon (an hour later than last year). Since Sunday is when we turn the clocks forward, you probably won’t notice a thing. The whole parade—which may be bigger this year than ever, thanks to predictions of nice weather—will also be streamed live on the CBS3 website and broadcast on the CWPhilly, CBS3’s sister station. As usual, anchor Susan Barnett and meterologist Kathy Orr will be in the broadcast booth with parade chaplain Father Kevin Gallagher, parade director Michael Bradley, and color commentator Karen Boyce McCollum. Look for the ever-lively Bob Kelly on this street.

The Philadelphia parade will start with a Mass at St. Patrick’s Church at 20th and Locust.

Look for www.irishphiladelphia.com marching in the parade. It’s our second year and we welcome marchers who think of themselves as Irish Philadelphians.

Here’s the rundown for the rest of the weekend and week. Hold on to your leprechaun hats.

Saturday

Several pub crawls are in progress: The Erin Express and the Running of the Micks in Philadelphia, and Shamrock and Roll in Delaware County. There’s music, drink specials, and those all-important buses to keep you from doing something stupid behind the wheel. Try not to do anything stupid behind the wheel.

Handy with a Stick, a local trad group, is performing at the Water Gallery in Lansdale. Two of the featured musicians, Bette Conway and John Brennan, are also jewelry makers whose works will be available for sale.

The John Byrne Band is performing a Circle of Friends house concert in the Palmyra, NJ, area.

Jamisons is at Paddy Whack’s on South Street.

The Shantys are rocking out at Reedy’s Tavern in Frankford.

Sunday

Irish Network-Philly is retiring after the parade to The Bards on Walnut Street where, along with socializing, they’re collecting children’s books for donation. They also have a soccer game scheduled for 5:50 PM at Star Finders in Manayunk.

There’s an after-parade party scheduled at the Irish Center in Mount Airy.

Jamison is also having an after-parade party at Finnigan’s Wake in Northern Liberties.

The Jamison Sisters (Ellen Tepper and Teresa Kane) will be performing at the Woodmere Art Musem in Chestnut Hill from 3-4 PM. This is a special opportunity to see Ellen Tepper perform on several different harps including the ancient Irish wire-strung harp. Terry Kane will also be featured singing many different styles of Celtic songs.

Speaking of harps, you can catch Grainne Hambly and William Jackson perform their Masters of the Celtic Harp program in Vineland at 3 PM.

The 65 singers of the VOICES chorale will join Irish singer Gerry Dignan in concert at the Anchor Presbyterian Church in Wrightstown, Bucks County, at 3 PM.

The Heartstring Quartet—four topnotch Irish musicians—will be giving a concert at Calvary United Methodist Church in Philadelphia, at 7:30 PM

You can also catch Ryan Kelly and Neil Byrne of Celtic Thunder in a special acoustic show at The Plough and the Stars in Philadelphia on Sunday night.

Tuesday

The John Byrne Band is booked  to open for The Saw Doctors at the TLA at night.

Hugo Hamilton, best-selling author of “The Speckled People,” a memoir about growing up Irish-German in Dublin after World War II, will be speaking at Villanova University as part of the 14th Annual Literary Festival.

Wednesday

Tullamore Dew—mmmm, mother’s milk to some people I know. There will be a tasting of this Irish whiskey, sponsored by IN-Philly, at The Bards on Walnut Street at 6 PM.

Lunasa, fronted by talented musician and aspiring comic Kevin Crawford, will be playing at the Exhibition Hall at Longwood Gardens at 8 PM.

Thursday

The Port Richmond AOH 87 is sponsoring a talk by Carrie McIntyre, wife of Dr. Anthony McIntyre who with Ed Moloney conducted interviews for the Boston College Oral History Project, documents that the British government is attempting to gain access to because of reputed new information on the IRA killing of a mother 10 children in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Jean McConnville. For the project, Irish Republican and Loyalist paramilitaries were interviewed and some of those oral histories allegedly contain evidence implicating prominent Irish politicians in her death.

Celtic Pride is performing at the Sellersville Theatre and the Irish Rovers will be roving over to the Keswick Theatre in Glenside.

St. Malachy’s Orchestra from Belfast will be performing at the Irish Center.

Friday
Moya Brennan, of the well known Irish folk group, Clannad, will be peforming in concert at The Irish Center in Mount Airy.

Brendan Callahan and John Brennan will hold forth at a house concert in Lansdale.

Brian Conway, Billy McComiskey, and Brendan Dolan, will be joined by RUNA’s Shannon Lambert-Ryan for a concert Friday night at West Chester University. Earlier in the day, Dolan will be giving a free piano workshop at West Chester, sponsored by Kildare’s of West Chester.

Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul is on tape at the Appel Farm Arts and Music Center in Elmer, NJ.

Celtic Pride will be at the Temperance House in Newtown.

Mike and Kitty Kelly Albrecht will perform upstairs at Roller’s in Chestnut Hill.

Soprano Jackie Dunleavy Boyle, accompanied on harp by Samanta Wittchen, will be on stage for an Irish concert at Covenant United Methodist Church in Springfield, Delaware County.

You’ll find the Shanty’s at the Glenside Pub in Glenside and the Broken Shillelaghs at the Dubh Linn Square Pub in Sewell, NJ.

St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Saturday this year and it is jam-packed, from the annual Judge Jimmy Lynn Breakfast at the Plough and the Stars, to the ceremonies at the Irish Memorial at the waterfront, to the Donnybrook Cup (Ireland vs. US in live rugby at Widener University in West Chester) to the Springfield, Delaware County, St. Patrick’s Day parade.

There’s lots more which you can see on our calendar. Or check back next week. The calendar is changing daily.

Although St. Patrick’s Day is almost two weeks away, we’re partying like it’s March 17 this week. All week.

Expected rain is postponing the Burlington County St. Patrick’s Day parade until the end of the month (boo!). But somehow, we think that this weekend’s planned pub crawl will be going on as scheduled. The Erin Express heads out at noon on Saturday to and from a variety of Philadelphia bars and Irish pubs. We’re happy you won’t be driving, but we do hope you won’t be drinking till you puke because, eww.

Also on Saturday:
The annual Grand Marshal’s Ball for the Conshy Parade. Meet and greet Jim Flood at the Jeffersonville Golf Club Banquet Hall.

One of our favorite musicians, Seamus Kelleher, will be performing at 3 PM at Paddy Whacks in Philadelphia.

It’s Celtic Kilt night at the Northampton Valley Country Club in Richboro. Wear yours.

Also in Bucks County, check out singer-guitarist Mary Courtney of the trad band Morning Star at the Silver Lake Nature Center in Bristol.

In Jersey, the Gloucester County AOH is holding its St. Patrick’s Day Party—everyone is welcome.

On Sunday:
A very special event is planned for the afternoon at Glen Foerd on the Delaware on Grant Avenue in Philadelphia. The musical duo of Timlin and Kane will perform and you can enjoy a Ploughman’s Lunch and Irish coffee at this mansion, the last surviving riverfront estate in the city. The program will honor the many Irish men and women who worked on the riverfront estates in Torresdale. You must reserve a spot.

The film, “Settling Down,” about a group of Irish travelers, will be screened at the University of Pennsylvania Museum. Read our interview with Joseph Lennon, director of the Villanova Irish Studies Program, who will be speaking after the viewing.

The biggest and arguably best of all the Philly St. Patrick’s Day Parade fundraisers is scheduled for 3 PM at the Springfield Country Club in Springfield, Delaware County. In the past years, more than 700 people have showed up for this one.

And even though they were killed in their first two games, the Irish Network-Philly soccer players will be back at Star Finders to take on The Ugly Moose team in 7-A-Side.

Enter the Haggis, the amazing Canadian Celtic rockers, are on the bill at World Café Live Sunday evening.

On Wednesday:
Super trad group Altan will be performing at Sellersville Theatre at 8 PM.

On Thursday:
In the morning, there’s the annual wreath-laying at the Irish Patriots memorial at Philadelphia City Hall by the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, a group that dates back to Revolutionary War times and counts our first president among its members. Afterwards, Mayor Michael Nutter will officially proclaim March “Irish month” in the city.

In the evening, the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Observance committee will honor Grand Marshal John Dougherty and the Ring of Honor at a dinner at the Doubletree Hotel on Broad Street.

Also this evening, Ireland’s National Concert Hall will presents its first ever lifetime achievement award to Paddy Moloney and the Chieftains at a gala event at the Union League, hosted by the American Ireland Fund. The Emerald Society Pipe band will be playing!

On Friday:

Hold on to your hats, folks. This is one full day. Here’s how it starts:

The remains of the 57 bodies of Irish immigrants recovered from the Duffy’s Cut archeological site will be laid to rest Friday afternoon—more than 150 years after they died—at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd. Interestingly, recent research suggests that the Duffy of Duffy’s Cut may be buried in the cemetery at St. Anne’s Parish in Philadelphia. Pastor Father Ed Brady told us that records are being combed to pinpoint the gravesite.

A real treat: Raymond Coleman is joined by his brother, Mickey, at the Plough and the Stars in Philadelphia. Each of the Coleman brothers is amazing alone. Together, wow.

Ken Casey of the Dropkick Murphys will be on hand at The Showboat Casino in Philadelphia to “meet and greet” to raise money the The Claddagh Fund, his charity which is now dedicated to funding nonprofits in Philadelphia.

Black 47, whose front man Larry Kirwan is not only a musician but a playwright and author, will be at World Café Live.

And Paddy Moloney and the Chieftains, fresh from their lifetime achievement award, will be performing at the Kimmel Center.

If you’re anywhere near Carlisle, Pa, catch Dervish with opening act, Philly’s own John Byrne Band. Byrne is also opening for The Saw Doctors when they come to the TLA in Philly on March 13. And he’s got a deal for you. Order Saw Doctors tickets through him and you get $10 off. Doesn’t get much better. Email him at j-kbyrne@msn.com.

Jamison will also be performing at Kildare’s in Manayunk.

Next week: Get your shamrock deely bobbers out, folks! There are three pub crawls (in Philly and Delco) and three, count them, three parades, including Philadelphia, Bucks County, and Conshohocken. And even more stuff which we’ll tell you about next week. Or, if you can’t wait, check out our calendar. It’s so big, we may need a second website.

It’s a story worthy of the big screen. In 1832, a group of 57 Irish immigrants, arriving in Philadelphia for a new life, find work on the railroad in Malvern, PA. Six weeks later, they’re all dead. Only ghost stories keep their memory alive until, 170 years after their deaths, twin brothers—a college professor and a minister—uncover their secret graves and start to unravel the mystery—a murder mystery—of the Ghosts of Duffy’s Cut.

You can hear this story on Saturday at the Irish Center when one of those brothers, Dr. Frank Watson, a Lutheran minister, talks about the years-long archeological dig that he and his brother, William, a professor at Immaculata College, undertook to find out what really happened to the men and women of Duffy’s Cut. It’s a story of prejudice, fear, hysteria, and ultimately murder. Evidence from the bones salvaged from the site suggests that at least some of the immigrants were murdered, likely to keep them from spreading cholera to the wider community.

The Watson brothers co-authored the book, “The Ghosts of Duffy’s Cut,” and were featured in a Smithsonian Channel TV documentary of the same name. They are co-founders and co-directors of the Duffy’s Cut Project. One of the brothers’ aims has been to either return the remains they found to family members in Ireland or to bury them in proper graves. On Friday, March 9, the remains will be buried after a ceremony at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd.

The event at the Irish Center is free.

This is the last week to see “Little Gem,” the critically acclaimed play by Dubliner Elaine Murphy, at the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia, the new home of the Inis Nua Theater Company.

On Saturday, catch noted Boston Irish musician (and publican) Patsy Whelan with Maxie Courtney at McGillin’s Olde Ale House (which is haunted, by the way). You can also catch Jamison Celtic Rock at Keenan’s Irish Pub in Wildwood if you’re lucky enough to be at the shore. And Timlin & Kane will be at The Shanachie. That’s always a good time.

Head back to the Shanachie on Sunday for a fundraiser for the WTMR 800-AM Irish radio shows featuring many great local musicians, including John Byrne.

Speaking of fundraisers, it’s fundraiser number two for the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade at Insulator’s Hall on Horning Road in Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon. Jamison, the Bogside Rogues, Raymond Coleman and the Celtic Flame Irish Dancers will be there rabble-rousing. The $35 ticket price covered wine, beer and buffet.

In Coatesville, it’s a triple threat for trad lovers: Guitarist Ged Foley, along with fiddler Orla Harrington and accordion player Andrew MacNamara will be on stage at the Coatesville Cultural Society on Sunday night.

Burlington County is holding its annual St. Patrick’s Day Grand Marshal Dinner at the High Street Grill in Mount Holly. Marie Hempsey is the grand marshal this year. This is also the time when Miss St. Patrick is crowned.

If you have any spare time, you can try to catch the IN-Philly 7-a-Side Soccer team at Star Finders in Manayunk around 5 PM on Sunday. They’re still smarting from their first major loss so they’re probably going to come back fighting.

And the weekend isn’t over yet. Jesse Smith and Ryan McGiver, two topnotch trad performers, will be doing a house concert in Lansdale on Sunday. They were just in Coatesville a few weeks ago. Here’s an opportunity for you “Northerners” to hear them in person.

On Tuesday, poet Nell Regan, who was shortlisted for the 2006 Patrick Kavanagh Awards, will be reading from her works at Villanova University.

Gaelic Athletic Association hurlers take note: Your practices are now on our calendar. No excuses! There’s even a map to the Torresdale Boys Club.

On Thursday, the Irish American Business Chamber and Network will be presenting awards to film writer and producer (“The Mighty Macs”) Timothy Chambers, Independence Blue Cross President and CEO Daniely Hilferty, and Shire Pharmaceuticals of Wayne, PA, which produces drugs for attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among others. Irish Ambassador Michael Collins will be on hand to present awards.

On Friday, genealogist Deborah Large Fox will be talking about the basics of Irish history research at the National Archives at 9th and Chestnut in Philadelphia.

On Friday night, the Bucks County Irish Ball takes place at King’s Caterers in Bristol.

RUNA, a band that plays contemporary and traditional Irish music, is performing on Friday at the Irish Center.

And photographer Brian Mengini, whose work you see frequently here at www.irishphiladelphia.com, will be holding a reception at his studio in Phoenixville next Friday night to kick off the month-long exhibit of his fine art photography series, empoweredME. The series was inspired by Mengini’s trip to Utah to take photos as part of a fundraiser for a young dancer with terminal cancer. He has since taken many more photos of dancers as part of the series, including Misty Copeland, soloist with the American Ballet Theatre Company in New York City.

Check the calendar for all the details.

Wouldn’t worship services be so much better if, instead of church music, you could get all spiritual to the tunes of U2?

Well, you can. This Saturday, St. Thomas’s Church in Fort Washington will be holding a service that features the music of Bono and friends. It’s part of an Episcopal Church program aimed at rallying support for concepts such as global reconciliation, justice for the poor and oppressed, and the importance of caring for your neighbor. You know, the stuff Jesus talked about. Services start at 4:30 PM at the church, which is known for its Celtic services.

The Philadelphia Ceili Group has an unusual program planned for Saturday. In the afternoon, you can find out how Ireland’s West saved the uilleann pipes, the traditional Irish pipes which have a wider range of notes—and, to my ears, a sweeter sound—than the pipes most people know (accompanied by marching guys in kilts). Dr. Scott B. Spencer, an ethnomusicologist most recently the Visiting Research Scholar at the Centre for Irish Studies at the National University of Ireland at Galway, will talk about the uilleann pipes’ history. Then, in the evening, you can hear one of the world’s premier uilleann pipers, Ivan Goff, an All-Ireland champ from Dublin now based in New York, show you why the uilleann pipes were worth saving. Goff has played with some of the top Irish bands in the land, including Dervish, Danu, Teada, Lunasa, Green Fields of America with Mick Moloney, and Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul. He’s also been in Riverdance and Michael Flately’s Lord of the Dance.

Goff will be accompanied by Eamon O’Leary, singer/guitarist from Dublin, who has likewise performed with many of Irish music’s leading lights, including Paddy Keenan, Mick Moloney, Tommy Peoples, James Keane, Susan McKeown, John Doyle, and Patric Ourceau.

These events are part of a year-long Philadelphia Ceili Group program focusing on music from the West of Ireland. If you’re from Mayo, Sligo, Galway, Clare, Kerry, Limerick, Leitrim or Donegal, this is a wonderful way to get back to your musical roots.’’

If wild Celtic music is your thing, head over to the Radisson in Valley Forge where you can hear the high-voltage Albannach, Brother, and Barleyjuice and the unusual and lovely music of Irish-Native American musician Arvel Bird pretty much all night. This is usually the week of the Mid-winter Scottish & Irish Festival, but casino construction at the Valley Forge Convention Center forced Bill Reid of East of the Hebrides Entertainment to move the fest to the end of March. Since these topnotch groups weren’t available, he brought them in to a new venue for the weekend. Thanks, Bill!

Also on Saturday, Timlin and Kane will be at St. James Pub at the Sands Casino in Bethlehem, and Jamison will be playing at Curran’s Northeast. Timlin and Kane will be at The Shanachie in Ambler on Sunday for family day. Bring the kiddies for specials and music all day.

Don’t forget: The critically acclaimed “Little Gem,” a production by the Inis Nua Theatre Company, continues this week through the end of the month.

On Sunday, classically trained violinist Heather Martin Bixler, who went over to the dark side. . .er, Irish fiddling. . .about 10 years ago, will be offering a free fiddle workshop at West Chester University, thanks to Kildare’s West Chester where she’ll be leading the session later in the evening.  A little birdie told us that the amazing Sligo fiddler Brian Conway is coming in from New York to play with her. So that’s two top notch fiddlers for the price of one. Oh right, it’s free!

The first of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day fundraisers happens on Sunday at the Second Street Irish Society where, along with some great celtic rock, you can hear the always wonderful Second Street Irish Society Pipes and Drums and watch their step dancers—a parade unto itself. Two more fundraisers will follow—on February 26 at Insulator’s Hall in Philadelphia, and on March 4 at Springfield Country Club.

For a slight change of pace on Sunday night, Archie Fisher, a leading Scottish folk singer, will be performing with Garnet Rodgers at the Calvary United Methodist Church in Philadelphia on Sunday night; John Byrne of The John Byrne Band will be on the Folk Show with Gene Shay on WXPN 88.5; and a bunch of guys who should know better—the men of Irish Network-Philly—will be taking on their first opponents in a series of 7-a-Side soccer games at Star Finders on Main Street in Manayunk.

Dancers, don’t forget: McKenna’s Gift Shop in Havertown is holding a used dance shoe/gear swap for the rest of this month. Take the stuff you’ve outgrown to McKenna’s and let them sell it for you. Pick up something that fits!

On Monday, historian Gavin Wilk will speak about one of Philadelphia’s leading Irish sons, Joseph McGarrity, a businessman from County Tyrone who was a leader of the pro-Republican Clan na Gael organization. The Philadelphia-based McGarrity provided arms shipments to the Irish Republicans and brought Eamon de Valera to the US for a tour to promote Irish independence.

Speaking of Irish Republicans, next Friday, Derek Warfield and the Youg Wolfetones will be at the Rising Sun VFW in Philadelphia where there will be dancing and fun, and maybe a few rebel songs.

And speaking of dancing, there aren’t that many tickets left for the Delco Gaels fundraiser, “Dance Like a Star,” on Friday night, February 24 at the Springfield Country Club. We’ve been talking to some of the dancers this week and they’re all practicing their waltzes, cha-chas, and swing dances like mad. CBS3 consumer reporter (and very funny guy) Jim Donovan is the host for the evening. We’re going to the last group practice this week so we can give you a preview mid-week. So come on back here for a look at Philly’s version of “Dancing with the Stars.”

And take a look at our calendar, for these and other events. Take a peek at March. It will make your head spin. Or is that just me? Along with parades and pub crawls, we’ve got RUNA, Altan, Enter the Haggis, Black 47, Paddy Moloney and the Chieftains, Dervish, the Saw Doctors (we’ll have an interview coming soon), the John Byrne Band, Grainne Hambley and William Jackson, Lunasa (at Longwood!), the Irish Rovers, Celtic Pride, Moya Brennan, Eileen Ivers, all the fab performers at the Mid-Winter Scottish & Irish Festival, not to mention the Donnybook Cup (USA Tomahawks face off against the Irish Wolfhounds in rugby, followed by Blackthorn), and a Tullamore Dew whiskey tasting. Yes, we’re squeezing all of that into March. And probably more. So keep checking back to see what fun the Irish have in store for you during our month!

Remarkable fiddler Jesse Smith along with guitarist Ryan McGiver will be taking center stage this Saturday at the Coatesville Cultural Center, as part of Frank Dalton’s Coatesville Traditional Irish Music Series.

Smith is a product of Baltimore’s lively Irish music scene, though he now lives and plays in Ireland now where he played with the band, Danu. The son of musicians, he studied with noted teacher and musician Brendan Mulvihill. Smith’s debut solo CD, “Jigs and Reels,” was named to the top 10 list of Irish traditional music CDs by the Irish Echo. His latest CD is called “The Ewe with the Crooked Horn.”

On Sunday, a quartet of superlative Irish musicians will be performing a free concert for children at Calvary United Methodist Church in Philadelphia. Guitarist Arty McGlynn along with virtuoso fiddler Nollaig Casey and harper Maire Ni Chathasaigh and flat-picking guitar player Chris Newman together make up the Heartstrings Quartet.

That’s not the only freebie coming up. Local musician Andy Maher and his band will offer a free concert to all ages on Saturday, February 17, at the Irish Center, 6815 Emlen Street, Philadelphia.

Continuing this week: The play, “Little Gem,” by Dublin playwright Elaine Murphy, presented by the Inis Nua Theatre Company at their new location, The First Baptist Church at 16th and Sansom in Philadelphia.

Jamison is performing on Saturday night at Brittingham’s Irish Pub in Lafayette Hill.

Two Irish transplants to Philly, John Byrne and Enda Keegan, will be performing separately and together at The North Star Bar in Philadelphia on Monday night. In keeping with the free-for-all going on this week on the Irish music scene, there’s no cover charge, but you must be 21 (they card you).

Starting on Sunday, Irish dancers have a place to sell those dance shoes or solo dresses that don’t fit and maybe pick up a replacement. McKenna’s Irish Shop in Havertown will sell your used items at no charge and will be offering other dance items for sale. This dance “swap” runs through February 29.

On Wednesday, bring your sweetie to the seniors’ Valentine lunch at the Irish Center (no, they don’t card you unless you’re ordering at the bar). Lunch will be served in the Fireside Room and the Vince Gallagher Band will perform. Dancing is encouraged.

The Irish American Genealogy Group meets on Thursday at The Irish Immigration Center in Upper Darby. Genealogist Deborah Large Fox will be talking about Irish records.

And Jamison is getting loads of work. They’ll be at Dublin Square in Cherry Hill on Friday night.

Put a note on your calendar to catch Matt and Shannon Heaton on Friday night at Trinity Episcopal Church. This delightful duo from New England are creatively traditional.

Next weekend is a blockbuster. Not only can you catch that free performance of Andy Maher at the Irish Center, you’ll learn how the West of Ireland helped save uillean bagpiping (that’s the Irish bagpipe) with renowned piper Ivan Goff and Eamon O’Leary at the Irish Center—informational lecture at 3:30 PM, and a concert that evening at 8 PM. This is part of the Philadelphia Ceili Group’s
year-long series on the music of the West of Ireland.

And if you’re a faithful devotee of the annual Mid-Winter Scottish & Irish Festival, hopefully you got the memo. Because of delays in the construction of the new casino in Valley Forge, the festival was moved to the end of March. But you’ll probably still want to head over to the area next weekend. Some of the top groups of the festival weekend are putting on a performance at the nearby Radisson Hotel. You can catch Albannach, the percussion group from Scotland, and Brother, founded by a couple of Australian brothers, along with Kyf Brewer and his wild crew, Barleyjuice, and Celtic-Native American performer Arvel Bird on stage for many, many hours.

You can also attend the first of three fundraisers for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Philadelphia next weekend, this one thrown by the Second Street Irish Society, which usually takes up a couple of city blocks when it marches in the parade.

We’ve been typing our little fingers to the quick entering new events for both February and March. So saunter over to the calendar to see what’s coming up in the weeks to come. You’ll be in shock. Or maybe that’s just those of us who are trying to figure out to get to all these things.

It’s tough to compete with Super Bowl Sunday, and it looks like few are. Even the Sunday session at Molly Maguire’s in Phoenixville has been cancelled. If you’re planning to go to a regularly scheduled Sunday event, call first.

But it’s not a weekend phenomenon. You can see and hear the phenomenal Next Generation Irish traditional musicians and Dansations Irish dancers on Sunday at the Garden State Discovery Museum’s Annual Irish Children’s Festival, starting at noon.

Tom Mchugh with Jimmy and Kevin McGillian will be playing for the dancers at AOH Notre Dame Div. 1 Hall in Swedesburg on Saturday night. It’s become the go-to place for the region’s ceili dancers.

Also on Saturday, the popular band Jamison is going to Curran’s in Palmyra, NJ.

Opening this week: “Little Gem,” a play by Dubliner Elaine Murphy, the latest from Inis Nua Theatre Company in Philadelphia, the only theater group producing contemporary works from Ireland and the UK. It’s in preview on Tuesday, opens on Wednesday, then runs through February 26 at the Inis Nua’s new digs, First Baptist Curch on Sansom Street (and 16th) in the city. The funny and touching play centers on three generations of Dublin women each experiencing an emotional crisis.

On Thursday, Daniel Tobin, PhD, poet and scholar, will be giving at talk at Villanova, Tobin is author of “Awake in America, ” a book of essays on Irish American poetry that looks at 19th and 20th century poets as well as contemporary writers.

The Second Street Irish Society Dancers are a fixture in the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade. It takes money to look that good, so they’re trying to raise a bundle at a Coach Bag Bingo Night on Friday, February 10, at the EOM Athletic Club on Moore Street in Philadelphia. As the name suggests, the prizes include Coach bags, a fashionista must-have.

Coming up the following week: Fiddler Jess Smith, a young man from Baltimore, will be performing at the Coatesville Cultural Society on Saturday. Both Smith’s parents are musicians and he studied with renowned fiddler Brendan Mulvihill. Smith moved Ireland in 1998 and toured with the band, Danu. His CD, Jigs and Reels, was among the top 10 traditional CDs of 2002 cited by “The Irish Echo.”

Also next week, a freebie concert for kids at Calvary United Methodist Church by the Heartstring Quartet, composed of noted Irish musicians Arty McGlynn {Planxty, Patrick Street, and DeDanann) , Nollaig Casey (Plaxty and Coolfin), and Maire Ni Chatasaigh and British flat-picking guitarist Chris Newman.